A school in the modern-day United States is reviving the olden discriminatory practice of segregation. The parents of students at a prestigious New York City private school are outraged that school administrators are planning to place non-white students in the same homeroom come fall 2018.
The practice had already been in place for seventh and eighth graders since 2017.
The Little Red School House in the West Village of NYC has tuition costs of $45,485. It is considered a progressive school and caters to students in the kindergarten through the twelfth grade. Each grade accommodates 40 students and there are two homerooms in the entire school. Students stay in their homerooms for 30% of the day.
The race rule was implemented by the school’s Director Phillip Kassen. Parents began expressing their concern after catching wind of the program in June. Following an inquiry from The Post, Kassen released a statement via email to parents last Wednesday specifying the race placement program.
Kessen also mentioned on June 12 that he planned to review the program. On June 20, Kessen sent parents another e-mail stating that the program would no longer be in effect but he would use race as a “determinant.”
One mother of a student at The Little Red School mentioned that a majority of the student’s in her child’s grade were combined in the same class for three years.
Kessen earned $403,039 in 2016 as director of the luxurious school.
“How could you possibly do that? I don’t know if I would necessarily send a child to a school that separated by race,” commented Amanda Uhry, president of Manhattan Private School Advisors.
Uhry continued, “1964, remember that? We had segregation in America. What is this? It’s segregation!”
An academic consultant explained that the abovementioned policy was instituted to quell isolation between African-American and Hispanic students.
There was no mention of any disciplinary action towards Kessen or The Little Red School House.
