State Sen. John Liu ripped City Hall on Tuesday for failing to engage parents on the future of schools’ Gifted and Talented programs — and urged Mayor Bill de Blasio to let his successor handle the issue.
Last month, de Blasio told a caller on WNYC that he would be announcing major changes to the accelerated programs by the end of September.
“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 said on Sept. 24.
But City Hall has yet to produce a plan — and Liu (D-Queens) said parent engagement to this point has been negligible to nonexistent.
Speaking during a hearing with DOE officials, including schools Chancellor Meisha Porter, Liu said de Blasio promised outreach back in February.
“There’s just not enough time to truly engage,” he said. “Unless the Department of Education and City Hall had some preconceived notion that they were going to try to steer people to. But to have a constructive and productive community engagement — there’s just not enough time.”
Liu urged Porter to allow the next administration to chart the future of Gifted and Talented offerings.
Porter has suggested that the DOE was just now readying an engagement process for the program. Matthew McDermott“Let the next administration take over any changes to the Gifted and Talented program,” he said. “I’m not saying there shouldn’t be any. But we cannot change things so rapidly and suddenly without engagement that was promised so many months ago.”
While de Blasio previously indicated that his Gifted and Talented vision was ready for a rollout, Porter suggested that the DOE was just now readying an engagement process.
“We look forward to centering engagement as a part of our plan forward, and look forward to beginning and launching more information around the engagement process soon, in the coming days,” she said.
Porter said it wasn’t too late to draw parental feedback on the future of the polarizing program.
“While the next administration is going to absolutely guide the ship forward as it relates to Gifted and Talented, I think it’s never too late to engage families in the process and conversation or recommendations that will inform the next administration,” she said.
Liu said parent engagement to this point has been negligible to nonexistent. CourtesyShe said the DOE has been occupied with preparing for the current school year in recent months.
Critics of Gifted and Talented programs — which admit kids as young as 4 based on a standardized test score — argue that they benefit families of means and elbow out low-income kids.
Backers of the program and accelerated education options argue that advanced city students should have ample opportunities to learn at an appropriate pace.






