Jim Devor on how the innovative admission plan of D13 & D15 school was engineered
Recently, the Daily News Editorial Page had the unique occasion to sing the praises of a progressive targeted admissions program that the Community Education Councils for Districts 13 ("CEC-13") and 15 ("CEC-15") wrested from the DoE as part of the new [re]construction of PS 133 in Brooklyn's Prospect Heights. In particular, the Daily News voiced strong approval of the plan to set aside 30% of future Kindergarten admissions for immigrant and poor children in a "gentrifying" school.
By all accounts, this was the very first time under the Bloomberg administration that the DoE had agreed to implement a diversity program. How that came to be is a story of cooperation between CECs and the political savvy to take advantage of the unusual circumstances presented to them. As such, the following is the unofficial Reader's Digest version of the saga:
Once upon a time, the School Construction Authority ("SCA") claimed there was no available space in D15 (which includes Cobble Hill, Carroll
