NAACP Files Suit Alleging Discriminatory Entry Exams At NYC’s Elite Public High Schools
The NAACP has filed a complaint against eight elite NYC high schools.
They allege that the admissions testing for entry into these schools results in effective discrimination against black and Latino students.
Though more than half of the city’s population is black or Latino, black students account for only 1.2 percent of Stuyvesant High School’s student body. Latino students account for only 2.4 percent.
“The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which is filing the complaint, said the highly competitive, 2-1/2-hour, multiple-choice Specialized High School Admissions Test was at fault for the disparity.
‘Year after year, thousands of academically talented African-American and Latino students who take the test are denied admission to the Specialized High Schools at rates far higher than those for other racial groups,’ the NAACP said in a draft of its complaint shared with media outlets on Wednesday before the Thursday filing.
If the department investigates and finds New York is in breach of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, it can sanction the city by withholding federal funding until the breach is resolved, the NAACP said.
The city’s Department of Education said in a statement on Wednesday it was bound by state law to admit students based ‘solely on an exam.’
‘We want all of our students to have opportunities to prepare for the test no matter their zip code,’ it said, adding more black and Hispanic students were offered specialized high school seats last year than in the previous two years.”
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