NYC Council eyes hiring diversity monitor to take on school segregation

New York City would hire a diversity monitor, tasked with confronting persistent segregation in the public school system under a measure pending in the City Council.

Legislation creating the position, which would reside in the city's Human Rights Commission, was the subject of a Tuesday hearing on a slate of bills with anti-racism themes, aimed at addressing existing racial inequities as well as confronting the city’s history of enslavement and racial segregation.

In addition to the school monitor appointment, the legislation included a measure to mark the site of the city’s first slave market, a truth and reconciliation process allowing members of the public to address the ongoing impact of slavery and a plan to remove monuments and other works of public art that honor slave owners.

Other bills under consideration would provide anti-racism training to city employees and help establish a freedom trail to mark local sites of the Underground Railroad.

Jennifer Jones Austin, who served as the chairperson of the city’s Racial Justice Commission, noted in testimony that voters in November had easily approved three ballot measures tied to racial justice, providing a broad mandate to boost anti-racist efforts.

“The overwhelming number of New Yorkers just last November said they desire for the city, that we be committed to and actively engage in the work of bringing an end to structural and institutional racism,” Austin said.

The hearing, which included testimony from officials in the administration of Mayor Eric Adams, suggested that city government is slowly advancing a variety of efforts meant to address racial discrimination, past and present. These efforts, along with similar initiatives in New Jersey, California and other states, stand in contrast to those in certain Republican-run states, where efforts to teach Black history have been openly opposed by elected officials.

The NAACP in May issued a travel advisory declaring Florida “hostile to Black Americans” following what the organization called Gov. Ron DeSantis' "aggressive attempts to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools."

But several of the bills discussed at the council hearing remain in the early stages of development, and it’s unclear what their prospects are. These include the proposal by Councilmember Carmen De La Rosa to create the school diversity post.

She pointed to UCLA’s Civil Rights Project which in 2021 found New York to be “the most segregated state in the nation for Black students” and second-most segregated for Latino students, after California, nearly 70 years after the Supreme Court struck down laws separating students by race.

“This is the right moment to try a new strategy and I believe this legislation, placing some of that responsibility on our civil rights arm, will make a difference,” said De La Rosa. “Many attempts and calls to integrate our schools have failed.”

Sideya Sherman, an Adams appointee who serves as the commissioner of the city’s Office of Equity, indicated that although the administration “shares the council’s commitment to increasing diversity across our school system” it had concerns about the role of a monitor and whether it would be “duplicative” of existing efforts in other departments, including the Department of Education.

Sherman did express support for other initiatives, including a bill sponsored by Councilmember Nantasha Williams that would require anti-racism training for city employees. Sherman said any such training should include managers in addition to other city employees.

“We don't think anti-racism should only be for frontline workers,” Sherman said.