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Students with majority low-income children receive double the number of periods of ELA and math as other subjects in their schedule. When I talked with the district superintendent about this in November 2018, and asked why students at PS/IS122 don't have more time for ELA and math, he told me that they're the gifted ones and don't need this. But for students at schools with low-income children, "the majority of our children are lacking" and that with "so many 1s and 2s", our students need extra ELA and math classes. -Amanda Vender

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Free play only for "gifted" kindergartners

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Free play only for "gifted" kindergartners

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When my child started kindergarten in 2015 at our zoned elementary school, it was the same time that Chancellor Farina visited our neighborhood and said "In kindergarten, play is work." I saw a disconnect between the chancellor's promotion of free play in early childhood, and what was actually happening in my child's classroom. I raised this issue to the superintendent in a phone call. He told me that he had just been to Q300, the "gifted" school, saw wonderful creative free play there, and might I consider this school for my child? Rather than implement the chancellor's directive at all schools, I observe that the practice is to move families to the school where they can be with other like-minded parents. -Amanda Vender

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My previous school was in a building almost a century old. The building was crumbling and there were layers of paint peeling in almost every classroom. When I expressed concern about the possibility of lead paint exposure, I was told that NYCDOE does not remediate lead for classrooms with students older than 6. 

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My previous school was in a building almost a century old. The building was crumbling and there were layers of paint peeling in almost every classroom. When I expressed concern about the possibility of lead paint exposure, I was told that NYCDOE does not remediate lead for classrooms with students older than 6. 

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From the School Diversity Advisory Group report, 2019

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NYC public schools are designed to have different enrollment policies. Some schools are allowed to pick, choose and exclude students while others must accept everyone. This inequitable enrollment policy fuels racism and classism. For example, in open houses and school brochures, the principal at Louis Armstrong Middle School, a lottery-based school in District 30, talks about her students' test scores and compares them with students' scores at other large zoned middle schools. She fails to point out that her school requires an application 8 months before the start of the school year, effectively excluding immigrant newcomers and homeless students. When I asked the principal about this, in 2018 at a CEC meeting, she told me that newcomers shouldn't be at her school. "They should be in their own schools," she said. -Amanda Vender, parent in District 30

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We have state-of-the-art air filters for Covid, but our air conditioners are antique and our heating systems are broken. Three years ago we were promised new air conditioners, but that hasn't happened. The heater in my classroom has been leaking water for 2 weeks: every morning the janitor comes to mop the floor, and over the course of the day the puddle re-forms. We're still waiting for parts.

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Schools where the vast majority of parents don't have internet access and are not used to using email and online platforms have a lot more work to do to reach parents, to schedule events and get back forms. All schools should have a student body representative of the city and should be fluent in communicating with parents from a wide range of backgrounds.

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I have worked in 3 different NYCDOE schools, across 3 different districts. All were staffed by majority-white teachers, all teaching classes of majority non-white students. The story is the same in each school-- the staff did not reflect the students' identities.
-Martina Meijer