Editorials from around New York

Recent editorials of statewide and national interest from New York’s newspapers:

A Plan to Diversify New York’s Segregated Schools

The New York Times

Sept. 2

New York’s public schools are among the most racially segregated in the country.

That’s partly a result of decades of policies that have allowed parents of well-off white and many Asian students to steer their children to the most sought-after public schools, while largely consigning the Hispanic and black children, who make up an overwhelming majority of students, to underperforming schools.

A commission formed by Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2017 has proposed major steps to change this. In a report released on Aug. 27, the School Diversity Advisory Group recommended replacing gifted and talented programs in elementary schools with magnet and enrichment programs aimed at identifying advanced learners from every background.

The report also called on the city to end the use of admissions screening criteria for middle schools and high schools in cases where they have been shown to disadvantage minorities, those with learning disabilities, students for whom English is a second language or students living in homeless shelters. About a quarter of the city’s middle and high schools consider grades, attendance and other criteria to admit students. But those schools tend to be sought-after by white and Asian parents with resources or know-how, making them a driver of segregation. Under this proposal, schools could still use some admissions criteria as long as they are admitting a more diverse group of students.

The committee made a compelling case that segregation has been made worse over the past three decades by the expansion of gifted and talented programs in elementary schools that have largely failed to enroll black and Hispanic students.

While Hispanic and black children make up 41 percent and 24 percent, respectively, of all kindergarten students, they make up just 10 percent and 8 percent of offers to the citywide gifted and talented program, which begins in kindergarten and runs through the fifth grade, according to the report. Children as young as 4 must receive a score of 97 or higher on the test to be admitted to the citywide program. Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration began using the exam in 2007, hoping to increase access for black and Hispanic students. Instead, it had the opposite effect.

By high school, the gap is just as wide. Just 6 percent of students at selective high schools are black, and 10 percent Hispanic, even though black students make up 25 percent of high school students overall, and Hispanic students, 41 percent. It’s clear that these programs are failing in their stated purpose: to identify all of the city’s most talented, ambitious students and help them succeed.

The commission outlined specific practices selective high schools use for admission that disadvantage black and Hispanic students, like attendance and lateness. Three-quarters of black and Hispanic students miss more than five days of school per year, according to the report, one measure used by some schools. That’s a snapshot of the grinding, generational poverty they face. Last year, one in 10 students lived in temporary housing, immersed in the trauma of homelessness.

To truly remake the system, the city needs to come up with a comprehensive plan to educate these extremely vulnerable children. But rethinking gifted and talented programs and changing admission practices for selective schools can at least make the city fairer for tens of thousands of children. The commission’s proposals are promising, and deserving of serious, thoughtful consideration from City Hall.

If Mayor de Blasio and the schools chancellor, Richard Carranza, adopt them, the city is likely to face fierce resistance from some parents.

Many Asian parents protested a proposal from Mr. de Blasio last year that would have removed an admissions exam to some selective high schools in the hopes of increasing abysmal black and Hispanic enrollment. Backlash to the proposal was severe in part because the exam has served as a pipeline to the schools for many Asian students. The proposal required approval by the State Legislature in Albany, and went nowhere. For many white parents, the gifted and talented programs have served as a reason to remain invested in the public schools.

Of course, black and Hispanic parents have also sought alternatives for their children: Thousands have abandoned their neighborhood schools for charter or private schools. Others have said they want more gifted and talented programs in schools that are heavily black and Hispanic. Under the current system, that would almost certainly require spending millions on test preparation for children as young as 4, a dubious exercise, according to education experts. Further, the inevitable competition for seats in fast-gentrifying neighborhoods could soon once again leave poor black and Hispanic students at a disadvantage. And, significantly, expanding these programs is unlikely to address the racial segregation so embedded in New York’s schools.

The best way to keep students in the system is to improve all the city’s schools. But the pursuit of that goal is no substitute for addressing inequality right now.

Some recommendations in the report can - and should - be adopted right away.

One important step is to ban a practice allowing high schools to give preference in admissions to students who live in the surrounding neighborhood. The high school admissions process is citywide, and thousands of students regularly travel throughout the five boroughs to attend the school of their choice. Why should it be harder for a student to win a seat at a high-performing school on the Upper East Side simply because she lives in the Bronx?

Removing the entry test for the city’s gifted and talented program is also overdue, to stop an absurd practice of testing the reasoning and language skills of children so young. Parents with resources can often spend hours - and in some cases hundreds of dollars - to prepare their children for the exam. Many experts say a better system would wait until children are significantly older, in middle school, to begin identifying advanced learners, using criteria that draw students from every background. So long as the city’s gifted and talented programs continue to exclude black and Hispanic children, there’s a strong argument for eliminating them.

Skeptics of integration efforts like to point out that there aren’t enough white students in the public school system to racially balance every city school. That’s no excuse for failing to address segregation where it’s possible to do so. Many neighborhoods are diverse, yet have schools that are nearly all-black and Hispanic, or all white and Asian. The goal should be to have more schools that reflect the demographics of the city at large, a standard the report concludes could be met in the next decade.

The commission identified nine school districts across the city where significant racial diversity in the neighborhoods hasn’t translated to more integrated schools. The panel recommended requiring those districts to come up with integration initiatives. Three, including one in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and another on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, have already done so. Another three have begun the process, according to the report. City officials say they are strongly encouraging others to adopt integration plans. Requiring every district across the city to do so, and setting measurable goals, would send a far stronger message.

The recommendations from the commission aren’t binding. On Tuesday, Mr. de Blasio dodged a question about the report on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” saying he planned to assess the findings before giving his thoughts on the matter. Fair enough.

But to make any meaningful change, Mr. de Blasio will have to summon real mettle on educational inequality, something he has claimed is one of his signature issues.

The report has laid out a path toward ending entrenched segregation and inequity in the nation’s largest school system. The question now is whether the mayor who ran on the promise of confronting inequality will make good on that promise.

Online: https://nyti.ms/2ks82Wz

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Trump’s Manufacturing SOS

Wall Street Journal

Sept. 3

Mayday, mayday. The U.S. manufacturing boom is showing signs of distress. Business investment has plunged amid growing trade uncertainty, and another warning came Tuesday in the Institute for Supply Management survey that showed manufacturing contracted last month for the first time since 2016.

ISM’s manufacturing index declined to 49.1% in August from 51.2% in July and 59.5% last September, signaling an end to a 35-month expansion that has been losing steam for four months. The employment (47.4 and new export orders (43.3%) indexes registered even steeper declines.

“Incoming sales seem to be slowing down, and this is usually our busiest season,” one furniture manufacturer reported, blaming “concerns about the economy and tariffs.” An electronics manufacturer noted “pockets of short supply, allocation, long lead times and the like. Tariffs continue to be a strain on the supply chain and the economy overall.”

None of this is surprising. Businesses from Best Buy to Caterpillar this summer reported that President Trump ’s trade brawls were disrupting supply chains, reducing exports, raising material costs and delaying investment decisions. IHS Markit reported on Tuesday that its manufacturing purchasing index is the lowest since September 2009.

Uncertainty about demand, prices and tariffs is causing business to scale back new equipment purchases. John Deere noted in its last quarter earnings that “concerns about export-market access, near-term demand for commodities such as soybeans, and overall crop conditions, have caused many farmers to postpone major equipment purchases.”

Slower global growth has pushed down oil prices and caused small shale drillers to tighten their belts. Steel makers have been laying off workers amid lower demand. According to ISM, primary and fabricated metals were among the seven manufacturing industries that contracted last month, which may augur a more severe slowdown among downstream users such as autos.

Manufacturers have added 55,000 jobs this year compared to 162,000 during the same period last year. While manufacturing makes up a small share of the U.S. economy and employment, it can be a canary since it is sensitive to business demand.

Business investment declined 6.1% in the second quarter_the biggest contraction since the first quarter of 2011_and nicked 1.1 percentage points off GDP. Net exports subtracted another 0.72 percentage points. Americans have kept spending, but they will eventually pull back too if hiring and wage growth slows.

Consumer sentiment has been mixed in recent economic reports. Most seem to feel good about their own circumstances, but they are worried about the whipsawing stock market and erratic trade policies. The latest tariffs on China will hit a swath of consumer goods including TVs, shoes and Bluetooth ear buds.

About 70% of shoes sold in the U.S. are imported from China, and some are already subject to tariffs as high as 67.5%. The 15% tariffs that took effect on Sept. 1 will raise the price of hunting boots on average by $40. Chinese exporters will swallow some of the tariff costs due to a weakening yuan, but consumers will probably have to eat some too.

Mr. Trump can rightly boast that the U.S. has added more manufacturing jobs since he took office than during Barack Obama ’s entire second term. But he could lose his economic bragging rights due to trade policies that have done serious economic damage without the gains he promised. Reordering global supply chains built over a generation turns out to have far greater economic costs than the Trump trade warriors imagined. The political costs may follow.

Online: https://on.wsj.com/2lZb3OR

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In the crosshairs: America’s largest brick-and-mortar retailer draws a line on guns

New York Daily News

Sept. 4

This matters: One of the most powerful companies in America, a corporation controlled by conservatives, whose stores serve as de facto public squares in many small towns, is ending sales of certain short-barrel rifle and handgun ammunition. And asking customers to stop openly carrying firearms in its stores.

It’s a devastating real-world indictment of the “more guns, less crime” orthodoxy that Republicans in Congress still pitifully cling to against all evidence, made all the more powerful because an El Paso Walmart was where a gunman killed 22 people last month, a month in which 53 people died in mass shootings.

And yet, one retailer’s willingness to swim against the tide of the United States’ enduring gun insanity depresses as much as it impresses. Because the exception here proves the rule: In most American states, there are precious few curbs on anyone buying an assault rifle capable of killing scores of people. Or purchasing a high-capacity magazine enabling a mass murderer to tear bodies apart without pausing to reload. Or getting a hold of loads of ammo, cheap, to carry out the killing.

Most guns are bought not at big-box stores, but at smaller retailers. Gun stores number more than 60,000 coast to coast. That’s more than there are grocery stores, McDonald’s and Starbucks combined. Online sales enable easy purchase without even having to leave the couch, and often without a background check.

Walmart has made an important statement: that a retailer beloved in deep red America need not continue to bow before the altar of the gun.

But unless and until Congress requires universal background checks on all firearm sales; strengthens red-flag laws; and outright bans assault rifles and high-capacity magazines that are the equipment of choice for so many massacres, America will remain one nation, under the gun.

Online: https://bit.ly/2lyyUo6

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Time to save our planet is now

Plattsburgh Press-Republican

Aug. 29

“Eco-anxiety” is a growing psychological issue, bringing both positive and negative effects.

The term refers to feelings of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) or panic attacks related to overwhelming concern about an environment crisis.

Plenty of reasons for anxiety exist; it’s a rare day that doesn’t see a new article about the impact of rising temperatures on our planet.

The outlook is not pretty: deadly heat waves, vast tracts of land unable to support agriculture, flooded regions and areas of severe drought, frequent serious storms, forced migration of people, loss of animals species … the list goes on.

The feeling of doom seems especially heavy among young people, some of whom are even starting to question whether they should have children. Should they bring kids into a world that would be so inhospitable, where life might be much more difficult than it is now?

A Yale University and George Mason University survey taken this year shows 69 percent of Americans are “somewhat worried” about climate change and 29 percent are “very worried,” the highest percentages since the surveys started in 2008.

That means 98 percent of Americans have at least some concern about the environment. And we worry about that other 2 percent. At this point, climate-deniers are not just ignorant; they are dangerous, because they are an obstacle to action.

The tide of bad environmental news is leading to depression, but we can’t let a feeling of helplessness create inertia.

The tide can be turned. Increasing armies of citizens are demanding action from their governments. Look at the groundswell of voices protesting the burning of the Amazon jungle, where social-media outcry and news stories led to action by world leaders.

Change must happen on an individual and local scale, as well, and progress is being made in the City and Town of Plattsburgh toward reducing the carbon footprint of this region’s biggest community.

Scientist Owen Gaffney, who co-authored a paper that details achievable steps that governments, businesses and individuals can take to slow global warming, recently told the BBC that eco-anxiety is “the right response to the scale of the challenge.”

Gaffney said people should remain positive. He believes the world will rally to take on climate change if individuals do their part to raise awareness and adjust their own lives.

“We live in an age where people have more power than at any time in history. Look at your sphere of influence - employer, networks, family - and influence them. We don’t need to convince 100 percent of people, only 25 percent; then an idea can go from marginal to mainstream,” Gaffney said.

He points out that the methods needed to tackle climate change are known.

“The science is loud, clear and simple: We need to halve global emissions of greenhouse gases by 2030. All the solutions exist to do that, and if we implement them, then more people will be living in cleaner cities, eating healthy diets and working in resilient, buoyant communities.”

So we encourage a positive but strong and swift approach to climate change.

The time to take action is now, and the United States needs to be a leader, not a hindrance, in the effort to protect our planet’s health.

Online: https://bit.ly/2lE0DUg

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State must finish bus camera law

Utica Observer-Dispatch

Sept. 4

Under current law, a ticket for illegally passing a stopped school bus displaying a red visual signal can only be issued by a police officer who witnesses the violation. But a new state law will allow school districts to put cameras on stop arms to record the delinquents.

But there’s a glitch. And it needs to be addressed.

Districts must ask municipalities to foot the bill for the cameras. The law doesn’t require them to do so, and this might be an expense communities won’t want to bear. Some reports estimate the cameras costing about $2,000 per bus. That’s pretty steep.

State Sen. Joseph Griffo, R-Rome, agrees the camera bill is a good one, but says the Legislature ramrodded it through without giving it any thought. Griffo said the quick rush to address issues during the past session will require lawmakers to go back and “fix” things, bus cameras being one of them.

Passing a law is one thing, but school districts don’t need another unfunded mandate. Griffo agrees. He thinks since the state approved the measure, it needs to find a funding mechanism - at least initially - that won’t handcuff school districts.

He’s right. Cameras to catch delinquent motorists who put our children in danger is a great idea. But passing a law to nail them without any way to pay for it isn’t the way to do it. Lawmakers need to revisit the issue and finish the job.

Online: https://bit.ly/2jXoTAo