De Blasio Approves Integration Plan For Brooklyn School District

PARK SLOPE, NY — Middle schools in one of Brooklyn's top districts will overhaul admissions policies in an effort to better integrate classrooms by race and income.

Mayor de Blasio and Department of Education Chancellor Richard Carranza approved the controversial plan in District 15 — including Park Slope, Sunset Park and Red Hook — that will allow students to rank their top picks and use a lottery to dole out seats, while reserving roughly half of each middle school for pupils who are low-income, homeless or learning English.

The mayor announced the change Thursday at Park Slope's elite MS 51, where his own two children attended, and aims to bring students from an array of backgrounds to the district's 11 middle schools in a plan designed by local parents.

“You can feel in the air in this city – momentum for diversity is growing, momentum for change is growing,” de Blasio said at Thursday's news conference. “This is truly an expression of grass-roots leadership and people deciding that we could reach farther and doing the hard work to figure out how we would get there."

De Blasio pledged $2 million in grants for other neighborhoods looking to follow District 15's lead through hosting workshops and forging proposals for greater diversity.

The new policies will kick in for students applying to enter middle school in the fall of 2019. The mayor's office said it will supply $500,000 to support the admissions changes.

Currently, ten of the district's middle schools use students' grades, test scores, attendance and additional factors to screen applicants. The plan's approval leaves 25 of the city's 32 district with selective admission policies for middle schools.

The Department of Education anticipates 10 districts to apply for funds to initiate their own diversity plans.

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