Ruling Against the Parents

posted by Karen Quinn, The Testing Mom - May 13th, 2016

Ruling Against the Parents

Well, it looks like some NYC gifted and talented students are more equal than others at least according to Judge Alice Schlesinger, who ruled against the parents who recently appeared in the court. The judge agreed with the NYC dept of ed on their sibling policy (that they changed back to after parents complained – those who have more than 1 child), because it makes it easier for families by not making their kids go to different schools. Never mind the fact that a sibling who scores 90th percentile is put ahead of a non-sibling student who scores at the 99th percentile–and therefore is placed behind the 90th percentile when it comes to district-wide gifted and talented seats, as the test scores are released.

When Consideration is Given Higher Priority than Fairness

Although the judge’s justification may be coming from a place of consideration for parents with more than one child, she doesn’t seem to have a firm grasp on the implications when it comes to the New York City gifted and talented program, including the OLSAT and NNAT test.

Let’s see if the NYC Dept of Ed. flip-flops again this year and changes back to the policy they originally changed last year, but then went back to the original policy that was in place the year before. Confused? Join the club.

DOE spokeswoman Devon Puglia said, “Our gifted-and-talented policies are balanced, allowing fairness and equality of opportunity for families. The decision recognizes that.” NY Post