What To Do About New York City Schools: Teens Weigh In

Students in the group IntegrateNYC4Me have spent more than a year exploring segregation and possible solutions. Launched by teacher Sarah Camiscoli and students at the Urban Assembly Bronx Academy of Letters, the group includes kids from high schools around the city.

In a conversation with WNYC, three student activists said they felt the effects of segregation, whether by attending schools that were entirely black and Latino and low income, or in schools with whiter and wealthier populations.

Nashalie Robledo, a tenth grader at Bronx Academy of Letters, said those wealthier schools often had more resources and better libraries than schools with low-income kids.

"If a school is not provided with like resources like A.P. or STEM classes, it would not necessarily mean that they're segregated," she said, explaining the distinction. "It would just like mean that there's inequality."

How to rectify that is a difficult dilemma. None of the three students was a fan of magnet programs, which have been used to attract a wider mix of students. Rather, they said, all schools should be equally desirable.

Another idea is a student diversity council with teens from all over the city. Hebh Jamal, a junior at a Manhattan high school she did not want to identify, said a council could channel great ideas “into kind of an organized system with committees” and influence actual policies to change.

The students also suggested creating more inclusive curricula, with materials that are less Eurocentric. Robledo said more ideas should come from students. "We are the future doctors, teachers, astronauts," she stated.

Amera Attalah, also a tenth grader at Bronx Academy of Letters, agreed.

"Politicians, in general, I think they underestimate us," she said.