We are looking for people to give our cause a voice. Our gifted and talented class, in its fifth year at PS 203, were given our eviction notice. The city Department of Education had a meeting with school principals, guidance counselors and the Community Education Council Nov. 12, minus the parents, to inform them of a new policy.
This policy could displace our class, which has been together since the inception of our class. It informed us that we are no longer entering as a group but would rather have to reapply to the G&T District 26 middle schools. Our contention is not with the new procedure but the lack of notice and consideration given to our class.
Since 2009 and just until September, at our orientation meeting we were told we must go into our G&T middle school at MS 74. We are blindsided for being given notice this past November with middle school applications due this December.
Last year the graduating class went to MS 74 without having to reapply to the G&T program. I understand the equality of having admission based upon the fourth-grade ELA and math scores. My contention is that we were not given sufficient notice by the DOE about these changes and that the DOE is inconsistent and not giving our class any consideration.
To add insult to injury, we learned that in District 30, the elementary school G&T classes are not required to re-apply until 2019.
The DOE is enforcing this policy without understanding the unique students in our district where there are not enough seats for all these qualified students. More than 40 percent of our children receive a score of 4 on their citywide tests. By displacing our class, this does not solve the fundamental problem of the lack of seats available for these students.
The DOE needs to listen to parents rather than dismissing them. We need a voice.
Sandie Santos
Oakland Gardens
