applicants

Instead, it was going to require just one academic criterion — that all applicants be gifted or working at a gifted level through a district designation process.

School districts may use entrance criteria for specialized schools or programs, state code says, “if the criteria are uniformly applied to all applicants.”

She also presided over a record number of applicants — 82,000 for fall 2024 — driving down the admission rate to 9.3%, a record low.

Fifteen finalists, from countries including France, Kenya, Indonesia, the UK and Nepal, were competing for their category's prize pot after being whittled down from 2,500 applicants.

Instead, the city clerk would randomly draw the names of eight applicants, each from a different section of the city.