“600” Schools, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, excerpts
Date: September 1966
Caption: The Board of Education of the City of New York studied the “600” schools. These were schools that, in the 1960s, kept students labeled “socially maladjusted,” out of regular schools and classes. Most of the students in the “600” schools at the time were Black and Puerto Rican boys.
Organizing in the early 1960s by the Citywide Committee on Integration and by Reverend Milton Galamison had increased public attention to the “600” schools. After newspaper coverage of misconduct by teachers and administrators at a “600” school in Brooklyn, as well as criticism over the schools being racially segregated, the Board of Education created a special committee to study conditions inside these schools. After two years of study, the report, “‘600’ Schools Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow," was delivered to the superintendent of schools in September 1966. The report acknowledged that the “600” schools were “ethnically unbalanced” and attributed this imbalance to the “many social problems and pressures to which these children are exposed,” rather than “mental illness.” While acknowledging that many problems existed within the “600” school system, the committee also highlighted the strengths of the program and the number of students who moved through the system, many of whom were considered “rehabilitated” and returned to the regular school system. They cited a need for more funding, personnel, and training to address the problems and improve the system.
Categories: K-12 organizing, special education
Tags: racist segregation, policing and the criminal legal system, Black people, Latinx people, disability labels, emotional disabilities, Disabled people
This item is part of "The Less-Known 1965 Boycott" in "Boycotting New York’s Segregated Schools"
Item Details
Date: September 1966
Creator: New York City Board of Education"
Source: Municipal Archives
Copyright: Public domain
How to cite: “‘600’ Schools, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, excerpts,” New York City Board of Education, in New York City Civil Rights History Project, Accessed: [Month Day, Year], https://nyccivilrightshistory.org/gallery/600-schools-yesterday-today-tomorrow.
Questions to Consider
- How did the authors of the report describe students in the “600” schools? How did they describe the schools?
- The authors were describing a part of the NYC school system more than fifty years ago. What parts of their description seem similar to schools in NYC today? What parts have changed?
- Based on this document and others on the “600” schools, how do you think students who attended the “600” schools would have described their schools? How would their descriptions have compared to those of the report’s authors?
References
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