The city announced Friday that it’s giving the go-ahead to seven elementary schools who had asked to change their admissions policies to promote diversity.
The schools will be allowed to reserve a portion of seats for low-income students, English learners, students who are involved in the child-welfare system, or children who have incarcerated parents, as Chalkbeat reported Thursday ahead of the announcement. The new policies will take effect next school year for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten, for which applications go out next month.
The decision to give the schools the green light comes more than a year after the principals asked Chancellor Carmen Fariña for permission.
“I’m pleased that by working with principals, superintendents and community members, we were able to create admissions policies that promote diversity and respect the needs of the community,” Fariña said in a statement Friday, adding that these policies could serve as a model for other schools.
Here are the schools and their new admissions policies:
- Neighborhood School (Manhattan): Low-income students (those who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch) or English learners get priority for 45 percent of seats
- Earth School (Manhattan): Low-income students or English learners get priority for 45 percent of seats
- Castle Bridge School (Manhattan): Students from families impacted by incarceration get priority for 10 percent of seats, low-income students get priority for 60 percent of seats
- Academy of Arts and Letters (Brooklyn): Low-income students get priority for 40 percent of seats
- PS 146 Brooklyn New School (Brooklyn): Low-income students get priority after siblings and current pre-K students
- The Children’s School (Brooklyn): Low-income students or English learners get priority for one-third of seats
- Brooklyn Arts and Science Elementary School (Brooklyn): English learners or students in the child-welfare system get priority for 20 percent of seats