#NYC parents worry Carranza will use COVID-19 to cancel SHSAT

A date for the entrance exam to get into the NYC specialized high schools is up in the air, making parents nervous that Chancellor Richard Carranza will try to sabotage the controversial test.

The Department of Education’s high school handbook says the SHSAT will be given to 8th graders on Saturday Nov. 7 and Sunday Nov. 8. The deadline for high-school applications is usually the first week in December.

But a DOE enrollment specialist, Christian Barnes, told a meeting of Queens parents recently, “Right now that timeline is not confirmed.”

Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said information on all high-school admission criteria and timing of the next Gifted & Talented tests will not go out until the middle or end of October.

About 30,000 students take the SHSAT in the fall, hoping to land seats in Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech, and five other top high schools.

Under state law, a student’s SHSAT score is the sole admission criteria for specialized schools.

Carranza and Mayor de Blasio, whose son attended Brooklyn Tech, want the state Legislature to get rid of the test, saying it results in segregation when too few black and Hispanic students get in.

“Some people are very concerned they may use the virus as an excuse not to give the test,” said Larry Cary, president of the Brooklyn Tech Alumni Foundation.

The DOE’s high school handbook says students must register for the exam by Oct. 21, but the registration link is still closed.

Curtis Smalls, who is black, is worried that his daughter Maya won’t get a chance to take the exam because a flood of students will apply to take it when registration opens.

“If they push the date back, does that give us enough time to register once the date is published? Thousands of parents will hit the Internet. I have a feeling it’s going to be a debacle,” he told The Post.

Maya spent six hours a day in June and July prepping for the SHSAT in classes run by The Admission Squad, a company that tutors black and Hispanic students to help them get into competitive high schools.

Since the new school year started remotely on Sept. 16, she attends tutoring sessions from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays.

“I’m putting a lot of work into it,” said Maya, whose heart is set on Brooklyn Tech. Her second choice is Queens HS for the Sciences at York College.

The Admission Squad, founded by Bronx HS of Science alumna Tai Abrams, is one of five black-owned nonprofits that received nearly $500,000 from the Education Equity Campaign, funded by billionaire Ron Lauder and ex-Citigroup chairman Dick Parsons, The EEC gave $1,000 for each of 500 kids now in tutoring.

The test-prep providers sent a joint letter last month urging Carranza to set the exam in motion. To ensure social distancing, it says, “DOE can simply expand the number of public schools that administer the test, stagger start times and increase the number of test days.” This could give more underrepresented students access to the exam, it adds.

Queens mom Deborah Alexander said parents are anxious. “I have an 8th grader who is studying his heart out and will be utterly demoralized and crushed if this test does not happen,” she said.

“My heart goes out to these students. They’re studying, they’re preparing. This is abuse,” said Frances Kweller, founder of tutoring company Kweller Prep. “So many parents have asked me, ‘Can you help me register? It’s not working.’”

A DOE spokeswoman would not give dates for the exam or registration, saying “we’ll notify families well before the date of administration.”