Assemblyman Colton (D – Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, Dyker Heights) District Leaders Charles Ragusa, Nancy Tong, together with community leaders Nino Magali and Dr. Tim Law, on June 1, 2019, hosted a very important meeting to protect our specialized high schools and keep SHSAT. A large number of parents and students had put their important plans aside and came out in support of the SHSAT.

"Various speakers at the meeting spoke why and how this program is so important to our kids. They had sent a loud and clear message to Mayor De Blasio and NYC DOE Chancellor Carranza, that they must stop making decisions for the students and deprive them of fair education. The diversified community at yesterday's meeting showed that the fight is not over, we are united and will not let any bureaucratic agency to dictate our children's future, because our children are our future," Colton stated.

“The SHSAT is not the problem. The DOE’s own study found the SHSAT accurately did what it was supposed to do in predicting the success rate in specialized schools. The real problem with achieving diversity is the failure of the DOE to offer Gifted and Talented programs to the gifted Black and Hispanic children who attend school in early and middle school grades in underperforming districts. There is a direct proven correlation in the number of children being admitted in those districts where gifted programs are offered and in those districts where such gifted programs are not provided. This failure by the DOE to provide for the education of bright children in those districts is the cause of children in these underperforming districts not attending the specialized high schools. Many of their parents feel the DOE has abandoned the education of these bright children and choose instead to enroll their children in private, parochial and charter schools,” Assemblyman Colton said.

“Nancy Tong related her long history of speaking up on this issue from her testimony before the City Council back in 2013 through today. Tong stated “Admission to the specialized high schools has been a vehicle to entry into the American Dream for many families. Admission must be by objective educational standards, not by subjective criteria aimed at achieving a social policy.”

"Today we were able to mobilize and unite our community for the sake of our children, and within the past few days, we were able to gather over 300 signatures. As a mother of a three-year-old, I am horrified as to what has become of our education system. It comes down to politics over quality! Every child is entitled to a quality education starting from pre-K and following through the middle grades. Admission to the specialized high schools should be by merit, not by race- I do not care what ethnicity, race or religion you belong to, education is education. We are here to unite all the communities not divide them," added Nino Magali the President of the United Progressive Democratic Club.