Take a look at this article today in DNAInfo. This article illustrates a primary reason for the urgent need for improved middle schools in Brooklyn District 13. 10% of the “persistently dangerous” middle schools in all of New York State are in D13.

Our Brooklyn schools are not just segregated – they existing in separate educational worlds within common neighborhoods. These are parallel universes on shared blocks. One of these 3 “persistently dangerous” middle schools is in Park Slope (MS 266), just blocks away from MS 447, widely considered one of the best middle schools in all of Brooklyn. Another is in DUMBO (Satellite West). Park Slope and DUMBO are two of the most affluent neighborhoods in Brooklyn and New York City as a whole.

One universe is that of majority white schools, with well funded arts programs and other enrichments, strong parental involvement, active opt-out movements, and the other many benefits that accrue with privilege and power. These are schools where principals can be vocal, highly visible spokespeople against the testing regime and teacher evaluation process.

The other universe is that of majority student of color schools, nearly always Title 1, struggling to get both sufficient DOE and PTA funding for even the most basic of supplies. These schools often have significant percentages of ELL, IEP, and other extra need students. These are schools that frequently poorly perform on the same tests the majority white school students no longer even take (since their parents are opting-out). In some cases these schools are unsafe as this report illustrates. At these schools principals live in fear they’ll lose their job if they can’t raise test scores – for them it’s unimaginable to speak out against the DOE or NYS tests, even in private.

Especially if you label yourself “progressive”, but even if you’re just a human, you should care about this. You should be outraged. I am.

I have every intention of making addressing these inequities my top priority in my continued work on CEC13.

(8/16 Update: I’d be remiss in not pointing out the amazing bit of reporting by fellow District 13 parent Nikole Hannah-Jones on “This American Life” about the topic of school segregation. It’s also worth your time to check out 3 pieces about school segregation in NYC, and in particular in Brooklyn, today on the Daily News – “Mix Match and Learn”, “Separate. Unequal. Still.”, and “Lander and Torres: Breaking the Cycle of School Segregation.”)