I couldn’t breathe. 

 

As a Black boy growing up in New Rochelle, the City School District of New Rochelle represented suffocation rather than education, failing to deliver on its promise to embrace diversity and drive success. 

 

The City School District of New Rochelle suffocated its students, when it “embraced diversity” statistically, but not strategically. The City School District of New Rochelle suffocated its students, when it “drove the success” of its wealthy and White students, while leaving many of its Black and Brown students on success’s roadside with their thumbs pointed upwards. The City School District of New Rochelle must change now, so that all of its students can experience high quality and challenging educational experiences. 

 

For my entire childhood, I attended school in the The City School District of New Rochelle. At these schools, my potential was suffocated and my dreams were asphyxiated, a suffocation which led me to doubt my intellectual capabilities and to become disinvested with my academic journey.

 

At Daniel Webster Elementary school, I remember leaving too many of my Black and Brown peers to go to the prided “Kaleidoscope Program”, only to be regarded with disinterest and stigma by my Kaleidoscope teachers and peers. 

 

At Albert Leonard Middle School, I remember being put in detention and in-school suspension, with other Black and Brown students, for chewing gum or having trouble focusing in class — classes that catered towards White students and White histories, rather than all students and a diversity of histories. 

 

At New Rochelle High School, I remember taking my first step into an Honors class, and being greeted with a stifling, “You do know this is an honors class, right?”— a statement that highlighted the suffocating nature of New Rochelle High School’s Honors and AP classrooms, as well as the The City School District of New Rochelle’s suffocating educational tracking system, which renders  Black and Brown students minorities in exhilarating educational spaces. 

 

In New Rochelle High School’s Honors and AP course, I remember trying my best to focus and maintain confidence, trying my best to endure the onslaught of provincial course curriculums and stifling racial microaggressions from teachers and peers. Eventually, my efforts to endure became feeble, my academic horizons began to dim, and my desire to thrive in New Rochelle’s educational spaces was smothered.

 

For my entire educational experience in The City School District of New Rochelle, I stood on success’s roadside with my thumb pointed upwards, waiting for the The City School District of New Rochelle to deliver on its promise to embrace diversity and drive me towards success. However, the City School District of New Rochelle never delivered on this promise, for me. 

 

This narrative is no longer acceptable.

 

We demand that The City School District of New Rochelle embraces diversity strategically, not just statistically. We demand that The City School District of New Rochelle drives all of its students towards success, not just wealthy and White students.

 

To begin this shift, we demand that The City School District of New Rochelle first adopts the Princeton Plan, a plan aimed at alleviating the educational disparities that stem from suffocating neighborhood schooling practices. 

 

If The City School District of New Rochelle adopts the Princeton Plan, New Rochelle public schools  will make a significant stride toward developing a more stimulating and more refreshing community for all of its students, where diversity is embraced and success is celebrated. 

 

John Jacob Burns, New Rochelle High School Class of 2015

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