City parent board of education candidates endorsed by a group that supports merit-based controversy The results show that admissions and rigorous academic standards dominated recent school board elections.
Almost three-quarters of expectant parents supported by parent leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education won seats on the school board and will now represent a significant 40% of all elected representatives on the City and Community Boards of Education (the city’s version of school boards) for term 2023- 2025
PLACE NYC candidates swept every elected seat on the Citywide Council on High Schools (CCHS), which represents about 300,000 families, as well as some of the city’s top-performing school districts, including District 20 in South Brooklyn and the District 26 in Northeast Queens. .
PLACE-endorsed candidates also ran in Manhattan’s 2nd and 3rd districts and Queens’ 25th and 28th districts.
The huge showing is a stunning rebuke to the liberal education activists who have pushed it discard merit-based admissions and screening arguing that these policies exclude black and Hispanic students and worsen segregation.
“The results of this election are a clear mandate from New York public school parents to expand opportunities for accelerated education and merit-based admissions,” PLACE said in a news release.
“Now it’s up to him [city schools] chancellor [David] Banks to make sure their superintendents and administration listen to these elected parent leaders. The families of New York have spoken,” the group said.
Many of the school districts where PLACE candidates won have large Asian and immigrant populations, whose students have historically done particularly well in getting into schools and programs with merit-based admissions.
Meanwhile, blacks and Hispanics make up two-thirds of students in the city’s public school system. but only about 10% of students from specialized institutes, for example.
Defenders of merit-based programs support: preserve the status quo to specialized institutes such as Stuyvesant and Bronx Science, which require a single admissions test for admission; the use of academic grades and other merit criteria for enrollment in other middle and high schools; more gifted and talented and honors programs and rigorous Regents exams for high school graduation.
Also some members of the group support the expansion of charter schools as an option for students.
Politically, voting parents in many of these same areas have Republican supported candidates in the last electoral cycles – in protest against efforts of the progressive left, including the above Major Bill de Blasio administration: gradually eliminate admissions control.
Community Boards of Education, or CECs, have the power to approve or reject school rezoning plans, pass resolutions on school policies and other related matters, and consult with district superintendents.
Recent election results mean that PLACE members who support merit-based education and more rigorous standards now have a bigger megaphone.
The 32 city councils, which meet monthly during the academic year, each have 10 elected members with two appointed by the local district president.
In total, the various candidates supported by PLACE won 133 seats, and the group boasted that parents represent a wide range of the city’s ethnic, cultural, racial and religious communities, many of whom are immigrants.
PLACE’s agenda has influenced Mayor Eric Adams’ administration and his school’s chancellor, Banks. For example, banks agreed to expand gifted and talented seats – a LOC priority.
“PLACE applauds the parents who came forward to run for Council seats and volunteer their time to improve our public schools,” she said. Chien Kwokco-president of PLACE NY, in a statement.
“We took on the enormous task of recruiting and educating parents about CECs and are very proud to have helped elect 133 parents who will serve their communities over the next two years.”
Newly elected Brooklyn CEC High School Representative Linda Quarles said, “PLACE NYC continues to lead the way for families who want a rigorous education and merit-based admissions for our students. I’m motivated by the work important that PLACE does and I’m inspired to see PLACE expand its reach.”
New District 2 CEC Member Charles Love added, “I am grateful to PLACE for its efforts to ensure that all New York public schools remain focused on providing a high-quality education for all students.
“The briefings and campaign guidance provided by PLACE volunteers were helpful for a first-time candidate like myself. I look forward to serving on CEC2.”
Some liberal education advocates have expressed concern about the growing influence of the more conservative PLACE in the city’s school system, with some of its candidates bringing national culture wars to the Big Apple.
News site THE CITY reported on some PLACE-backed candidates oppose the critical theory of race and comparing the more race-based teaching of black history to Nazi ideology.
PLACE wasn’t the only parent-led group to support the candidates.
A liberal group called Parents for Middle School Equity, based in Brooklyn’s 15th District, which covers Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Red Hook and part of Sunset Park, also endorsed a slate of candidates.
But an analysis of Chalkbeat found that less than a quarter of its endorsed candidates won citywide seats, far fewer than the more conservative PLACE.
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