#Mondaymyth: DOE’s integration plans remove children from “their home and community.”
Reality: This is a myth from the opposition rather than from within the integration movement, but is still remarkably prevalent. The reality is that NYC divides the city into 32 community school districts, and none of the elementary- or middle-school integration planning processes the DOE currently has underway would require children to leave their CSDs. Within CSDs, there is no private right of ownership over a zoned school or any other public school. Zoning is an administrative convenience (albeit a bad one) – not an entitlement. Public schools belong to the public.
Segregation may actually cause more children to travel than integration. Segregated G&T programs, for example, require extensive travel and busing, but one never hears objections to G&T programs on these grounds. Only about 60% of students now attend the schools for which they are zoned.
Read more about what is going on in District 28 here and sign up for New York Appleseed’s newsletter here for on-going updates here.