1619 Project founder regrets school choice for her daughter, admits putting ideals ahead of her education

Nikole Hannah-Jones, New York Times Magazine reporter and creator of the controversial 1619 Project, acknowledged Sunday that she regretted aspects of the decision to send her daughter to predominantly Black, high-poverty public schools in Brooklyn, New York, after the now-16-year-old told her she did not receive the education she wanted — a decade after Hannah-Jones described the choice as an effort to challenge school segregation.In a newly released New York Times Magazine essay, Hannah-Jones described revisiting years of emails with her daughter Najya’s teachers and principals and confronting what she called a truth she could no longer suppress."Now I felt overcome with regret. Najya deserved better," Hannah-Jones said. "They all did. But she was mine. This girl, my only child, looked to me to protect her, to give her what she needed to thrive. And I had not chosen her."Hannah-Jones told Fox News Digital on Sunday that the broader focus should remain on families who lack the resources to pursue better educational options for their children."I hope people concerned about the choice my husband and I made for our daughter will have equal or more outrage for the thousands of Black children whose parents don’t have the resources to send them to better schools," she said. "As I write in the piece, there is no absolution to be had for any of us."POWERFUL TEACHERS' UNIONS SHARE STRIKING LINK WITH STATES STRUGGLING TO TEACH KIDS TO READCorey DeAngelis, a research fellow at The Heritage Foundation and longtime school choice advocate, responded to Hannah-Jones' essay in a statement to Fox News Digital, arguing parents should prioritize their children's individual educational needs."Parents should put their children first. They should not sacrifice them to a failing government school system in the name of ideology," DeAngelis said. "Nikole Hannah-Jones now says she regrets putting her ideals ahead of her daughter’s education. That admission is long overdue.""I welcome Nikole Hannah-Jones to the school choice revolution," he continued. "Maybe she will start to understand that pulling her daughter from the failing school system would have done more to improve those schools — through competition — than the status quo ever did. You don’t fix public schools by locking kids in them without any accountability. You fix them by giving them a reason to change their ways."NEW YORK JOINS FEDERAL SCHOOL CHOICE INITIATIVE DESPITE TRADITIONAL DEMOCRAT OPPOSITIONHannah-Jones said the realization culminated in a conversation with Najya as she was writing the essay. She apologized to her daughter after reviewing problems that had followed her through elementary and middle school."I feel like you got cheated," Hannah-Jones said. "And I’m sorry for that."Najya responded by telling her mother that she wished her own education had received greater consideration alongside Hannah-Jones' broader concerns about educational inequality."Sometimes I wish instead of always thinking about other kids, you would have thought about me. I never really got the education I wanted," Najya said.TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TOUTS ‘HARD RESET’ FOR AMERICAN SCHOOLS, VOWS TO PUT PARENTS ‘BACK IN CHARGE’Hannah-Jones’ assessment marked a shift from the position she described in a widely discussed 2016 New York Times Magazine essay, when she explained why she and her husband enrolled Najya at P.S. 307, a Brooklyn school that was then overwhelmingly Black and Latino and served a largely low-income population. Hannah-Jones said at the time she believed middle-class families could help improve segregated schools by enrolling their children and investing in them."I worried — I worry still — about whether I made the right decision for our little girl. But I knew I made the just one," Hannah-Jones said in 2016.The new essay detailed academic problems that became more apparent as Najya grew older. At Unison, her middle school, Najya earned strong grades and took honors courses, but later said she and her friends realized that they were not being sufficiently challenged. Hannah-Jones described limited homework, inexperienced teachers and gaps in her daughter's math preparation that became especially apparent after Najya entered a more academically demanding high school.CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTUREUnison Principal Emily Paige acknowledged in the essay that some attempts to accommodate students who entered the school academically behind had unintended consequences, including the decision to eliminate homework."It is important to not, in our pursuit of being antiracist, lower expectations," Paige said. "Because this is what happens, right? It’s racism under the guise of antiracism."DeAngelis told Fox News Digital that Hannah-Jones’ experience should lead her to support policies allowing education funding to follow children to schools selected by their families."Hannah-Jones can afford better options. Most families cannot," DeAngelis said. "She should fight fo