OPINION: Continuing our work to create schools that reflect our diverse city
”My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.”
— Archbishop Desmond Tutu
In celebration of Black History Month, I want to highlight an important right that every child across every neighborhood in New York City deserves — the right to an equitable and excellent education. We must continue to invest in significant, necessary changes to ensure that no student, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation or religious beliefs, is denied that right.
The first step to solving a problem is acknowledging that there is one. That’s what the students at Brooklyn Technical High School accomplished by speaking up about racially based incidents, including unfair treatment and discriminatory comments that were taking place. Students vocalized their concerns, and as a result, administrators at the school and staff at the New York City Department of Education (DOE) listened to them, acknowledged their issues and set in motion steps to ensure that corrective measures are taken. Through engagement, led by Brooklyn Tech Principal Randy Asher in partnership with District 13 Superintendent Karen Watts and Central DOE support staff, a plan has been put in place and is being implemented.