What you should know
- New York City Public Schools Chancellor David Banks shared his vision for public schools in the Big Apple as he made a big reveal: 120,000 families dropped out of the public school system in the last five years.
- The surprising number had floated before, but New York City Schools had not confirmed it. Although the decline began before the pandemic, the health crisis accelerated it.
- Banks’ vision for schools also includes calling for the hiring of about 1,000 school safety officers and expanding the Gifted and Talented program, a stark contrast to scrapping it entirely as proposed by former Mayor Bill de Blasio.
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NEW YORK — New York City Public Schools Chancellor David Banks shared his vision for public schools in the Big Apple as he made a big reveal: 120,000 families dropped out of the public school system in the last five years. years.
The surprising number had floated before, but New York City Schools had not confirmed it. Although the decline began before the pandemic, the health crisis accelerated it.
When it comes to the declining public school population, Banks said the district “has broken the trust of our families. We have to rebuild that trust.”
He also went on to say that traditional public schools should do more to promote their success stories as charter schools have done.
Banks’ vision for schools also includes calling for the hiring of about 1,000 school security officers to fill the current 1,500 vacancies, with the New York City Police apparently transferring people to fill the rest.
In addition, schools will have a new emphasis on monitoring dyslexia, something Mayor Eric Adams is passionate about given his openness about what he suffered from the learning disorder characterized by difficulty reading, even though it has not been officially diagnosed.
Banks also said he hopes to expand the Gifted and Talented program, a stark contrast to scrapping it entirely as proposed by former Mayor Bill de Blasio. However, the program will no longer be known as Gifted and Talented, but as “accelerated learning.”
Last October, de Blasio unveiled the “Brilliant NYC” plan, which he hoped would have taken the place of the Gifted and Talented program in city schools. The inclusive model was said to be able to reach 26 times as many students as the Gifted and Talented program, and according to de Blasio at the time, the new plan would have gotten rid of the “artificial barriers” that have plagued the Gifted and Talented program. .
Banks’ vision for New York City Public Schools also includes one less administrative position as he announced he is eliminating the high-paying position of executive superintendent.
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