FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM APRIL 22, 2022 • THE QUEENS COURIER 30
editorial
Raise the bridge, don’t lower the tide
Approximately 1,100 children across the fi ve
boroughs will be added to the city Department
of Education’s Gift ed and Talented (G&T) Program
Unlike the former mayor’s plan, Adams’ G&T expansion raises the bridge while keeping the tide level so more students may pass underneath, at their own speed.
THE QUEENS
PUBLISHER AND PRESIDENT
CO-PUBLISHER & VICE PRESIDENT
PUBLISHER’S CHIEF OF STAFF
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ART DIRECTOR
DIGITAL EDITOR
STAFF REPORTERS
CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS
PRODUCTION MANAGER
INSIDE SALES MANAGER
PRODUCTION MANAGER CLASSIFIEDS
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS
SARA KAUFMAN
ZACHARY GEWELB
NIRMAL SINGH
JENNA BAGCAL
ETHAN MARSHALL, KATRINA MEDOFF,
CARLOTTA MOHAMED, JULIA MORO, BILL PARRY
CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI
DEBORAH CUSICK
CELESTE ALAMIN
KEITH FIOCCA
MARIA VALENCIA
Schneps Media, P.O. Box 610257 Bayside, NY 11361
718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441
www.qns.com
editorial e-mail: editorial@qns.com
for advertising e-mail: ads@qns.com
Entire Contents Copyright 2022 by The Queens Courier
All letters sent to THE QUEENS COURIER should be brief and are subject to condensing. Writers should
include a full address and home and offi ce telephone numbers, where available, as well as affi liation, indicating
special interest. Anonymous letters are not printed. Name withheld on request.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, AS WELL AS OP-ED PIECES IN NO WAY REFLECT THE PAPER’S POSITION.
No such ad or any part thereof may be reproduced without prior permission of THE QUEENS COURIER. The
publishers will not be responsible for any error in advertising beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error.
Errors must be reported to THE QUEENS COURIER within fi ve days of publication. Ad position cannot be guaranteed
unless paid prior to publication. Schneps Communications assumes no liability for the content or reply to any
ads. The advertiser assumes all liability for the content of and all replies. The advertiser agrees to hold THE QUEENS COURIER
and its employees harmless from all cost, expenses, liabilities, and damages resulting from or caused by the publication or recording placed
by the advertiser or any reply to any such advertisement.
Photo by Dean Moses
Story: Queens actor Lorenzo Antonucci starring in hit
TV series
Summary: Lorenzo Antonucci, a Latino actor, writer and
producer born in Brooklyn and raised on the streets of
Jamaica, is executive producer, writer and star of the
currently trending hit drama series “Paradise City.”
Reach: 5,371 (as of 04/18/22)
this September, according to Mayor Eric
Adams and Schools Chancellor David Banks.
Th e additional seats will be allocated to 100
kindergarteners and 1,000 third-graders in
every single school district in the city. It’s an
unprecedented move that comes at a time when
many education advocates have suggested the
G&T Program serves as a form of intellectual
segregation in the city.
As the city describes it, the G&T Program
“off ers accelerated instruction to eligible elementary
school students in New York City.”
Students entering the third grade are invited
to apply for G&T if their second-grade marks
are in the top 10% at their school.
Tragically, through the decades, G&T seats
were not made as easily available in less affl uent
parts of the city. Th at contributed to an everpresent
educational gap among low-income
students whose parents are more than likely
unable to aff ord tutoring and other services to
advance their children’s education.
But the move to expand G&T should not be
seen as continuing bad policies of the past. In offering
1,100 seats in every school district in the city,
the Adams administration is taking a major step
forward in advancing educational opportunities to
all young New Yorkers, regardless of background.
It also put an end to the half-baked “Brilliant
NYC” plan that former Mayor Bill de Blasio
pitched in his last few weeks in offi ce. Brilliant
NYC would have made accelerated instruction
available in regular classrooms, though that
plan could have led to all sorts of confusion
among the students themselves.
Unlike the former mayor’s plan, which would
have lowered the educational river to let all
student ships pass under the bridge of success,
Adams’ G&T expansion raises the bridge while
keeping the tide level so more students may pass
underneath, at their own speed.
If we’re going to close the education gap in
New York City, we need to make more services
and more programs like G&T available to more
students — not take such services and programs
away.
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
link
/www.qns.com
/www.qns.com
link
link
