Ed news, dark and light
A troika of bad-news education stories in today’s Times: An administrator possibly worried about her next job is suspected of changing test scores on a Regents exam (her current, six-figure-plus position, at a Bronx school that scored an A for ‘progress,’ is being cut in budget rollbacks) and has been ousted after nearly three decades in the city’s schools. (The Post basically indicts her here.) The 36-year-old founding principal of the teacher’s union’s flagship charter school, the UFT Secondary Charter School in East New York, has made an exit, by mutual consent, if reports are to be believed. And in Pembroke Pines, Florida, a 7-year-old is facing possible expulsion for pulling a butter knife on a first-grader — in washroom stickup, for $1 in lunch money. Incredibly, the incident, which left the 6-year-old with a nosebleed, went unremarked until parents complained — raising questions about what, exactly, school personnel were doing when a bleeding child was discovered. The child ‘perp’ may be placed in another school, according to Broward County schools spokesman Keith Browery. “We don’t expel to the street.”
As an antidote to the gloom, consider what a few extraordinary kids have to say, via the “Be A Champion” essay context, which named 100 winning essays among 350 entries from special-needs students across the city — and included a celebration featuring New York Jet Tony Richardson, DOE reps, and Lime Connect, which together sponsored the contest. One Bronx boy writes:
“I am a very energetic 12-year-old amputee. At birth,…I was diagnosed with Amniotic Band Syndrome which resulted in my left leg being amputated below my knee, three days after my birth. As much as I can remember, I have never experienced any difficulties achieving my goals. … I am a champion because I never allow my disability to prevent me from fitting in. … Last summer I received the First Place medal for running [with my amputee support group]. I taught myself to swim. … I mastered rock-climbing and bike-riding. Sometimes, I even forget I am wearing a prosthesis.”
A high-school girl in Queens has a different outlook: “I feel everyone is a champion in my eyes. If you put your all into something you want badly, you need to fight. … At one point in my life, I was a champion. Then I let myself down by giving up. I stopped being good in school and doing all my work. … I even stopped going to school. Now I’m back in school and will go on to college. … I have the power and courage to do what I need to do to get what I need. I always let people tell me I will never be anything in life. I’m proving them wrong by doing the right thing. … My word for all the champions out there: don’t let anyone stop you from finishing, or trying to make your goals in life.”
Heartfelt advice, and welcome perspective in a too-cynical world.
Subscribe to 
