Testimony of Angela Reformato, UFT Chapter Leader Citywide Guidance Counselor Chapter before City Council Education Committee

Nov 18, 2004 5:43 PM

Good morning, Madam Chairwoman and distinguished members of the Education Committee. I am Angela Reformato, citywide Chapter Leader of the Guidance Counselors Chapter of the United Federation of Teachers. I am speaking today on behalf of the UFT and the 2500 guidance counselors I represent.

A year ago, Chancellor Klein announced a radical remaking of the high school admissions procedures, with bold promises of a new fairness, openness and simplicity. Today, we meet amidst signs that something is seriously amiss in the Chancellor’s brave new world of high school admissions. The thousands of students who were not successfully placed before school began this year; the lengthy lines and long waits that confronted parents seeking to enroll their children in high school this past September; the postponed and late high school fairs; the condemnatory public words of the Chancellor’s own citywide high school parents’ council. All point to a chaotic, poorly managed change process which has sowed more confusion than clarity and bred more disorganization than a smooth, orderly functioning of a vital public service.

Unfortunately, today we can only conduct an autopsy, trying to determine what went wrong and why. And that task is important, if we are to avoid a repeat of last year’s missteps. For example, it’s possible that many students and their families could have been spared unnecessary anxiety and disappointment if this Committee had held hearings months ago when the inadequacies of the Chancellor’s plans for revamping high schools admissions first became evident.

Here is what needs to be fixed in the new high school admissions process:

First, the new procedures are very similar to the system of college applications and admissions. For all of the talk of unlimited choices and apparent simplicity, these procedures work best for those with a rather sophisticated understanding of the process. To cite just one example, it is important that a student include among her twelve choices a couple of “safe” schools which are certain to admit someone with her grades, or she may well find herself, as thousands of students did, being admitted to none of her choices. Most students and their families will not grasp the importance of having a couple of “safe” choices, much less be able to identify such choices, unless there is a guidance counselor with a good grasp of the procedures who can explain the choices to them.

Yet there are far too few guidance counselors for the middle and junior high school population, and they generally work with caseloads of 500 to 800 students. The new high school admissions process is computerized, but amazingly most guidance counselors in the middle and junior high schools don’t have their own desktop computer to access the program. Worse still, many guidance counselors never received training in the new admissions process, since the notice for that training was not sent directly to counselors but was sent instead to principals — many of whom never passed on the information. And some schools have teachers, social workers and even parent coordinators working on high schools admissions without appropriate preparation and professional training. As a consequence, too many students and their families never receive the counseling they need to make informed choices in their best interest. The small corps of overworked middle and junior high school counselors simply can not support this new system of high school admissions by themselves.

Secondly, once again this year the initial admissions process will not include a large number of new small secondary schools slated to open next September. When these new schools, estimated at fifty this year, are finally announced, students will be required to submit an amended application that includes the new schools. This process is unfair both to the students who make their decisions without knowledge of the full range of choices and to the new schools that must scramble at the eleventh hour to fill their rosters.

Thirdly, in the name of fairness, the new procedures rigidly employ unforgiving rules that allow for no exceptions. But all students are not alike, and identical treatment of students from radically different circumstances can itself be quite unfair. Surely there is a better balance to be found, one that does not go so far to the extreme of such absolute rules and still manages to avoid the old system of personal influence and privilege. The thousands of appeals that were generated last year – which the system could not possibly have properly processed – are the direct result of such unforgiving rules.

Lastly, the time frame for this entire process is much too short and needs to be extended by at least a month at the front end of the process.

The men and women who organize the high school admissions process have done a sterling job under the most difficult conditions, making extraordinary efforts to keep the airplane of high school admissions flying after the Chancellor decided to rebuild it in mid-flight. Without the tireless work of dedicated New York City public school educators there would have been far more disruption and chaos and many more disappointed students than we had.

One thing is clear: The problems in high school admissions must be addressed somehow – either by revising this system or working with guidance counselors to devise a new one that better accommodates the needs and concerns of students and parents. The sooner we act the better for everyone concerned.

Thank you.