The middle school in northern Manhattan is named after Booker T. Washington, a champion of education for African-Americans. But in a district where half the students are Hispanic and black, less than a quarter of the 852 students in this selective, high-performing school are from those groups.
Now Booker T. Washington on West 107th Street, also known as Middle School 54, is at the center of a debate over segregation in New York City’s public schools.
In the absence of a coordinated policy by the education department, District 3 — a diverse and highly segregated school district that covers the Upper West Side and Harlem — came up with its own desegregation plan for its middle schools, including M.S. 54, which would require them to set aside seats for children with low test scores.
The plan is one of an increasing number of desegregation efforts around the city led by local education officials and parents. And while this plan has met with resistance, some of it captured on a viral video of a meeting of angry parents at another District 3 school, chroniclers of the city’s fitful desegregation efforts see a growing recognition across demographic lines that segregation is a problem that needs to, and can be, addressed.