It’s time for a new crop of 4-year-olds to begin applying to pre-kindergarten! The admissions process for the 2010/2011 school year begins Monday, March 1 with applications due by April 9. All children who turn four in 2010 are eligible for public pre-K, although they are not guaranteed a seat. Programs are housed in public schools or at community-based organizations and the application process differs slightly depending on where a program is housed.
Public schools
There are two ways to apply for pre-K programs housed in public schools: by mail or online. To apply by mail, you must acquire a paper application and reply-envelope from this year’s pre-K directory. The directory will be available at all borough enrollment offices on Tuesday, March 2 and all elementary schools by March 8. According to the DOE, the online application will be posted on the NYC Department of Education’s website on March 1.You may apply for a number of schools in one submission and rank those schools by order of preference.
Students with siblings who attend a school receive first priority; of those, families who live in the school zone receive first dibs in most cases. (There are a few places where this is not the case, such as Manhattan’s District 1 which has few zoned schools.) Students without sibling preference are also ranked according to whether or not they live in the zone, or district. Admissions priorities are detailed on the DOE’s pre-K information website.
Community-Based Organizations (CBOs)Applications for pre-K programs housed by CBOs are not handled by the DOE, although they are listed in the directory. You must apply for each CBO program separately and deliver that application to the program’s site (no mail or online submissions) . The CBO will then contact you directly to let you know whether your child receives a spot.Applications are available at all CBOs now. They will also be available online — for printing — through the DOE’s website starting March 1. (more…)
It’s time again to bring out the sleds! At 6:15 this morning, after a night of snowfall, the Department of Education announced that all city public schools would be closed today. According to the announcement, “all after-school activities and PSAL events will also be cancelled. Administrative offices will remain open.”
Good luck to all parents who are faced with an unanticipated school day with children at home! Let us know how your coping with childcare.
Parent-teacher conferences scheduled to take place today [Thursday, Feb. 25] at New York City intermediate and junior high schools will be rescheduled due to poor weather conditions, reports the NYC Department of Education in a press release.
“While we continue to monitor the weather, all indications are that schools will be open tomorrow. If conditions become worse than expected and schools do have to be closed, we will inform parents immediately,” states the release. After-school and PSAL programs will proceed as scheduled.”
New York City families packed the school’s 1,300-seat auditorium, according to NY1. Charter school parents and students testified that their schools required more space to support growing populations, while public school families voiced frustration with the loss of valuable resources, such as science labs and libraries, to already-existing space constraints.
“I can understand why any school moving in would like more space, that makes sense,” said schools Chancellor Joel Klein at the hearing. “But what’s particularly interesting tonight Mr. Chairman is that all of a sudden, when charter schools are involved in sharing space there’s been a big political push back and we should see it for what it is,” Klein said.
Last month, the PEP voted to close 19 public schools before a packed auditorium of public school advocates at Brooklyn Tech High School. Some commentors accused the panel of pitting families against each other by placing charter schools in public schools. Klein openly refuted this claim.
At last night’s meeting, Robert Jackson, chair of the City Council Education Committee, revived this accusation, citing that the disproportionate number of charter advocates in the evening’s crowd did not represent public opinion — many charter parents were bused to the event and provided dinner for attending, reports the Daily News.
How can public and charter schools share space efficiently and coexist? Share your thoughts!
In a surprising change of course, the Department of Education announced that it will cancel plans to move a charter school into a Bronx vocational high school. The DOE’s decision comes after meetings with representatives from the construction industry, reports the The New York Times.
The DOE will now work with construction industry representatives to develop a new school in the building. Smith’s principal René Cassanova told theTimes that, while she hasn’t spoken to the DOE regarding the plan, she is pleased: “What we want is our industry partners at the table and the programs at Smith.”
AECI plans to rent private space for the 2010/2011 school year to house its growing student population. Controversy has plagued the school since founder Richard Izquierdo Arroyo was indicted on charges of embezzlement last summer.
Monday marked the 100th day of the school year. So in this week’s poll, we ask: how’s it going?
Some classrooms celebrate this milestone with special activities. This year, the 100th day fell on the first school day after winter break. Needless to say, many students were not in the mood to celebrate.
If you’re a parent, student, or educator, what’s your gut feeling about how your school is performing? Please take our poll at left, and share your thoughts below.
And if there have been significant changes at your school during the last 100 days — good or bad — please share the updates on your school’s profile page here at Insideschools.org..
In our last poll, we asked how you feel about your school’s lunches. Fifty-eight percent of you said your school does NOT serve healthy lunches. Twenty-three percent said the food is healthy. Seventeen percent of you pack your own lunches, and said you’re not sure.
In the comments, more than a few students and parents characterized their cafeteria food as “disgusting,” “nasty,” or “gross” — regardless of its purported nutritional value. “My school serves partially healthy lunch, but the food is disgusting,” wrote a student. “Frozen foods are often given, and taste horrible. Watery, tasteless veggies, tacos, dry chicken nuggets, it’s really bad..”
But a parent at PS 84 tells us that due to a partnership with Wellness in the Schools and the efforts of the school’s wellness committee, their kids have a hot vegetarian entree option and salad bar every day — though the the high fructose corn syrup in the chocolate milk remains a subject of debate.
If you could change the menu at your school’s cafeteria, what would you serve?
A few weeks back, Insideschools attended the yearly New High Schools Fair. We were lucky enough to speak with faculty and staff from each school about their hopes and plans for the 2010/2011 school year.
We’ve condensed all of this information into fact-packed profiles that will help you determine whether one of these new schools is right for your child:
Three new transfer schools will open in September as well. You can find information on those schools in the Department of Education’s New High Schools Directory. As we reported last week, the due date for high school applications has been extended to Thursday, Feb. 25.
There are many reasons why high school choice in New York City is so fraught and frightening for parents. In a city where parenting can resemble a competitive sport, important questions abound. But as our children age, we learn that these questions are only the beginning.
Concerns from parents who must decide on a specialized high school or other placement for their child have dominated conversation on Insideschools and in countless households. Class size, academic quality, commute time, and advanced placement offerings are all being weighed, along with the role of sports and arts.
Other pressing questions are close behind, because the inevitable and lifelong separation process is dramatically stepped up when your child enters high school. For example, what happens four years later? What percent of students graduate on time (in a city where half don’t) and how well prepared will graduates be for college? What is the quality of college counseling in city high schools, and how do college admissions officers regard graduates of say, Bronx Science vs. Eleanor Roosevelt? Just how much should college concerns weigh upon what happens after 8th grade?
Those who have survived the intensity of New York City school admissions all the way to high school may feel like grizzled veterans when it comes time to pick a college. Still, it’s a shock to the system to consider our unformed adolescents as young adults who will, if all goes well, be out the door and making their own decisions before long.
Assumptions we make while dragging our 12 and 13-year-olds on school tours may be struck down as their interests and abilities change. I’ve always found one of the oddest and most difficult parts of school choice in New York City, starting with pre-kindergarten, can be making choices based on what I imagine my child will be like a full year later. (more…)
“Mommy, will Insideschools miss you after you say a big goodbye?”
Sadly, Brooks’s question arose because last week, I left my position here as Web Developer. While I will continue to write this blog for as long as InsidesSCOOP will have me, my technical career is moving on to The Paley Center.
I have to admit that as excited as I am to begin my new professional opportunity, I am also truly saddened to leave Advocates For Children (AFC), Insideschools’ parent organization. I will sorely miss this small but feisty group of really smart and compassionate folks, many of them special education parents themselves, who work so hard for the interests of all public school children with educational challenges. It is no exaggeration to say that AFC has fundamentally changed the kind of special education parent I am.
Now, two years later, my son’s integrated program at P.S. 178 has more than lived up to its promise. Everyone — teachers, therapists, and students — understands on some level that Brooks is different, but they also completely and totally accept him. This finely-tuned inclusion environment not only benefits my son, but also his whole class and his whole school, since they are all learning first-hand to accept, value and, most importantly, befriend kids who aren’t exactly like them. To witness a New York City public school prioritize teaching kindergartners the value of diversity, right up there alongside academics, is nothing less than breathtaking. (more…)
City Limits devotes its entire March issue to Harlem Children’s Zone, featuring a comprehensive report by Helen Zelon, long-time contributor to Insideschools.org. The lead article, “Is the Promise Real,” chronicles the history and status of the initiative, developed by charismatic leader Geoffrey Canada, to envelop whole neighborhoods with social services from cradle to college.
The HCZ now includes the Baby College, starting with pre-natal services, pre-school (Harlem Gems), three Promise Academy charter schools covering elementary through high school, and more than a dozen family and employment support organizations. It has caught attention and praise from philanthropists and politicians, including President Obama, who see it as a template for the nation’s troubled school children. A substantial sum of federal funds will go to 20 school districts to replicate the initiative.
The report offers an analysis of the schools’ practices and early results and describes the difficulty of measuring social service impact. It also examines the potential for replication in cities less saturated with social services and patrons than New York.
Dear Judy -I have been reading about the [schools that are closing] and I am wondering: what happens to students at those schools? Are they allowed to transfer? Also, if they have not accumulated enough credits to graduate by the time the school is closed, what do they do?
—Worried about the kids
Dear Worried about the kids:
According to Liz Sciabarra, director of enrollment at the Department of Education, 9th- graders in phasing out schools will be offered the opportunity to apply for another school. Kids should speak to their guidance counselor about how to proceed. Another option: visit the local enrollment office.
Tenth graders will also be helped to transfer, if they wish, but by and large, the DOE expects students, especially in the upper grades in phase-out schools, to stay put and graduate. Be aware that many schools do not accept kids after 10th grade and sometimes the new placement will be no better than the current situation. It would be wise to contact the guidance counselor or the enrollment office 212-374-2363 as soon as you can to start the process. (more…)
I admit it: this time of year, my children don’t get enough exercise. It’s hard to drag them outside to play when we live in a northern, urban environment with no yard, and the playgrounds are sad and frozen.
There are only so many after school activities one can sign up for. The school does what it can, but its indoor facilities have limits, and if the temperature dips below freezing the teachers can’trisk frostbitten children. On not-so-bitterly cold days, the kids adjourn to the playground for recess, and I see them running around giddily, as though gulping fresh air for the first time.
When the weather’s too harsh to venture outside, the students sometimes watch a movie in the auditorium — to their intense delight. I don’t mind the occasional movie, but it’s no substitute for the kids moving their bodies. (more…)
This week’s snowstorm forced the postponement of open houses at specialized and new high schools. Because of the delays, the Department of Education is giving 8th graders and their families a few more days to make up their minds about whether to apply to new high schools, or, for those lucky enough to have a choice after the first round of high school acceptances, which school to accept!
The due date has been changed from Tuesday, Feb. 23 to Thursday, Feb. 25. From the comments on InsideSCOOP and our forum, some families are having a tough time making a decision. If you’ve got experience to share about the schools, please chime in.
And, see the Department of Education’s website for a rundown of all weather-related schedule changes, including the new open house dates for specialized high schools, and hearings about hotly-contested school utilization plans.
Hot on the heels of the (partial) reinstatement of PTA bake sales, a new brochure was circulated today by the Office of Family Engagement at the Department of Education called “Yes, You Can: A Fresh Look at Healthy Fundraisers for Schools.”
One section I like is called “Combining Fitness and Fun.” This describes how parents or schools can design “Do-It-Yourself Fitness-A-Thon” fundraisers. Some organizations that can help set up fitness fundraisers are the New York Road Runner Foundationor Fitness Fundraising. (more…)
Meredith Kolodner of the Daily News has been following the story of Rosa Bracero, a newly homeless senior in high school, who was unable to take the state-mandated English Regents exam in January because her presence was required at a homeless intake center for a seven hour meeting. She took the exam at her high school the following day but the state education department refused to score the exam. The English Regents was the only missing piece for Rosa who hoped to graduate in January and attend the Lincoln Technical Institute during the second semester.
After an uproar by advocates for the homeless and others, the New York City Department of Homeless Services announced they had changed the policy. “The Department of Homeless Services is revamping our policy so that once a family presents at the intake center, a student may be excused from the shelter application process for important exams that do not offer make-up sessions, like Regents or some college preparatory exams, while their family continues to be processed. The incident of a student missing the Regents Exam was unfortunate and unusual, but these steps will ensure that no child faces a similar situation again.” (more…)
Last week, the Department of Education announced that they would be seeking to develop “richer assessments of learning” over the next few years to complement the standardized tests. In his explanation, the DOE’s Director of Accountability, Shael Suranksky quoted President Obama: “It’s about being smarter about our assessments. It’s about measuring not only whether our kids can master the basics, but whether they can solve challenging tasks, do they have the skills like critical thinking and teamwork and entrepreneurship.”
Suransky went on to say that a new collaboration with the Gates Foundation will lead to more opportunities to engage in performance-based assessments (where students “perform” their learning in more open- ended ways).
At Arts & Letters we are already doing such assessments. In fact, on that same day, at Arts & Letters, we completed our third day of “Roundtables,” a practice adapted from many small schools across the city and the country.
Roundtables are based on a simple belief: students should have the opportunity to share, reflect on, and discuss the work they have done during the semester, and they should do it with an audience who knows and cares about them. Visitors should see what goes on all day in our public schools. This is one way that we show how deep and complex learning really is. (more…)
All New York City public schools will be closed Wednesday, Feb. 10 due to “anticipated inclement weather,” states a press release from Chancellor Joel Klein issued today. After-school activities and PSAL events are also called off.
The announcement comes alongside a “Winter Storm Warning” issued by the National Weather Service that calls for “significant snowfall tonight into Wednesday night.” The warning will remain intact through Thursday evening. Schools will be open Thursday, pending further announcements from the Department of Education.
“We are making this decision today to give parents as much time as possible to make alternative plans for tomorrow,” states the release.
Q: My son is a junior and I thought that later this spring, and over the summer, we’d start driving to see some college campuses. Now he is saying, why bother, no one gets in anyway. He is friends with a number of seniors, and some of them have already gotten rejection letters from colleges. Their disappointment is affecting him and making him think very negatively. How do I build up his interest?
A: You can’t prevent your son from hearing negative information from some of his friends, but you also need to get him to hear the positive as well. He needs to see the big picture, and the big picture shows us that pretty much every high school student who takes academics seriously and plans his/her college applications carefully will indeed get in. They may not get into their #1 choice, but they will find a college, in many cases more than one, which will accept them.
Of course, if your son’s friends are talking about Ivy League schools, where the acceptance rate is usually less than 10%, most applicants are going to be disappointed. But freshman places at Ivy league institutions account for a very small percentage of freshman places nationally. The vast majority of admissions decisions for this year’s seniors have yet to be made. I am confident that by the end of this academic year, all of your son’s friends will have been accepted to colleges where they will be happy. (more…)
The Department of Education announced that open houses scheduled for this Wednesday, Feb. 10 for students accepted at specialized high schools, will be postponed until Feb. 22 because of predicted “inclement weather”. The forecast calls for ice and snow on Wednesday.
Students must turn in their acceptances by Feb. 23 — the day after the rescheduled open houses at several of the specialized high schools; no word that the acceptance date will be postponed.
New York City is such a peculiarly competitive place to live that even toddlers may receive rejection letters from pre-schools, so you think they might be prepared when it comes time for choosing a high school.
At the tender age of three or four, however, they have some insulation, as it’s hard to imagine telling a potential nursery schooler: “Sorry, you didn’t get in. They weren’t impressed by your sandbox play.”
There’s not much parents can do to cushion the blow of first round rejection for city high schools, though. It can be a pretty raw time. And the stakes are ever so much greater because the supply of excellent high schools does not meet the demand. (more…)
Eighth-graders (and some 9th-graders) across the city learned this week whether they were offered seats at the city’s specialized high schools, including the eight schools for which students take the Specialized High School Admissions Test, and LaGuardia High School which requires auditions and a review of a student’s academic record. Nearly 6000 8th-graders — 5,898 — received an offer. (No word yet on how many 9th-graders got offers.) Close to 2000 9th graders — 1,964 –took the exam and 174 received an offer.
Of 27,000 applicants citywide for the exam schools, 5,261were offered seats. Last year 5,246 got offers. At LaGuardia 1,000 kids got one or more offers as applicants often do multiple auditions. Of those 1,000 students, 363 also got accepted by one of the exam schools. Thirty 9th-graders received 36 offers to programs in LaGuardia. Of those, two students who received an offer to LaGuardia also received an offer to a specialized testing school.
Students who made the cut also learned about their high school placements to non-specialized high schools. But, the vast majority of students who participated in the specialized high school process — nearly 21,000 — will have to wait for March 24th, when all applicants will receive their results.
Students with offers in hand have until Feb. 23 to decide which one to accept. Feb. 23 is also the deadline for students to submit a new application to apply to one of the 16 new high schools opening next fall. Families may learn about more about those at a fair this weekend.
Watch The InsideSCOOP for updates on the high school admissions process; we’ll add information as we get it. Let us know how things unfolded at your school. Share your information in comments below.
UPDATE: The lowest score for which an offer was made was 470 for the eighth grade and 480 for the ninth grade.
The Daily News recently surveyed school lunchrooms to see if the “health-crazed Bloomberg administration,” which “often touts how it has overhauled school lunches and slashed calories,” has succeeded in making standard cafeteria fare healthier. According to some nutritionists, some of the “healthy” offerings may not cut the mustard.
The News reports that a simple toasted cheese sandwich on oat bread — frozen and then heated in its plastic wrapper — contained more than 30 ingredients, including high-fructose corn syrup, which the administration had vowed to cut out. “It just looks so greasy, you can tell it’s unhealthy,” observed a student at Clara Barton High School.
In our new poll, we ask: what’s for lunch at your school, and how do you feel about it? Is it junk food or is it getting better? And whether kids get school lunch or packed lunch, what do they actually eat?
In our last poll, we asked how you felt about the closing of 19 city schools. It turns out that a strong majority — 61% — feel that schools should be fixed rather than shut. Another 11% felt that some deserve to be closed, but others do not. Just 16% said all 19 schools are bad and should be shut down.
Our poll results stand in contrast to assertions by education officials and others that those who oppose the closings are just a noisy minority. An editorial in the Daily News said most of the closing opponents who attended the hearings of the Panel for Educational Policy were bused in by the teacher’s union. It suggested that the “best measure of what mothers and fathers feel about particular schools is how many of them hope to enroll their children,” concluding that because relatively few parents ranked the schools now slated for closure as their first choice on high school applications, they “have no such backing because parents want far better.”
All parents want better schools. In fact, many people visit Insideschools.org because they are actively seeking out good schools. And, a clear majority of those who voted say troubled schools should be fixed not shut. What does that tell you? Please share your thoughts below.
On February 4, ARISE , a coalition of individuals and 24 organizations of which AFC is a member, issued a statement charging that the Department of Education’s plan to reform special education does not go far enough.
The DOE’s plan states that “every school should educate and embrace the overwhelmingly majority of students with disabilities,’ but that a “cohort of students….with highly specialized needs will continue to be clustered in specialized instructional programs.” The DOE confirmed that District 75 will continue to serve those students.
According to Maggie Moroff, coordinator of the ARISE coalition, the plan falls short in two ways. First, while encouraging and supporting principals to institute recommended changes in special education, there is no mandate to hold them, or officials in the department, accountable for doing so. Second, although the DOE’s plan calls for the development of new programs, “it has done remarkably little to marshal the work [already] done in New York City schools and in academia.” Incorporation of existing successful programs could speed up implementation, she noted. Click here for the ARISE statement.
As I sat furiously answering emails from high school students around the city last night, on the phone with a student from Queens I’d never met, and trying to keep up with constant facebook notifications from strangers, I told my mother I thought the MTA’s proposal to cut student MetroCards was a blessing in disguise. I didn’t really mean it, of course, but it is clear to anyone working on this issue that the students of this city are uniting and mobilizing to make their voices heard.
There have been student organized rallies and protests, petition drives and press conferences. And the next phase begins this week: a MetroCard drive, organized by the NYC Student Union.
At the end of this week, first semester student MetroCards will expire. Student representatives from schools around the city will be collecting their classmate’s MetroCards, asking them to write a brief message on their card before handing it in. The message should be about how the MetroCard cut will affect them, or anything they want to say about the MTA’s plan. (more…)
The Department of Education is rolling out plans to open new schools next fall across the city. The DOE announced Tuesday that it will add six schools to the list of Brooklyn schools already slated to open for the 2010/2011 school year. These elementary and middle schools will be located in Districts 17, 20, and 23. Each school will open with early grades and phase-in higher grades over time.
The DOE hopes that these schools will alleviate growing pressures of overcrowding in these districts. Four of the proposed schools will be in District 20, where elementary school seats are especially in short supply.
For more information on these, and other, school openings, visit the DOE’s fact sheets for each district. If you have questions concerning new schools, you can contact the Office of Public Affairs at 212-374-2437 or OPA@schools.nyc.gov.
Sixteen new high schools set to open next September are profiled in the Directory of the New High Schools, now available on the Department of Education’s website. Representatives from many of the schools will be at this weekend’s fair for 8th grade students who are still looking for a high school for next fall.
Of the schools seeking to attract incoming 9th graders, two are in the Bronx, one is in Brooklyn, five are in Manhattan, and another five are in Queens. Some will share buildings with schools whose closure has just been announced, such as Norman Thomas, Beach Channel, and Jamaica. Most have themes.
There are three transfer schools opening, one each for the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. These are aimed at older students who are behind in their credits and who have been unsuccessful in their previous high schools.
Stay tuned….we’ll have more information after the new school fair. Prospective parents and students, please share your thoughts!
The Upper East Side will be getting a new elementary school next fall to help alleviate overcrowding which caused long wait lists for kindergarten last year in the neighborhood’s schools. The Department of Education plans to open PS 267 in the PS 158 building, occupying space which now houses the East Side Middle School. East Side Middle will move to its new building in September 2010.
In an email sent Tuesday night to state and local representatives, Andy Lachman of the grassroots organization, Parent Leaders of Upper East Side School, announced the DOE decision and thanked officials for helping “put a serious dent in UES overcrowding.”(more…)
I work with many adolescents who are highly truant. In my 7-plus years working in public middle and high schools, the number one thing they tell me is that school is boring.
I have explored and contemplated this concept of “school-as-boring” for countless hours, trying to figure out what exactly these kids feel is lacking. I wondered about how their capacity for engagement has been affected by a literal lifetime of being plugged in to television, video games and the internet.
Do schools like NYCiSchool and Global Technology Preparatory have the answer by creating a curriculum in which technology and computer use is absolutely integral? I am definitely a fan of schools that appeal to technology aficionados, but I feel more is lacking and causing far too many adolescents to disconnect from school. (more…)
This weekend, the Department of Education is hosting a fair for new high schools at Emigrant Savings Bank, across the street from DOE headquarters at 51 Chambers Street. No word yet about how many new schools, which will accept 9th-graders next fall, will be present at the fair, set to take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. Officials say a handbook listing the new schools will be posted online and will be available at the fair.
Although high school applications were submitted in early December, 8th graders can request a new school application from their guidance counselor if they wish to change their application to apply to a new school for Fall 2010.
The first round of high school admissions results comes out this week, two days before the weekend fair. On Feb. 4, 8th and 9th-graders who applied for one of the city’s nine specialized high schools will learn whether they have been admitted to a specialized school.
Middle and high school guidance counselors will be distributing the results on Thursday, although some schools will mail them in an effort to forestall the upset that frequently accompanies the distribution of the acceptances. Students who are accepted at a specialized school will also find out whether they were matched to another school on their list. If not they will have to wait until the main round results are distributed on March 23. The timeline for high school admissions is posted on the DOE’s website. (more…)
Is your child turning five this year? Today, Feb. 1 is the first day to submit a kindergarten application.
Families may apply to multiple schools by going directly to the school with proof of address and date of birth, and filling out an application.You don’t need to bring your child. Kindergarten admissions is a school-based process so the application may vary by school, with some schools using a kindergarten application template provided by the Department of Education. This round of applications will last until March 12.
According to New York State law, kindergarten is not mandatory (although it is strongly encouraged!) but every child who applies is guaranteed a place. Priority in admissions is given to students who are zoned for the school, and to unzoned students who have a sibling enrolled in the school. For a rundown of admissions’ priorities, see the Department of Education’s page on elementary school admissions. (more…)
Judging by the commentary on one of Insideschools’ recent polls, heavy homework loads seem to trigger impassioned responses from both parents and students. Do nightly assignments in kindergarten fall into the “too much” category? Some parents think so. The fact that kindergarten homework was an oxymoron a generation ago may have something to do with this.
In this article from the New York Times, the author describes her quest to avoid a school where her kindergartner would spend precious after-school time on worksheets and drills, at the expense of play and fun. She laments the earlier focus on academic achievement and questions the worth of putting all this pressure on our kids.
In my own informal poll, most of the parents I talked to, at public and private schools, say their kindergartners don’t come home with much of anything regular, just the occasional project-meant to be fun and perhaps tie in with the week’s theme. From what I’ve been reading lately, though, I know there are plenty of exceptions–schools that pile the homework on the five-year olds every night. (more…)
Insideschools.org is an independent, non-profit website devoted to informing parents, teachers, and students about NYC public schools. The InsideSCOOP is a venue for Insideschools staffers and guest contributors to provide news, analysis, and their own opinions about public schools. Please note that views by our columnists are not necessarily those of Insideschools.org or Advocates for Children. For general comments or questions about education and schools in NYC, visit the Insideschools forum.
Our columnists
Claiborne Willams Milde has two daughters in public school and writes our "Kindergarten Corner."
Claiborne's posts »
Donya Rhett, PhD, is a public school parent and a clinical psychologist in a school-based health center.
Donya's posts »
Jennifer Freeman is a long-time contributor to Insideschools who now writes about the movement in schools to be "Going Green."
Jennifer's posts »
Liz Willen is the assistant director of the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media at Columbia University. She has two sons in public schools and writes both "Middle School Muddle" and "High School Hustle." Liz's posts »
Marni Goltsman is the parent of a 7-year-old in PS 178's ASD Nest program. She was a Web Developer here at Insideschools until February 2010 and now handles web development and social media at the Paley Center for Media. Marni's posts »
Toni Bruno is a senior at LaGuardia High School and member of the NYC Student Union Toni's posts »
Allison Gaines Pell is the founding principal of the Urban Assembly Academy of Arts & Letters and a public school parent. Read Allison’s posts in Principal’s Perspective.
Allison's posts »
Judy Baum("Ask Judy") was a Public Education Association information specialist before joining Advocates for Children. Judy has visited many schools and observes the current scene both as an Insideschools volunteer and as the grandmother of a public school student. Judy's posts »
Dr. Jane S. Gabin ("Ask the College Counselor") is director of college guidance at The Frisch School in Paramus, NJ. Before that, she was a college counselor at LREI: Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin and the United Nations International School in Manhattan. She was an admissions officer for 10 years at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Jane's posts »
It’s time again to bring out the sleds! At 6:15 this morning, after a night of snowfall, the Department of Education announced that all city public schools would be closed today. According to the announcement, “all after-school activities and PSAL events will also be cancelled. Administrative offices will remain open.”
In our last poll, we asked how you feel about your school’s lunches. Fifty-eight percent of you said your school does NOT serve healthy lunches. Twenty-three percent said the food is healthy. Seventeen percent of you pack your own lunches, and said you’re not sure.
A few weeks back, Insideschools attended the yearly New High Schools Fair. We were lucky enough to speak with faculty and staff from each school about their hopes and plans for the 2010/2011 school year.
Have a school question for Judy? 
In our last poll, we asked how you felt about the closing of 19 city schools. It turns out that a strong majority — 61% — feel that schools should be fixed rather than shut. Another 11% felt that some deserve to be closed, but others do not. Just 16% said all 19 schools are bad and should be shut down.
Subscribe to 
