You'd think Post education reporter Yoav Gonen would know better. Last week, Gov. Paterson announced that his son, an MS 54 8th grader, will attend Beacon High School this fall. This weekend, the Post accused the selective Upper West Side school of giving special attention to Governor Paterson's son in the admissions process, noting that "acceptance letters haven't been mailed out yet — and student-school matches haven't even been made."

But 5,391 students have found out where they've been accepted — the 5,391 students whose scores on the specialized high school exam earned them spots in one of the city's seven specialized schools. In February, those students got to find out which non-specialized school was offering them a seat as well. If Governor Paterson's son wasn't among these students, then Gonen is right to suggest that he got special treatment in the admissions process. But most students at Alex Paterson's middle school do take the test, and many of them head on to Beacon, where Alex's older sister went. If Alex learned of his admission through normal channels in February, that would make Governor Paterson's disclosure not a "leak," as the Post claims it is, but a sigh of relief from a proud parent who has made it through a second bout of high school admissions.

The rest of the city's 8th graders will find out where they've been accepted sometime late this week.