Exclusive UWS School Could Be Included In Diversity Plan: Report

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — An exclusive Upper West Side middle school with an independent admissions process could be included in a hotly-debated plan to increase diversity at neighborhood schools, according to reports.

The Center School would be phased into a middle school diversity plan one year after it takes affect should it be passed by the city, Department of Education officials told education publication Chalkbeat. As part of the transition, the exclusive and high-performing school would be required to release its rubric for admission — which is currently a mystery, according to the report.

The Department of Education's announcements comes days after the New York Post reported that the Center School would be excluded from the plan — which would require the district's middle schools to reserve a quarter of its seats for students performing at a low level on state English and math tests. While the plan does not specifically mention splitting student up by race, the district's high-performing schools are mostly attended by white students.

The Center School currently serves a student body that has one of the lowest percentages of poor students in this district and is nearly 60 percent white, almost double the district average, Chalkbeat reported. The school is only one of eight middle schools in the entire city that has its own admissions policy, the New York Post reported.

"They have their completely own independent rubric which they don’t have to release or justify," education consultant Alina Adams told the Post. "Nobody knows how kids get into that school."

Community Education Council for district 3 will meet twice in May to discuss the middle school plan. The council will hold a normal business and calendar meeting on May 16 at PS 242 at West 122nd Street in Harlem and a special calendar meeting on the middle school plan on May 22 at PS 163 on West 97th Street.

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