Chancellor defends plan to scrap elite school test
Audience boos Carranza at P.S. 204 town hall
Facing a skeptical — and, at times, a booing — audience, Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza staunchly defended Mayor Bill de Blasio’s controversial proposal to eliminate the do-or-die admissions test to New York City’s elite high schools at a town hall in Bensonhurst Wednesday night.
“Let me be clear, because I’m not going to back off on this,” said Carranza, who spoke to an crowd of parents at a town hall at P.S. 204.
The city needs to “look at who is able to get into these schools and who is not” and “have a conversation,” the chancellor said.
But members of the District 20 Community Education Council, who hosted the town hall, said parents are concerned that the part of the plan involving placing a cap on the number of students from middle schools gaining admission to specialized high schools would unfairly deny their kids the chance at a top-notch education.