School District 13's Community Education Council (CEC), representing all or part of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, Prospect Heights, Park Slope, South Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, Boerum Hill, Gowanus, Vinegar Hill and Downtown Brooklyn, will be holding its monthly meeting on Tuesday, November 18, from 6:30pm - 8:30pm to discuss middle and high school choice, including the application process, specialized exams and preparing for change.
A public comment period will follow the presentations.
The meeting takes place at M.S. 265, 101 Park Ave, in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
Most recently, CEC 13, with New York City Council Members Danny Dromm (Education Committee Chair), Brad Lander, Ritchie Torres and Inez Barron stood with parents, educators and civil rights advocates to introduce three bills on Oct. 22 in support of policies to confront segregation and increased diversity in NYC public schools:
- Resolution calling on the NYC Department of Education to establish a policy that officially recognizes the importance and benefits of diversity, to include it as one priority when making decisions about admissions, and to develop a strategy for promoting more diverse schools (prime sponsor: Council Member Ritchie Torres).
- Bill requiring DOE to issue an annual report on school diversity, including the release of demographic data by school, district, and citywide. The report would provide more detailed information needed to evaluate issues of segregation and diversity, identify the steps DOE is taking to address the issue, and report on year-over-year progress (prime sponsor: Council Member Brad Lander).
- Resolution in support of State Legislation requiring specialized high schools (Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, and Brooklyn Tech) to use "multiple measures" for admissions. State Legislation (S7738/A9979, sponsored by Assembly Member Karim Camara, and Senator Simcha Felder) would require the schools to use multiple measures (e.g. grades, attendance, state tests), instead of only the specialized high school entrance exam. The current single measure system is the basis of a civil rights complaint filed by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Latino Justice. Mayor de Blasio has expressed support for the proposed change (prime sponsor: Council Member Inez Barron).
