Egbert, Prall, Dreyfus and Paulo intermediate schools to offer classes to higher achieving students
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Four Staten Island schools will begin offering advanced programs in September for students who are ahead of the game.
As part of the new District 31 Middle School Scholars Program, Egbert, Prall, Dreyfus and Paulo intermediate schools will offer classes to higher achieving students. To get in, students would have to score a level 4 on their fourth grade English Language Arts and Math exams.
The program, a pilot that may expand after next year, was put into place after frustrated parents assailed education officials for not having middle school gifted and talented program for their children.
Dreyfus Intermediate School is one of the schools selected to participate in the Middle School Scholars Program.
"We are glad that this program is happening," said Lorraine Danischewski, whose daughter is in a gifted program at PS 50. "We are not sure that it'll fully benefit our children because there's so much in the air about it, but I have high hopes for it." Currently, there is no gifted and talented program for middle school students anywhere in the city, officials said. Instead, middle schools individually offer accelerated classes to certain students. All 12 of Staten Island's middle schools offer honors classes, but the new Scholars Program will have a more formal structure.
About 250 Staten Island students are eligible for the Scholars Program and will be receiving applications in the mail that will be due by March 23. Offer letters will be sent out by the end of April. There are 120 seats available.
Parents were relieved to hear a program would be made available to gifted students, but said they were upset they were not asked which schools should offer the program.
"They didn't really involve parents in that at all," said Michele Faljean, co-president of the Staten Island Federation of PTAs. "We were just told. We weren't really consulted."
Others said they didn't entirely agree with the DOE's decision to open the program up to all students with Level 4's. Ms. Danischewski noted a drastic difference between SAGE and a typical honors class.
"It's not just extra busywork," she said. "It's certainly not a 'hurry up and get through this faster' type of class. It's a sense of being able to go deeper into a topic and an opportunity for the children to do projects and work in groups so they can experience the material more comprehensively."
Though details about how each class will be structured have not yet been planned, principals said they are certain the class will be a success.
"I'm very happy to be a part of it -- I think it will be an amazing program," said Mark Cannizzaro, the principal of Paulo Intermediate School. "We still have a lot of things to iron out but it's certainly going to be an academically advanced program and we're going to look for as much enrichment as we can possibly get in the arts and in technology. It's going to be a great experience for the children."
---
twitter.com/siadvance