FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM OCTOBER 14, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 19
Local pols criticize city’s plan to replace Gifted and Talented Program
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
CMOHAMEDSCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
QNS
Queens lawmakers are speaking out
against Mayor Bill de Blasio’s decision to
phase out the controversial Gift ed 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.
Th e mayor, along with Schools Chancellor
Meisha Porter, announced the end of
the G&T program on “Th e 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-year-olds 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 gift ed or talented, who
are brilliant, who have special gift s, 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 gift s,”
Porter said.
Th e 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, Gift ed 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 off ered 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.
Th e 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 gift ed children — who
may not perform well in a test setting — an
avenue for admission to these programs.
According to Addabbo, passage of the
bill will give children in New York City a
leg up and improve the educational quality
of schools at a time when many are calling
for a decrease in standards rather than an
increase in resources for children.
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 off ered hope
for thousands of parents who otherwise
would have completely lost confi dence 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
fi at that G&T programs will be eliminated
is “disingenuous if not outright detestable,”
given that there is not nearly enough time
Photo via Getty Images
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 suff ering the consequences,”
Liu said.
Congresswoman Grace Meng is urging
the city to immediately reconsider its
decision.
“Gift ed 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.”
Meng says G&T seats should be expanded
to all communities throughout
NYC and the testing process should be
improved. According to the congresswoman,
all students deserve to benefi t
from the opportunity.
“Th ey should be an option for every child,
regardless of where students reside, and
regardless of their family’s socioeconomic
status,” Meng said.
Assembly members Alicia Hyndman,
Ron Kim and Ed Braunstein each took to
Twitter to share their concerns about the
elimination of the G&T program.
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