DISPARITIES WITHIN
NEW ROCHELLE HIGH SCHOOL
DISPROPORTIONATE RACIAL REPRESENTATION IN ADVANCED PLACEMENT (AP) COURSES
Every few years, the Department of Education produces statistics on education for school districts across the United States.
Here, we constructed graphs and charts to demonstrate the ways in which gaps in treatment and funding translates into divergent educational outcomes across racial lines. New Rochelle High School boasts one of the largest AP programs in the county, yet with a student body that consists primarily of students of color, a majority of those taking at least one AP course are white. About 22% of NRHS’ white students are enrolled in at least one AP course while only about 5% and 4% of its black and hispanic students are, respectively.
Our public high school provides so many academic opportunities through its course offerings and it is unacceptable and outrageous that students of color are unable to pursue them at the same rates as white students.
We demand educational opportunities to be equally available to all students of the New Rochelle School District and that begins in our elementary schools.
We insist that our leaders begin adequately addressing those needs in this year’s budget and revisions to the zoning structure.
DISPROPORTIONATE 2019 ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT RATES
You may look at this and think, "the Black and Hispanic students aren’t too far off from the average. And if it’s not enough of a significant difference, their funding and education must be alright then?" Then, you look over to the last column. What do you see? Do you see how much MORE likely it is to be a high-achieving student if you are NOT a person of color?
A majority of these white students are coming from Albert Leonard Middle School (ALMS) which takes in students from the following elementary schools: Davis, Webster, and Ward. As stated in our email that launched this entire thing: Isaac E. Young (IEYMS) is 63.5% Hispanic/Latino and 19.3% Black/African-American. 42.1% of ALMS is White, 26.9% Hispanic/Latino, and 24.4% Black/African-American. Do NOT say that the only contribution to these success rates is the influence at home.
Whether that statement holds truth or not, we should be working to bridge the gap by compensating for the so-called lack in instilled value.
We have included the Regents with Advanced Designation Diploma statistics to display how not every high school diploma is equal. If you enrolled in honors classes and met a criteria GPA, you received this diploma which positioned you better when it came time to post-graduation plans.
It is a shame that NRHS can boast about our resources and our high averages when it is just catered to our white students. White students are the minority in terms of population and Hispanic/Latino students are the majority. Why then are we giving such catered attention to a relatively smaller demographic?
This all has solidified a foundation for many privileged students to assume a sense of superiority — all coming back to the initial reason this was started. Racist, sexist social media posts by ALMS students were exposed and it only depicts a small fraction of the intolerant environment we have across our school district.
In order to combat these racial biases and TRULY be proud to be from a diverse, “melting pot” city, we must put an END to de facto segregation in New Rochelle.