Yesterday in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, Mayor Bloomberg formally announced the opening of 42 new schools in September 2009. This brings the total number of new schools created during the Bloomberg-Klein administration to date to 333, or roughly one fifth of the city's schools.

But particulars on a few schools that have been prominently featured in discussions (and less-polite settings, too) remain foggy: Back in October, the DOE said they would opennew citywide gifted and talented schools in 2009, at least one in Brooklyn and one in Queens, like the three current "citywides" -- TAG, Anderson, and NEST+m -- that all somehow happen to be situated in, um, Manhattan.

John White, from the DOE's office of Portfolio Development, told Insideschools that there will be at least two new citywide gifted and talented schools in Brooklyn (one in north Brooklyn and one in south Brooklyn) and one in Queens. We are still waiting on the details.

So will the '09 new-school list grow to 44 or 45, if the DOE announces the citywide G&Ts it promised? Or does the Mayor's public count signal a big no-go to parents looking for citywide options in the outer boroughs? That the DOE would commit itself to developing these in-demand schools and then renege seems unlikely (and certainly unwise) but not impossible.