City Holds First Spanish-Only Info Session on Specialized High Schools

For years, Esther Alvarado has attended parent-teacher conferences, school meetings and events, but not as a parent — as a translator.

That's because Alvarado’s sister, who only speaks Spanish, says she would have felt alienated without having someone she trusts relay information. 

So Alvarado has stayed at her side, as a guide through the system.

“I’m trying to help [Angie] get the best education she can,” Alvarado said.

Alvarado and Angie were attending the first Spanish-language only information session for the city's nine specialized high schools. The event was part of the Department of Education’s effort to make the population of these elite schools better reflect the diversity of the city.

Last year, Latino students comprised only about 6 percent of students admitted, even though about 40 percent of students in New York City public schools are Latino.  

New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza shared those statistics with families who gathered for the event at the Bronx High School of Science, calling them a tragedy. “I want our community to have the information, the support so that your students have the opportunity to go to these schools,” he said in Spanish.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has proposed to eliminate the test-based admissions policy in favor of one that would grant admission to top-performing middle schoolers across the system.

But in the meantime, students like Angie still need to take the test. So Alvarado attended the session to gather information — not realizing it was in Spanish.

"We thought that since all the events are in English, we thought that this was going to be in English too,” she said with a laugh. “That's why I came. If we would have known it was Spanish, [Angie’s mom] would have come.”