WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 19
EDUCATION
Details on changes to Gifted and Talented programs coming soon
NYC public schools implementing vaccine/testing policy
BY ALEJANDRA O'CONNELLDOMENECH
ADOMENECH@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@AODNEWZ
Two weeks into the new school
year, New York City public
schools are reverting to the
city’s old policy requiring workers
to either get vaccinated or to undergo
COVID-19 testing, Mayor Bill
de Blasio announced Monday, Sept.
27 — days after a judge temporarily
stopped his full vaccine mandate
for DOE employees.
“We expect as early as the end of
this week that we will be able to go
to the full vaccine mandate,” said
de Blasio, who attributed the full
mandate for pushing 7,000 DOE
employees to get vaccinated last
Friday and Saturday.
As a result of the spike in vaccination
among DOE workers, de
Blasio said, almost all of New York
City public school staff have gotten
Kindergarten applications can be fi led online or in person at the nearest DOE Family Welcome Center.
Photo courtesy NYC DOE
at least one shot of a COVID-19.
Roughly 87% of all DOE staff,
90% of teachers, and 97% of public
school principals have gotten at
least one dose of a vaccine, according
to de Blasio, while leadership
from New York City’s teacher’s
union, the United Federation
of Teachers, claims vaccination
among their members is closer to
97%.
Throughout the summer, de Blasio
took steps to encourage public
school students and staff to get vaccinated
against COVID-19 but did
not order a full vaccine mandate
until just weeks before the start of
the school year.
Under the mandate, all DOE employees,
including roughly 78,000
teachers, were required to get at
least one dose of the vaccine by
Monday, Sept. 27.
“We are continuing every single
day to tell people to come get vaccinated,”
de Blasio said. “But look
at these numbers already. For
everyone, especially parents and
kids, this should be a real sense of
relief to the numbers are already
so high.”
BY ALEJANDRA O'CONNELLDOMENECH
ADOMENECH@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@AODNEWZ
The city’s new plan for Gifted
and Talented classes will be
released soon, Mayor Bill de
Blasio revealed Friday, Sept. 24.
De Blasio let the news slip during
an interview on WNYC’s “The Brian
Lehrer Show” after a single mother
of a rising kindergartener called
into the show.
The mother, Caroline, told the
mayor she believed her son would
have benefited from an accelerated
program given that he can already
read and write some words and
wanted to know if details on the
city’s plan for advanced classes for
students would be released later this
month.
“I’m quite concerned that we don’t
know what is supposed to replace
the accelerated program,” Caroline
said. “Our school has about 35%
of the students passing the state
exams and I am honestly thinking
about leaving the city if there is not
something that is going to keep my
kid engaged.”
Late last year, Mayor de Blasio ordered
sweeping changes to the city’s
hotly debated gifted and talented
programs including replacing the
single test model for admission into
accelerated kindergarten classes
with teacher recommendations and
a random lottery.
There are about 80 gifted and
talented programs in New York City
public schools serving about 16,000
kindergarten through fifth-grade
students. The programs have come
under scrutiny for the admissions
criteria and the fact that a fraction
of Black and Latino students are
enrolled in the classes compared
to their white or Asian American
counterparts.
Even though Black and Latino children
made up 63% of all kindergarten
students in the 2018-19 academic
year, only 16% were enrolled in gifted
and talented classes.
“We want an inclusive approach
to reach the tens or thousands of
kids who have a special aptitude at
least in one subject if not many,” de
Blasio told Caroline. “That’s the plan
we’ll be putting out by the end of the
month.”
“I think you are going to see something
you like because there will
be regular opportunities for those
kids who have special aptitude to be
engaged and many, many more kids
than were previously given the opportunity,”
he added.
A child wears a face mask on the fi rst day of public school in New York
City. Photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters
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