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Queens lawmakers criticize city’s plan to replace
Gifted and Talented Program with ‘Brilliant NYC’
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | OCT. 15 - OCT. 21, 2021 23
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
Queens lawmakers are
speaking out against Mayor Bill
de Blasio’s decision to phase out
the controversial Gifted and
Talented (G&T) Program in
New York City’s public schools
and instead make it more accessible
to all children, including
better outreach into all communities.
The mayor, along with
Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter,
announced the end of the
G&T program on “The Brian
Lehrer Show” on Friday, Oct. 8,
and introduced a new structure
for accelerated learning for individual
kids beginning in third
grade that won’t separate them
into special classes.
“I just want to say this is a really
exciting day and the chancellor
and I are so happy that
we’re going to end something
that I think was a mistake all
along, a single test for 4-yearolds
that determined so much
of their future,” de Blasio said.
“We’re going to reach tens of
thousands of more kids with accelerated
learning, and so this
is a really important day for
New York City.”
According to Porter, no single
test should determine any
child’s future.
“What I know from being
a teacher and a leader, is that
there are so many more students
who are gifted or talented,
who are brilliant, who have
special gifts, and I think this
is a moment about creating opportunities
for all students to
demonstrate their powerful
learning abilities and for teachers
to really tap into those gifts,”
Porter said.
The city’s plan, Brilliant
NYC, will be the blueprint for
accelerated learning for all elementary
students in NYC. A
citywide forum and community
meetings will be held to discuss
the changes, but dates have not
been announced.
According to the mayor, Gifted
and Talented students will
remain in their programming
without disruption to their
learning, and Brilliant NYC
will be phased in for grades one
through three. Starting with
kindergarten in September
2022, accelerated learning will
be offered to all 65,000 kindergarteners.
“We’re going to have kids
learning altogether in one classroom
where the kids who have
special abilities are given the
extra help, the extra attention to
go farther ahead in their studies
with help from teachers, with
team teaching in some cases,
with digital education,” de Blasio
said.
According to Porter, while
many classrooms are operating
with kids learning at a variety
of paces, they’re adding a component
of additional training for
teachers to recognize those talents
and provide individualized
instruction for students.
The elimination of the G&T
program addresses racial disparities
in public schools that
opponents say discriminate
against Black and Hispanic
children, while those accepted
into the program were either
white or of Asian descent.
However, not everyone is
in favor of the change. Several
Queens lawmakers criticized
the mayor’s decision to scrap
the program, saying it should
instead be reformed.
Senator Joseph Addabbo Jr.,
a member of the Senate Education
Committee, said de Blasio’s
decision to phase out the G&T
program, rather than making
it more inclusive with improved
resources, is shortsighted and
inappropriate, especially as his
term ends in a couple of months.
“I believe the Gifted and
Talented Program should be
improved to make it more accessible
to all children, provide
better outreach into all communities
and to ensure every
student has fair access to preparatory
classes and tutors,”
Addabbo said. “At this point any
decisions should be left up to the
next mayoral administration,
with extensive input from citywide
communities, especially
from concerned parents, to
determine what is appropriate
for the future of our schoolchildren.”
Addabbo, who is currently
sponsoring legislation to expand
and improve G&T programs,
said the bill would create
more advanced and G&T
programs and classes, creating
a pathway for top students to
develop throughout their time
in elementary and intermediate
schools.
Furthermore, the bill would
allow students to be admitted to
advanced classes at the elementary
school level via academic
merit, rather than an admissions
exam, giving some gifted
children — who may not perform
well in a test setting — an
avenue for admission to these
programs.
Senator John Liu, chairperson
of the Senate’s Committee
on NYC Education, said the
G&T program has been an integral
option for generations of
NYC school kids who learn at an
accelerated rate for their grade
level, and has offered hope for
thousands of parents who otherwise
would have completely lost
confidence in public schools.
“There’s no question that
G&T has also been the subject of
criticism and controversy, and
perhaps changes are in order.
However, given the magnitude
and impact of such changes,
public discourse is absolutely
essential, and Mayor de Blasio
understood that when he said
on Jan. 31 that he will have an
intensive public engagement
with all stakeholders to think
through what’s right for the
future,” Liu said. “It’s utterly
laughable for de Blasio to announce
the changes and then
claim that he will now engage
stakeholders in the next two
months.”
According to Liu, the mayor’s
sudden fiat that G&T programs
will be eliminated is
“disingenuous if not outright
detestable,” given that there is
not nearly enough time left in
his term to have any meaningful
public engagement and for
him to put any changes in place.
“He leaves the next administration
with yet another mess to
clean up, and with public school
parents and their children once
again suffering the consequences,”
Liu said.
Congresswoman Grace Meng
is urging the city to immediately
reconsider its decision.
“Gifted and Talented curriculums
have provided students
with crucial challenges that
help them reach their full potential
in the classroom,” Meng
said. “Phasing out this program
is a mistake. Families in my district
and across New York City
have anxiously waited for when
the promised public engagement
process would begin. Reforming
this process would be
the harder choice, and instead
of making any adjustments, the
city is taking the easier way out
by implementing a mass elimination
of the program.”
Read more on QNS.com.
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