BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — Newly-elected city councilman Robert E. Cornegy, Jr. revealed this week that he is in talks to bring a new gifted and talented program to Bed-Stuy, even as the last program in the neighborhood is being phased out by the city.
At a recent Community Board 3 meeting, Cornegy — who focused heavily on education during his inauguration ceremony — said he met with the city council's education committee on Monday to try and bring a gifted and talented program to P.S. 308.
"We're looking to start it back there, and working dilligently to make sure that happens," Cornegy said.
"I'm just glad to be a partner with [P.S. 308 principal George Patterson] on making sure our young people who are gifted and talented and have potential don't have to go outside of this district to seek those resources."
The school had a gifted and talented program until the former principal retired in 2008, according to Inside Schools.
The news comes as the neighborhod's last gifted and talented program is in the process of being phased out.
P.S. 3, which currently houses 511 students, began to phase out the program in 2012. But the school's principal, Kristina Beecher, said the city made the decision without consulting her, as Our Time Press first reported.
"We noticed we didn't get any children for kindergarten and first grade," Beecher told DNAinfo New York. "When I got a parent to actually give me the final application, P.S. 3 was not even one of the choices."
Support for a gifted and talented program in the neighborhood has been growing steadily. Parents last year lobbied to bring a new program to the communty, calling on parents to apply for their children to take the entrance exam in order to demonstrate enough support.
