As a “gifted and talented” school, Mark Twain accepts applicants from all over the city. This report from the NYC Department of Education describes who attends Mark Twain and how students who attend do on standardized tests.
Transcript: At school, when we interacted, initially, signing was not allowed, that we’d be punished if we used signing. We only signed when we knew the teachers weren’t looking. We hid our signs. But when we were outside of school, we used sign freely. When groups of us went on trips, we signed. So, for me, I didn’t sleep at the school. I commuted back and forth between home and school on the train and it was a lot of fun. When class was over, at 2:30, we couldn’t wait to get together and get on the train. You know, in New York City, we had an area where we would all meet that was well known, under the 14th Street train. We’d gather and converse and just have a great time. I enjoyed that so much. We didn’t have student clubs or groups, so that time at 14th Street was what we did. We met as a group and had a good time together. Also, we did have sports teams. They were run by Deaf clubs. So, interacting and spending time in that setting exposed me to many great things.
When she was growing up in Harlem in the 1940s, Reverend Malika Leigh Whitney played a lot of street games, like hopscotch, jacks, stick ball, and stoop ball. But she loved jumping Double Dutch the most.
The historical documents found on this website are primary sources: historical records produced in one moment in time, that help us understand that moment in time. This podcast is a primary source that shows how two people living today - the podcast producers - understand how and why schools are changing in their neighborhood. Their work also includes other primary sources, including historical recordings and interviews with people who reflect on their personal experience with schools in their community. They share their perspectives on charter schools, district public schools, and their impact on children and communities in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
In 2002, the New York State Legislature gave the mayor’s office control of New York City’s public schools. Mayor Michael Bloomberg claimed that this system was more democratic than one in which voters elected local school board members, because voters elected the mayor, and could vote him out if they did not like his performance in leading the school system.
At the 2012 United States Conference of Mayors, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg reflected on the first ten years of mayoral control in New York City’s schools. He shared his thoughts on the purposes of schools in the US and his concerns about them. He explained why he believed mayoral control had been a success in New York City. He also highlighted his belief that the expansion of charter schools - which were new schools funded with public dollars but governed by private groups outside of the New York City Department of Education - had improved education in New York City.
This mural of Evelina López Antonetty was painted by graffiti artist group Tats Cru in 2011. It is at 773 Prospect Ave in the South Bronx. In the mural, the artists refer to some of the terms that local residents used to refer to Antonetty. She was affectionately nicknamed the “mother of the Puerto Rican Community” and the “hell lady of the Bronx” for her unyielding activism and support of the Puerto Rican community.
Judith (Judy) Heumann was one of tens of thousands of children who contracted polio during outbreaks in the late 1940s and early 1950s and became physically disabled. As a young girl, she received home instruction until her mother was able to get Judy enrolled at P.S. 219 in Queens when she was in the fourth grade. On her first day of school she rode with other children in a wheelchair-accessible bus. She met the paraprofessionals who would help her and other Disabled students get around the school, use the bathroom, and get physical, occupational, or speech therapy.1 She recalled that everyone in her class used braces or a wheelchair, and that they were taught in a basement classroom separated from the “kids upstairs”—the non-disabled students. Heumann’s special education class resembled the ungraded classes from the early 20th century, and included students aged 9-21.2 They were grouped together because of their physical access needs, in spite of their wide range of academic and social needs.
We must fix our school system. You and I represent all the neighborhoods of this city. Together we need to provide a school system that serves all our communities and all of the people of this city. Fundamental reform of our school system is essential if we are serious about educating our children. Currently the Board of Education does not work for teachers, parents, students or even for its members. It doesn’t work for anyone. . .
Mr. Louis Schuker, the principal at Jamaica High, had a long talk with me and Coach Ellis. He said the odds of a 600 school student making it in a regular school environment were next to zero. His admonition to me was reminiscent of the one given by the judge who had sentenced me to the 600 school.
Among New York City students with disability labels today, most are in the category of “learning disability.” This category came into existence in the 1960s, when parent advocates, educators, and psychologists wanted to figure out how to understand students who were struggling with skills like reading or arithmetic, but who did not otherwise seem to have intellectual disabilities.1 Dyslexia, for example, is one kind of learning disability.
Disabled students have always attended New York City schools, whether they were identified as disabled or not. Unfortunately, almost all of the ways New York City schools have tried to support Disabled students have involved students’ being separated from their peers. Students have attended separate schools, separate classrooms within schools, or have been pulled out of classrooms for part of the day. They have faced barriers to their full participation – like architectural barriers, or a lack of accommodations or teacher support. As a result, many students have felt that they were being treated differently – and less well than – their peers without disability labels.
Gallaudet University in Washington, DC was one of the earliest US schools for the Deaf and the world’s only university for the Deaf and hard of hearing. Thomas Gallaudet was an educator who founded the American School for the Deaf after he took an interest in trying to teach a neighbor’s deaf daughter. His son, Edward, went on to found Gallaudet University in 1864.
Puerto Ricans became citizens of the United States in 1917, as part of the US’s claiming control of the island. As US citizens, those who wanted to come to the mainland faced fewer barriers than immigrants from other countries. In the 1930s and 1940s, hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans made the choice to migrate. Many came to New York City. Racial segregation in housing meant that they often lived alongside Black families like Toni Cade Bambara’s in Harlem. They also lived alongside Italian-American and Black families in East Harlem and the Lower East Side.
Please note: This is work in progress. Please keep that in mind as you read. We are sharing this work in progress because these materials are relevant to discussions of school governance underway right now in New York. Please share your feedback at [email protected] and check back for updated versions soon.
Please note: This is work in progress. Please keep that in mind as you read. We are sharing this work in progress because these materials are relevant to discussions of school governance underway right now in New York. Please share your feedback at [email protected] and check back for updated versions soon.
Two Black Harlem police officers, Mike Walker and Ulysses Williams, founded the first Annual World International Double Dutch competition in 1974. Having grown up watching Black girls play the two-jump-rope game throughout their neighborhood, Walker and Williams wanted to encourage more girls to play. They created a rule book for the game, and incorporated aspects of other sports (like compulsory tricks, speed testing, and freestyle). They also established the international tournament and a citywide league. Walker and Williams lobbied physical education teachers in the city’s intermediate schools to incorporate the sport into their classes, and encourage girls to join the league where they could enjoy the low-cost sports pastime.
The Eighth Annual World International Double Dutch competition took place at Lincoln Center in 1981. It had grown dramatically since two New York City police officers began the tournament in 1974.
In the 1970s and 1980s in New York City, many Black and Latinx neighborhoods were impoverished and their residents were struggling. Some landlords decided they could make more money by burning down their buildings—where people had been living—than by renting them out to individuals and families. This led to many dangerous fires, especially in the South Bronx. Once the fires were put out, they left behind damaged buildings and piles of rubble. Nonetheless, there were families and children living, growing, and playing in these areas.1
