Seven New York City students who didn’t get into specialized high schools are asking the state education commissioner to ensure they get spots, saying the city’s diversity push unfairly denied them seats for the fall.
Their challenge argues the city’s expansion of the so-called Discovery program will hurt the elite schools’ academic excellence. That program offers spots and free summer tutoring to low-income students with high potential who score below the test-score cutoff for admission. The petitioners ask the commissioner to declare the department’s implementation unlawful.
These petitioners, who are mostly middle-income, are black, Hispanic, Asian and white. They just missed test-score cutoffs for these prestigious schools, which use an exam to determine admission. They say the city hasn’t complied with key details of a state law that governs entrance.