New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio drew widespread criticism from parents of schoolchildren after he announced Friday a plan that would end the 'gifted and talented' education program in the city's elementary schools.
The Democratic lawmaker called for sweeping changes to a highly selective program that has drawn scrutiny for exacerbating segregation in the nation's largest school system. The New York City mayor plans to replace the program with a new one that would offer the potential of accelerated learning to students in their later years of elementary school.
New York's Educational Program
The mayor's plans would also end the test that is given to kindergarten students that are used to screen them for the gifted program. The tests were suspended partly because of New York's advisory school board refusing to renew them last year.
"I bet you a lot of parents are going to look at this plan and say this is a reason to stay," de Blasio said during a Friday radio interview. The Democratic lawmaker added that the new program would allow more children to have the opportunity to get accelerated learning compared to the current program, the New York Times reported.
However, many parents blasted the New York City mayor, calling his plans "extremely disappointing" and "abominable." The situation comes as de Blasio only has three months left in his administration as the city's mayor.
Public school parents in the five boroughs said that de Blasio's plans to phase out the gifted and talented program were the wrong choice for students in the Department of Education system. The mother of a student at a third-grade Gifted and Talented program on the Upper West Side, Charleen Ang, has continued to fail to get her son into the program with no success.
Ang fears that she will no longer have the opportunity to do so after de Blasio's plans come into effect. "Now, there is no path for our son to ever join his sister. It is abominable that de Blasio is, in his final months in office, dismantling one of the few successful education programs in New York City, adversely impacting a swath of children," Ang said, the New York Post reported.
Criticism of de Blasio's Plans
The New York City mayor's plans mean that current students who are under the program will be able to stay in accelerated-learning classes until they finish the program. However, new enrollees will not be allowed and will be completely eliminated by fall 2022, which would end the city's testing for four-year-old children.
The lawmaker will replace the old program with the Brilliant NYC, a new program that would offer students aged eight years and older chances for accelerated learning. It would also allow them to stay in their regular classrooms alongside other students.
The situation comes as New York mayoral nominees Eric Adams and Curtis Sliwa have expressed their wishes not to eliminate the gifted and talented program completely. The support for the old program comes as many others argued it allowed a high number of White and Asian students to pass, Fox News reported.
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