The ongoing debate over the admission process for New York’s specialized high schools continues. Last week, two City Council members addressed the small number of Black and Latino students being admitted into the top three specialized schools: Stuyvesant, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech. 

Council Members Nantasha Williams of Queens and Lincoln Restler of Brooklyn introduced the Specialized High School Excellence and Integration Plan, which proposes that the Specialized High School Admissions Test not be the only way for prospective students to be accepted into academically demanding schools. 

According to the Council members, 11 percent of Brooklyn Tech’s freshman class this school year were Black and Latino students. More than half were Asian while 23 percent of the offers went to white students.

“Black and Latino students represent 62 percent percent of the New York City Public School System today,” Restler and Williams said in their joint letter to Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Chancellor Kamar Samuels. “But at our three most prestigious high schools, they make up a tiny fraction of the student body.”

The debate over making specialized high schools more diverse took off in 2018 when former mayor Bill de Blasio suggested phasing out the SHSAT exam. It was met with backlash, especially among Asian Americans. Since then, some have called proposals to change admissions procedures an attack on Asian New Yorkers.

Council Member Susan Zhuang (CD-43) said the same about Restler and Williams’ plan.

“Pushing Asian American children out of these schools is just the next iteration of the Chinese American Exclusion Act,” Zhuang said in a joint statement with Council members Phil Wong and Frank Morano. “Rewarding hard work and success in the Asian community with marginalization and rejection. Instead of reducing opportunity for Asian American children, we should expand opportunity for all children.”

One of Zhuang’s bills, Intro 684, calls further study on how language needs and geography affect access to early elementary gifted programs. The bill passed and now awaits the Mayor’s signature.

Tai Abrams, 2005 Bronx Science alumni and incoming doctorate student at Columbia University, is also working to improve opportunities for these universities. In 2016, Abrams opened Admissions Squad, a Brooklyn Heights organization that gives SHSAT test preps. Abrams says one reason why few Black and Latino students take the SHSAT is that their families and communities find out years after their Asian and white counterparts. By then, test preparation is already overdue.

William Diep, 2020 graduate of Brooklyn Latin School, believes all specialized schools should reflect New York’s diversity.

“Existing high school admissions screens are not an effective way to admit students,” Diep said. “I think city high schools should have a more holistic admissions process that also takes into account students’ lived experiences. All students deserve opportunities to pursue their interests without any obstacles.”

Diep also pointed out, however, that the school co-locates with another, and he does not think expansion total admissions will be possible. 

So far, there has been no word from the mayor the chancellor on Restler and William’s plan.

Restler told BK Reader that he is aware of the hard work ahead, but that it needs to be done.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Restler said. “I am here for all of the ideas and suggestions that can help improve academic outcomes and enhance opportunity at more of our public schools. But when an admissions policy is determined only by a single exam, we’re going to continue to have students incentivized to cram for years on end for a single test, rather than invest their time and energy in their academic pursuit, extracurricular activities and other better uses of their time.”