“NEW YORK — Protesters nearly came to blows Fridays as about a dozen people who oppose the admissions test for the city’s elite public high schools marched in on more than 100 people who support the high-stakes exam…
“Follow the school calendar. Follow the screening and testing that you had promised us back in June,” Phil Wong of the the group Place NYC told the crowd.
The Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) determines admission to eight high schools, including Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, and Brooklyn Tech. The mayor and chancellor are no fans of the exam, but it is required under state law….
“Six feet are for social distancing, but right now it feels like they are putting are schools six feet under,” said Place NYC Co-President Lucan Liu.
…They’re worried the city’s foot dragging on the test, and its failure to set testing and application dates for Gifted and Talented programs for younger kids, could be a prelude to doing away with the systems to get into these programs altogether. Opponents are hoping for that.
They say those with more resources achieve more on the test, but advocates for the testing regimen counter it’s the school system that is failing children.
“By getting rid of the testing, you’re hiding the problem the testing actually tells you is the problem. It tells you where the resources need to be allocated,” said Wong.”
Watch the full segment on the NY1 website: https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/education/2020/10/23/school-protest-scuffle