In today’s Wall St. Journal, Leslie Brody describes the predicament of a 4-year-old girl who “can count to 100, use an extensive vocabulary and admonish her parents with precocious phrases, such as, ‘You are not communicating clearly with me.’” But because she happens to live in District 16, a part of Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, there are no gifted and talented programs available to her.

Some see the dearth of gifted and talented programs in Districts 7, 12, 16 and 23 as proof that resources aren’t distributed fairly. These districts include areas that have long had high percentages of poor, black and Hispanic students, such as the South Bronx and Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhoods. 

“It sends an underlying message that perhaps our district isn’t good enough to have G and T,” Ms. Hall said. “I’m concerned with the lack of equality.” 

Mayor Bill de Blasio has touted his mission to bring more equity to the system, by expanding preschool, adding reading specialists and boosting computer science, among other steps. But critics say his plans to turn around failing schools don’t go far enough, fast enough.