City University of New York officials yesterday expressed concern about the declining number of minorities graduating from public high schools, a trend they hope to reverse by working closely with Schools Chancellor Joel Klein.
There have been fewer black and Hispanic graduates in the New York high schools since 1999, Louise Mirrer, CUNY’s executive vice chancellor, said during testimony before the City Council’s Higher Education Committee.
Mirrer noted the percentage of black graduates in the public school system dropped from 32.2 percent in 1999 to 31 percent in 2001.
The percentage of Hispanic graduates stayed about the same – 27.8 percent in 1999 and 27.5 percent in 2001.
The city Department of Education had no immediate breakdown available for the class of 2002.
But in 2001, only 44 percent of blacks graduated in four years, and 22 percent dropped out.
And just 41 percent of Hispanics graduated on time, and 26 percent dropped out.
Lehman College president Ricardo Fernandez said a big problem is that too many minority males are not making it through high school in The Bronx, where his school is located.
He noted that 70 percent of the students at Lehman are females.