School Administration Complaint Padlet by

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csschange2025 — 2025-05-15 00:07:05 UTC

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cmelendez15@schools.nyc.gov

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nycpschancellor@schools.nyc.gov

mramos70@schools.nyc.gov

lnelson6@schools.nyc.gov

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The engineering capstone and rigorous philosophy curriculum were the primary qualities of CSS that drew me to apply in the first place.

2025-05-15 00:52:04 UTC

I have been a student at CSS since sixth grade. I stayed at CSS for high school because both me and my parents were excited that a CSS education would go beyond what is offered at other schools. The engineering capstone and rigorous philosophy curriculum were the primary qualities of CSS that drew me to apply in the first place. The opportunity to graduate high school equipped with multiple diverse ways of conceptualizing our place in the world and what we want to do professionally-- like philosophy and engineering-- was nearly unmatched in the NYC public school system.

Unfortunately, in recent years these programs have been devalued and slowly withered both by neglect and intentional dismantling. Students are no longer required to take engineering all seven years, and many philosophy classes are delegated to teachers who end up with so many students they are unable to assign and give feedback to any significant writing assignments. In my current senior philosophy class, there are about 35 students.

The current administration has been consistently adding new AP and other classes, and increasing the amount of preps teachers have per year to accommodate those classes. As a result, teachers are overworked and cannot delegate as much attention to individual kids or classes, even if they are passionate about the subject.

The current principal has told students not to take the Global History class that challenges them to write a research paper. This is a class which has been foundational to the CSS education and is cited by many alumni as the aspect of their high school education that has most prepared them for college. The reasoning behind this advice, he said, was that students going into science or technology fields would not need to know how to write research papers. This goes against the core values of many CSS science classes, where teachers have emphasized long lab reports with quality writing and research. Beyond the benefits of learning to write and research for any STEM profession, all high schools, and especially CSS, should be working to produce well-rounded students who are curious about the world both in and outside their professional pursuits. A student interested in being a physicist should also be invested in global affairs, and a computer scientist should be open to debates around the current political culture and philosophy. At least, this was the mission of CSS that was advertised to students and parents in previous years.

The new administration has also done away with much of the vertical alignment that has allowed for real depth in our learning, especially in humanities classes. (Vertical alignment meaning that entire cohorts take the same sequence of courses over their years at the school.) Just as it is key to take Algebra 2 before Calculus to have a deep understanding of the content, having carefully sequenced ELA and philosophy classes allowed students to build on foundational knowledge each year. For example, in our junior year Political Philosophy class, we often discussed philosophers that we had all studied in tenth grade Ethics class, and every year our English teachers have referenced books we have all read in previous classes in order to teach us new concepts. Fragmenting the course options, especially in philosophy classes, means teachers cannot assume a basic level of knowledge for students coming into their class. This creates a repetitive environment where time could instead be used (and in past years has been) to build on the texts and dialogues students have begun in previous classes. Much like Columbia University's Core Curriculum, the previous vertical alignment created a community within the CSS student body as students had common teachers and readings in their classes. It also allowed teachers to communicate more effectively and create a curriculum which was cohesive and more rigorous. With so many different options for courses now, many students in the same grades never come face to face with many of their peers in their grade during classes.

Also, it is widely understood that students who have performed lower academically benefit from being in classes with higher performing students. With the addition of many AP classes that top academically performing students self-select, students lose the opportunity to learn from each other. (Notably the most challenging classes I have taken at CSS were not AP classes, they were classes that were based in a research project like Global History 10 or US History.)

Given the direction and the changes the school is heading toward, it is unclear to me that CSS would be my first choice today.

csschange2025 — 2025-05-15 00:53:44 UTC

I am a senior at Columbia Secondary School. Since the fourth grade, CSS was a dream. I had fallen in love with the project-based engineering at the school, the possibility to take Columbia University classes as another same student, and the notion of combining this with philosophy - all seven years. Without a doubt, CSS felt like home. It wasn't a selfless feeder machine, nor was it a slacker school - it was a diverse community built over seven years, one that interacts with its past and present, and one that uses every possible resource to achieve a maximum outcome for its students.

With Senior Engineering now gone due to the new administration, the inspiration I felt at age 12 witnessing the sheer capability and creativity that the CSS student contained wouldn't have sparked a light in me. Instead, more AP classes would be advertised and the capability to take more AP classes would be pushed, failing to differentiate CSS from any other school. Like many other students in my cohort, the most challenging or most enriching classes weren't the AP classes we are now goaded to take - it was the ones where teachers could push students their own way, like Ethics and Aesthetics (which involved heavy reading of a varied collection of philosophical ideologies), or Global History 10 (which infamously pushed CSS students to write a college-style research paper). Today, both of these classes either lack resources or are actively pushed against by the administration. I title this type of class a "passion class" - they require a special spark to teach, and a motivation to give each subject the time it deserves. Unfortunately, with the congestion of schedules, many teachers are now unable to allocate this time to their classes, resulting in a worse education for students that consequently fails to transmit the passion so desired when choosing to attend CSS.

Apparently, AP classes even come before Columbia University (CU) ones. As a partnered school, the unique privilege we get to take classes at an Ivy League school is undoubtedly one of the most enriching and "future-proofing" activities that one can engage in at CSS. Unfortunately, CU class selection has been severely limited by the new administration, now only approving a select and limited list of classes for CSS participation. Officially, the reasoning behind this change has to do with the complexity of other classes, which may overwhelm students and cause them to fail. CU classes are no longer pushed as an incredible opportunity to students anymore - they are now another extracurricular to take if you can find a class you like and manage to fit it into your schedule. This is unless, of course, you are personally favored by the administration. In that case, you are able to take classes that are not only high above the list's maximum level, but also during the school day, modifying and rearranging your CSS classes to make space for CU.

A large part of the CSS pitch was its crafted progression: Classes you'll take in sixth grade will come back years later in a different subject, and multiple subjects will teach about the same topic, adjusting them to their unique angle. Along with the 7-year philosophy and engineering progressions, CSS students had the option to take AP Spanish by the time they graduate. While I had the chance to take AP Spanish in tenth grade, today it is only offered online and before the school day, through the NYCDOE's VLC (Virtual Learning Classroom) program. Spanish, a core facet of the CSS education, is no longer considered critical to a student's progress, and has been relegated in favor of even other AP classes. It is not either that this change came of popular demand: there was both teacher and student interest in taking AP Spanish in-person this year. It is purely due to the administration's priorities that Spanish is now deemed unimportant for the general student body.

It is important to stress just how much philosophy brings to the CSS curriculum. Philosophy is deemed a 'research degree', similar to physics in the sciences. Studying philosophy is a framework of life, and having its skeletons built through middle and high school is an invaluable resource for any field that one could go into. Philosophy is an under-taught subject, one that truly differentiates CSS and is cited as most transformational by alumni.
Even a sheer consideration of the removal of philosophy is a disservice to the CSS community, and should receive intense scrutiny.

This is the theme with the new administration: That which made CSS special, enriching, and familiar will be gutted, and replaced with a feel of monotony reminiscent of Arora's origins at Bronx Science. Given the direction and the changes the school is heading toward, it is unclear to me that CSS would be my first choice today - let alone if I would even apply, leaving my fourth grade self with a hole and a new first-choice school to find.