De Blasio wants to close programs for the 'gifted and talented', but his children went to these schools

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a plan to phase out the city program for gifted and talented children in public primary schools... She often served as a springboard for visiting elite schools, where his own children attended. Fox News.

The Gifted & Talented Children program, which required children to be tested at age 4 to enroll, will be phased out by fall 2022. De Blasio's new Brilliant NYC plan includes training for all teachers in the city's community kindergartens. As a result of these trainings, they will have to teach students in need of accelerated learning in regular classes, and not send these children to special classes for the gifted.

With the abolition of the program, the entrance test for 4-year-olds will also be canceled. Instead, all third graders will now be assessed in different subjects. The assessment will determine if they should receive one-to-one accelerated training programs.

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Critics of the Gifted & Talented Program called it racist because it was mostly white and Asian. While de Blasio's decision only applies to elementary school students, supporters of the program argue that the elimination of the toddler program would be a blow to middle and high schools for the gifted. By the way, these are specialized schools in which the mayor's children studied.

Where did the mayor's children study?

Both of de Blasio's children, now in their twenties, attended MS 51 in Brooklyn's affluent Park Slope neighborhood. The school positions itself as a secondary "school for the gifted and talented." It aims to provide students with "a balance between an intensive accelerated academic program and an advanced three-year program in the humanities."

De Blasio's daughter, Chiara, continued her studies at Beacon School, one of New York's most elite high schools. She later graduated from Santa Clara University in Silicon Valley. The mayor's son, Dante, attended Brooklyn Tech, considered one of the most prestigious high schools in the country. He is now attending Ivy League University at Yale. None of de Blasio's children attended primary schools for the gifted.

De Blasio's second term in office expires in December. Eric Adams, the city's Democratic mayoral candidate and likely replacement for de Blasio, said on Tuesday that he "reserves the right" to change and overturn de Blasio's decision regarding schools for the gifted.

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Curtis Sliva, the city's GOP mayoral candidate, said the city needs more acceleration programs and it is not in the interest of citizens to reduce them.

“Because I've experienced these benefits first hand, I want more programs for gifted and talented children, not less,” Pliva said in a statement. "The program for the gifted and talented cannot be stopped."