When someone asked me what high schools I might be thinking about for my 7th-grader recently, my answer came swiftly and might have sounded a bit snippy.

“I’m not thinking about it at all,” I said, which of course, isn’t true, much as I’d like it to be, since it feels like we just got him happily settled in middle school.

It is a fact of life for New York City parents: You are always thinking about schools, from pre-school (which can be a grueling ritual of its own) until high school graduation, when the focus shifts to paying for college. (more…)

On Nov. 12, the Panel for Educational Policy approved changes to the Department of Education’s promotion standards, imposing stricter passing guidelines for students in grades 4 and 6. Changing the retention policies for students in grades 3-8, and ending “social promotion”, has been a hallmark of Mayor Bloomberg’s education agenda.

The panel approved the policy with little comment or dissension, although two members voted against it. This was in stark contrast to the outcry that followed the 2004 passage of the 3rd grade retention policy. Now all students in grades 3-8 (who take the state standardized reading and math tests) will be held back if they fail to score at least a 2 on a 4-point scale.

All other proposed new policies,  previewed earlier this month on Insideschools, were likewise approved. These included new procedures for selecting principals and other supervisors, and the creation of a new Chancellor’s Regulation which lays out the requirements for public review before a school is closed or there are changes in building utilization.

Public comments on the proposed changes and the new regulation are posted on the Department of Education website;  meanwhile education advocate Leonie Haimson writes on the NYC Education News  Yahoo group that the DOE “appears to have taken almost no suggestions for improvement.”

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?

The Department of Education is proposing changes in existing policies, called Chancellor’s Regulations, regarding promotion standards, and the way in which principals and assistant principals are chosen. It is also proposing a new regulation governing procedures for locating or closing schools or changing current building usage. The Panel for Educational Policy will vote on these measures at the Nov.12 meeting at PS 128 in Queens; in the meantime the public is invited to review the proposals and weigh in on them.

The revised state law governing NYC schools renewed mayoral control of the city school system, but modified it in an effort to increase parent input. The law explicitly requires announcement of PEP meeting agendas at least 10 days in advance. In this case, the DOE provided the information more than a month in advance. However, it is not clear how public comments (which are not actually being made public) will make a difference in the proposals or the outcome of the PEP vote. (more…)

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 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!

Lowering the amount of carbon dioxide your school emits is an important way to fight climate change. The amount of CO2 a school emits is called its “carbon footprint.” Replacing the filter on a heating and cooling system (HVAC) can reduce a school’s carbon footprint. So can letting the sun do its work and turning off lights when there is enough daylight that artificial light is not needed.

These and other ideas for energy management are on the Division of School Facilities’ website called DSF Green.The site also advises schools to set computers and other office equipment to save energy, such as sleeping when idle. Not to mention the energy savings from shutting off equipment like escalators and electric pool heaters when not needed.

Parents can help schools save energy by asking whether energy saving policies are in place, and by pointing out resources, such as DSF Green, where facilities managers can make sure best practices are being followed. (more…)

Parents of 5th-graders: Mark your calendars. The Department of Education posted the timeline for middle schools admissions for fall 2010 and the process is starting this month, six weeks earlier than last year.

This month there are middle school fairs in most districts - beginning on Oct. 13 - offering parents the opportunity to meet with school representatives. This is particularly important for districts that do not have zoned middle schools where 5th-graders have to fill out an application, ranking prospective schools. In other districts, students mostly attend their zoned, neighborhood school, although in every district, there are now unzoned or “choice” schools that require an application.

Even Staten Island, which historically has had almost no middle school choice, now has magnet (choice) programs in three middle schools, IS 61, IS 27, and IS 63, as well as a new middle school, the Staten Island School of Civic Leadership, open to students borough-wide.

Also available on the DOE’s website are links to middle school directories and other information which details options for families in all districts. (more…)

While GothamSchools joined Chancellor Klein on his annual five-borough, back-to-school tour, The New York Times’ City Room blog followed a few students as they embark on a new school year. We were particularly intrigued by the scene at PS 19 in Corona, Queens, where the Times said “confusion reigned.”

Though the K-5 school enrolls nearly  2,000 students and some classes are housed in trailers, the line of families hoping to enroll their children “extended down the better part of the block.” According to the post, the school is one of 27 that still had a kindergarten wait list in July.

What was the scene like at your  school this morning? Does your school still have students waiting to enroll? Let us know below.

Today Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez challenged Mayor Bloomberg’s proclamation that the city will open 23 new school buildings, creating 13,000 new seats for students.

Gonzalez says that some of the buildings touted as “newly-constructed” were, in fact, only renovated. More shocking still is that three of the “new” facilities are actually just rentals — two of which have staggering price tags attached. Over the next 20 years, a lease on the Bronx building set to house  Jonas Bronck Academy will set the city back $40 million — on top of the $11.5 million already spent on renovations. For the new Urban Assembly School of Business for Young Women, the city will shell out $191 million for space in a Financial District office building.

The DOE says their designation of “new construction” can be applied to any school that’s creating new seats, but Gonzalez doesn’t believe the total of new seats created is accurate, either. He points to the case of two Bronx high schools, which are moving from temporary trailers into a renovated building, meaning “no actual new seats will result,” as the trailers are being taken down. (more…)

Most respondents to last week’s poll said that ARIS is a helpful tool, and only a few felt that it’s a waste of the city’s money. Unfortunately, a large chunk of voters didn’t even know what ARIS is. Thanks for your thoughtful comments!

On Wednesday, we highlighted criticism of the Department of Education’s gifted and talented admissions process. The authors of “Nurture Shock,” a new book that examines child rearing practices, argue that the city’s system of awarding G&T seats “flouts science.” Even though research shows that young children’s test results are not indicative of future academic success, the city administers tests to preschoolers to determine G&T program eligibility for kindergarten (when the highest percentage of G&T are open).

We’ve received a ton of reader feedback about the G&T process — on test prep, test results, placement, and more. With “Nurture Shock” expected to hit bookstores in September, we’d like to know if you think the system should be changed. Vote now and please add your thoughts below!

In July, we reported that, following a flood of parent complaints, the Department of Education would re-consider its ban on  parent-funded assistants in schools. According to The New York Times, the DOE has reached an agreement with the teachers’ union to allow the school aides to stay — at least for this upcoming year.

Principals will be permitted to hire aides with money raised by parents’ groups as long as those aides are included in the official school budget, which makes them eligible for union protection. The DOE and union officials hope to come to a long-term solution before the current agreement expires at the end of the school year.

Looking for something to do with the kids this weekend? Consider attending the Department of Education’s Back to School Kickoff in Central Park on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the bandshell area near 72nd Street and 5th Avenue. There will be games, face-painting, and other activities for families. Staten Island’s PS 22 chorus, which has gained national attention, will also perform!

Plus there will be many representatives from the DOE who can answer your questions about the upcoming school year, including Chancellor Klein who is scheduled to speak at 12:30 p.m.

Got questions about your child with special needs? Look for a representative from Insideschools’ parent organization, Advocates for Children of New York ,who will join with colleagues from Resources for Children with Special Needs to distribute information and answer questions.

If you go to Saturday’s fair, let us know what you learned!

In an announcement today at PS 171 in East Harlem, the mayor proposed ending “social promotion” for all students. His new promotion policy would require all students in grades 3-8 to score at least a “Level 2″ on state reading and math exams to move onto the next grade. (Exams are scored on a 1-4 scale where 4 is the highest.)

Five years ago, Mayor Bloomberg “rammed through” a controversial 3rd-grade promotion policy by summarily dismissing members of the Panel on Educational Policy (PEP) who opposed his plan. After the policy went into effect in 2004, it was later adopted for 5th, 7th, and 8th-graders, as well. Now, Bloomberg wants to extend the policy to include the 4th and 6th grades, so that it applies to all grades in which students take state-mandated standardized exams. (more…)

Over the past two weeks I have been struck by the overwhelming response to Insideschools’ post on banning parent-funded assistants from public schools. After reading through the numerous, impassioned comments, the old saying “crabs in a barrel” came to mind. It is a metaphor that I have heard commonly applied to African Americans over the years. It refers to the supposed tendency of one segment of the community to attempt to hold back another upward-bound individual or segment. The eventual result is that no one succeeds. It seems that once again parents are pitted against each other in a battle for the finest education.

One parent noted that the PTA-funded assistants have allowed some schools to continue to thrive where they may have otherwise faltered due to overcrowding. Another parent voiced concern that schools serving the working class are left out completely because they receive neither Title I funds, nor a wealth of money from parent donations. Still another parent commented that the average family in New York City cannot afford several hundred dollars in yearly school fees. (more…)

In a lively kickoff meeting last week, District 3 parents, Department of Education officials, and others met to see how to help their schools go green. The DOE announced a commitment to cutting schools’ carbon footprints in April when it joined the Green Schools Alliance. Since public schools consume 25% of New York’s municipal energy, greening the schools is the only way to meet the city’s goal of cutting carbon emissions by 30%.

Every school has a “sustainability coordinator” as of spring 2009; most are teachers whose chief role is to involve students in greening efforts. Most of the six schools represented at the meeting were already actively working on going green. Parents talked about the challenges of enforcing recycling and promised to share lists of green school supplies. John T. Shea, the DOE’s chief sustainability officer and head of the Division of School Facilities, came to answer questions. Liza Potter, community partnerships coordinator at the new Urban Assembly School for Green Careers (opening this fall in the Brandeis building) said her students could help produce information for a D3 Green Schools website. (more…)

Summer break is hardly a vacation for more than 90 schools across the city that will be moving into new locations for the new school year. For some, moving means a home in a brand-new building, while for others, it is a less-than-welcome change. Many of the moves involve charter schools which some public schools have resisted housing in their buildings.

On Monday, The New York Post highlighted parents’ and students’ upset over the Coalition School for Social Change’s move from the West 50s to East Harlem, an area they say is known for gangs and violence. Families of the Bronx Early College Academy are not happy about the school’s move to the South Bronx. The move from Riverdale to a troubled middle school campus takes the school farther away from Lehman College, where students in the upper grades will eventually take classes. (more…)

After a flood of parent complaints about the Department of Education’s crackdown on parent associations independently paying for teaching aides in crowded classrooms, the DOE is  reconsidering its decision and may allow the practice to go forward this year after all. The New York Times, Gothamschools, and the Daily News report that, yesterday, Chancellor Klein proposed an arrangement  in which the assistants would be called “substitute aides” and paid $12.30 per hour. He made his proposal at a meeting at Tweed with parents from a dozen Manhattan schools and City Councilmembers who put together the meeting.

The arrangement is subject to the approval of the District Council 37, the union representing non-instructional school staff. (more…)

The Board of Regents elected Dr. David Steiner as New York state education commissioner and president of the University of the State of New York. According to the state education department’s press release, Steiner, current dean of the Hunter College School of Education, is “best known for his leadership of the national effort to transform teacher preparation and improve teacher quality.” The New York Post reported this morning that Steiner supports merit pay and higher wages for teachers.

The previous state education commissioner, Richard Mills, announced in November that he was retiring after 14 years on the job. His tenure was marked by an increased emphasis on standardized test scores and tougher high school graduation requirements.

In April, our blogger Jennifer Freeman wrote about the potential for parent-funded teachers’ aides to be pushed out of our city’s overcrowded classrooms. That looming threat has now become a reality, The New York Times reported yesterday.

Parent associations at top schools have a long tradition of raising thousands of dollars to independently hire assistants to help teachers in the classroom, run enrichment programs, or manage students in the cafeteria and at recess. Sparked by a complaint from the teachers union, however, the Bloomberg administration has told principals to put an end to the practice. Any aides hired for the coming school year must be employees of the Department of Education whose salaries are included in the school’s official budget. (more…)

In our last poll, we wanted to know if you supported the City Council’s resolution to add Id al-Fitr and Id al-Adha to the public school holiday calendar. Thanks for your comments!

Should your child need to  miss school for a holiday, make sure to request, in writing, that your child be excused before the date of observance. The school principal will have the final say (see Chancellor’s Regulations A-210 and A-630).

On Monday, the Department of Education and the Health Department reported that the data from students’ annual fitness assessment shows that physically fit students tend to perform better on academic tests than their out-of-shape peers. How much better? On average, the report says, kids who did the best on the fitness test outscored those who did the worst by 36 percentile points on standardized academic exams. Additionally, the report found that 21 percent of  New York City students in Kindergarten-8th grade are obese; 18 percent more are overweight.This week, we’d like to know what you think of your school’s physical education program. Vote now, and add your comments below!

UPDATE: See the full report here. 

The Daily News reported yesterday that five of the city’s schools that posted the lowest scores on state math exams this year had been  opened to replace  failing schools  closed by the Department of Education for poor performance. Additionally, the News reported, some of the schools slated for closure this year actually made test score improvements that were twice that of the citywide average . Other schools targeted for closure posted scores close to the citywide average when their student demographics (such as the special education population or number of English Language Learners) are taken into account.

The policy of closing schools is one of the most controversial initiatives launched since the state gave Mayor Bloomberg control of the city’s school system. What is your experiences with “replacement” schools in your neighborhood?  Do you support or oppose the policy?

As the end of the school year marked the exit of several top special education officials at the DOE, we wondered when departing Garth Harries, senior coordinator for special education, would issue his recommendations to improve special education services.

Today, Harries met with the Arise Coalition at Advocates for Children’s Midtown offices to share his final report just a few hours before Chancellor Klein announced a  new special education head at Tweed.

“There are recommendations in the document we have not seen in prior reports, and, if implemented well, could make a big difference for kids with disabilities,” said Kim Sweet, AFC’s executive director. In particular, she noted that recommendations called for aligning special education processes, such as admission and school placement, to coincide with general education deadlines. (more…)

GothamSchools blogged live from the Board of Education’s speedy meeting today at Tweed, reporting on the flurry of votes made before the meeting came to a close.

In less than ten minutes, the BOE voted to keep Chancellor Klein in command, elected Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott as president, and called on state senators in Albany to pass the Assembly’s mayoral control bill. Lastly, the board motioned to adjourn until September 10, the day after schools open this fall. (For in-depth coverage of the meeting and its aftermath, see Gotham’s re-cap.) (more…)

Midnight marked the end of mayoral control of schools, and for the first time since 2002, the Board of Education is back in business, meeting today at noon for the first time in seven years.

The newly reconstituted seven-member board will be made up of five members , one appointed by each borough president, and two members appointed by Mayor Bloomberg. Yesterday, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., formally announced the appointment of Dr. Dolores Fernandez as the Bronx representative. According to The New York Times, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz will appoint  his chief of staff, Carlo Scissura, to the board while Manhattan’s  Scott Stringer will appoint his legal counsel (and former Advocates for Children staff lawyer), Jimmy Yan, on an interim basis. There is no word yet on the appointees from Queens, Staten Island, or the mayor.

Check out GothamSchools’ step-by-step  guide to the post-mayoral control school system for more information about what’s next for the city’s schools.

UPDATE (11:07 a.m.): We have just learned the rest of the appointees to the BOE: for Queens, Deputy Mayor of Education and Community Development Dennis Walcott; for Staten Island, Deputy Borough President Edward Burke; and for Mayor Bloomberg, First Deputy Mayor Patricia Harris and Deputy Mayor for Operations Edward Skyler.

NYC Schools Under Bloomberg and Klein: What Parents, Teachers, and Policy makers Need to Know is a compilation of essays about the recent years of mayoral control. Bloomberg-Klein educational policies are examined under a microscope by 17 well-known researchers and activists who have often criticized the mayor’s and chancellor’s initiatives. Commentators and researchers include: Diane Ravitch, well-known academic; Deborah Meier, pioneer progressive educator; Leonie Haimson, founder of Class Size Matters and publisher of this report; and Patrick Sullivan, former Manhattan member of the Panel for Educational Policy.Their essays challenge the results of testing and other data that the Department of Education cites as proof of its success; disputes the claims that DOE policies promote equity among various ethnic groups, English language learners, and children with special needs; calls into question the approach to curriculum and methodology as either too progressive or too prescriptive; and calls for greater parent, teacher, and community voice. Not surprisingly, all of the essays are critical, but not all of the writers share the same view. As the introduction proclaims, “These essays are our effort to ignite a genuine debate and dialogue about the future of the New York City public schools.” The debate about the best way to improve schools is likely to continue no matter who is in charge. These essays add facts, figures, and a range of opinions to inform that discussion.

Last week, we confirmed with Department of Education representatives that kindergarten and 1st grade gifted and talented placement letters would go out starting today.

Now, the DOE website says letters will go out starting June 19th, this Friday — which leaves exactly one week until the deadline for registration, June 26th. Reasons for the delay are, as yet, unclear. As always, we’ll post details when they’re known. But families waiting by the mailbox should bide their time for a few more days, as the June 15th deadline will not be met.

The Department of Education announced today the soon-to-be-official appointment of Garth Harries as assistant superintendent of schools in New Haven, CT.

Harries had previously served as CEO of the Portfolio office at the DOE, where he supervised the wholesale closure of dozens of schools and the creation of hundreds of new schools in their wake. In February 2009, he was appointed to review special education services and programs, which was a controversial announcement because Harries did not have any experience with special education. His review is not yet complete, but he told advocates in an email this morning that he was committed to finishing the project before he begins his new job on July 6.

The special education team has lost most of its lead administrators in recent months: Deputy Chancellor for Teaching and Learning Marcia Lyles is leaving the DOE for a Delaware district, and Linda Wernickoff, who has dedicated her career to the special education community, is retiring this year as well.

The exodus leaves only District 75 Superintendent Bonnie Brown to (potentially) spearhead special education reforms. The changes of leadership at this critical juncture make it all too easy to understand why the community of special education parents, educators, children and advocates believe their cause, and their children, take a remote second place at the DOE table.

As yet, the DOE has not announced who (if anyone) will replace Harries.

Given the increasing public conversation about the pros and cons of mayoral control – and the fact that the law is due to expire on June 30, unless Albany lawmakers approve a new (and improved?) version — we’d like to hear from you: How do you rate our mayor on education?

The schools grade our kids; the DOE grades the schools; it’s your turn, now, to turn the tables and grade the graders. How’s he doing? (a la Ed Koch.)

Only 1,190 PTA officials out of an estimated 4,500 potential voters cast ballots this spring in the election for the 34 Community Education Councils, according to the Department of Education press office. Despite an extensive publicity campaign through the DOE’s Powertotheparents.org organizers and website, 18 councils will require another round of elections to break a tie or add an uncontested candidate. The district and citywide councils are considered to be the parent voice under mayoral control.

Only a school’s three PTA officials can vote for CEC candidates. During the first round of elections, PTA officials each had two votes to cast; during the second round, they will each have one vote.

Six CECs will hold an election for a candidate who received no votes during the first round of elections. “They were on the original ballot, but they just didn’t receive any votes,” said Nicole Duiginan, a DOE spokesperson. “[The chancellor’s regulation] requires an affirmative vote take place.” CECs must have at least six members to hold an official meeting, and several districts operated without a quorum for much of this school year. In the recent election, District 8 in the Bronx and District 16 in Brooklyn only elected five members, so they will each hold a second “election” to obtain one more member, chosen from the candidates who received no votes during the first round.
Eight CECs will have true tiebreakers, where several candidates all received the same number of votes. (more…)

Dear Judy,

We just got the results of my daughter’s middle school choice process and ended up with a school we did not choose. Is there any way to appeal this placement? Could it be a mistake?

5th grade parent

Dear 5th grade parent:

You are not alone, we have heard from many parents with the same problem. Mistakes happen. We know a parent whose daughter was matched with a school she didn’t apply to out of her district, yet she was not “accepted” at any of the district schools she applied to. This was clearly an error. My advice? If you think this could be a mistake, check with your elementary school guidance counselor now; ask her to contact the school that “accepted” your daughter to see if her name is on their list. When in doubt, double check with the local enrollment office and finally, with the middle school enrollment office at Tweed, headed by Sandy Ferguson.

If it is not a mistake, but just bad luck, you have until June 10 to appeal the placement, according to Department of Education spokesperson Andy Jacob. This goes for schools in districts that have middle school choice. Ask your guidance counselor for an appeal form. She can review your daughter’s situation and help fill out the appeal application. You might have a guidance counselor who knows your child well enough to go to bat for her. She may know middle school guidance counselors; she may know which schools are still open to applicants. Jacob said that “Appeals are granted based on seat availability and the selection criteria of the schools listed on the application.” He cautioned that ” Submitting an appeal does not guarantee admittance to a specific school, or even that a new placement will be offered.” You’ll be notified about appeals decisions by the end of June, according to Jacob.

Also consider checking out the few new schools that are opening next fall – they may still have openings.

Be as patient as you can. Late in summer there will be special enrollment offices to deal with unsettled admissions problems, and often the schools do not have an accurate count of who is actually attending until September. If you have applied and been endorsed by the guidance counselor, you might get an open spot.

Meanwhile, another piece of advice: don’t deride the school to which your daughter has been assigned. Do look for bright spots and emphasize them. She might just end up there!

Judy

Correction: Previously we reported, as per Jimmy Bueschen of the Manhattan enrollment office, that children  could only appeal  to schools that they had already applied to. According to parents who have copies of the appeal form, and Andy Jacob of the DOE’s press office,  children can apply to any choice program or school to which they are eligible and whose admissions are handled by the Office of Student Enrollment. That includes schools to which a child may have previously applied and new middle schools opening in September. 

 Have a school question for Judy?  Search archives | Contact Judy

Forty years after David Rogers published the landmark study, 110 Livingston Street, considered a major catalyst for decentralizing the school system, he revisits this debate in his latest book, Mayoral Control of the New York City Schools. As the state legislature debates whether to continue the law which gave New York City’s mayor control of its public schools, Roger’s books provides a deep analysis of the pros and cons of mayoral control through a historical lens. Although part of a scholarly series, Rogers’ prose is generally accessible to ordinary folk.

Rogers’ book analyzes the steps the Department of Education took to arrive at its current administrative structure. Rogers concludes that without mayoral control important changes could not have been accomplished. These include a new citywide curriculum and methodology with emphasis on teacher training, standardized access to citywide programs, including admission to gifted and talented programs; bolstering school leadership, leading to principals’ autonomy in budget and other decisions made at the school level.

Rogers details how these and other changes were pursued through corporate management techniques, with an emphasis on data and top down managerial  decisions. He also points out that the alienation of teachers, principals, parents and other stakeholders engendered by the aggressive business model approach, may undermine long term sustainability of the mayor’s reforms. He suggests that mayoral control should be retained but its effectiveness depends on finding a way to “… establish a relationship of trust between city hall and the educators (teachers and principals) and between it and parent and community groups.”

Whether or not you agree with its conclusions, Mayoral Control of the New York City Schools is a valuable history of the Bloomberg-Klein era and an equally valuable basis for further discussion of the issues.

A big budget hurdle for charter schools was just lowered.

“Despite a prohibition on using state funds to build charter schools, the city has quietly expanded available funding for charter school construction to as much as $3.8 billion,” writes the New York Post. The extra money is part of a provision in the capital construction plan.

To date, charter schools have not received public funds for facility expenses. Many charter schools in New York City have been able to survive because Mayor Bloomberg has allowed them to use Department of Education buildings rent-free. Charter school advocates have long lobbied for the ban on state funds to be lifted, since depending on who controls the school system next, charter schools could have to start paying steep city rent prices.

Families applying to middle school should have letters by now. Since the middle school admissions process varies widely by district, we are curious how smoothly it has gone across the city. A few of the preliminary reports we have heard have included bureaucratic mess-ups (inaccurate admissions letters, contradictory information from the Department of Education offices and individual schools, special education delays). While the DOE is no stranger to admissions-process-bungles, we are hoping these are isolated cases.

Have you gotten your letter yet?

Update: The math scores are out and both state and city education officials have been busy touting the “steady, measured gains” (as opposed to the “steady, moderate” gains on the ELA exam). Across the state, 86.4 percent of students in 3rd to 8th grade have scored proficient, versus 65 percent in 2006 and 80.7 percent last year. In the city, 81.8 percent of 3rd to 8th grade students scored proficient, versus 57 percent in 2006 and 74.3 percent last year. The city press release touts the fact that the achievement gaps - between the races, the city and the rest of the state, and elementary versus middle school students - have continued to close, albeit slowly. See the Times and Gotham Schools for more analysis and see the press release from City Hall for the mayor’s spin on the scores.

Morning post: The New York State Department of Education will release 2009 math scores for students in grades 3 through 8 at 10:30 am today.

On the standardized reading exam this year, “steady, moderate” statewide gains mirrored citywide trends; 2008 math scores in the city, which historically have posted at higher levels than language scores, showed 79.7 percent of 4th graders at or above state proficiency standards, along with 59.6 percent of 8th graders. (The ongoing mayoral control debate, here and in Albany, will undoubtedly include much discussion on whether the grade-school to middle-school gap and the historic achievement gap between the races have narrowed or not.)

The most recent update from the Department of Education lists schools that are newly closed today and others that will reopen. It also itemizes certain specific programs — for disabled students, for example, or for kindergartners registered at one school who share a site with another school — which will close, while the schools that host them will remain open.

It’s not clear why decisions were made to close parts of specific buildings — and even less clear how flu viruses may be contained across arbitrary, human-imposed borders in a single physical structure. To this non-epidemiologist, closing part of a school seems baffling: the virus can’t discern which students it affects, or where they attend school, or which program is theirs. Viruses don’t ask questions; ask any parent with more than one child what happens when one gets sick.

If the contagion is sufficient to warrant protecting some of the students in the building, why not protect them all?

A close analysis in today’s Times confirms what seems to be basic logic: For the most part, principals with more experience fare better than younger, less-seasoned school leaders, even those groomed by the city’s Leadership Academy to take over, and often turn around, troubled or failing schools. The observation is particularly acute given the relative inexperience of New York City’s public school principals; nearly 80 percent have been school leaders for eight years or less. (For more on principal training, visit New Leaders for New Schools, a national leadership-training program, and read this Q&A with Leadership Academy head Sandra Stein.)

But even with budget control and other elements of autonomy, all principals do not control or direct their school’s enrollment, a critical management lapse, according to families of pre-K students and those currently waiting for middle school results (and placement offers) for district and citywide gifted and talented programs.

Principals’ job descriptions continue to expand: “You’re a teacher, you’re Judge Judy, you’re a mother, you’re a father, you’re a pastor, you’re a therapist, you’re a nurse, you’re a social worker,” Maxine Nodel, principal of the Millennium Art Academy in the Bronx, told the Times. “You’re a curriculum planner, you’re a data gatherer, you’re a budget scheduler, you’re a vision spreader.”

What you’re not, apparently, is a source of enrollment information for parents in your community. That power rests with the DOE — and parents are caught in the gap, waiting for information while the clock ticks toward DOE-imposed deadlines.

Sean Keaton, the controversial principal of PS 20 in the Fort Greene/Clinton Hill neighborhood in Brooklyn, was arrested Thursday after allegedly knocking a kindergarten teacher off a chair, kicking him in the head, and stomping on him. The teacher, Robert Segerra, is the teachers’ union representative at PS 20, and, at the time of the assault, had been in Keaton’s office, discussing the case of a special education teacher who had been accused of using corporal punishment against a student.

“Every time I said I’m not hitting you, I got another hit in the head or another punch in the neck or another scrap or another drag me across the floor,” Segerra told WABC. (For Segerra’s full account of the incident, click here.)

Keaton was charged with misdemeanor assault and reassigned to administrative duties while the investigation is pending, according to the Department of Education.

Keaton has taught at the school since the 1990s and served as principal since 2005, but parents have been sharply divided over his leadership. While test scores have risen, enrollment has declined, and now only 27 percent of eligible kindergarten students in the zone are attending PS 20.

One of the three new citywide gifted and talented programs is scheduled to open as part of PS 20 next fall, which will be under the purview of the PS 20 principal. Parents whose students scored at the 97th percentile or higher on the gifted and talented exam were able to rank the PS 20 program on their forms, which were due on Tuesday. We are following up with the DOE to see if there will be an opportunity for parents to reconsider their choices after new leadership is announced.

The debate over Keaton’s administration turned particularly vehement on the New York Times Local Fort Greene/Clinton Hill blog this spring. Yesterday, the Local described the debate’s racial and class undertones: “The community conversation about him [Keaton] often seemed to break down along class lines, with new-to-the-neighborhood, more affluent parents finding him difficult to work with and working-class parents defending him. There was often a racial component to the debate as well (Mr. Keaton is black).” (more…)

May is one of those poignant and bittersweet months for 5th-grade parents, who are in the early stages of the difficult and lifelong parenting process called Letting Go.

The changes are small now. Ten and 11-year-olds may be more reluctant to hold hands with their parents, especially in public.  They may covet teen trappings — cell phones, instant messaging, or even video chats.

Parents sense that long-established elementary school relationships and habits are about to change, so naturally there is some anxiety about the future. And once again this year, that anxiety is compounded by the Department of Education’s failure to send out timely middle school notifications.

So while parents and teachers are busy planning yearbooks, end-of year concerts, and elementary school graduation ceremonies, they are still coming home to empty mailboxes. They still cannot tell their children where they will be going to school next year. And that is not okay.

Last year at this time, I had to comfort my now 6th-grader that news would be arriving soon, and that he’d be fine wherever he ended up. Yet like many parents around me, I couldn’t quite calm my own jumpy feelings every time I searched the mail. I hated not knowing.

The DOE vowed to fix the process this year, but without any specific reason, they have pushed back the date for notification again. Parents who are trying to figure out if they have to move – or forfeit deposits to private school – are particularly annoyed, as comments this week on Insideschools  have shown. Given that the supply of top-notch middle schools citywide nowhere near meets the demand for them, it’s understandable that parents want some answers.

The last few weeks of elementary school should be filled with sweet reminders of the beautiful and elusive nature of childhood. After all the bewildering touring, ranking, and interviewing the students did last fall to find a middle school, they deserve timely answers – and so do their parents.

The Department of Health and the Department of Education have announced that eight additional schools will close starting today, Friday May 22nd, in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx. The eight schools, which occupy six school buildings, together serve over 6200 children.

These schools will be closed, beginning today:

Department of Education spokesman Andy Jacob this evening confirmed that families of students applying to middle school for September 2009 will receive placement offers by mail “during the week of May 26.” 

When asked why the news was delayed — DOE’s middle schools calendar originally stated parents would get news in mid-May — Jacob replied, “We’re mailing the offers next week because they will be ready next week. ” 

The DOE website has been updated to reflect the revised timeline.

Today, Chancellor Joel Klein previewed budget cuts at the city’s schools in a message sent to all principals. The news is good or bad, depending on your point of view — and your school’s fiscal status, he said.

“In aggregate,” Klein wrote, “the total dollars in school budgets will be reduced by 3.8 percent.”

In specifics, which he described at a briefing today at Tweed, more than 40 percent of schools may experience cuts of 4.9 percent, while others, such as the approximately 80 schools with large Title I populations, might “get a slight bump” in funding, Klein said.

Schools that managed to save and “roll over” funds from Fiscal Year 09, which ends on June 30th, will experience less severe cuts than those who spent their budgets down, said Klein.

“To be clear: if you rolled over money, the good news is you will be able to spend that money. We are not cutting the money you rolled forward,” he wrote in his letter to principals. Schools were cautioned to save money from this year to plan for the next, although the rate and ability to save varies from school to school. The cut is designed to save approximately $318 million in the coming fiscal year, in addition to the $100 million in midyear cuts.

Principals will be responsible for making decisions about whether to cut programs — Saturday school, after school programming and professional development were three options the Chancellor mentioned — or to trim staff.

“Most schools will be able to find significant portions of this in OTPS [Other Than Personnel Services].” But school leaders are free to lay off staff, “if an aide or a para that they feel is more cuttable than a program,” Klein explained.

At LaGuardia High School, our student blogger writes that upper-level math courses will be snipped.

Specific budgets for each school will be presented to principals tomorrow, and according to the DOE, posted to the DOE website.

When Lydia Bellahcene’s son “E.E.,” who struggles with a reading disability, was picked from a lottery to attend Williamsburg Charter High School, she was elated. “I thought my son could be successful. He would be given the support he needed. I had no red light, yellow light to be cautious because they had an IEP team [a group of administrators who ensure special education students receive services].” Although her son worked with a special education reading instructor every day for 45 minutes beginning in 3rd grade at a regular Department of Education school, when he began 9th grade at Williamsburg Charter in 2007, the specialist was promised, but never appeared. As a result, he failed 9th-grade English, became depressed, and was forced to continue to wear the 9th-grade green uniform the following year, while his friends wore the gold 10th-grade Williamsburg Charter shirt, said Bellahcene.

Charter schools, which operate outside the city Department of Education and select students through a lottery, have become increasingly controversial as their numbers have grown. This fall an additional 24 charter schools are expected to open, bringing the total in New York City to more than 100 schools. As charter schools proliferate, and in many instances, post higher test scores than neighboring regular schools, some parents and advocates claim the schools are “creaming,” enrolling only the best students and ignoring disadvantaged populations.

“Those charter schools are not serving the main population,” said Aixa Rodriguez, a Spanish teacher who worked at International Leadership Charter School in the Bronx. She said students requiring extra services were pushed out. “They’re serving a boutique population…You’re not going to have a whole line of parents on welfare whose kids are PINS,” referring to the warrants parents place on run-away youth.

Charter school advocates disagree. “When somebody says a charter school is creaming, what they’re not telling you is there’s no way on God’s Earth you know who you’re getting,” said Jeffery Litt, superintendent of the Carl C. Icahn charter schools.

Charter schools claim they outperform neighborhood schools while enrolling the same student demographic. Opponents argue that charter schools only attract children whose parents are involved and invested in their education, since the parents had to seek out a charter school and fill out an application by the April 1 deadline. Additionally, because charter schools operate independently of the city DOE, opponents say there is no oversight to protect the most vulnerable students – those who don’t speak English or require special education services.

An analysis of student data involving some of the most challenging students to educate, students who are homeless, special education students, and English Language Learners (ELL), shows that charter schools don’t serve or enroll the same students as local public schools. Homeless students

In New York City, 51,316 public school students are homeless, and only 111 of them attend a charter school, according to Jennifer Pringle, director of NYS-TEACHS, a state-funded group that provides assistance to schools, social service providers, and families about the educational rights of homeless students.

“With many charter schools, you have an application process. It’s not just you can show up at the school on September 1st and register your child,” Pringle said, “and many families in crisis aren’t in a position to see that process through.” Although most city charter schools are located in low-income neighborhoods, 34 charter schools enroll no homeless students. In East New York, Brooklyn, a politically-forgotten neighborhood with decrepit buildings and the infamous Pink housing projects, nine homeless shelters are located near Achievement First East New York Charter School. The school does not enroll any homeless students.

(more…)

Taking a page from the District 3 playbook, yesterday parent representatives of Manhattan’s District 2, joined by the United Federation of Teachers, filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education and schools Chancellor Joel Klein, charging violations of state law by DOE reconfiguration of neighborhood schools and programs without Community Education Council consultation or approval.

State education law mandates CEC participation in decisions that affect local schools. Yet “the DOE fails consistently to consult with the CEC,” according to the lawsuit’s lead plaintiff, District 2 CEC president Rebecca Daniels. “CEC members have an obligation to take action to right this wrong, to ensure that the voice of New York City public school parents is never silenced.”

The DOE backed down from the District 3 lawsuit in April, backpedaling on its plan to close traditional zoned public schools in Harlem and replace them with charters. The current suit lists a litany of DOE actions at elementary, middle, and high schools in the district; click here for more information.

Heads-up, pre-K families: The Department of Education announced today that it will email or snail-mail placement results to city parents late this week. Although they’re not saying precisely when communications will go out, “the end of this week” sounds pretty committal. Families who applied online will receive word by email and letter; others will receive word just by USPS.

If you choose to accept an offer, you’ll need to register between Tuesday, May 26 and Monday, June 8 at the school your child will attend. Families whose children would have gone to pre-K at PS 3 or PS 41, we’re asking where you’ll register (the schools or the new program site) and will report details. For all families, we’d suggest calling the specific school to confirm their registration hours, to minimize time away from work (and frustration).

Failure to register means giving up the offer of a pre-K seat for your child.

Questions, concerns, and comments on the pre-K process are invited by the DOE at ES_Enrollment@schools.nyc.gov. If you write in, please let us know whether and when there’s a response to your email; last year, communications shortfalls plagued the process, which we hope, for everyone’s sake, will not be the case this year.

Space for pre-kindergarten classes shut out of PS 3 and PS 11 in Greenwich Village because of kindergarten over-crowding will be available next fall at 27 Barrow Street, the home of the Barrow Street Nursery School, according to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Department of Education officials who have been working this week to find a home for the displaced students.

Speaking to an auditorium packed with parents at the District 2 Community Education Council meeting last night, John White, of the Department of Education, said that the siting is a temporary solution “that will allow the [kindergarten] waitlist to completely disappear.” There are 79 kindergarteners now on the waitlist for the shared PS3/41 zone, he said, and moving the pre-K classes will allow one new class at PS 41 and two new classes at PS 3. White also anticipates that many of the 63 zoned students who qualified for gifted & talented programs would choose that option, freeing up more space in the crowded neighborhood schools.

Regarding a new site for a new PS 151, White indicated that the Our Lady of Good Counsel school would be the likely site; a formal announcement is expected on Monday.

White also said that new sites will be found for two middle schools now sharing elementary-school buildings, Greenwich Village Middle School and the Clinton School for Writers and Artists, for the 2010-2011 school year.

Parents fired questions at White and DOE enrollment chief Elizabeth Sciabarra about kindergarten waitlists and challenging DOE statistics. A CEC member asked parents: “Are you happy with what you are hearing tonight?” Parents, some carrying placards, responded with a resounding “NO!” (more…)

How gerrymandered can an election get? Parents inquiring why the Community Education Council advisory vote results were not yet posted have discovered — once again — that the Department of Education has unilaterally decided to change the rules of CEC elections midstream.

Originally, the result of the parent advisory vote was to be posted publicly on the powertotheparents website in early May, according to that site’s home page. Instead, last week the DOE instructed the election vendor to withhold results of the parent advisory “straw poll” vote, which was intended to guide the real vote, until after the official selectors cast their votes, according to a Power to the Parents staffer.

The official CEC voting process is already convoluted: three PTA officials from each school each cast only two votes for candidates for the 12-member CECs. Deadlines for candidate sign-up, the straw poll, and the official voting have all been changed repeatedly this year at the DOE’s direction. In the latest change, the CEC voting deadline was extended to midnight tonight.

Still, I look forward to finding out who will be elected to my CEC for the coming two-year term. As the new mayoral control law is considered, it will be up to next year’s crew to promote parents’ voices in the system. Preventing the DOE from manipulating community elections is one of many reasons why parent advocates would like to see administration of the CECs be made independent from the DOE — perhaps placed under the Public Advocate’s office.

As part of the rewrite of mayoral control legislation, CEC3 supports a public November CEC election held alongside other public elections. The current system is devised, controlled, and constantly changed in a murky and undemocratic manner by DOE. “Power to the parents,” it’s not.

EDITOR’S UPDATE: Representatives of other CEC’s are also speaking out about issues surrounding the election. Here is a letter sent on May 19 from the District 31 CEC to Jacqui Lipson, the CEC administrative coordinator at the DOE, raising concerns similar to those Jennifer wrote about in this post:

(more…)

After days of scrambling and searching for about 60 missing gifted and talented program tests for students at PS 9 in Manhattan, Department of Education spokesman Andy Jacob said yesterday that the test company, Pearson, found the mis-marked box — but that the tests everyone thought were there, weren’t.

“We’re going to retest the students whose tests we can’t locate,” Jacob said after a letter went out to PS 9 families explaining the process. Do-overs will begin this weekend at the DOE headquarters, Tweed Courthouse, and continue through Thursday at PS 9. Department of Education officials will hand-score the tests and have promised that families “will receive score reports by Tuesday, May 26″ — with applications due Friday, the 29th. Jacob also said that “turning in their applications later won’t affect their chances of being placed in a particular program.”

“There’s nothing we can do to fully make up for the inconvenience and frustration of this situation for the affected families,” said Jacob. “The best thing we can do is retest the students and get them their results as quickly as possible.”

The students will not repeat the full OLSAT exam that was offered in the fall, but will instead take a “breach form of OLSAT,” according to the DOE’s letter to parents, which is the “alternate form used in all retesting situations.”

Parents at PS 9 wonder why their kids have to retest at all. Natalie Redmond, whose daughter’s test was lost, asks why last year’s test scores can’t be used in lieu of a new test. Redmond points out that DOE will use old tests to place some children in G&T programs – if it’s “good enough for kids in the outer boroughs,” Redmond asks, why isn’t the option of using last year’s scores open to PS 9 parents as well?

Whether the missing-tests kids will gain a competitive edge by repeating a familiar test hasn’t been broached. It seems clear, though, that the DOE could mandate practices to prevent this kind of crisis: Why aren’t schools required to photocopy test papers before they’re sent? Seems as simple as a fail-safe can be.

As the mayoral-control debate escalates here and in Albany, a parallel conversation is simmering locally, about the city’s recent rise in standardized test scores.

Two Daily News articles set a strong counterpoint: Last week, columnist Juan Gonzalez challenged the gains touted by the Department of Education, asserting that poor children lack the opportunity for achievement that many others have — and that charters, which enroll far fewer English language learners and special-needs students, benefit from their exclusionary policies. Gonzales concludes, “…when something looks too good to be true, it usually is. ”

Today, big jumps in reading scores are celebrated in the News — but a principal’s explanation of how her school improved test scores is chillingly revealing: “What really helped us was looking at our data and driving the instruction based on that,” Principal Lillian Catalano, a 23-year public school veteran, told the News. School officials “spent hours scouring” students’ work on previous assessments to figure out “where they needed help … on the statewide reading test,” the article explains.

Simply put, this principal and her faculty embraced the data — and upped their scores by ‘teaching to the test.’ They figured out what kids needed to know to do better, and they taught it. But teaching to the test necessarily takes time from other subjects; it limits what a school can offer, and what a teacher can teach. And it doesn’t mean kids are actually learning to think for themselves or master content outside the testing area. Historically, teaching to the test was universally considered a bad thing, but tables turn, and today, it’s lauded. Schools that do the best job of sussing out what the testers want gain the most praise and public recognition; progress reports, based largely on a school’s test scores, can determine a principal’s tenure and even a school’s survival.

It’s hard to argue with a principal who sees the importance of raising scores. The bigger question is what’s lost when the focus-field narrows — when data, scores, and testing outpace content in the classroom.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has joined the search for new pre-K locations in Greenwich Village, after news leaked last week that the pre-K classes would be bumped from overcrowded PS 3 and PS 41. An emergency task force has been assembled and, according to an email from Quinn sent this morning, they have been busy scouting locations for the Department of Education. Last Wednesday, Quinn showed up briefly at the protest on the steps of City Hall and spoke with a little boy and several parents. Two days later she met with Chancellor Klein and formed the task force.

The full text of the Speaker’s email, and a second email from task force member Rebecca Daniels, after the jump:

(more…)