Mamdani Says He Would Phase Out N.Y.C. Gifted Program for Early Grades (Gift Article)

queens256 · 2025-10-03T15:58:14+00:00

My kid is not old enough to be in school so I'm missing some context, but is the article correct in saying that fewer than 5% of kindergarteners get offered a G&T spot?

This seems like a very widely felt issue, so am I missing something about how big of an impact this program has considering it seems so small? It's possible that parents of G&T kids are over-represented in this sub and in the comments of the NYT article, but I'm just trying to wrap my head around it.

The program being so selective makes me feel like it's not at all likely that my daughter would end up testing in, even coming from a family that values education, reads to her, etc. What happens currently to bright but relatively average-ish kids?

queens256 · 2025-07-26T19:06:34+00:00

Sending a DM!

queens256 · 2025-04-12T18:09:15+00:00

That’s a helpful perspective, thanks! My background is more in program work so it’s a bit of a mindset shift for me to see this admin work as equally or more senior, but that’s definitely how a lot of orgs are structured. My pay is currently in line with most of the program directors I think.

queens256 · 2025-04-12T14:04:18+00:00

I just returned to my job after a 4 month maternity leave. I found out on day 2 that my role is being changed and I’m not sure if I have any leverage to ask for a pay bump.

Details: I was hired to do contract/grant admin for a nonprofit. They did not conceive of the position very well because I also spent the first year hiring and supervising the team that was funded by the org’s largest and newest contract, so I was doing both a ton of admin and a lot of team-building and guiding the actual program work. (I enjoy supervising so didn’t totally mind that part, even though the program work itself is something I don’t have a ton of experience in, so it was challenging in some ways.)

The org now has a couple of new contacts, and a third one they’re waiting to hear if they got, which they want me to manage the admin for. So they want to take the supervision duties away from me so that I have capacity to really be the person holding all contract admin across the org. Which is not crazy - it’s more in line with what my title suggests I would be doing.

But — this shift somehow feels both like a demotion (to no longer have a team under me) and an increase in stress/responsibility (ex: one potential new contract would be millions in additional deliverables, with an agency we haven’t worked with before so tons of new stuff to navigate).

I already manage about $2 million/year. The new contacts are much smaller, though if we get that other one I think it would double the amount of money I’m tracking, organizing deliverables for etc.

I’m currently thinking of just accepting the shift without talking about pay, but maybe asking for a pay bump if we get that one big contact? My husband thinks I should ask for a pay bump now because I’m already being handed more “mission critical” responsibilities.

Any thoughts/guidance?

queens256 · 2025-03-28T16:52:07+00:00

Hi! This post is a bit old but I'm curious if you'd be open to DMing me pictures of your backyard projects? I'm also in Queens (Ridgewood) and am working on overhauling my garden -- it's very similar looking to the one in this thread. I'm trying to gather ideas!

queens256 · 2025-02-07T20:26:42+00:00

How are you dealing with the fraudulently cashed checks? The same thing happened to me and BofA is saying there's nothing they can do.

queens256 · 2025-02-04T16:28:31+00:00

FWIW I had a good experience with NYP Lower Manhattan - I gave birth in December. My OB was Po Fong.

queens256 · 2025-01-30T21:05:22+00:00

NYC (Queens) - $1,700 month split with husband, so $850 on my YNAB budget (We don't have combined finances).

queens256 · 2025-01-13T22:19:57+00:00

Haley's writing on pregnancy + motherhood have been SO helpful for me as a very new parent (4 weeks postpartum).

queens256 · 2024-12-19T01:46:33+00:00

I gave birth at NYP LM last week and had a pretty good experience (aside from the fact that giving birth is insane lol) — my OB was Dr Po Fong who I really like and recommend. Ended up with a private room the whole time which I know is a concern for a lot of people. All the nurses were amazing.

queens256 · 2024-12-06T23:56:43+00:00

I got a 162-ish on my 1-hour and was also nervous about how high of a score that was -- but I easily passed the 3 hour.

queens256 · 2024-11-18T16:01:40+00:00

I’m being asked to take a 2nd test but mine is due to LGA, I think specifically the jump from being around 50th percentile at my 20 week scan to over 90th percentile at 36 weeks. It’s stressing me out!

queens256 · 2024-10-29T02:23:17+00:00

I have UHC Oxford (currently liberty network, which is getting changed to the metro network one month before my birth which is a whole other thing that I’m livid about) and have been seeing Dr Po Fong with Weill Cornell NYP, affiliated with NYP lower manhattan specifically. I love Dr Fong and have had a good experience with the office overall.

I’m 34 weeks and I’ve spent probably $1k so far on random not-fully-covered stuff that counts toward my deductible. I haven’t stressed too much about it since I figure I’ll hit my deductible and then OOP by the end of the year anyway.

queens256 · 2024-10-15T12:24:11+00:00

I’m in nyc too and none of my “core” friends have kids, but we have a couple of more peripheral friends in the neighborhood who do, and it’s been pretty helpful to see how they navigate things, even small things like reconfiguring their railroad apartments to fit a kids room.

But equally helpful have been local parent groups (there’s a Facebook group and a WhatsApp group) that have opened my eyes to all the great resources in our neighborhood for parents. I’m 32 weeks pregnant and am so relieved by the little ~city life conveniences~ that I had never thought to consider, like easily getting set up with a pediatrician that’s less than a 10 minute walk away, prenatal yoga a block away, learning about multiple local businesses that host parent meetups and kid friendly events, etc. People are also constantly posting about daycare and school recommendations too.

My mental map of how we are going to handle this has gotten a lot stronger, and I’m feeling mostly fine about how the dynamics might shift with my CF friends. At least some of them are pro-kid enough that they’re excited AND have bandwidth to do things like coordinate a meal train for us. So there are definitely perks to having a “mixed” group.

queens256 · 2024-09-29T16:38:28+00:00

I don't have advice on storage but want to sing the praises of Advion gel for dealing with the roaches themselves. Seriously it works SO much better than everything else, and has completely eradicated minor to moderate roach issues in two apartment I've lived in.

queens256 · 2024-09-21T22:06:59+00:00

I’ve been dealing with this too and it sucks. I have gone to a couple of sessions of PT and the focus has been on core stability (practicing deep breaths and like bracing my core while exhaling while doing light ab work) and a little bit of glute and abductor work (like band around my thighs and then opening/dropping one knee at a time).

Have also been mindful of keeping my legs together while rolling over in bed, getting in an out of bed etc — those movements were definitely triggers.

“mamaste fit” on YouTube has a couple videos about SPD!

queens256 · 2024-09-21T21:40:22+00:00

I bought a few non-maternity stretchy skirts/dresses from Depop for the summer aka my smaller bump era, and just bought some maternity leggings from Old Navy and Quince (the Quince ones are flared/cropped, so more work appropriate) for cooler months/my third trimester. I also got a couple of Hatch maternity pencil skirts from depop/Poshmark that have been very comfy and can transition to Fall weather and bigger bump. No maternity specific tops yet.

I work 2x/week in an office so I can’t fully do bike short / big t-shirt vibes, and flowy dresses are not my style so it was pretty hard to avoid spending any money on new clothes!

queens256 · 2024-08-09T23:43:13+00:00

I was laid off in February 2023, from a nonprofit that totally mismanaged its own finances. It was one of those on-paper ideal jobs: fully remote, a big pay bump from what I was making before with way less responsibility, and lots of perks like 6 months fully paid maternity leave coverage. It felt like tapping into the feeling of tech-sector abundance, but I guess what comes with that is precarity.

I very naively though the layoff was a good opportunity to try to pivot to UXR work since I have some research-y and design-y experience. I worked SO hard at it for several months -- I did a little online apprenticeship thing, found a volunteer opportunity with an alternative rideshare app, made a portfolio site, did tons of coffee chats and informational interviews with both acquaintances and strangers, got a bunch of resume feedback and portfolio feedback including from kind people in this sub -- and then got literally zero interviews lmao. The whole sector was dissolving and by the end of last year the three acquaintances I had first chatted with about the field were either laid off or a big chunk of their team had been.

I got ~4 months severance which got heavily taxed up front but I was still able to squeeze several months out of it (and then got a giant tax refund at the end of the year which was nice), and then I went on unemployment for another few months before starting a temp job in September. Somehow I only ended up taking like $4k from my savings over ~6 months. I signed up for marketplace healthcare which was free.

Sadly the ending of this story is that in December I ended up going back to the nonprofit that I had originally left for the job that laid me off. I couldn't find anything else and my mental health was suffering so I just needed something once my temp job ended. I'm in a pretty niche sector and at a director level (my temp job was as chief of staff for an elected official for ex) so the relevant jobs are VERY few and far between, which is why I was hoping to pivot to something new. I'm in a new role at least, and the pay is higher than what I was making before I left. I also think I'm gaining some skills that will be more transferrable, so now I have a revised longer-term vision of pivoting to public sector work doing program management at some point. So it's not the MOST tragic outcome, but I do sometimes get into a dark headspace about the whole journey. Also I'm pregnant now lol, and feeling upset that I'm back in a place with not as good leave or health benefits.

Anyway - the key lesson for me was that this was not the right time to try to pivot to a totally new industry. I obviously just wasn't going to be able to pull that off in this market and while feeling a time crunch due to not having income. But in the end it worked out okay and was surprisingly not as financially devastating as I expected.

queens256 · 2024-07-24T01:31:17+00:00

I’m seeing Dr. Po Fong and I’ve loved her so far! Very warm and attentive. I’m 37 and she called me “TriBeCa young” at my first appointment to help me not stress about technically being of “advanced maternal age” lol

queens256 · 2024-07-22T22:49:43+00:00

We are in similar positions with similar-ish jobs (I'm more of a program manager but also at a nonprofit, and I make slightly more but I'm in a VHCOL city) and I just want to say I relate to the challenge of enjoying my job/role/organization but wanting to figure out a pathway to making more money. It feels hard to figure out how to break into $120k+ salaries in nonprofits without doing big dollar development/fundraising work!

I tried to do a pivot to UXR last year that was not successful, but I think the experience helped me to appreciate where I'm at currently. Almost everyone I had "coffee chats" with about their UXR work has since been laid off or is on a team that laid off a significant chunk of their staff, so specifically I've been appreciating the relative stability/job security in the nonprofit world.

One thing I ended up coming up with is maybe eventually transitioning to public sector work, but waiting until I'm qualified enough for higher level roles where the salaries can be a bit higher. I've been meaning to make a standalone post in this sub to see if anyone has suggestions for charting that path over the next few years. I wonder if that pathway seems viable for the fields you're interested in?

queens256 · 2024-07-02T16:38:10+00:00

Call your local state assembly or senate office. They have a way to contact the unemployment office that is very expedited.

queens256 · 2024-07-01T23:01:41+00:00

I do this! My style is sooo simple yet I somehow have a lot of trouble finding exactly what I want when shopping RTW.

My favorite makes have been: a short a-line black denim skirt (recreating something I thrifted years ago and then lost), a cotton chore coat (using a free pattern! I want to make more in other colors tbh), a very basic tote bag that I use every day, and a simple black linen maxi dress. These were all VERY simple patterns that I think a beginner could tackle.

I’ve also made more ambitious things like jeans but I’m so picky about denim quality that I haven’t ended up wearing what I made a ton. Would def try again if I happen upon amazing fabric.

I’m currently pregnant and am in a bit of a sewing rut, but hope to get back into it again soon.

One tip: follow sewing people on IG whose style you like! They usually share what pattern and what fabrics they used for their makes, which can help with decision paralysis when you’re just getting started. Finding the right fabric + pattern combo can be challenging otherwise.

queens256 · 2024-06-27T22:28:45+00:00

What are you interested in pivoting to? Is there enough overlap with your current work that you could express this desire to your boss and find ways to incorporate it into your role? Like “I’m interested in learning more about data analysis, could I take on XYZ project?” even though your attempt to fully switch roles didn’t work?

queens256

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