Future of BHUSD's Gifted Program Unclear

The Beverly Hills Unified School District reinstated its “gifted and talented education” (GATE) program earlier this year, and families of participating students got their first taste of the curriculum at an event Sunday.

The GATE program serves 209 students in grades four through eight who are identified as being gifted through annual state testing. BHUSD is conducting the test, called the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test, this month.

Board of Education President Lisa Korbatov told Patch when she took office in December that creating a GATE program would be a . Korbatov and board Vice President Brian Goldberg pushed to find about $25,000 in the district budget to start a limited program, and the board voted early this year to fund it.

The current GATE program was designed by an advisory committee of parents, principals and administrators. It centers on students taking an additional, in-depth 80-minute class on Wednesday mornings, when district schools start an hour later than usual.

At Sunday’s special session on music, movement and the brain, students and their families participated in four workshops that highlighted various ways the brain works. At the neuroscience lab, students examined and dissected sheep brains, which are comparable to the human brain. There were music and movement sessions to demonstrate how learning patterns help develop memory skills.

The GATE advisory committee will meet again next month to evaluate the program and consider other ways it can be organized and funded. The district's previous GATE programs ended due to funding concerns and a lack of enthusiasm among parents.

“It’s very difficult to say exactly what our steps will be for next year given the current precarious state of our [district] budget,” said Christiane Elhabr, BHUSD's coordinator of special projects who is in charge of the program.

As Patch has reported, the district has had to tighten its budget for the next school year due to , and some programs and teachers are being eliminated.

“After we evaluate the current GATE program and have more information about the state of our budget, we will consider [different] options,” Elhabr said. These options, she noted, include a GATE funded partially or entirely by parents or one funded by an educational organization such as the .

This columnist strongly hopes that Board of Education members find some funding to keep the GATE program going during the 2011-12 school year. The state authorizes testing to identify gifted students. We should use that information to develop their unique talents while also enhancing the reputation of our district.  

Moreover, many prominent community members speak of BHUSD becoming a leading district in California and also the country. Virtually all top school districts offer special programs for gifted students, and it's something that parents look for when considering what school district to live in.

Let’s not go backward in the progress BHUSD has made in getting this important program off the ground.