Dear fellow parents, guardians, supporters & partners,
As PLACE NYC celebrates our fifth year of advocacy, it is time to take a look back and reflect upon what we have accomplished together, including:
- Protection of the SHSAT with approval of another five-year contract for the administration of the test
- Continued advocacy with NYCPS and elected officials to revise to the Class Size law and avoid enrollment caps at popular schools across New York City
- Expressed opposition to the elimination of the Regents exams for high school graduation and removal of the Advanced Regents Diploma
- Scrutiny of NYCPS’ new curricula including Illustrative Math in light of disappointing results in pilot districts
- Advocate for more high quality zoned high schools in all five boroughs – including in Manhattan where families were at a disadvantage
- Multiple initiatives taking the “pulse” of NYCPS families, including a comprehensive survey on elementary, middle and high school admissions
- And year-round free parent outreach and workshops
As we look to 2025, PLACE NYC will continue advocacy for our core mission of demanding more and ensuring access to rigorous and challenging accelerated education opportunities in our public schools. Our volunteer-based organization has grown to become a true grassroot movement supporting over 10,000 parents, guardians and advocates in the five boroughs and beyond.
Our team could not do this work without your support. Whether you took time to sign and share a petition, call elected officials, join a Community Education Council meeting and make a public comment, protest, join a PLACE NYC workshop, vote for pro-education candidates and even devote time to serve on a Community Education Council – thank you, and know that your efforts are going towards improving our education for all students. We are humbled and grateful for your time and advocacy.
The PLACE NYC Executive Board wishes you and your family health and happiness in 2025. We very much look forward to your continued engagement to advocate for rigorous, merit-based accelerated education opportunities for all students. With a new NYCPS Chancellor in office, a major election in NYC as well as Community Education Council elections coming up, we trust that, together, we will have continued success.
– Yiatin, Lisa, Jean, Deborah, Debbie, and Craig
SHSAT Spotlight
On December 18, the Panel for Educational Policy (“PEP”) approved a new five year contract with Pearson, Inc. for the design and administration of the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (“SHSAT”) after a long evening of public comments and discussion among panel members. The vote was the favorable conclusion of several months of uncertainty, after the contract was pulled twice from the PEP agenda in October and November.
The SHSAT is the test used as the sole criteria for admissions to NYC’s eight Specialized High Schools, as per the Hecht-Calandra Act of 1971. As the prior contract expired, vocal activists against standardized testing viewed an opportunity to use a normal course of business contract extension as a tactic to sabotage these schools – just as they had done three years ago with the G&T admissions.
PLACE NYC spearheaded an open letter campaign to urge the PEP members to approve the SHSAT contract — and over 5,000 signed! In advance of the PEP vote, we asked parents to email the PEP members directly; in just 48 hours, over 1,300 emails were sent that we are aware of. We also reached out to various press outlets who covered the developing story as the contract vote was postponed. On December 18, parents and middle schoolers from all over NYC traveled to Brooklyn and packed the Sunset Park High School auditorium to speak up one last time before the vote. After eloquent pleas from several middle-schoolers asking the PEPl to give them a chance to earn a seat in one of the eight prestigious Specialized High Schools, almost 100 parents, many first generation immigrants and SHS alumni, testified passionately about the opportunities that these schools represent for their families.
While elected officials including City Council Member Susan Zhuang, Assemblyman Lester Chang, and NY Senator-elect Steve Chan came to speak at the PEP, and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Ritchie Torres made public statements in support of the SHSAT, students and parent voices were what ultimately mattered the most. The majority of the PEP listened and voted to pass the contract. Our seventh-graders can now go into the new year knowing they have a test to take in fall, just like the hundreds of thousands of NYC students in the past decades, and earn a spot at NYC’s famed specialized high schools.
Parents won a critical battle, but there is no doubt that the fight will continue. Specialized HIgh Schools are under attack almost every year and activists will prepare a campaign in Albany, which will likely intensify next year depending on the outcome of the mayoral election. PLACE NYC remains fully mobilized to inform families and organize actions.
2025: A Critical Election Year for NYC and NYCPS
With a mayoral election coming up quickly, 2025 will undoubtedly be a pivotal year for our public schools.
Despite Mayor Adams’ unapologetic support for accelerated education opportunities – including a commitment to have Gifted & Talented programs in each of the 32 NYC school districts, and the opening of new screened high schools in underserved neighborhoods – it is fair to say that not enough tangible measures followed these announcements. Meanwhile, NYCPS enrollment and students’ proficiency continues to decline year-over-year. Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos faces many challenges including a steep fiscal cliff and the enormous burden of the Small Class Law which in its final two years of phase-in could put at risk the quality of teachers and accelerated programs that PLACE NYC values.
So where does this leave our advocacy for this coming year? If anything, since the creation of PLACE NYC in September 2019, we have witnessed the power of parent-led advocacy. In a Mayoral Control system overlaid with state-level legislation with limited room left for parents – it is imperative to seize those opportunities.
We urge parents and guardians of NYCPS students to run for seats in Community Education Councils and serve a two-year mandate on one of the 32 district CECs or one of the 4 Citywide CECs (High Schools, Special Education, English Language Learners and District 75). In the last election cycle two years ago, PLACE NYC-recommended candidates secured 40% of the seats – as parents sharing our advocacy goals for accelerated education stepped up to run, and we have seen the difference whether through improvements in the high school application process, saving the SHSAT contract, etc.
The CEC election cycle kicked off on January 13; candidate applications are due by February 16. If you are interested to learn more about the CEC and run for an elected position, please join our information session on Tuesday, January 21. We will offer information about what a CEC role entails, and seasoned CEC-members will answer any question you might have should you consider running.