Parents and students at Paterson's School 28 urged district officials to reconsider a plan that would move gifted and talented students out of the building and into other schools, telling the board they still don't have answers about how the shift would affect their children's education, friendships, or safety. Superintendent Dr. Laurie Newell has proposed reorganizing several district schools for the 2027-28 school year, a reconfiguration that would turn School 28 into a pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade school serving children in different academic programs while gifted students in grades six through eight would move to other locations, including nearby Dr. Frank Napier School.
A Top-Ranked Program Facing an Uncertain Future
School 28 mainly serves pupils in Paterson's Gifted and Talented program, according to northjersey.com. U.S. News & World Report ranked the school as New Jersey's best elementary program for 2024-25 and the state's second-best middle school that same year, and School 28 maintained its No. 1 elementary school ranking for 2026-27. The district's reorganization aims to separate elementary and middle schools more broadly, and officials say they plan to establish additional gifted and talented programs at other schools as part of the shift.
Families say the uncertainty is the hardest part. Farhanna Sayegh, a School 28 parent and PTO leader, said parents do not know whether teachers will move with students or whether children will continue receiving gifted instruction throughout the school day. She said parents also don't know how the district will maintain the program's existing academic standards, and she urged officials to visit School 28 during the school day to see firsthand how students feel comfortable being academically motivated among classmates with similar interests.
Students Worry About Starting Over
It isn't just parents raising concerns. School 28 sixth graders told the board they had spent years building friendships and relationships with teachers, and they asked members to consider how relocation could affect their education and sense of belonging. Some of the sixth graders said they worried about bullying and safety at other schools. According to families, some School 28 students came home upset after hearing classmates discuss transferring to private or charter schools, or moving out of Paterson altogether.
Alan Martinez, a School 28 student, said he worked hard to qualify for the gifted program and was initially nervous about leaving his neighborhood school. He said he now feels challenged, supported, and excited to learn at School 28, and he enjoys learning alongside classmates who work at a similar pace. Martinez questioned why students who already changed schools once to join the gifted program should have to move again.
Parents Point to Years of Results
Oana Socoliuc, another School 28 parent, questioned why the district would change a program that has produced strong academic results. Her son joined the gifted program after leaving his previous school and initially resisted the move, but he became comfortable at School 28 and began looking forward to attending. Socoliuc said she worries that another transition could affect students' close relationships with teachers and classmates, and argued that equity should mean creating opportunities at other schools without weakening programs that already work.
Evangeline Aranibar, who has two children who graduated from School 28, described how her son entered the gifted program in fourth grade after attending a private school where he earned excellent grades but was not academically challenged. She said School 28's gifted and talented teachers challenged and encouraged him, helping shape who he became; he is now a sophomore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Families said the program has helped students develop lasting friendships with peers who encouraged one another's success, and that they worry about losing an environment developed over more than a decade.
Board President Says No Final Decision Has Been Made
Joel Ramirez, president of the Paterson Board of Education, told families that the district has not made a final decision about School 28 and is not planning to defund, shutter, close, or dismantle the school. Ramirez said he has directed Dr. Newell to meet with parents, and district officials say they are working on responses to families' questions while arranging a forum to discuss the proposal. The superintendent and her team will develop a plan to present to the board that takes family feedback and student needs across Paterson into account, according to officials.
Families said they had not received enough information about the transition so far, a concern TAPinto Paterson reported; the outlet said it had not received a response from the district to its request for comment and clarification by publication. The district has separately said it will continue implementing its Middle School Cohort model beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, under which several schools would be reconfigured to better align with grade-level programming, according to a statement from Paterson Public Schools. As part of that broader shift, School No. 21 was scheduled to transition from a K-8 school to a middle school serving grades 6-8, the district said. Separately, Paterson Public Schools has also said it will host community forums so families can get information and ask questions about the transition, with dates and locations to be shared in the coming weeks.
