By Anndy Serrano
On May 9, 2018, the Tweed Courthouse (the Manhattan home of the Department of Education) hosted a NYC Journalism Event for high school newspaper representatives. It consisted of New York City’s recently hired school chancellor, Richard Carranza, answering several questions from students who were trying to understand what changes or improvements may be needed to run an efficient school system without major problems. Billed as a “roundtable discussion” this press conference allowed Mr. Carranza to open the floor for questions after a few introductory remarks. Below is a list of most of the high schools invited to send young reporters to this one-hour press conference:
- World Journalism Preparatory School
- Hillcrest High School
- Academy of American Studies
- NYC Lab School
- Liberty High School for Newcomers
- Marble Hill School for International Studies
- Francis Lewis High School
- Thomas Edison Career and Technical Education HS
- Curtis High School
- Harry Truman
- Townsend Harris High School
- Central Park East High School
- Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics
- Bronx High School of Science
- High School of Fashion Industries
- Manhattan Academy for Arts and Language
- Academy for Young Writers
- Bard High School Early College Manhattan
- New Explorations into Science, Technology and Math
- The Young Women’s Leadership School of the Bronx
- Aviation High School (Long Island City)
These schools are scattered throughout the different boroughs of NYC, each having diverse demographics, a different environment, and different ways of cultivating the learning experience of high school students. During his talk, Chancellor Carranza demonstrated his familiarity with some of the represented schools, and his hope that high school journalists will be willing and able to communicate his agenda as school chancellor directly to teens across the five boroughs via student newspapers. To this end, Mr. Carranza promised to invite teen reporters back for more face to face discussions in the future.
School Chancellor Richard Carranza
Thursday afternoon Mr. Carranza spoke to us in a spacious and beautiful section of the courthouse, on the historic building’s second floor. Refreshments were provided. When I was there, I saw many students with notepads, cameras, and phones on recording. I even remember one student having a whole computer with them. I got to talk to this student representative from the High School of Fashion Industries, and she was passionate about the issue of segregation in the public school system that still exists in NYC. She felt as if she had a voice to help overcome such challenges. It was very inspiring to hear this from a student’s perspective, and it was actually thrilling to hear what others had to say.
Student journalists gathered at Tweed Courthouse.
Chancellor Carranza spoke to us after having been in his new position for more than a month, and I have to say that his responses were surprisingly specific, yet hopeful. He knew the potential impact of what he was saying, and he seemed to know what the schools, as well as the department of education itself, all needed to do. This visible confidence suggests that the system is in good hands.
There was a student from Hillcrest High School who asked “Due to the Parkland Shooting that recently occured, how is the NYC school system going to keep every student safe without causing terror?” Carranza answered by saying that they are going to depend on the NYPD officers who protect the schools. This question highlighted the consequences of trusting the NYPD, with the police possibly abusing their power over schools and causing fear. But Carranza said that they are going to try to make sure the outside of each school is safe, so that there is a higher chance for no violence in or out of a school, which I thought was clever and unique.
Another student brought up the fact that current federal immigration policies were of concern to some students, especially those from undocumented immigrant families. Carranza pointed out that the NYPD does not support immigration raids on churches or public schools, and affirmed that his policies would protect and support any undocumented student as long as they were not convicted of a crime. “I’ve been very clear about the fact that I will stand in the doorway before I will let Immigration raid any of our schools,” vowed Carranza. “Over my dead body!” However the Chancellor also warned that undocumented students would lose all official protections if they happened to commit any crimes while enrolled in public school.
Taking notes!
When talking about basic educational goals, Carranza emphasized the benefits of mastering more than one language. He also praised vocation-specific high schools like Aviation High, which he had visited in Queens. He even dared to share with us a few “dream initiatives” he had yet to discuss with his own staff, such as the DOE partnering with banks and charitable donors to establish an automatic college savings account for every student as soon as they enter kindergarten in one of our five boroughs.
“Here’s an unvetted idea,” Mr. Carranza said. “Can you imagine how it would be if every child, just for beginning kindergarten in New York City, gets $50 put in a bank account [reserved] for college? And we get people to help us with this so that if a student has perfect attendance, somebody will match it [that year] with another $50. Then you can add your own small change, [plus] your parents, and friends can also add to it with birthday or holiday money. Can you imagine what that [could] look like by the time a child is ready for college?”