Assemblyman William Colton (D – Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, and Dyker Heights) urges parents to come together and demand that the Mayor and Chancellor must reverse their decision on terminating screening and auditions for middle schools’ admission. Parents must not accept any changes to the existing Gifted and Talented admissions policies and keep district and citywide programs and structure in place.

“The Department of Education announced that they will not allow any screening or auditioning for its Screened Middle Schools, such as Mark Twain for the coming school year. The Mayor and DOE Chancellor intentionally ignored the great public concern and had made their decision to eliminate screening and auditions in middle schools. This is another example of a failure of educational leadership by the Mayor and the Chancellor,” Colton stated.

“I will be advocating parents to band together. We’ll fight against a radical left ideology tilting decisions on distorted logic that children in screened schools are mostly from wealthy families who are not entitled to special schools that will meet their needs in advancing their skills and talents. This illogical policy favors a lottery to select students for such middle schools and not a selection by hard work and special talents. If we allow this to continue it will result in children neither studying nor learning to play musical instruments or perfecting other academic talents.  We can’t let children learn the sad lesson that hard work does not matter but only the luck of a draw and chance will determine which children are selected. I am calling on all parents to oppose such drastic changes to the decades of successful G&T programs. We must unite, speak out, and demand quality education for all children, including those with advanced skills and talents including those children who are underperforming, who need quality remedial programs, including special needs children who the DOE must comply with their IEP’s and including all children who must be provided with programs meeting their educational needs. Together we will prevail in our fight against this bureaucratic administration,” Colton continued.