CLARA HEMPHILL

I met with Clara Hemphill in the Upper East Side, her local neighbourhood. Taking our conversation to a cafe nearby, we discussed why we both got into the topic of school segregation. As both a parent with children in public schools, and as a journalist, Clara had dedicated a lot of time in making information about New York schools available to parents. Through InsideSchools.org, an online database of all the public schools in the city, Clara has contributed to making the process of school choice a bit easier for families.

Her work with the New School -- some of which influenced of my own early research -- focuses on the issue of school segregation and the benefits of integration. We discussed this at length, and drew upon issues such as school funding, co-location, small schools and small classrooms, the state of school buildings, the resistance to school integration, and the need for principals and school admin staff to mitigate conflicts between different members of their school.

She commends Mayoral control as improving the public school system in New York overall, before that there were bigger issues with failing schools and small school populations, and the reasons to be positive about the future. She highlighted that issues to do with school segregation grows increasingly complex as new populations move into New York. The issue is no longer about black and white populations, New York is much more diverse compared to how it was 30 years ago. And just because a school may be racially integrated, it might not necessarily be economically diverse.

After our discussion in the cafe, we quickly popped by the local Pre-K-5 school in the area: Manhattan New School. Clara mentioned that during recess, the school blocks off the traffic from both sides of the street and allow the children to play there. The school does have a small playground in the back, but the street has now become a frequently used space. The interior of the school was grand, as one of the older buildings from the era of large public schools, MNS has generous ceilings, and plenty of natural light spilling into it. A lot of the newer schools that I've visited seem to still be modelled on this layout.

To wrap up our conversation, I asked her what room or space she most remembers from her own school days and she replied 'I just remember spending a lot of time outdoors.'