Chin Call for More Diversity in Specialized High Schools
City Councilwoman Margaret Chin (D-Battery Park City, Chinatown) released a statement yesterday calling on the City Council to push for more racial diversity in New York schools.
The statement was made in response to a recent New York Times report revealing a startlingly low number of African-American and Latino students accepted into New York’s specialized high schools.
“The exceptionally low number of African American and Latino students accepted to our selective high schools is appalling,” said Chin. “Though we need to expand opportunities for students of every background, it is clear from the numbers this year and in past years that we need to do more to increase participation specifically among African Americans and Latinos. We must continue to look at the root causes of segregation in all of our schools, which run much deeper than any test, as well as expand funding for our gifted and talented programs so that more of New York’s students can meet the high academic standards needed to get into a specialized high school. As the Council Member who represents Stuyvesant High School, and as a graduate of Bronx Science, I ask my Council colleagues to work together to bring diversity to every level of our City’s educational system.”
Brewer, Chin to Take Suggestions for Mercer Playground
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer (D) and City Councilwoman Margaret Chin (D-Battery Park City, Chinatown) will be hosting a public meeting next week to take suggestions on how to renovate Mercer Playground.
After the meeting, Brewer and Chin will take the input they received and submit it to Community Board 2 for review.
The event is slated for Wednesday, Mar. 27 from 6:30 – 8 p.m. at the NYU Center for Neural Sciences, located at 4 Washington Place.
Espaillat Calls for Greater Gun Control
Representative Adriano Espaillat (D-Washington Heights, Sugar Hill) called for stricter gun control laws during a recent interview with the Spanish-language publication Revista 110.
Espaillat, who hosted a vigil for the victims of the shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand earlier this week, said that the tragedy should serve as a wakeup call, arguing that massacres can be prevented if we implement more stringent gun control law. One measure he advocated was a ban on semi-automatic weapons, although he clarified that such weapons only constitute part of the problem.
“The problem is not only semi-automatic weapons,” said Espaillat. “The highest number of [firearm-related] deaths in the urban neighborhoods of the United States are caused by revolvers.”
