Council urges mayor to keep G&T Program
court corner
District Attorney Darcel Clark hires 63 ADAs
District Attorney Darcel D.
Clark announced the appointment
of 63 new assistant district
attorneys to the Bronx
District Attorney’s Offi ce.
Clark said, “This diverse
group of lawyers comes to us
from across the nation and
throughout New York City, motivated
to serve the people of
the Bronx alongside our dedicated,
diligent staff. These new
Assistant DAs will undergo
intensive training to prepare
them to help our Offi ce fulfi ll
its mission of Pursuing Justice
with Integrity.”
The new assistant district
attorneys undergo three
months of training consisting
of classroom lectures on criminal
court practice and professional
responsibility, courtroom
observation, workshops
and experiential courtroom
training designed to prepare
them for vertical prosecution
and criminal justice reform
initiatives.
The 63 who have joined the
offi ce and the law schools from
which they graduated are listed
below:
Thomas Arning, Fordham
University School of Law;
Kaitlyn Bastarache, Suffolk
University Law School; Sydney
Bertsch, Elisabeth Haub
School of Law at Pace University;
Ethan Binder, New York
Law School; Christina Borges,
St. John’s University School of
Law; Ephraim Ryan Botwinick,
Benjamin N Cardozo School of
Law; Lieselle Bumatay, Benjamin
N Cardozo School of Law;
Katelyn Callahan, Seton Hall
University School of Law; Daniel
Carlisle, Washington and
Lee University School of Law;
Carissa Caukin, New York
Law School; Kelly Christensen,
Boston University School of
Law; Danielle Ciccodicola, The
George Washington University
Law School; Ashley Clement,
Benjamin N Cardozo School
of Law Natale Corsi, Elisabeth
Haub School of Law at Pace
University; Shannon Dempsey,
St. John’s University School of
Law; Sharlene Disla, St. John’s
University School of Law; Edward
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, S 42 EPTEMBER 6-12, 2019 BTR
Englestad, University of
Richmond; Aja Espinosa,The
George Washington University
Law School; Jennifer Esposito,
Brooklyn Law School; Catherine
Fiore, Quinnipiac University
School of Law; Mendel
Forta, Benjamin N Cardozo
School of Law; Shaylin French,
Maurice A. Deane School of
Law at Hofstra University;
Mariah Genis, Georgetown
University Law Center; Elliott
Hamilton, Boston College Law
School; Jesse Hudson, William
and Mary Law School; Shelby
Hudspith, The University of
Alabama School of Law; Andrea
Ingenito, Elisabeth Haub
School of Law at Pace University;
Simon Kahng, Seton Hall
University School of Law; John
T. Komondorea, St. John’s University
School of Law; Georganne
Ladis, Elisabeth Haub
School of Law at Pace University;
Hailey Lonsford, Brooklyn
Law School; Kawan Lovelace,
City University of New
York School of Law; Miguel Lozada,
Maurice A. Deane School
of Law at Hofstra University;
Shane Magnetti, St. John’s University
School of Law; Nicholas
Marricco Albany Law School.
Ashley Martin, Elisabeth
Haub School of Law at Pace
University; Oscar Medelius
Marsano, Columbus School of
Law, The Catholic University
of America; Thomas Mosczczynski,
St. John’s University
School of Law; Tyler Mulvaney,
St. John’s University School of
Law; Morgan L. Namian, Boston
University School of Law;
Matthew Nevola, Maurice A.
Deane School of Law at Hofstra
University; Erin Pietkewicz,
Benjamin N Cardozo School of
Law; Erin Przybylinski, Case
Western Reserve University
School of Law; Gatluak Ramdiet,
University of Nebraska
Lincoln College of Law; Elizabeth
Rooney, Fordham University
School of Law; Caroline
Rowleym The Ohio State University
Moritz College of Law;
Joseph Russo, Elisabeth Haub
School of Law at Pace University;
Joseph Saputo, Elisabeth
Haub School of Law at Pace
University; Alexander Shapiro,
Elisabeth Haub School of
Law at Pace University; Mayar
Soliman, Touro Law Center;
Camila Sosa, St. John’s University
School of Law; Rachel
Steinhardt, City University of
New York School of Law; Scott
Stevenson, Notre Dame Law
School; Nicholas Tarkazikis,
Elisabeth Haub School of Law
at Pace University; Prodromos
Tsenesidis, St. John’s University
School of Law; Hasmik
Vardanyan, Elisabeth Haub
School of Law at Pace University;
Phillip Waknin, Maurice
A. Deane School of Law at
Hofstra University; Alison Wallace,
New York Law School; Nicole
Wheeler, Penn State Law;
Marie-Kendy Williams, Elisabeth
Haub School of Law at
Pace University; Daniel Young,
Albany Law School; Monique
Zabihzadeh, New York Law
School; and Melissa Zacharias,
Fordham University School of
Law.
BY MARK HALLUM
Don’t lower the standards,
raise them. That was the message
from City Council members
who rallied Wednesday at
City Hall urging the de Blasio
administration to reject a recommendation
by the School
Diversity Advisory Group to
scrap the city’s Gifted and Talented
(G&T) Program.
A group of elected offi cials
held a rally calling on Mayor
Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor
Richard Carranza to not
only stand by the program, but
to also expand it and add more
children from all walks of life.
In a Tuesday, September 3
interview with WNYC radio,
Carranza indicated that no one
should expect any changes to
the Gifted & Talented Program
this school year, which begins
Thursday, September 5. Even
so, lawmakers at the Wednesday,
September 4 City Hall rally
were adamant about preserving
the program and helping
more New York City students
qualify for it.
“There was a shift in the
Bloomberg era around gifted
and talented programs where
they were localized and then
they began centralizing them
solely on testing,” Councilman
Robert Cornegy said. “We believe
that instituting the program,
localizing it again and
having other criteria will give
all students the opportunity to
be high achieving students.”
The panel on diversity was
appointed by de Blasio; in August,
the group released a
study which claimed that eliminating
the G&T program altogether
would put more students
at a disadvantage than leveling
the playing fi eld.
“The fact of the matter is
that if 90 percent of our children
were doing well in the
New York City public school
system, we would still be failing
over 100,000 children each
year. Let those numbers sink
in, we are nowhere near 90 percent,”
Councilman Barry Grodenchik
said. “This is not broken
and it should not be fi xed.”
But Cornegy and Councilman
Ben Kallos were resolute
that if the issue behind fewer
children being admitted into
the program is capacity, the
Gifted and Talented program
should be expanded with “multiple
on-ramps.”
Cornegy, in a letter to Carranza
argued that if the program
was not working there
would not be a number of students
commute an hour to attend
the school that will give
them a leg up.
This is not the fi rst attempt
by the de Blasio administration
to diversify schools through
eliminating programs or testing
seen by some experts as being
discriminatory.
In 2018, legislators across
the city pushed back against
the mayor’s call to eliminate
Specialized High School Admissions
Test citing an overwhelming
lack of black and Hispanic
students being admitted.
They made a similar argument
that the city should instead increase
access to programs helping
all students score high on
the test, rather than eliminate
the test entirely.
“Gifted and talented programs
provide students with
rigorous and challenging curriculums
that help them reach
their full potential in the classroom,”
Congresswoman Grace
Meng said. “We should not
do away with them. Instead,
we should be expanding G&T
seats in all areas of the city and
improve the testing process,
so that children in every community
can benefi t from all
that these important programs
have to offer.”
Councilman Robert Holden
said that, in his experience as
an educator, different students
require different workloads
and curriculum in different
subjects making the program
valuable to childhood development.
“I saw it fi rst-hand at CUNY
where 80 percent of the students
graduated from public
high schools… what you eliminate
in Gifted and Talented
borderlines on criminal – it
really does – because we’re at
a point where the system has
been failing and failing for decades.
It needs bold initiatives
and Gifted and Talented gives
that initiative,” Holden said.
Among those serving on
the School Diversity Advisory
Group are Amy Hsin from
Queens College, who serves on
the executive committee. While
a number of the members are
high ranking in higher education,
others have divergent
backgrounds.
Yousof Abdelreheem is a
student at John Bowne High
School and Ryan J. S. Baxter
associated with the Real Estate
Board of New York. Others
come from organizations such
as NAACP and ACLU.
The de Blasio administration
has yet to respond to a
request for comment for this
story.
A group of elected offi cials held a rally calling for the Gifted and Talented Program
to continue and expand. Photo by Mark Hallum