gifted and talented waitlist (i just said that to get hits)

There is NO waitlist for gifted & talented and NO appeal. So you may ask (and you have been asking!), what happens if families decline their offers and there are extra open seats?

Here is the answer. The DOE "over-offers". They do this at all levels of gifted programs (middle school as well as the Specialized HS) with the expectation that there will be a certain number of families that will opt out. Over the years they have a pretty accurate idea of the numbers. If fewer families opt out, the classes will be a little larger. If more families opt out the very few left over seats in highly popular programs are filled by the children who test in the summer. There are a number of families who move into the city from outside after the request for testing is filed in the fall, and they can request a summer test date. If the new students score high enough they are offered the leftover seats. Don't be too jealous of them - the seats are few and far between and they are biting their nails with no back ups in sight right through the summer. Occasionally siblings may also take the left over slots. If a student has a sib currently attending a school and the younger sib scores high enough to qualify for a seat in the school, occasionally they fall through the system. The very occasional empty seat enables the DOE to rectify this situation.

On a different waitlist matter:

The Daily News and the NY Times both have reports on PS 163 on the west side that had way too many g&t offers and the school has instituted a waitlist for parent's registering for the seats that have been offered. It appears that there will be an additional class added to accommodate the overflow.

So, families who have been offered a citywide or districtwide g&t seat, you should decide on whether you are accepting the seat or not and register. If you don't and you haven't already registered at your zoned school, charter, magnet, etc. you will be left without a seat. Remember, the DOE honors the last registration, so if by some crazy fluke you get word that you are offered a seat in some other random school over the summer, the last school that you register at, is the one that your child will attend.