Long-awaited “main round” high school acceptance letters to 8th graders MAY be delayed, according to a report in today’s Daily News.

The letters with high school matches, due to be delivered to students on March 24, are being held up by court order because of a lawsuit against the Department of Education by the NAACP and the teachers union. The lawsuit charges that the DOE acted illegally in moving to close 19 schools.

According to the Daily News, “Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Joan Lobis ruled Tuesday to temporarily ban the city from making the matches, since their process isn’t factoring in the closing schools and isn’t matching kids with them. ”

The court is encouraging both sides to work together to resolve the issue and the DOE is allowed to go ahead and prepare to send out letters — just not send them - yet.

For thousands of anxious 8th-graders and their parents, a longer wait to receive confirmation of where they will be attending school next year means more nail-biting.

Are you among the 86,000 or so families awaiting acceptance letters? How do you feel about the delay?

This week’s snowstorm forced the postponement of open houses at specialized and new high schools. Because of the delays, the Department of Education is giving 8th graders and their families a few more days to make up their minds about whether to apply to new high schools, or, for those lucky enough to have a choice after the first round of high school acceptances, which school to accept!

The due date has been changed from Tuesday, Feb. 23 to Thursday, Feb. 25. From the comments on InsideSCOOP and our forum, some families are having a tough time making a decision. If you’ve got experience to share about the schools, please chime in.

And, see the Department of Education’s website for a rundown of all weather-related schedule changes, including the new open house dates for specialized high schools, and hearings about hotly-contested school utilization plans.

On February 4, ARISE , a coalition of individuals and 24 organizations of which AFC is a member, issued a statement charging that the Department of Education’s plan to reform special education does not go far enough.

The DOE revealed its Implementation Plan for the Reform of Special Education: A Two-Year Phase-in Process Focusing on the Advancement of Student Learning and Achievement in a meeting with advocates earlier this week. While ARISE praised the plan ” to the extent that the DOE’s guiding principles indicate the removal of roadblocks to quality supports and services for youth with disabilities,” it also said that “the DOE’s plan is short on both detail and accountability.”

The DOE’s plan states that “every school should educate and embrace the overwhelmingly majority of students with disabilities,’ but that a “cohort of students….with highly specialized needs will continue to be clustered in specialized instructional programs.” The DOE confirmed that District 75 will continue to serve those students.

According to Maggie Moroff, coordinator of the ARISE coalition, the plan falls short in two ways. First, while encouraging and supporting principals to institute recommended changes in special education, there is no mandate to hold them, or officials in the department, accountable for doing so. Second, although the DOE’s plan calls for the development of new programs, “it has done remarkably little to marshal the work [already] done in New York City schools and in academia.” Incorporation of existing successful programs could speed up implementation, she noted. Click here for the ARISE statement.

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…)

NY1 education reporter Lindsey Christ this  week is chronicling the sad story of Paul Robeson High School, one of 20 schools  slated for closure by the Department of Education. The reporter first visited Paul Robeson for Insideschools.org  last year. At that time she found that “high absenteeism, occasional violence, low graduation rates, and poor test scores” were plaguing the school, one of a dwindling number of  large comprehensive high schools left in Brooklyn.

In Tuesday’s report for NY1, Christ visited empty classrooms and talked to teachers about the attendance problem at Robeson — only 69% of students show up for school on a given day, sometimes as few as five are in a classroom.  In  Monday’s story,  students blamed themselves, as well as the school, for their lackluster performance.

The series about Robeson is a prelude to next week’s meeting of the  Panel for Educational Policy, where school closings will be voted on. Hearings continue this week, offering parents and community members the opportunity to speak out about the proposed changes.

Check out the coverage on NY1 for a look at what’s happening inside one large high school.  Meanwhile, the debate continues about how well small schools, which are increasingly replacing neighborhood high schools, serve the most troubled students, such as those skipping classes at Paul Robeson.

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.

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…)

New Yorkers have a new Commissioner of Education, David Steiner, who now holds broad powers over our kids. The Alliance for Quality Education has posted a video featuring education activists, parents, grandparents, and students expressing their hopes for what the new boss will do for our kids in the new year.

We all want more oversight, accountability, and resources devoted to our kids. Seasoned education advocates, including Geri Palast from the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, state the political case well. But we’d like to hear more from kids, parents, and grandparents, and anyone concerned about our kids who are in the system right now.

What advice do you have for Commissioner Steiner? If you were the boss of New York’s schools in the midst of a recession, what would you do?

Insideschools.org is here to amplify your voice, so post a comment, make a video, this is your chance to speak up and be heard.

And if you can, please donate now so we can continue to bring you the inside scoop on what’s going on inside our schools. Your donation is fully tax-deductible.

The holidays are my favorite time of year to check in with teacher friends, simply to hear what their students give them as gifts. For the most part the kids bestow endearing homemade cards and trinkets, with the usual array of baked goods.

Some private school teachers, though, receive jaw-droppingly expensive gifts. One reports getting gold jewelry from Tiffany more than once and, one year, a cruise. Another was presented with a giant porcelain ice bucket in the form of a top hat with a glove draped fetchingly over the brim. A pal who taught at a liberal-minded private school received no gifts at all, because acknowledgment of the holidays was taboo.

No such extravagance or holiday ban at my daughter’s school, PS 29 - at least not that I’ve witnessed. The PTA tries to eliminate awkwardness and the possibility of one-upmanship by encouraging a group gift (okay, according the the DOE’s conflict of interest rules). Parents chip in an amount they see fit. Often, a figure is suggested.This year in our kindergarten classes,  the recommended amount was $15 to $20 per family. Donations are anonymous and everyone signs the group cards. (more…)

At Arts & Letters, we are embarking on a month of preparation for our Quality Review. For those of you who do not know, the Quality Review stands next to the Progress Report Card, those notorious A-F grades that appear in the newspapers. These are the Department of Education’s two most important measures of school success. While the Progress Reports mostly show a snapshot of a school’s progress and performance on state tests, the Quality Review seeks to provide a more holistic view of a school.

In truth, it has taken a while for the DOE to settle on a “rubric” or measure, that encapsulates as well what a “well-developed” school should look like. Nationally, and even locally, departments of education have hesitated to declare the qualities of a good school, but the research is resoundingly clear, and the NYC Department of Education is taking a stand. (more…)

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.

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…)

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.

In early June, Insideschools and GothamSchools, among other outlets, reported the nomination of Garth Harries as Assistant Superintendent of New Haven, CT, schools. Harries built a tough reputation as a “systems guy,” according to Department of Education spokesperson David Cantor, as portfolio chief at the DOE, when he oversaw the closure of dozens of city schools. Earlier this year, he was given the task of reviewing special education services despite a lack of personal experience in special education.

When the New Haven announcement was made, Harries was expected to serve in New York through the end of the month — that would be today — and to release recommendations of his special education review before he left Tweed.

It’s the end of June. We’ve asked Tweed for Harries’ recommendations, and whether today is his last day at work. So far, no one’s saying. Any wonder that the special education community feels marginalized and overlooked?

Earlier this week, departing UFT head Randi Weingarten negotiated a contract that will allow the  city’s teachers to start their school year after Labor Day.  Previously, teachers reported to work for  two prep days before the holiday, for professional development, and to get organized for the coming school year, a concession that was part of the 2005 teachers contract.

On the heels of that gain for teachers,  the Principal’s Union protested, asking (understandably) how the city could expect that school leaders, teachers, and students begin school on the same day, ready to teach and learn. Accordingly, the DOE has elected to delay the start of school by a single day — the 2009-2010 school year will begin on Wednesday, September 9 — and extend the year until Monday, June 28.

It’s hard to know just how many students will remain in school for that final Monday — ask all the parents who are packing up kids this weekend for the start of the sleep-away camp season — but adding the last Monday in June permits DOE to maintain their 180-day instructional calendar without trimming other vacation time during the academic year.

Standardized testing in English Language Arts and Math took place this year in January and March, respectively, but the testing calendar is set to change next year, when both tests will be offered in May, according to information sent to school principals by the Department of Education.

According to the DOE’s Principal’s Weekly, The State’s Board of Regents decided to move both tests far later in the school calendar, to May. (The State’s official 2009-10 calendar still shows the dates in January and March, however.) For many concerned that test prep already occupies too much space in the classroom, the delayed testing dates can’t be welcome news. For those who endorse the predictive strength of standardized test scores, more time to prepare likely seems like a better way to raise test scores. What’s not known is the ripple effect on the Department of Education Progress Reports, which use test-score data to assess student and school progress, and how the new testing calendar will affect the release of test scores to families and schools.

The precise dates are not yet determined, but DOE says they will post to their testing calendar (public access restricted) when they’re decided. We’re curious about the impact of the new schedule on the DOE’s assessment and accountability measures; details to follow when we learn more.

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?