Education officials made it easier for kids to get into gifted classes on Thursday, but said they may have to cut the number of new classes by almost 25% through consolidation.
Several districts - mostly in Brooklyn and the Bronx - likely won't accept new students into kindergarten and first-grade gifted programs.
"It's a total disappointment," said parent Lyn Johnson, whose Brooklyn District 16 faces a cut. "What measures are being taken to help the students in District 16 meet these standards?"
"It's going to be devastating, I'll tell you that now. It's going to be devastating for parents," said Dennis Feinstein, a parent in Brooklyn's District 22.
Schools Chancellor Joel Klein announced the new admissions policy last year as a way to increase access to gifted programs in underserved neighborhoods and create a single, uniform standard.
Some parents balked in the fall when officials revealed the standard would be 95% or higher on the admissions exams, charging the cutoff was too high.
When only 1,637 qualified for spots in kindergarten and first grade, officials voted yesterday to lower the standard to 90%.
While some schools will see new programs created, education officials said overall they expect to cut about 37 entering classes out of 129 programs citywide.
Klein said the more uniform standard was necessary because some districts had an "anything went" policy that led to lower-performing kids ending up in gifted classes.
The districts expected not to have new entering classes are in District 7 in the South Bronx, District 16 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and District 23 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, though the few students who did qualify from those districts are guaranteed seats elsewhere.
