GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

When results of the Department of Education’s screening for gifted and talented programs came out last year, parents of qualifying children had two major complaints: that the ultra-elite programs were all located in Manhattan, and that some districts didn’t have gifted kindergarten classes.

Today, the department revealed the locations of three new programs reserved for the highest-scoring children throughout the city; All three are in Brooklyn and Queens. And back in October, before screening for the programs even started, the DOE announced that all district gifted programs would now begin in kindergarten.

I became familiar with parents’ complaints last year because I was then blogging at Insideschools.org, the site that many parents use to research schools. My posts about gifted and talented admissions got hundreds of comments, such as this one:

The three programs announced today could double the number of seats in citywide gifted programs, depending on whether families choose to enroll in them. But that would still mean that fewer than half of the children qualifying for the programs last year could be accommodated. (more…)

A recent poll found that while half of public school parents approve of Mayor Bloomberg’s takeover of the school, half do not. Two mothers I met yesterday underscore that divide.

The first mother, who lives in Park Slope, told me she feared her daughter’s school would spend too much time prepping kids for standardized tests. It’s a familiar worry: that schools eschew instruction that stimulates creative thinking when they know they’ll be evaluated on the basis of their state test scores. (A new study has borne out this fear, at least for schools that fare the worst on the city’s evaluation system, Elizabeth reported yesterday.)

Chancellor Joel Klein speaks to two Explore Charter School parents. PTA president Stephanie Campbell is on the left.

Later, while I was at Explore Charter School in Flatbush for Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s visit, PTA president Stephanie Campbell told me she loves how much her sixth-grade son is tested. Teachers at Explore are vigilant about identifying and addressing problems her son is having, she said. At his neighborhood school, which he last attended as a first-grader in 2004, teachers didn’t generate the data that would have revealed a delay, Campbell said. “I didn’t know he had a problem with reading until he got here,” she said.

Now, Campbell said she uses the results of her son’s frequent tests to know what skills she should work on with him at home. In fact, even though she said she likes Explore’s small classes of about 16 students, she said the frequest testing is the school’s feature she values most. “As long as we keep testing, it’s okay with me if you put 30 kids in the class,” she said.

Remember that Red Hook high school that is not only getting shut down this year, but is closing immediately, without a phaseout — making it the first school in the city (at least that I know of) never to graduate a single student?

An Agnes Humphrey junior just wrote in with a description of what it feels like to have your school close around you:

Im a junior at this high school and i was P.O when i found out. we (the students) was notified about this about 2 or 3 weeks before high school applications where supposed to be sent in, that was back in december. a week before the deadlines, they told us that we had to pick schools to transfer to. most of the students here including myself have been here since pre-k even middle school we are not ready to transfer into a new big high school when we were so used to attending a small school setting. also since ive been here i have seen a GREAT turn around in students behaviors. its not that bad as it used to be. Its january now and were not hearing much word of what to do next…

Photo by Annie Mole

When it comes to alleviating school overcrowding, the squeaky wheel gets the grease in New York City.

Earlier this spring, the DOE responded to a rising tide of dissatisfaction and protest in Manhattan’s District 2 by announcing plans for a new elementary school in Greenwich Village and releasing a long-anticipated blueprint for further reducing overcrowding. And this week, Chancellor Klein announced that the DOE will build an annex for the popular PS 8 in Brooklyn Heights. Already, the Brooklyn Paper is reporting that parents and community leaders see the annex, tentatively slated to open in 2011, as a way for PS 8 to expand through the middle school grades, something PS 8 parents have long been seeking. Last month, Chancellor Klein told Brownstoner that no new middle schools are needed in District 13 since the district’s schools are overall under capacity — but he also didn’t seem too torn up about the impending arrival of portable classrooms at PS 8, and now there’s a plan for their removal.

Last night at the Contracts for Excellence hearing in Manhattan, I heard that parents in District 3 are planning to adopt the strategies used this past year in District 2 to push for a new school on the Upper West Side, where new residential construction will soon flood already overcrowded schools with extra students. Upper West Siders — and parents at other overcrowded schools — start squeaking!