Boot camp to improve diversity at elite NYC schools also lacks diversity, data shows

Today's newsletter is curated by James Ramsay

Weather: ☁️❗Partly cloudy, more wildfire smoke hanging around, highs in the lower 90s. (Here's our guide to getting through brutal, dangerous, disgusting heat.)

It's Thursday in New York City, where the elite Stuyvesant High School recently selected only three Black students as part of its latest incoming class, reviving calls for admissions reform.

But new data shows that one initiative already underway is itself lacking diversity. 

Under a plan expanded by former Mayor Bill de Blasio, 20% of seats at the city's specialized high schools are set aside for participants in the Discovery Program, a summer boot camp for students who just missed the cutoff on the schools' entrance exam but meet a threshold for economic need.

But Black and Latino students still make up a disproportionate minority of the Discovery enrollees, while Asian students are overrepresented.

Here's why advocates say the work of integrating the selective high schools needs to start at a much younger age. 

And here's what else is happening: 

• About 500 public defenders, social workers and other staff members at Brooklyn Defender Services are going on strike today — a move that could cause disruptions in courtrooms across Brooklyn and Queens.
• Central Park carriage horse supporters made their last stand at a marathon City Council hearing yesterday.
  • Earlier this week, City Council Speaker Julie Menin came out in favor of a bill to phase out the industry. 
• This year, 49 aging justices of the New York Supreme Court are seeking permission to stay on the bench past the state’s constitutionally mandated retirement age of 70. Reform advocates are worried about four of them.
• A brand new $6 billion cable running from Canada that was supposed to help power New York City during the blistering heat will likely be offline for the rest of the month, a predicament Gov. Kathy Hochul called "unacceptable."
• Mayor Zohran Mamdani yesterday appointed New York City’s first-ever “public utility advocate,” a role that will be charged with pushing for clean and affordable energy for New Yorkers.
• New Jersey has no workplace protections when it comes to extreme heat. A bill to create them is languishing.
• A man prosecutors describe as a phony real estate broker admitted this month to stealing more than $100,000 from nearly two dozen New Yorkers seeking rentals.
  • Here are several key tips to avoiding scams when looking for an apartment in New York City.

• The Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants is arguing that landlords should cover the cost of renters' credit checks.
• The City Council has added $1.5 million in funding for an initiative aimed at ultimately teaching every second grader how to swim.
• NYCHA's Marlboro Houses in Gravesend just opened a first-of-its-kind playground with a surface made of recycled wine and champagne corks from local restaurants.
• Montague Diner in Brooklyn Heights will let you keep a tab.
• You can get fancy slices at a new place by Forest Hills Stadium.
• If it's sanctioned and sober, is it still a rave?
• There's a new monkey.