This week New Yorkers gathered in each borough to protest MTA layoffs, budget cuts, and the cancellation of student MetroCards. The Insideschools staff was wrapping up its workday Thursday when chants of protest poured in through our 7th-story window. I grabbed my camera and bolted down the stairs.

After hopping a steel barricade and weaving through a crowd of police officers, I joined the thousands marching from a rally at Gov. Paterson’s office to the Fashion Institute of Technology — where MTA held a public hearing on the MetroCard cuts. Students waved picket signs and led chants. “Hands off our MetroCards,” rang down the canyon of mid-rise buildings lining 7th Avenue.

We were greeted at FIT by a three-story inflatable rat, installed by protesters. The crowd was corralled by another set of steel barricades. I hopped another fence and turned down 27th Street to find another crowd of students still standing outside the entrance to the hearing. “Let us in,” a small group of high schoolers chanted. The police informed me that the room was full and that “no one else is getting in.”

I attempted to blend in with the fashionable crowd on campus to find a back door, but my meager style sense didn’t cut it with campus security. Luckily, Gabriel Resto-Montero of DNAinfo made it in and provided a great report. The MTA board is expected to vote on the cuts on March 24.

Labor unions organized speakers at the corner of 7th Avenue and 29th Street.

New York City students can now anonymously report threats or acts of violence at their schools by calling 866-SPEAK-UP.

The toll-free hotline is operated by gun violence prevention group PAX, whose national service has received more than 35,000 calls since it was founded in 2002. City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn led the charge to promote 866-SPEAK-UP in New York City — with help from the Department of Education and the NYPD — in hopes of curtailing the popular “stop snitching” message among students.

“School should be a safe haven for students,” said Speaker Quinn in a press release. “Too many of our children fear retaliation if they report a violent incident that is about to happen and unfortunately authorities find out when it’s too late and innocent lives are affected. This program will empower students to take school safety into their own hands.”

A small number of New York City schools will participate in a pilot program to promote the hotline in their building. If you’d like to promote the service in your school, more information is available on the PAX website.

Gotham Gazette this week features a detailed look at bullying in NYC schools, concluding that data remains scarce as to whether the Chancellor’s Regulation designed to curb bullying has been effective.  The article came out in anticipation of Respect for All week, slated for March 8-12;

Is bullying or violence a problem at your school? Do you think this national hotline will be effective in curtailing it? And, is your school planning any “Respect for All” activities? Let us know in your comments below.

Two Brooklyn parents are joining forces with Advocates for Children (AFC) to challenge the extension of PAVE Academy Charter School’s colocation with PS 15.

Despite public protest, the Panel for Educational Policy approved the extension during its January 26 meeting. In response, AFC filed a petition and request for stay — on behalf of PS 15 parents John Battis and Lydia Bellahcene — asking State Education Commissioner David Steiner to repeal the 8-4 decision. The petition argues that the Department of Education failed to properly assess the impact of PAVE’s colocation on PS 15, or provide an adequate period for public comment.

“The law requires a public process in which the DOE identifies the impact of their proposal on parents, students and the community, and allows for public comment,” stated Battis in a press release issued by AFC. “The DOE must comply with the law.” (more…)

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…)

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.”

The Panel for Educational Policy approved 13 charter school colocation proposals at its monthly meeting, held Wednesday night at the Fashion Industries High School in Chelsea.

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 New York City Charter High School for Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industries was slated to replace some vocational programs at the Bronx’s Alfred E. Smith Career and Technical Education High School. The school’s building programs are on the chopping block due to low graduation rates.

The DOE will now work with construction industry representatives to develop a new school in the building. Smith’s principal René Cassanova told the Times 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.

For more information, see articles from the Daily News and The New York Times  online.

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:

• In Brooklyn: Academy For Health Careers.
• In the Bronx: Bronx Bridges High School.
• In Manhattan: Renaissance Charter High School For Innovation,  Frank Mccourt High School,  Hudson High School Of Learning Technologies, Murray Hill Academy, Manhattan Academy Of Arts & Language,  and International High School At Union Square.
• In Queens:  High School For Community Leadership, Queens Metropolitan High School, Cambria Heights Academy, and Hillside Arts & Letters Academy.

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.

Good luck!

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.

View the DOE’s press release here.

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.

In a 6-4 decision, the District 2 Community Education Council approved the Department of Education’s “Option 2″ proposal for temporarily rezoning Lower Manhattan’s school boundaries.

Under the plan, Tribeca students living west of Church Street. will be zoned for the highly-regarded, but becoming-over-crowded, PS 234. PS 89, originally the zoned school for Battery Park City students, will now be zoned for students living north of Battery Park City and Gateway Plaza.

The decision also defined the zoning boundaries for Lower Manhattan’s two new public schools — PS/IS 397 Spruce Street School and PS/IS 276 — which the rapidly-growing community hopes will alleviate overcrowding while maintaining the strong reputation of its current schools. (more…)

Chants of protest rang through the streets of Fort Greene yesterday afternoon, as thousands of New Yorkers gathered to urge local officials to vote against closing 20 public schools. After two hours of protest and nearly nine hours of public comment, the Panel for Educational Policy approved the phasing-out of 19 of the schools. It will vote on closing the 20th school, Alfred E. Smith Careers and Technical Education High School in Bronx, next month.

“Keep schools open,” the crowd chanted as United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew took the stage at the 4 p.m. rally, his image broadcast on a jumbo screen stretching down Dekalb Avenue along Fort Greene Park for protesters to see. “We cannot continue with an educational policy that says, ‘we will no longer fix schools, we will close schools,’” he said before leading the crowd in a chant of “help not harm.”

When the rally came to a close, community members lined up along South Elliot Place to enter Brooklyn Tech High School’s auditorium for the 6 p.m. meeting of the PEP. The line buzzed with discussion.”Statistically we were just one year on the Schools in need of Improvement list and this is only the second year with our new principal,” said a teacher from Global Enterprise Academy, a school slated for closure. “We didn’t see it coming, we were punched in the head.”A student marching band made its way down the line, drowning out conversation.

The school’s two-story auditorium quickly filled to capacity. As PEP members took their seats on stage, community members remained on their feet, waving banners with slogans such as “keep the public in public education,” while chanting “save our schools.”

The crowd quieted as the panel approved minutes from its previous meeting. The panel chairman then asked Chancellor Joel Klein to provide an update. Boos filled the auditorium. “As I’ve said many times, our first obligation is to our children. The sad reality is that the schools that we present tonight are schools that are not meeting the standards that we need to meet for our children,” said Klein. “It saddens me that there are people here who are unprepared to listen and people who do not listen are typically people who are not concerned about the guideline and only about shouting people down.”

Hundreds of community members were allotted two minutes to speak. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer was one of the first to approach the microphone. “The people who build our schools over generations have been the communities, neighborhoods, parents, students,” he said. “If we agree that [the community] are the stakeholders, how could you possibly be the only ones to decide what schools remain and what schools close?” The panel chairman shut off the microphone at the two-minute limit, launching the crowd into a chant of “let him speak” — a chant that would be repeated throughout the evening.

An hour later, Dr Annie B. Martin, president of the New York branch of the NAACP, stepped to the mic. “To close these 20 schools, the DOE will disrupt the lives of the students, parents, and the very fiber of their communities,” she stated, “These are our public schools. They are a part of our communities.” Dr. Martin’s microphone was also shut off at two minutes. The crowd once again broke into a chant of “let her speak.” A community member later allowed Dr. Martin to finish her statement during his comment period.

Community members expressed concerns regarding the impact of school closure on students, the metrics by which the DOE judges whether a schools is “failing,” the PEP’s lack of teaching experience, and the influence of economic concerns on education policy, among other issues. Community members spoke until 2:45 a.m., when the panel began its vote. The closure of 19 schools was approved.

For more information:

Brouhaha in Brooklyn: Live Blogging the PEP’s school closure vote, Gotham Schools
Education panel axes 19 city public schools, NY1
Themes from the tumult of school closings, New York Times
Education Department panel votes to close 19 failing New York City schools, Daily News

Parents and teachers from around the city gathered across the street from Mayor Bloomberg’s home to protest proposed school closures and charter school expansions on Thursday evening. Today Advocates for Children, a group that works with the city’s most disadvantaged youth, issued a statement urging the Department of Education to consider the effect of closures on homeless students and those with special needs. Closing failing schools is sometimes necessary, the statement says, but the impact of closures on the city’s most at-risk youth must be addressed.

The statement notes that many of the schools facing closure serve extremely disadvantaged student populations. “The number of students who are homeless rose by 21% citywide from 2007-08 to 2008-09, it went up by a remarkable 580% on average at the schools slated to be closed,” it reports. These schools also serve higher populations of English Language Learners and students with special education needs.

AFC urges the Department of Education to answer a number of questions: What happens to students with special education needs when their schools close? What is the DOE doing to increase the supply of attractive high school options for English Language Learners and student with other special education needs? And, does a school’s willingness to serve a diverse population with multiple challenges make it a target for closure?

Read about other developments in the school closure debate and view AFC’s statement below: (more…)

January 21 Update: Red Hook community members gathered before last night’s public hearing at PS 15 to voice their discontent with the extension of PAVE Academy’s co-location within PS 15. They dispute the accuracy of PAVE’s Educational Impact Statement – a document outlining the charter school’s plans for development.

“Expanding PAVE within our school is unfair and detrimental. It does not promote “choice” or “reform,” stated John Battis, a PS 15 parent, at the hearing. “The EIS is a “cut and paste” job void of any meaningful information about the real impact on our community.”

A group of PS 15 parents released an open letter to Chancellor Klein, Mayor Bloomberg, and members of the PEP yesterday arguing that the EIS does not accurately reflect the school’s capacity. “This document simply does not represent the true educational impact of the change in utilization the document supports,” it stated. “Cutting our building in half will set back all of our efforts which have resulted in the only successful public school serving Red Hook.”

PAVE plans to move into a $26 million facility which is not slated for completion until 2015. PS 15 originally agreed to a two-year, co-location agreement with PAVE to end in 2010. The Panel for Educational Policy will vote on an extension of PAVE’s co-location on Jan. 26 at Brooklyn Tech High School at 6 p.m. A second rally is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m., across the street from Brooklyn Tech.

Norm Scott of Education Notes Online captured the views of PS 15 parents and PAVE faculty at the January 19th hearing. (Correction: The video of Spencer Robertson speaking on behalf of PAVE Academy was captured at a September 2009 meeting at PS 15. Thank you to Jim Devor for setting us straight!) :

January 20: As the debate over increasing New York’s charter school cap enters its final hours in Albany, Brooklyn parents are protesting the sharing of public school space with charter schools in Red Hook.

The PAVE Academy charter school opened in the PS 15 building in 2008 with 44 kindergartners and 44 1st-graders. After initial protests, PS 15 agreed to incubate PAVE until 2010 when it was scheduled to relocate to a new building. In December the Department of Education informed PS 15 that PAVE would remain in their building through the 2010/2011 school year because the new building would not be completed until 2015. (This, despite the $20 million allocated for its construction by the DOE and $6 million raised by the school.) (more…)

The Department of Education awarded a $12 million grant to the non-profit group Out2Play Inc. to construct 70 new playgrounds across New York City’s five boroughs. The first 30 playgrounds are slated for completion by the end of 2010,  according to Crain’s New York Business. No word yet where the new playgrounds will be located.

When Out2Play was established in 2005, founder Andrea Wenner set a goal to transform 150 empty schoolyards into playgrounds. Five years later, 80 playgrounds span nearly one million square feet of previously-vacant space in each borough. The city’s grant will be added to $6 million raised by Out2Play to accomplish Wenner’s goal.

In a recent interview with Crain’s New York Business, Wenner explained that the funding “is going to go a long way in ensuring that the children who come through these schools every year will have a place to be active, to play and to have fun.”

The work of Out2Play will also help fulfill the goals of the city’s PlaNYC initiative — a ten-point program aimed at improving living conditions in the city while protecting the environment. The initiative’s goals include creating new homes for nearly one million residents and reducing carbon emissions by 30 percent.

Photo courtesy of Out2Play Inc.

Gov. David Paterson unveiled a bill Thursday that aims to improve New York’s chances of receiving $700 million in Race to the Top funds.

Since the introduction of the Race to the Top in 2009, states have worked feverishly to conform with its eligibility standards — each hoping to reap a portion of the fund’s $4 billion in competitive grants.

To improve New York’s chances, Paterson’s bill would eliminate the cap on charter schools, allow the State to fund charter development, take student performance into consideration in teacher tenure decisions, and empower the Board of Regents to take control of low-performing schools. (more…)

The United Federation of Teachers, alongside a coalition of parents and community groups, filed a lawsuit today against the New York City Department of Education, claiming that it failed to properly allocate more than $750 million in state funding to improve educational conditions and reduce class sizes.

In 2007, the city accepted $258 million in Contracts for Excellence funds from the state — $158 million of which was allotted specifically to support a five-year class size reduction plan. In April 2008, a report commissioned by the UFT showed that nearly half of the schools that received this funding did not see such reductions, while 34 percent saw class sizes increase.

These findings were supported by a September 2008 report from the New York State Education Department revealing that class size and/or pupil-to-teacher ratio had increased in 54 percent of schools receiving funding, and in 70 schools that received over $20 million in funds. (more…)

While New York City’s scores on the National Appraisal of Educational Progress math exams rose steadily between 2003-2006, the NAEP’s 2009 report reveals they have since stalled. Fourth-grade scores increased only slightly between 2007-2009, while eighth-grade scores remained average.

These results stand in contrast to the highly-criticized increase in the state’s math exam scores. Chancellor of the Board of Regents Merryl Tisch explained to GothamSchools that the state test covers fewer fields and is much less accurate in measuring progress than the NAEP.

The scoring gap between ethnic populations also stalled. While the state exam showed a statistical narrowing of the divide, the NAEP reveals a slight widening.

What do you think of the math curriculum at your children’s school? Do the state exams accurately reflect their progress?

The Department of Education announced yesterday that nine schools have been added to the growing list of New York City schools slated for closure — eight were placed in jeopardy over the past week.

Among the new additions are four large, comprehensive high schools that house 6,000 students collectively: Paul Robeson High School in Brooklyn, Norman Thomas High School in Manhattan, Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx, and Beach Channel High School in Queens. Three of the schools slated to close — New Day Academy, Global Enterprise Academy, and MS 334 — opened under Chancellor Joel Klein.

Visit GothamSchools for a rundown on the announcements and the DOE’s official press information.

UPDATE 12/9/09: The Department of Education proposed the phase-out of three more high schools, bringing to 22 the number of school closings announced in the past week (closings are subject to public hearings): Alfred E. Smith, a vocational school in the Bronx, the School of Business, Computer Applications and Entrepreneurship, one of four small schools on the troubled Campus Magnet complex in Queens, and the Monroe Academy for Business/Law, in the Bronx.

District 20’s Community Education Council will vote Wednesday on a proposal to alter the district’s zoning boundaries. While the changes are intended to alleviate overcrowding, some local residents fear the proposed boundaries will divide schools along ethnic lines, reducing student diversity.

The DOE has acknowledged serious overcrowding in the district and plans to open five new schools over the next few years. Under the current proposal, schools in Bay Ridge, Fort Hamilton, Borough Park, and Bensonhurst would see reductions in their student pool, in order to make space for two new schools, PS 971 at 62nd Street and Fourth Avenue and PS 264 at 88th Street and Fourth Avenue.

Educators and administrators at PS 69 are speaking out against the rezoning. If the plan is approved, the school will no longer accept students who live between Second Avenue and Sixth Avenue. PS 69’s principal, Jaynemarie Capetanakis, told the New York Post that this alteration “takes away a lot of Hispanic and Arabic families.” The school  is currently overcrowded- running at 145 percent of its capacity, but it does not want to sacrifice it diversity to reduce overcrowding, the principal and several teachers told school officials at a recent meeting.

The District 20  CEC will vote on the proposal at its  7 p.m. meeting tomorrow night, Dec. 9, at PS/IS 104.

Proposed changes in District 2 zoning attracted at least 100 parents on Monday night to the first of several meetings held to hear community concerns about new catchment areas for its popular downtown and Upper East Side schools. Parents have long been concerned with overcrowding and now that two new schools — PS 276, the Battery Park City School and PS 397, Spruce Street School — have been added downtown, rezoning is needed to allocate students among them. Rezoning is a temporary fix while several plans for middle schools and other new sites are still in planning stages.

A Power Point presentation given by Elizabeth Rose of the Department of Education’s Office of Portfolio and Planning emphasized four things about the proposed rezoning of District 2. First, she said, there are enough seats. Second, current students and younger sibling priority rights are important to District 2residents and will be protected by the DOE. Third, the DOE welcomes any and all feedback before voting on a final plan. And finally, it is impossible to make everyone happy. (more…)

Lower East Side parents are up-in-arms about the proposed expansion of the Girls Preparatory Charter School. The school is requesting more space to house a growing middle school population — 50 5th-graders were turned away last year due to lack of space. Neighborhood parents worry that an expansion will exacerbate overcrowding issues in District 1, where many schools currently share buildings.

Last Wednesday, parents, students, and educators packed into PS 20 to discuss the Department of Education’s plans for expanding Girls Prep, as reported by the new Manhattan local news site, dnainfo.com “You see how crowded and hot it is in here?” Marilyn Roberts, a PS 20 parent asked at the meeting of the district’s Community Education Council. “That’s how our children are going to feel. [Expansion] is a short term solution and a long term disaster.”

Girls Prep shares space with PS 188 and PS 94, a special education school for autistic kids. Expanding the school would affect other schools in the district as well, parents say. (more…)

In October, Governor Paterson proposed $686 million in school budget cuts. Democratic Senate Leader John Sampson stated yesterday that these cuts “are not going to happen.” The official decision is still pending, but the vote is in process and may be settled as early as Monday evening.

Paterson’s budget office projects a deficit for the remainder of the current fiscal year of $4.1 billion, with deficits of $7.8 billion and $15.7 billion over the following two. Citing these dire economic straits, his plan calls for major cuts in education, as well as healthcare spending. “I will mortgage my political career on this plan,” he told a joint session of the Legislature on Nov. 9th.

The Alliance for Quality Education (AQE) is urging New Yorkers to ask their representatives to oppose these cuts. AQE’s Executive Director Billy Easton told the New York Times that “school aid has to be off limits because of the constitutional obligations that are going unmet.”

You can contact your representative at OurKidsCantWait.org.

A new batch of future-kindergartners will be “turning 5″ soon, and the Department of Education is preparing for their arrival. The kindergarten admissions season is set to begin Feb. 1 for children who will turn five in 2010. The pre-K admissions season will open a month later, on March 1 according to the DOE’s timeline. Eligible students are those will turn four by Dec. 31, 2010.

Turning 5 Fairs  for children with special needs will begin on Nov. 30. Taking place across the city, these events acquaint parents with the public school special education admissions process. The 2009-2010 guide for “Preschool to School Age Orientation” will be available soon on the DOE’s Special Education website.

In January, a handful of schools in District 75, which serves only disabled students, will hold open houses and tours.

Many public schools are already scheduling tours and open houses for prospective parents. For dates, it’s best to check the school’s website or call the parent coordinator.

Uncertain of what is your zoned school? Visit the DOE’s School & Zone Finder or call 311. Looking for another option? Search for “unzoned”  or “charter” schools in the Insideschools Find a School section.

The “Race to the Top” dominated this week’s education headlines, but left a lot of us wondering, “who’s racing and to where?”

Basically, states will “race” to create comprehensive education reform plans, in hopes of earning a chunk of 4.35 billion government dollars to support their efforts. The program was established by the Obama administration under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 — an expansive piece of legislation aimed at stimulating the economy, creating new jobs, and supporting industries critical to our nation’s prosperity.

“We will award grants to the states that have led the way in reform and will show the way for the rest of the country to follow,” said U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, in a Nov. 12 press release.To apply for Race to the Top funds, states must submit plans based on four areas of reform: college and career preparation, data analysis for measuring student progress, recruiting skilled teachers, and improving under-achieving schools. (more…)

Last week, our student blogger, Toni, urged New York City residents to get out and protest the bake sale ban. Well, tomorrow is your chance!

At 3 p.m., concerned citizens will gather in front of City Hall to let regulators know that axing bake sales means axing an important means of raising funds for student activities. And what better way to support bake sales then to throw one? Baked treats will be traded for petition signatures from 3 to 5:30 p.m.

If you can’t make it out, organizers are urging supporters to gather signatures on their own. Once 10,000 are collected, they plan to enlist the support of city council members. “By then nothing can stop us,” reads the group’s Facebook page.

You can also message Chancellor Joel Klein directly to voice your frustration with the ban, or show your support.

Our recent poll on the ban showed that users are somewhat divided on this issue — some think that parents and students can  come up with healthier ways to raise funds. However, the overwhelming majority of the voters,  72%, opposed the ban.

We’ve heard that some schools (no names or numbers revealed) have ignored the regulation.

What’s happening at your school?

In conjunction with the release of the new movie  “Precious,” NY1  featured the work of Insideschools’ parent organization, Advocates for Children. The film follows a 16-year-old Harlem student through her struggles with illiteracy, obesity, and a  broken home. Although the character is fictional, her problems are only too common among children in New York City schools. Cheryl Wills, a NY1 reporter spoke to several of AFC’s lawyers and advocates about the work the organization does to ensure that children like Precious receive the educational services they need. The reporter also interviewed students, clients of AFC, who were “falling through the cracks” until AFC advocates helped find schools and programs to get them back on track.

View the feature on the NY1 website. Kudos to AFC!

There’s some great news in this week’s poll: a majority — 43 percent — of your schools offer high-quality, after-school programs!

However, 25 percent of you feel your school’s programs need improvement, and 23 percent don’t even have a school-based program. These figures are aligned with the results of Afterschool Alliance’s recent survey, America After 3pm, which found that one-quarter of American students are without much-needed after-school activities.

As we’re all now aware, Mayor Bloomberg will retain his mayoral seat for a third term. Following this week’s elections, we’d love to know how you feel about the future of the New York City educational system. Vote now!

In our last poll, we asked if you planned to vaccinate your child against the H1N1 virus. More than 1,000 of you responded. Thirty-four percent said ‘yes;’ 46 percent said ‘no.’ And with the flurry of controversy surrounding the vaccinations, it came as no surprise that 18 percent of you are still on the fence.

The New York Times echoed these sentiments, reporting that fewer than 50 percent of New York City parents have granted schools permission to vaccinate their kids. Vaccinations began this week at small elementary schools and will begin on Nov. 4 and 9 at larger schools. The city’s weekend clinics for middle and high school students will also open in early November.

The Times also weighed in on after-school programs in an editorial titled, “Home Alone.” Citing Afterschool Alliance’s recent study, America After 3PM, the editorial points out that after-school participation has increased markedly since 2004, but not fast enough to keep up with the growing number of “latch-key kids”– estimated at nearly one quarter of our nation’s students.

The study also found that more than 18 million parents would enroll their children in after-school programs if they were available.

In this week’s poll, we’d like to know if your child’s school offers an after-school program. Vote now!

How well does it serve your children? How could the program be improved? Let us know in the comments.

Flu vaccinations begin at 125 New York City elementary schools today. The vaccines arrive with news that older students will once again receive priority at the city’s weekend clinics.

This overturns the Health Department’s announcement yesterday that these clinics would welcome all New York City residents and not just students. Middle and high school students are entitled to vaccinations at designated sites–which are slated to open in early November. Other members of the public will be evaluated, but only those considered “at-risk” will receive treatment.

Health Department spokeswoman Jessica Scaperotti told the Daily News that the sites giving priority to students will redirect the public to other vaccination centers. She reiterated that the best place to receive a vaccination is from one’s primary-care doctor.

Is your elementary, middle, or high school child going to be vaccinated? Take our poll!

The Department of Education announced that vaccines for the H1N1 and seasonal flu viruses will arrive at elementary schools with fewer than 400 students on Wednesday, Oct. 28. Larger elementary schools will receive the vaccines a week later on Wednesday, Nov. 4. Vaccinations will be available to middle and high school students on weekends at off-campus sites in early November.

Although vaccinations are not mandatory for public school students, the DOE recommends that all children between the ages of six and 19 be vaccinated. Children under 10 receive two doses, administered in schools, four weeks apart.

Students must present consent forms signed by a parent or guardian. These will be sent home with students next week. They are also available online through the DOE’s Influenza Information website.

Families of elementary students should return these forms to their school; middle and high school students should bring them to the off-campus locations where they will be vaccinated at the time of vaccination.

The DOE will continue to release information on this season’s flu and student vaccinations at www.nyc.gov/flu.

Is your child going to be vaccinated? Take our poll and let us know why or why not! Vote now!

Last week, we asked what you think about the Department of Education’s recent bake sale ban. An overwhelming number of you — 72% — responded that you oppose the new rule.

About half of respondents said that bake sales should not be banned because they are an important way for schools to raise funds. Nine percent disagreed, voting that PA/PTAs should come up with better fundraising ideas.

The ban is just one part of a larger regulation aimed at curbing New York’s alarming student obesity rates. Twenty-one percent of you felt that bake sales are not a major contributor to this problem, while 17% felt that the last thing kids need is more junk food.

Last week, along with the bake sale ban, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the H1N1 vaccine. Parents are receiving consent forms this week to have their children vaccinated against the H1N1 virus.

In September, we reported that the DOE will provide the vaccine to elementary students in schools, and to other students at weekend clinics. This week, The New York Times addressed a number of concerns regarding these immunizations. Some parents worry that the vaccine was rushed to the public. Others feel that it could not have come a day sooner.

In this week’s poll, we’d like to know if you will have your child vaccinated. Comment below to let us know why, or why not!

Last week, we asked you how budget cuts affected your school. Almost half of you — 46% — reported that class sizes have grown, while more than 60% reported that in-school and after-school programs have disappeared.

A new revision to the Department of Education’s Wellness Policy — a Chancellor’s Regulation aimed at improving the quality of food in schools — has effectively banned the sale of baked goods and snacks during school hours.

“We have an undeniable problem in the city, state and the country with obesity,” Eric Goldstein, the chief of the office of school support services, told The New York Times. “During the school day, we have to focus on what is healthy for the mind and the body.”

The DOE reports that around 40% of elementary and middle school students are considered obese and a strong correlation has been revealed between the health of students and their performance on standardized tests. However, some students and parents feel that bake sales do not contribute to the obesity problem and are important for raising funds to support school programs.

Let us know what you think!

Some New York schools embrace in-class discussion of the events of September 11, 2001. Others choose not to, for fear of reliving a tragedy that is still so tender in the hearts of the city. Six high schools across the country have adopted a specialized 9/11 curriculum this week, in hopes of fostering a better understanding of the events and moving forward.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani unveiled the curriculum Tuesday at a hotel near the World Trade Center site. “It gives young people a framework in which to think about Sept. 11,” he said.

Developed by the New Jersey-based September 11 Education Trust, the lesson plan utilizes archival footage and interviews with more than 70 witnesses, family members, and politicians. The non-profit, directed by 9/11 victims’ families, survivors, rescue workers and educators nationwide, hopes to create an “open-ended inquiry” that will reflect on the impact and legacy of the attacks.

“This is one of the critical subjects on which young people should develop some ideas and thoughts,” said the trust’s executive director, Anthony Gardner, in an interview with the Associated Press. “[The curriculum] gives young people a framework in which to think about Sept. 11, all that it meant and all that it means to the present.”

How have you talked about 9/11 with your kids? Have they talked about it in school?

Chancellor Klein announced yesterday that public input will help direct the allocation of this year’s Contracts for Excellence funding. This should be a heads-up for parents and educators who have long been frustrated with the city’s educational spending decisions.

The Contracts for Excellence funds support programs aimed at students in greatest need: English Language Learners, students in poverty, students with disabilities and those with low academic achievement. These funds are to be spent in six specific program areas: class size reduction, time on task, teacher and principal quality initiatives, school restructuring, full day pre-K ,and ELL programs.

Class size reduction has been a consistently hot topic in the educational funding debate with Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters, one of the fiercest advocates. “If you believe that your child is not receiving the education he or she deserves because of overly large classes, you should attend these hearings, speak out, and demand that the State Education Department provide stronger oversight so that NYC complies with the law,” Haimson says in a press release this week. (more…)

More than a year after dangerous levels of polychlorinated biphenyls were discovered in several New York schools, the caulk that contains the toxin still lines the windows and doors of some classrooms.

A Spring 2008 investigation by the Daily News revealed high levels of PCBs–a toxin linked to developmental defects in children– in the caulkings of six public schools. The schools were scrubbed and soils contaminated by the toxin were removed.

In March of 2009, the Department of Education announced that toxic levels of PCBs had been discovered in 19 more schools. Classes were cleaned and soils removed.

Now, at the start of a new school year, parents charge that toxic caulk still lines the windows and doors of their children’s classrooms. Naomi Gonzalez, a Bronx mother whose 6-year-old daughter, Elimina, attends the contaminated PS 178, decided to take her frustration to the courtroom. (more…)

Today, Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a multi-faceted plan to combat swine flu this fall. With the first day of school in sight, protecting the city’s students is a top priority, Bloomberg said.

Swine flu resurfaced in parents’ minds this summer when the city announced schools will remain open this year in the face of reported cases. Here’s what you should know about the mayor’s new campaign as your kids head back to school:

• Vaccinations for elementary school students will be available at your child’s school in mid-October. Letters will be sent home on the first day of classes with more information.
• Vaccinations for older students will be available at soon-to-be-announced sites in each borough.
• The city will post daily listings of schools reporting more than five cases of flu online.
• A flu-prevention campaign will be launched in schools, complete with signs, posters, and classroom instruction.

(more…)