‘Making Sure Gifted Pupils Succeed’

Re: “Making Sure Gifted Pupils Succeed,” Andrew Wolf, Opinion, March 25, 2005. Mr. Wolf suggested the department does not support Gifted and Talented programs, when just weeks ago we announced the largest expansion of Gifted and Talented programs anyone can remember. In September, we will open 44 new such programs while maintaining support for all existing programs.

Mr. Wolf prefers so-called “self-contained” programs, in which students are in the same class for all academic subjects. Well, we have many such programs around the city and are committed not only to maintaining them, but also to opening 15 more in September.

Meanwhile, some schools and communities prefer another approach – the Schoolwide Enrichment Model – in which gifted students are given challenging work in the areas in which they excel, most notably math, science, and the arts. We will add 29 such elementary school programs in September. Your columnist argues – and we agree – that gifted and talented students require a different curriculum. That is why we are expanding these programs and also allowing schools and communities the flexibility to tailor them to their own needs.

STEPHEN J. MORELLO
Director of Communications
New York City Department of Education
Manhattan

On Modernist Buildings

Re: “Modernist Buildings Come of Age,” Christina Rogers, Real Estate, March 24, 2005. I believe 2 Columbus Circle to be a delightful, urbane, and architecturally significant structure – and thus vigorously support its proposed designation as a landmark. In contrast, I think the Marriott Marquis Hotel is distressingly anti-urban and should definitely not be preserved from “unsympathetic” alteration or possible destruction – as unlikely, unfortunately, as these welcome possibilities might be. However, if advocates for the Marriott Marquis were able to come up with a long list of distinguished, credentialed experts supporting its nomination – as supporters of 2 Columbus Circle have – I would nevertheless agree that the Landmarks Preservation Commission should, at the very least, hold a public hearing on the matter. And this, I think, is the crux of the recent landmarking debate – and the central issue that your otherwise commendable articles seem to have overlooked.

When a highly qualified – but controversial – structure is eligible for designation, shouldn’t there be a public hearing where the Landmark Preservation Commission can hear from both sides and decide such issues out in the open and on the record, rather than in secret and behind closed doors? If a building as distinguished as 2 Columbus Circle doesn’t at least merit a public hearing, what are the rules for the scheduling of such hearings? Are there, indeed, objective rules, or has the landmark designation process devolved into simply a matter of personal taste (i.e., “my taste is better than yours”; “protect my cherished buildings, but demolish yours”) or behind the scenes, “insider” politics?

One of the first chairmen of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, Harmon Goldstone, mentions in his book, “History Preserved,” that Ada Louise Huxtable of the New York Times once said of the Jefferson Market Courthouse (one of the first buildings to be designated a New York City landmark), “If you can save that you can save anything!” A reminder that even one of NYC’s most cherished landmarks was once seen as a controversial “dark horse” for landmark designation.

BENJAMIN HEMRIC
Manhattan

Sharon’s Budget Showdown

Re: “Sharon’s Big Budget Showdown,” Hillel Halkin, Opinion, March 22, 2005. A Nationwide vote on Ariel Sharon’s “disengagement” plan would be by a large margin writes Mr. Halkin with obvious relish. Mr. Halkin does not say that the referendum would include over one million Arab citizens of Israel who would vote unanimously for Mr. Sharon’s plan because it would advance the Palestinian Liberation Organization goal of the phased destruction of Israel.

GEORGE E. RUBIN
Manhattan

Red Woman, Blue, Blue State

Years ago, I was an Al Gore supporter and a New York Times reader. I used to read the Times every day, but that’s all I did, I “read” it. I more than “read” The New York Sun, I enjoy it. Why do I enjoy it? I think my brother has the answer. Describing the Sun to a mutual friend, he said, “You’ve got to think when you read this paper.” For a red woman in a blue, blue state, it is so nice to find your paper at my door every morning. I just had to take the time to tell you that.

DEBORAH A. BONELLI
Riverdale, N.Y.

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