Keeping Score
A year inside a divided Brooklyn school building trying to unite through sports
A co-production of The Bell and WNYC Studios
Welcome to the John Jay Educational Campus in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
If you stand on the sidewalk facing the school on a weekday morning and watch as students of different backgrounds stream through the double doors, you would probably think, “Wow, this is such a diverse school.”
But don’t be fooled. As soon as the students pass through the metal detectors, they are sorted into four separate schools on four separate floors. There are big differences in who goes to which school. You wouldn’t believe how much a single flight of stairs can shape your education.
We know this because we go to school on the John Jay campus, and we learn on those separate floors.
The first floor is Cyberarts Studio Academy, or CASA. The second floor is John Jay School for Law. The third floor is Millennium Brooklyn. The fourth floor is Park Slope Collegiate, or PSC.
For a decade, CASA, Law and PSC shared a sports program called the Jayhawks. Millennium chose to play separately with a sister school in Manhattan. They were the Phoenixes.
Then, in the spring of 2021, after years of advocacy from students and parents, the administrators decided to take a step toward unity. They merged the two sports programs into a single program: the John Jay Jaguars.
Keeping Score tells the inside story of the first year of the sports merger, plus the history of our divided campus and how decisions made by adults affect the lives of students like us. We hope you enjoy it.
— The Miseducation team
“We’re conditioned to just ignore each other when we pass by the other schools. And that sucks.”
“I remember distinctly when we were told that an elite high school would be coming in to our building and that they now had money to improve our campus.”
“I feel like we should be one school — well not one school, but... I feel like all students should have a bond with each other.”
“I very quickly started to pick up on this language of like: ‘We’re not John Jay. Those kids are John Jay. We’re Millennium. We’re separate.’”
Data Dive
Segregated by a Staircase
New York City public schools are among the most segregated in the nation. Contrary to popular belief, school segregation is not merely a product of segregated neighborhoods. In many cases, including at the John Jay Campus, segregation exists between schools in the same building.
2021 Enrollment Data from NYC Department of Education
Economic Stratification
A school’s Economic Need Index (ENI) pulls from various data sources to closely approximate the percentage of students from economically disadvantaged households. Millennium’s ENI is roughly half the rate of the other three schools on the John Jay Campus.
2021 Economic Need Index Data from NYC Department of Education
Enrollment Over Time
In an “Educational Impact Statement” released in December 2010, the NYC Department of Education stated: “Millennium Brooklyn … would serve grades 9-12 with approximately 425-450 students when it achieves full scale and completes its phase-in.”
But when Millennium reached full scale in 2014-15, it enrolled 565 students. Last year, it enrolled 691.
School by School Stats
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2020-21 Enrollment: 395
Student Demographics
Asian: 5% | Black: 38% | Hispanic: 43% | White: 10%
Economic Need Index: 71%
Students with Disabilities: 26%
English Language Learners: 7%
Teacher Diversity
Asian: N/A* | Black: 26% | Hispanic: 18% | White: 49%
*This means that privacy laws prevent the NYC DOE from reporting this data because the total number is fewer than five.
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2020-21 Enrollment: 691
Student Demographics
Asian: 17% | Black: 12% | Hispanic: 17% | White: 46%
Economic Need Index: 40%
Students with Disabilities: 16%
English Language Learners: <1%
Teacher Diversity
Asian: 8% | Black: N/A* | Hispanic: N/A* | White: 73%
*This means that privacy laws prevent the NYC DOE from reporting this data because the total number is fewer than five.
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2020-21 Enrollment: 494
Student Demographics
Asian: 2% | Black: 55% | Hispanic: 35% | White: 4%
Economic Need Index: 78%
Students with Disabilities: 22%
English Language Learners: 5%
Teacher Diversity
Asian: N/A* | Black: 24% | Hispanic: N/A* | White: 53%
*This means that privacy laws prevent the NYC DOE from reporting this data because the total number is fewer than five.
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2020-21 Enrollment: 239
Student Demographics
Asian: 2% | Black: 46% | Hispanic: 41% | White: 7%
Economic Need Index: 81%
Students with Disabilities: 22%
English Language Learners: 15%
Teacher Diversity
Asian: N/A* | Black: 67% | Hispanic: N/A* | White: 28%
*This means that privacy laws prevent the NYC DOE from reporting this data because the total number is fewer than five.
Bonus Material
teaching materials
Hello teachers! We’re excited for your students to listen to and discuss the Keeping Score podcast series.
Because the podcast dives into issues of race and equity in public schools (and may elicit strong, differing opinions from your students), we recommend creating or revisiting classroom community agreements before engaging in discussions about the series. Facing History offers a thorough guide for “Creating a Classroom Contract.”
For each episode of the series, we have put together a student listening guide that includes a mix of questions designed to prompt thoughtful reflection, analysis and inquiry.
For additional tools and activities that might pair well with this series, we recommend checking out the Community Inquiry Teaching Strategies from Learning for Justice.
As you and your students dig into the series, we would love to hear how it goes! Please get in touch with us at info@bellvoices.org.
Our Team
Renika Jack is a recent graduate of Cyberarts Studio Academy. After completing the Miseducation reporting internship, she joined The Bell’s team as a program assistant. Originally from Guyana, Renika moved to New York City in 2019. She has worked with The Bell’s Miseducation Podcast since her junior year of high school. She enjoys writing stories of her life and conducting interviews. In her free time Renika listens to music or goes on mini adventures with her friends all around NYC. She hopes to major in journalism in college and become a journalist for the New York Times or a News Anchor for CBS or Good Morning America.
Mariah Morgan is a 17-year-old Haitian American who worked as a Miseducation podcast reporter in her sophomore and junior year at Park Slope Collegiate. She has been a three-year varsity volleyball player and former cheerleader on the John Jay campus. She is a very active member of Park Slope Collegiate’s Student Government, as well as a member of the Campus Council (a student group composed of members from each school). She has also been a student representative to PSC’s School Leadership Team for two years. Mariah comes from a very diverse family who believe in antiracist fight back and organizing. She was very involved in the discussions leading up to the sports merger and has been advocating for more equitable sports involvement on the John Jay Campus for years.
Jacob Mestizo worked as a Miseducation podcast reporter in his junior and senior year at John Jay School for Law. He describes himself as an outgoing, hard-working person who loves helping people. While working on this story with WNYC Studios, he enjoyed learning the process of making a podcast, including how to record with professional equipment. He also enjoyed forming friendships with new students from other schools within the campus.
A first generation Iraqi-American, Noor Muhsin worked as a Miseducation podcast reporter in her junior year of high school at Millennium Brooklyn. In her free time she loves watching movies, reading, and pestering her family and friends to hang out. Passionate about science, particularly space, Noor hopes to explore a science major in college. Her dream is to work at NASA or anywhere she can explore space.
Thyan Nelson worked as a Miseducation podcast reporter during his junior and senior year at John Jay School for Law. He chose the school because he wanted to do something in the Law enforcement field, for which the school gave him opportunities. After graduation, he plans to join the Marines.
Lauren Valme worked as a Miseducation Podcast reporter during her sophomore and junior year at Park Slope Collegiate. She enjoys speaking with others and using her background to connect with people as she conducts interviews. She hopes to use this experience with The Bell as a way to look at the world and use it to shape the kind of person she wishes to be in the future. In her free time Lauren plays volleyball with friends and learns various Tik Tok dances to do with friends. She plans to go to college and pursue a career in the medical field.
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Special thanks to Yachin Parham, who took the photos you see on this page.