G&T placements: Parents confused, DOE adamant
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As readers who’ve contributed to our comments can attest, myriad questions persist regarding gifted and talented program placement for rising kindergarten and 1st grade students. This is the second year the Department of Education has administered the process, which had previously been managed by individual districts and schools.
First, for those who have not, at this late date, received word on their child’s placement status, Andy Jacob of the DOE provided an email address, giftedandtalented@schools.nyc.gov, as the best point of contact. Telephone calls and actual visits are less welcome, it seems, than email — despite the experiences of many parents whose emails have gone missing or remained unanswered. Some parents have had success by calling the individual schools to which they applied, and asking for information on their child’s placement status. It’s not the way it’s supposed to work, and it’s labor- and time-intensive, but it’s working, in some cases.
Andy Jacob also asked that we clarify that there are NO wait lists for G&T programs or schools. This is the DOE’s policy, and differs substantially from past years when the schools and the districts administered their own admissions. “There are no wait lists,” he wrote in an email message. “Students get only one placement, and if they reject that placement, they do not get another one.”
Some students who did not receive placement offers on the first round — children who qualified for G&T but who were not seated, either because the programs they listed were filled or because they didn’t list all district G&T programs on their application — “might” (according to Jacob) be offered a seat at a district school whose G&T program hasn’t filled, due to low acceptances or unanticipated attrition. Simply put, kids who didn’t get an offer this month might get one over the summer. “There is no guarantee that a student … will be considered for any particular program,” Jacob wrote, “or for any program at all.” Students who did receive an offer should accept or decline that offer in the knowledge that no other G&T offer or placement alternative will be made. We don’t have specifics (yet) on how many summer offers were made last year, or how many offers were ultimately accepted.
We are troubled by reports of high-scoring kids not being placed in both citywide and district G&T programs, and are trying to get answers as to why many top scorers were possibly excluded. We are also looking for guidance on why the DOE placed some students in schools they didn’t rank on their applications, and why more seats were offered than some schools have have space to provide. In one case, 70 placement offers were extended for a school’s 50 G&T kindergarten seats. We’ve also asked the DOE for recommendations for parents who are out of town and cannot register their children this week.
We’ll stay on it and post new information whenever we learn more. We sincerely wish the process were easier and less fraught for all of New York City’s children and the parents who love them.
Parents of rising 2nd and 3rd graders, take note: the DOE reports that G&T letters for those grades will be sent to families on Friday, July 3.
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THIS WHOLE PROCESS IS A JOKE SHAME ON EVERYBODY AT TWEED INSTEAD OF SPENDING ALL THAT MONEY ON NUMBER CRUNCHERS THEY SHOULD SPEND ON OUR KIDS. BLOOMBERG SHOULD LET GO OF CONTROL. I SMELL A CLASS ACTION SUIT
Comment by Anonymous — June 25, 2009 @ 7:16 pm
HOW CAN CHARTER SCHOOLS GET MORE FUNDING AND RESOURCES THAN OUR FUTURE CRITICAL THINKERS. STAND FOR SOMETHING OR FALL FOR ANYTHING
Comment by Anonymous — June 25, 2009 @ 7:25 pm
WHAT AN IMPROVEMENT
Comment by Anonymous — June 25, 2009 @ 7:25 pm
ELECTED OFFICIAL IF U WANT TO BE RE ELECTED IT IS TIME TO GET ANSWERS
Comment by Anonymous — June 25, 2009 @ 7:30 pm
Could you please stop posting in all caps? It’s rude and really annoying. Thanks.
Comment by Julie — June 26, 2009 @ 9:35 am
I’m game for any class action suit. When your child scores in 99th percentile and there is no
seat for them, the process is an absolute farce.
Comment by Matt — June 26, 2009 @ 11:18 am
It is sad that there’s not even enough spots for all the children in the 99th percentile in the Citywide Programs, let alone the 98th and 97th percentile. Why even say that children with 97-99 are eligible for Citywide, when children with 97 and 98 have no hope of getting in.
Comment by Anonymous — June 26, 2009 @ 11:21 am
Oh goody! The DoE can continue to yank the parents over the summer now! They haven’t caused enough stress since May?????? Our children deserve better than this.
Comment by Katie — June 26, 2009 @ 11:33 am
CAPS are a form of expression of disgust
Comment by Anonymous — June 26, 2009 @ 1:01 pm
Board of Ed is to busy trying to please their buddies that have their own charter schools than our over excelling students for example EVA MOSHWITZ
Comment by Anonymous — June 26, 2009 @ 1:06 pm
I am writing as a concerned and frustrated parent.
My child took the gifted and talented test and has passed three years
consecutively. She has a sibling in the program already.
Yet for the last two years she was never given a seat at P.S.230.
I am waiting patiently for a placement letter, which should be out on July 3, 2009. Even at this point there is no guarantee.
I receive my child’s report card today. She received all 4’s
in all subjects. She needs placement for second grade.
Please help!!.
Concerned parent.
Comment by Indra — June 26, 2009 @ 4:34 pm
Does anyone know when the second round of offers, for parents who did not received a placement the first time, are usually made? Is there any way of finding out how many spots a school might have left? Spending the summer waiting after a year of waiting….ugh.
Comment by momof2 — June 28, 2009 @ 7:44 am
#8: Eh, the kids don’t really care about this as much as some of you do. Don’t hide behind your children.
Comment by Anonymous — June 28, 2009 @ 8:41 pm
#13: Kids don’t care about vegetables as much as some of us do. It’s a parent’s job to secure the best opportunities available for their kids. How and who decides between the options differs between families, but parents who are working hard to secure options for their kids from a needlessly bureaucratic and arrogant DOE are right to be outraged at the mismanagement.
Comment by anonymous — June 30, 2009 @ 11:53 am
Well said, #14!
Comment by A Parent — June 30, 2009 @ 1:01 pm
#13 is a fool
Comment by Anonymous — July 1, 2009 @ 9:48 am