Private school in NYC ends policy to separate homerooms by race

In New York City, an elite private school has just done an about face on a controversial plan for the upcoming school year.

The Little Red School House in the West Village, where yearly tuition runs about $46,000 per year, is popular with celebrities.

Starting in September, the school planned to separate students for homeroom based on race.

The school tested it out with two middle school grades last year. The principal defended the idea by stating that the idea is to create more opportunities for connection and support for minority students.

The principal added that "research points to the academic, social and emotional benefits of being in a classroom with others who share racial, ethnic, linguistic and cultural backgrounds."

School officials say homeroom only accounts for about 30 percent of the school day.

Critics have slammed the plan, calling it modern day segregation: archaic, divisive, and repulsive.

The school has shelved the plan.