| Mark Twain Intermediate School 239 for the Gifted and Talented | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1972 |
| Type | Public (magnet) |
| Principal | Karen Ditolla |
| Faculty | approx. 140- (changes with substitute teachers) |
| Students | approx. 1,200 |
| Grades | 6-8 |
| Location | 2401 Neptune Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, United States |
| District | 21 |
| Yearbook | 'Reflections' |
| Newspaper | 'The Pilot' |
| Website | is239.schoolwires.com |
Mark Twain Intermediate School 239, also known as "Twain," is a public middle school in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, New York. It is known for its academic rigor and talent classes.
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In 1972, the NAACP brought suit in Hart V. Community School Board 21 in the United States District Court, charging that Mark Twain Junior High School 239 was unconstitutionally segregated. The school is located in Coney Island, a predominantly African American and Hispanic section of the school district and in fact had about an 85% percent minority enrollment. Judge Weinstein found the plaintiffs were correct in that the school was unconstitutionally segregated.
The remedy plan proposed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was developed by Professor Dan Dodson of New York University and would have compelled the busing of pupils throughout the district for integration purposes. The school board plan was to make Mark Twain a magnet school for the gifted and talented and thus attract sufficient white pupils on a voluntary basis to integrate the school, and at the same time, all the middle schools in the district. The plan was the product of more than 150 people representing a broad spectrum of input from community, parent, District 21 and Brooklyn College professionals.
Judge Weinstein then appointed a master professor, Curtis Burger of Columbia University Law School to report back to him with a recommendation. The recommendation basically was to accept the school board's plan and the judge so ordered in July 1974.
Mark Twain Junior High School 239 for the Gifted and Talented opened as a magnet school effective September 1975 beginning with grade 7, phasing in grades 8 and 9 over a three year period and was integrated to the ratio of white pupils to minority pupils in the district which was 7 to 3 at that time. Discriminatory policies are used to maintain this ratio; recently, a student of Indian descent was denied admission even though a white student of similar capabilities would have been admitted.[1]
In February 2008, a federal judge ended the desegregation order, stating that the school had been effectively desegregated. Note that, as a magnet school, Mark Twain was now desirable to attend, and the desegregationist policies effectively excluded non-whites. The situation was also influenced by demographic shifts in the neighborhood, which had become steadily less white since the initial ruling. The decision brought Mark Twain into compliance with the then-recent Supreme Court decision Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education case, which declared any race-based techniques for school assignment, regardless of the purpose.[2]