In our last poll, we asked how you felt about the future of our public schools in the wake of  Mayor Bloomberg’s reelection. It turns out that many of you – 32% — are angry: you feel our kids were pawns in a costly campaign and wish the money had gone to schools instead.

Fifteen percent have confidence that the mayor  has done a lot to make the schools better and that he can keep up the momentum. Fifteen percent are determined to get our kids the best education possible regardless of who’s in charge, and 18% are worried things will get worse. Only 10% said they were optimistic that the schools will improve, and just 7% were disappointed that Thompson didn’t win.

This week, we’d like to know how your parent-teacher conferences went. Vote now! You’ll find this week’s poll near the upper left hand side of this page, and you can share your comments here.

A notice went out in the Principal’s Weekly last week inviting schools from all over the city to participate in the Green Cup Challenge, a national student-driven energy challenge. Please talk to your principal or interested teachers if you think they might enjoy having an energy scavenger hunt for four weeks in January with the goal of reducing the school’s electricity use.

The Challenge also encourages students to submit a video. Take a look at last year’s winning video here. Some suggested activities during the Green Cup Challenge month include having a waste-free day in the cafeteria, enforcing a school lights-off-at-night and turn-off-the-computer-after-hours policy, hosting an assembly about climate change, showing a documentary such as The Story of Stuff, or inviting a speaker.

Speaker, book, and film ideas are posted at EducatingTomorrow.org, the UFT’s (Teacher’s Union) green committee site. This is the first year that NYC public schools can participate in the Green Cup Challenge and the more schools that participate, the more fun the competition will be.

Interested schools can register online. An introductory meeting and training for interested schools will be held on Dec. 8 from 9-11 am at the Urban Academy School for Green Careers on West 84th Street in Manhattan. For more information or questions about signing your school up to participate in the green Cup Challenge contact Ozgem Ornektekin.

Last year 120 schools nationwide participated in the Green Cup Challenge and collectively reduced their carbon emissions by 2.5 million pounds, the equivalent of taking 220 cars off the road for a whole year. New York City schools can make a difference!

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

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

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

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

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

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?

Marriage is hard. I don’t know of any husband or wife who hasn’t, at some point or another, experienced this lifetime commitment as tiresome, uninteresting, and relentless. Even when you love your husband and he loves you and your relationship has already earned the depth of decades. And even without an autistic child thrown into the mix.

Raising an autistic child apparently increases divorce rates to 80%, although I have not been able to find a reliable source for this oft-quoted statistic. I’ve seen some of these marriage breakdowns first-hand, and I find them especially sad.

I am hardly cocky enough to claim that I know the secret to staying married, but since my husband and I both celebrated our birthdays recently, I have been thinking a lot about what keeps us together. And perhaps, more importantly, what fails to drive us apart. (more…)

Dear Judy: 

 My daughter just started kindergarten in a public school with a very big school yard.  Her schedule is robust with no play and all academics, mostly spent in a very warm classroom.  At lunchtime, the kindergartners stay in the cafeteria watching the others play and then are lined up outside in the yard for the last five minutes (again watching the other kids play) until their teachers come to get them so they can begin the next three hours in the warm classroom.

I have spoken to the teachers, the parent  coordinator, and the principal about the “why” behind this physically unhealthy and “mean” policy.  No straight answers yet, I’m still hoping.

Am I allowed to get my child during the lunch hour and bring her back to school after lunch? When I was a kid this was allowed. I want my young child to have some physical activity during the school day.

 Kindergarten parent

Dear Kindergarten parent,

Lunch in or out?  There is no city regulation governing this question; it is the school principal who determines the policy at each school. However a principal can’t keep individual parents from taking their child out to lunch.

For years and years many children went home for lunch, escorted by their mothers. That was in the “olden days” when women did not work and kids walked back and forth from school. Today it is rare, but not unheard of. There are logistics to work out:  You will have to sign your daughter in and out of school every lunchtime.  You and the school will have to decide where you will pick her up, what happens if you are late, who will  be responsible for her until you show up, and how will you inform the staff of exceptions. Besides adding a layer of supervision, these are understandable concerns for the safety of your daughter. You must work out suitable procedures with the principal and stick to them. (more…)

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

Every time I arrive at an overcrowded school corridor to sign up for a three-minute parent teacher conference, I have the same thought: There must be a better way.

There are too many names on the sign-up list. The parents are anxious and antsy. It’s always too hot and crowded, and I immediately start feeling sorry for the teachers, besieged by questions.

With one child in middle school and another in high school, I am officially a veteran of New York City public school parent teacher conferences. I’ve developed a few survival strategies.

If possible, I take a personal or vacation day and attend the afternoon session in an effort to avoid ridiculous evening lines.Even so, I can’t beat the system.

(more…)

Last night, I read my daughters Bread and Jam for Frances. My favorite part is the end, when Frances relishes every bite of her sophisticated boxed lunch (Lobster salad! Cream of tomato soup!) and “makes it all come out even.” Alas, in my house, a steady diet of peanut butter and jelly has done nothing to make picky Night Owl beg for something new. Cafeteria lunch? Forget it! We’ve tried. Each time, she eschews the healthier options in favor of a white hamburger bun dipped in ketchup. I figure we’re better off packing lunch.

Volunteering in the lunchroom, I’ve seen an impressive variety of homemade offerings on display. There are Caribbean stews and colorful Chinese stir-fries. My friend Min, who is from Korea, makes her son freshly steamed rice, on which she arranges black beans into a letter of the day. All of these lunches look healthy and hearty, and the children devour them.

A recent New York Times article detailed the art of the bento box; some of their examples dazzlingly intricate. If I had hours to spend sculpting bunnies out of food and thought it would coax Night Owl to eat more, perhaps I would perfect this craft. And I do get the idea of the bento box: to juxtapose as many colors, textures and food groups as possible, for nutritional value and visual appeal. A friend of mine packs Laptop Lunches, westernized bento boxes she says force her to create a varied and balanced meal — and leftovers work just fine for filling the compartments. (more…)

I admit it: last year, I ditched out early on our PTA meeting (my daughters were climbing on me). This year, I vowed not only to attend but to listen carefully until the bitter end — which was more than an hour and a half. Many other parents seemed to be doing the same, even those toting squirming babies. After all, we want to know how budget cuts will affect our children, what might be whisked away, how we can all help. It’s harder, this year, to take for granted that certain programs and services will magically happen on their own.

Our principal declared herself optimistic, despite the 5% cuts we’re being hit with. She opened the meeting on an upbeat note, reading friendly letters students had written to her over the summer — one, amusingly, begged for better toilet paper in the school bathrooms. As the stream of teachers and parents spoke, I realized just how much of what helps our school succeed comes from the PTA. They make many of our arts programs possible. They maintain the web site. They organize enrichment classes taught by parents (last year, a dad helped kindergartners make a movie). They pay for some of the school’s supplies. And, of course, they raise the money and recruit parent volunteers to do all of this. (more…)

In last week’s poll, we asked if you would be attending the first PA/PTA meeting of the school year. Most parents — 66% — voted yes.

Several respondents said that back-to-school night segued into the inaugural meeting. A Queens parent said that the first PA meeting is “crucial to attend” for information about changes for the upcoming year. Another parent disagreed, calling the PTA “useless,” and added, “They didn’t even serve coffee.”

Twenty-two percent of parents said they would not go to the meeting. Two parents voiced their frustration that the PA at their schools “is led by a clique of parents with their own agenda.”

Eight percent of parents received no notice of a meeting and 2% have no parent organization at their school.  Chancellor’s Regulation A-660 mandates that all schools have either a PA or PTA, and that the association send out notification to families about meetings in a timely fashion. (more…)

Parents, teachers, facilities managers, and students can share ideas and information about schools going green on a new citywide website, Green Schools NYC. Green schools experts can post links, ideas, and information, while people looking for ideas and advice on greening schools can find them on the site, or ask experts for information.

The more users who  join the website, the more useful it will be for both experts and newbies. Already participating on the site are parents and teachers at schools that have worm composting projects (that give kids a science lesson while reducing food waste) and parents at schools who are throwing green-themed fall festivals.

The Links and Resources page contains links to local organizations that provide programs, advice, and curriculum on schools going green, including one where children visit farms and cook meals with freshly picked vegetables. The new site makes it easy to post documents, such as the Back To School Green Schools Supplies memo posted by a mom at PS 334, which can be downloaded and adapted by other schools. (more…)

What advice can you give me for my 8th-grade son to prepare for Ivy League schools? His reply is “I’m only in 8th grade.” But I worry as he is not in honors classes and I think he should be. He did well last year in 7th grade but all of his teachers said he could do much better as he is very bright. He is focusing on his social life and he thinks school is for social activity. How can I change his mindset? Am I worrying too soon?”

Well, yes and no. First, there is a social component to school — if your son were studying all the time and had no friends at all, that would be a source of worry. But if his friends are responsible good students, who do not lure him into dangerous activities, that’s great. Make sure he knows that his friends are always welcome in your home, because if they get together at your house, you’ll know where he is! Now back to academics. You have raised a number of issues.

Let’s start with the one in your first sentence. Please substitute “a high quality collegiate experience” for “Ivy League schools!” The Ivies do not have a monopoly on providing excellent education (nor does an Ivy League degree guarantee happiness, or even a job). There are hundreds of fine colleges and universities. In addition, the Ivy League schools have an acceptance rate that averages less than 10%. Because of intense competition, it’s very, very hard to get in. If you convey to your son that only an Ivy League is acceptable, he may become demoralized and won’t even try — or he may try and not be accepted, and then feel like a failure. Please don’t set him up for that. (more…)

 Have a question for Jane?  Search archives | Contact the College Counselor

Looking at the results of last week’s poll, we realize that we truly underestimated how much parents spend on school supplies! Seventy percent of 561 voters said they spend over $50 at the start of the year.

Thanks for voting and for sharing your money-saving tips! One parent said that she was surprised when she first encountered a supply list in kindergarten, but now that her child’s in middle school, “it just seems like business as usual.” A few of you said that that you don’t get supply lists from teachers in a timely fashion, which makes it difficult to buy them before the stores run out.

Monday marks the second full week of school. We’d like to know if you are attending the first Parents Association (or Parent-Teacher Association) meeting of the year. Vote now, and comment below to let us know why or why not!

In today’s Daily News, new State Commissioner of Education, David Steiner, says our schools just need some common sense. He thinks our system is fraught with poor practices that defy logic - ranging from placing novice teachers in the most challenging classrooms to failing to reward the most accomplished teachers.

Steiner says we need a carefully mapped-out curriculum (with input from parents!) to ensure that students move successfully from our schools into college and the workplace. He thinks teachers should be better prepared before they fly solo, and that we need improved supports for those already in the classroom. For Steiner, school administrators and school districts should provide the feedback and training tailored to teachers’ needs.

And as for our state tests, which have attracted continued criticism, Steiner says that that logic dictates that we need to be sure they assess important knowledge and skills - fairly, accurately, and reliably. Steiner knows it’s going to be an uphill battle to make changes, “but doing so is good, common sense: our children’s future depends on it.”

What do you think Steiner’s top priority should be? Teacher quality? Better curriculum? Improved exams? Let us know below!

My daughters have declared themselves ready to go back to school. It was too easy! I can’t take any credit for the last couple of rainy, boring days of our vacation that convinced them. But, just because there’s no apparent angst around here doesn’t mean we’ll be breezing gracefully through the school’s doors, on time, next Wednesday morning.

We’ve gotten more than a tad lax, having been out of town for August. I’m not entirely sure my daughters know how to clean up after themselves any more, not to mention follow a classroom routine. I can’t say whether any of their school shoes fit (or where they are), and there was a list around here somewhere of supplies we’re supposed to get for my daughter’s kindergarten classroom. We need updated medical forms and booster shots and, worst of all, my 5-year-old Night Owl is living up to her nickname with a vengeance, creeping around until 11 p.m. and snoozing until 10. Help! (more…)

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.

Last week, we asked whether you are monitoring the number of hours your kids spend in front of the screen — especially as this intense heat and humidity could be keeping them indoors. Nearly half of you said you limit the number of hours of computer and TV use per day or week. About a quarter of you leave it up to your kids, and 17% of you said you don’t really have much control, but wish you did. Thanks for voting!

On Thursday, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum released a report that found a majority of public school principals surveyed by her office support the $81 million Achievement Reporting and Innovation System (ARIS), a computer system designed to boost achievement and accountability in classrooms. (more…)

A new study shows that increasing numbers of parents nationwide plan to volunteer at their children’s school this fall, citing the slow economy and budget cuts to schools as incentives. According to the study, by GreatSchools.net and the Harris Interactive research firm, nearly two-thirds of 1,086 parents polled feel it’s more important now than ever to volunteer at school.

The results show that 20% more parents plan to volunteer this year than did last year –  an anticipated jump from 23%  to 44%. The trend is “most pronounced” among African American parents; 60% said they planned to volunteer up from the 23% who volunteered last year. (more…)

Last week, we asked what you thought about programs that give students cash for good grades and test scores. Nearly  60% of you are opposed to the idea.

Some of you, however, did think pay-for-performance initiatives had merit. Ben said that he was open to programs that produce positive results. Michael suggested that students who need to work to help support their families be paid in advance, so that they  have more time to apply themselves academically.

Now that we’re in mid-August, we want to know to if you’ve been keeping tabs on how much your kids watch TV and surf the web. Vote now, and let us know more about your ‘house rules’!

Arts education has taken a backseat in New York City public schools for the past few years. With emphasis placed squarely on improving reading and math test scores, the arts are too often considered “extras.” According to the non-profit Center for Arts Education, the city’s public schools are not even meeting state requirements that mandate a certain percentage of instructional hours dedicated to the arts - as much as 20% of time in lower elementary grades and a paltry one semester for the entire four years of high school.

CAE has been lobbying for dedicated arts funding for the schools  and now it wants to enlist parent advocates. As part of a “Parent Fellows” program, 8-10 parent leaders citywide will be trained  in arts education advocacy tactics.  Tasks will include  visiting schools and reaching out to parents  to increase awareness of the benefits of arts education.  Parent Fellows will be paid a monthly stipend, as yet to be determined, and will be trained in leadership skills. (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…)

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…)

In an editorial in today’s Daily News, Eva Moskowitz weighs in on the controversial  decision by the Department of Education to  clamp down on parent associations paying for non-union teaching aides in their children’s classrooms. Her take? Schools benefit from parent fund-raising that helps lower class size, especially in middle class schools which get less funding than those with a high percentage of low income students.  She posits, “The UFT doesn’t like it because these aspiring teachers aren’t union members.”

Commenters on Insideschools have been debating the merits of the practice, which according to the New York Times, only affects about 18 highly desirable city schools. Some argue that this is “another example of  Bloomberg steamrolling important parent input,”  that  will “drive more  middle class [families] out of the city. ” Others argue that, “It’s a public system and there should be a level playing field.” A few commenters suggest ways in which schools across the city can “pool fundraising.” Others note the role of the powerful teachers union, which filed a grievance last fall about the hiring practice. (more…)

A group of Upper West Side parents, elected officials and other concerned citizens has been meeting this summer to plan a new, academically challenging high school focused on journalism and writing to open with a 9^th grade class in fall, 2010, in the Brandeis High School building on West 84^th Street. The group, organized by City Councilwoman Gale Brewer, hopes the school will be named in honor of Frank McCourt, a former Stuyvesant High School teacher and author of the bestseller Angela’s Ashes ,who died on Sunday.

The school is still in the planning stages, but the parents, led by Tom Allon, publisher of the West Side Spirit who taught with Frank McCourt at Stuyvesant, hope it will grow to serve between 800 to 1,000 students. That’s small enough to give students a sense of community, but large enough to offer art, drama, several foreign languages, Advanced Placement, special education and services for English Language Learners that are often missing at the new small schools that have been created in recent years. The Department of Education is interviewing prospective “project directors” for the school this summer. The “project director” will be hired part-time in the fall and, if the school is approved by the DOE, will likely be assigned as principal early in 2010. (more…)

I’ve never agreed with Schools Chancellor Joel Klein’s ban on cell phones in school. I understand that students shouldn’t text or chat in class. But as a New York City public school parent whose middle school kids ride the subway and get around to after-school activities on their own, I need to hear from them when they leave and arrive. I’ve longed for a compromise solution that allows phones to be stored and retrieved when the day is over.

Camp, however, is an entirely different story, as I’ve learned the hard way this summer. My older son’s camp had a policy that kids could have their cell phones in their cabins only, but I decided this would be a good time to take it one step further.
Why, I wondered, did he need to chat or text with friends back home or call his parents during a two-week music camp? It seemed the perfect time to unplug – no computer, television or addicting electronics of any kind. Until the calls started coming in. “Mom, everyone else has a cell phone here!” came the first urgent call. “I need my cell phone!” I heard the following night. “Send it now! Send me my cell phone!” (more…)

Donya Rhett, PhD, aka “Bronx Mom,” is a frequent commenter on The InsideSCOOP. A resident of Morris Heights, she is the parent of a 10-year-old son and an (almost) 5- year-old daughter who both attend Central Park East 1. She also surveys the New York City public school scene as a clinical psychologist working in a school-based health center at a Harlem middle/high school campus. We’re pleased to welcome her contributions to The InsideSCOOP.

“Bronx Mom” is a bit of a misnomer. Yes, I am a mom. Yes, we live in the Bronx. And yet, I often feel very disconnected from my Morris Heights neighborhood because my children have only attended Harlem schools.

I tried to make an “educational home” in the Bronx six years ago when I first began searching for kindergarten for my son. Sadly, there were few choices in my district (10) that were accessible to us and would also be a good fit for my bright, very active child. Given the beliefs of some that families should stick with their zoned school, I thought I might shed some light as to why I, self-titled Bronx Mom, crossed district lines in search of the best fit. (more…)

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…)

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…)

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.

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…)

Dear Readers,

Last week’s question concerned a student theft of another student’s property. Judging from the number of comments this column received, this question clearly struck a nerve with parents. Debate among readers ranged from blaming the incident on the student for bringing a forbidden cell phone to school, to the school’s not having the personnel to adjudicate incidents.

To be fair, it can take many hours of a teacher’s or guidance counselor’s time to resolve incidents like this, to the detriment of other work. And yes, cell phones are banned from school, although some schools turn a blind eye to the rule. But my bottom line is this: it is the schools’ responsibility to respond to parents’ concerns. Schools may not be technically guilty in cases of theft, but they are guilty of ignoring or dismissing parents’ and students’ problems. Schools should develop a specific routine and designate personnel to handle such incidents, the routine should be included in the safety plan, and the safety plan should be given out to all parents. The Parents Association must be part of the team that sets up the plan.

An even more important question not mentioned by commenters is, how can the school establish a climate that engenders respect for the school community and reduces student-to-student crime, bullying, and other discipline problems? My answer: spend a lot of time working toward that goal. Here are some ways to do that: (more…)

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

Morning and afternoon rallies will bracket lawmakers’ workdays this Wednesday, May 6, with the focus squarely on kindergarten admissions. This year public school kindergarten admissions feature wait lists, overcrowding, and increasingly high demand for seats in neighborhoods where parents are being turned away from — or asked to patiently wait for — their zoned schools.

Starting with a 9  a.m. march from Battery Park, leading to a public event in City Hall Park at 10:30, “thousands” of city parents, union members and plain citizens are expected to  join AFSCME (the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO) organizers to protest the Bloomberg budget proposal that cuts kindergarten from New York City-administered day care centers. The proposed closures would  effectively move 3,500 (or more) youngsters from city-run day care to public-school kindergarten classrooms (or wait lists). Event organizers say that at least three dozen City Council members will be present, as will Comptroller William Thompson, at least two borough presidents – Marty Markowitz of Brooklyn and Helen Marshall of Queens — and union leaders from New York and Washington, D.C.

That afternoon at 4 p.m., education advocates and parents will rally on the steps of City Hall to protest a “Kindergarten Krisis,” charging that more than 400 schoolchildren have “no school seats” for the fall term, particularly in neighborhoods like Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Tribeca, and Greenwich Village, where high demand has met with a limited supply of desirable kindergarten space. The problems are not unique to Manhattan: Brooklyn’s District 20 faces stiff challenges in its oversubscribed elementary and middle schools, and District 24 in Queens has already been busing young children, moving entire grades to schoolyard trailers, and making do with buildings that serve twice as many children than they were built to shelter.

Insideschools.org is surveying elementary-school principals to learn more about the kindergarten admissions process this year; feel free to comment below, especially if you know of a school or a district where the problems are particularly acute.

The hundreds of kindergarteners on waiting lists for schools all over the city are not the only sign of crowding in the schools, as many schools fear being forced to open extra classes in rooms that are now used for art and music. Rather than looking for the source of these failures in enrollment projections or capital planning, the Department of Education is going on the offensive against parents. In this case, their target is parents and parent associations who fund part-time arts, chess, and assistant teachers to make up for DOE shortfalls. The new DOE approach threatens to end services for hundreds if not thousands of children.

In a series of letters and school visits, the DOE has asserted that parents must hand their money over to DOE, subject to DOE rules about timing and amounts, before that money can be used to pay for part time aides and enrichment. A few years ago Klein abolished Project Arts, the program that used to reserve funds to ensure that all public school kids would receive music, dance, and visual arts. Now the DOE is trying to crack down on parents’ efforts to provide access to these fundamentals of a decent education. (more…)

After a stormy tenure as principal of MS 8, The New Preparatory Middle School, in Queens, and despite strong support from the Department of Education, Principal John Murphy stepped down yesterday, following more than a month of daily protests by parents and teachers and a hailstorm of negative press. In a formal statement, Chancellor Klein said “Principal Murphy has come to believe that his continued presence at MS 8 is distracting from the school’s learning environment and focus on student academic performance.”

Murphy has been charged by the school’s teachers with grade-fixing and tongue-lashings severe enough to send recipients to the hospital; political and civic leaders, from City Council members to the NAACP, as well as parents, have actively challenged his leadership. Assistant Principal Cheryl Spencer will lead the school until a formal appointment is announced.

Since today is Earth Day, it seems a good time to mention that all New York City public schools are now members of the Green Schools Alliance, a national organization helping schools to cut their carbon footprints.

Last Saturday, more than 650 students gathered at a conference at the Collegiate School to trade strategies (there will be another one in the fall). City Council member Gale Brewer, who attended, said of the conference “it was huge!”

John Shea, Executive Director of the DOE’s Division of School Facilities, is working on benchmarking energy use — basically, taking baseline measurements — at the city’s public schools. So far, over 850 schools have been benchmarked. Green Schools Alliance will post information online so communities can see how much energy their school uses, and everyone–students, parents, custodians, administrators–can work on saving energy for their school.

What can you do to help your school go green? Make sure your school is using recycled paper, recycling the paper it uses, turning off lights and computers when they are not needed, and reviewing its energy audit. Encourage teachers and administrators to communicate with parents by email and on school listservs to conserve resources. My kid’s school is looking into switching from Styrofoam lunch trays to corn-fiber-based trays and using biodegradable garbage bags, even though they cost a bit more. Ask your principal. Ask other parents. See if your building’s custodian might report to the PTA on the school’s energy audit, and what savings can be found in your building. Want more ideas? See the Green Schools Alliance website.

On this Earth Day, and every day, it’s good to remember that no matter what our educational struggles may be, we all have to live on the same planet.

Gotham Schools is reporting that embattled PS 20 principal Sean Keaton has asked for a meeting, via the Times’ local blog, to hear parent concerns about his administration, citing coverage on Insideschools.org and in the Brooklyn Paper.

Demand for the school, and for other nearby public schools, has risen as the Fort Greene-Clinton Hill neighborhood has experienced an influx of young families (read: outspoken parents). But another piece of the puzzle deserves a mention: One of the two new citywide gifted and talented programs the Department of Education plans to open in September will be sited at PS 20 and fall under Principal Keaton’s leadership come September.

No details yet about the time or the place of the proposed meeting.

Jacob Mnookin stood on the edge of the boardwalk in Coney Island, greeting the families who had come to witness the inaugural lottery for Coney Island Prep, south Brooklyn’s first charter school. Mnookin, the founding principal, still wasn’t sure where he would be holding classes in the fall, so the admissions lottery was taking place in the education room at New York Aquarium, a boxy facility between the iconic Cyclone roller coaster and the beach. Families sat next to giant turtle shells, sea sponges, and mounted fish skeletons, waiting to see if their child’s name would be one of the first 81 names pulled out of a plastic bingo drum, ensuring a place at the new school.

Like all charter schools in New York that receive more applicants than places, Coney Island Prep is required to hold a random lottery, with preference giving to students from the district and siblings of admitted students, to determine who would be offered a seat in the inaugural 5th grade class. The lottery was held on Tuesday, April 7 – referred to as “super Tuesday” by charter operators, since 28 of the 99 charter schools in New York were holding lotteries that evening. (more…)

The familiar honk of a fabled New York City mayor coursed across tens of thousands of telephone lines yesterday, as robocalls voiced by former Mayor Ed Koch reached out to parents to encourage them to vote in the straw-poll Ccommunity Education Council elections. Whether Hizzoner was pressed into service before or after the deadline was extended, from April 22 to April 29, isn’t clear. We’ve asked the group that organized the get-out-the-vote campaign, powertotheparents, about the telephone campaign and will report back with details on how much was spent — and how they got the telephone information for New York City public school parents.

But even with phone calls and extended deadlines, turnout at meetings has been painfully slim, as we reported two weeks ago and Beth Fertig reports on WNYC today, and actual votes to date, which the News‘ Merideth Kolodner cites as just under  12,000, represent a tiny sliver of the 750,000 households considered eligible to vote.

Update:  Grassroots Intiative organized the phone campaign for a total cost of $15,000, according to Power to the Parents, which added “DOE provided the call lists directly to the call vendor. The lists included all households with kids in NYC public schools. Grassroots Initiative was not given access to any parent information.”  (Except for the telephone numbers, that is.)  Over 700,000 calls were placed. 

Talking about ‘giving back’ is easy — yet too often, between the talking and the doing lies a deep gulf of good intentions. But volunteering doesn’t have to mean giving up a career or sacrificing your home life; New York City’s long-established school volunteer program, Learning Leaders, asks for a minimum commitment of only two hours a week (although if you have more time, there’s plenty of work to be done).

Learning Leaders brings adult volunteers into about 850 city schools, working with students, teachers, and administrators to improve instruction, explore the arts, build relationships with kids, and generally help schools run better. Although most volunteers work in grade schools — where 12,000 volunteers work with more than 200,000 students — there are opportunities to help out at every level. Right now, Learning Leaders is seeking tutors for high-schoolers prepping for spring Regents exams and for extra help in middle-school summer programs.

Volunteers don’t just drift in off the street: Formal applications include three professional references, and potential volunteers attend specific training sessions to work with elementary, middle, and high-school aged children. There are even opportunities for volunteers who sign — provided they can complete an interview via American Sign Language.

This week is Great School Volunteer Week in New York City; attend a Learning Leaders midday orientation session to learn more.

It’s Friday, and time for the Insideschools community poll. This past week, we asked about bullying in school, and the majority voice was clear — zero tolerance for any kind of bullying, actual or virtual, with strong consequences and required parent meetings for students involved in bullying. That’s one kind of parent involvement — the kind few parents ever desire.

This week, we’re curious about the Community Education Council straw poll vote. Response to the Department of Education’s initiative — and maiden cyber-efforts at recruiting potential candidates — has been less robust than the planners hoped. Has it inspired you to step up as a candidate, or to take the time to vote on the upcoming CEC nominees? Let us know if you’re in or you’re out. And let us know why, too, in your comments.

Happy Passover and Happy Easter to our readers and their families — and happy vacation to the 1.1 million schoolchildren of New York City. (We hope their teachers and all who work with the city’s kids enjoy a good week off as well.)

When Community Education Councils (CEC) candidates walked into school cafeterias and auditoriums across the city this month to declare why parents should vote for them, they got a shocking reality — few parents showed up. During the past two weeks, public school parents were invited to meet the CEC candidates who would represent them as the parent voice within the Department of Education bureaucracy .“Who are we talking to? Nobody’s here,” said District 12 CEC Candidate Winifred Coulton, looking out at only five parents in a large school auditorium. This sentiment was echoed at a District 13 meeting in Brooklyn, attended by about 12 parents. “Are there any PTA presidents, secretaries, or treasurers here? They ain’t here. We don’t see any of them here. That’s a problem,” said the Rev. Robert Townsley. Only votes from PTA officers count toward electing a CEC member, however, this year, all public school parents can vote at an online straw poll, April 6-22, to advise their PTA officers on how to vote.

In 2002, when Mayor Mike Bloomberg took control of city schools, he abolished community school boards. One year later, he created the Community Education Councils to be the new parent voice. Critics say they have far less authority than the old school boards. “The word out there is that the CEC has no power,” said Carmen Taveras, a District 12 CEC member appointed by the Bronx Borough President. “They think, ‘for what? Why would I go out there [to a CEC meeting]?’”

(more…)

At a jam-packed and raucous meeting on Monday night, the Community Education Council of District 28 in central Queens passed a unanimous resolution recommending the immediate removal of Dr. John Murphy as principal of MS 8 in South Jamaica. The resolution came at the end of the monthly meeting, attended by upwards of 150 parents, teachers, and community members. They crowded into the makeshift basement auditorium of PS 182, which quickly became a standing-room-only venue. The CEC voted on the resolution minutes after Rev. Charles Norris read a litany of complaints against Murphy, ending each with a rousing declaration of  “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”

Although a recent incident thrust MS 8 into the media spotlight, the press (WCBS, Daily News, Queens Chronicle, and the New York Teacher) reports that there is a long history of abuse by Murphy at MS 8, as well as at other schools. CEC member Emily Ades spoke from the stage, saying she issued her own report in November 2008 after performing a walk-through of the middle school, which she likened to a detention center.

Ades, a former elementary school teacher in the district, said she received no response from the Department of Education about her report, which detailed a school where “there was no School Leadership Team, the principal made all decisions, there were numerous safety issues, and the children were on lockdown,” she said.

Martine Guerrier, Chief Family Engagement Officer from the DOE Office for Family Engagement and Advocacy (OFEA), came late to the meeting after notifying the CEC that she would not be attending, and sending two representatives in her stead. Her arrival was unexpected and was not met with a warm reception.

Both parents and CEC members said they had reached out to her office to no avail. Kenneth Williams, one of the CEC vice presidents, spoke of his dissatisfaction with OFEA after he sought their support following negative experiences with the principal of PS 30. “[The community has] been left out in the cold for two years. Not just MS 8. Not just PS 30. It’s the whole district,” he said.

Guerrier said, “A number of issues were raised to me today that have not been brought to me before.”

In a telephone conversation with Insideschools.org, Department of Education spokesperson Ann Forte said that there is an “ongoing investigation” of the principal.  “We don’t believe that his removal is warranted,” she said, noting that he “sent a letter home to parents a week ago trying to reach out and push to try to communicate better.” She said concerned parents should reach out to District 28 Superintendent Jeanette Reed. The superintendent’s office is ultimately responsible for the hiring of principals and for their dismissal.

Meanwhile, protestors gather each morning before MS 8 begins its school day. They hold signs and photos of Murphy and often cheer “get rid of the rat.” A rally will be held Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Jamaica branch of the NAACP.

Yesterday, the City Council members called on state legislators to establish a process by which charter schools are sited in public school buildings. Charter schools, which receive public money but are not managed by the Department of Education, are not entitled to space rent-free in DOE buildings, but Chancellor Klein’s administration has tried to accommodate charters in public school buildings whenever possible. This spring, when the DOE announced that it was closing PS 194 in Harlem and replacing it with a charter, the controversy erupted, a lawsuit was filed, parents screamed at each other in a hearing, the DOE eventually backtracked, and then newspapers blamed the teachers’ union for “condemning” students to failing schools.

At City Hall yesterday, council members questioned many of the players involved (teachers union representatives, parent groups, charter school leaders, Department of Education officials), and introduced a resolution urging state legislators to give communities more of a voice in charter school sitings. DOE officials who testified did not think the resolution was necessary.

Eva Moskowitz, the founder and leader of the charter school network Harlem Success, testified before the committee, which she used to chair when she was a city council member. It was her fourth charter school that had been slated to replace P.S. 194, and her former colleagues on City Council held her responsible for any role she may have played in the ensuing controversy. See a video from the Moskowitz testimony on GothamSchools.

Meanwhile, many of the city charters have been holding their lotteries this week. The number of applicants to charters more than doubled this year to 39,200 from last year’s 18,672. Democracy Prep Charter School, which is also in Harlem, held its lottery last night to pick 100 students out of 1,500 who applied (making the odds “harder than Harvard’s” according to the school). Tonight, at least 27 more charters will hold their lotteries and thousands of families will show up to see if their child’s name is called.

The Department of Education has decided to back down on its planned closing of three neighborhood schools and creation of charter zones without Community Education Council approval, the subject of a recent lawsuit filed by the United Federation of Teachers and the New York Civil Liberties Union. (Details and analysis here.)

This is a great first step toward better DOE compliance with parent engagement laws in the future. But more than that, the DOE should be curious: why do so many parent leaders think that there are problems with how charters are sited? Might there be something legitimate to our concerns? Wouldn’t it be interesting to find out, by holding a public discussion (whether or not such a discussion is mandated by law)?

I look forward to seeing some signs that the DOE is prepared to be a better listener, because it’s not very efficient to play out our disagreements in court.

WARNING: This blog may include spoilers for the Twilight series.

A few weeks ago I was talking to my neighbor, a 10 year-old boy at PS 321 in Brooklyn, and found out that he had just started reading Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series. Many of his friends and classmates were doing the same. This surprised me. I knew Twilight had engaged middle- and high-school readers, but I hadn’t realized it had reached a far as fifth-grade boys. And I was more than a little disturbed by this.

I’ve tried to find a non-biased summary of Twilight online, but it doesn’t seem to exist. So the following is my (very biased), but completely accurate, summary: The Twilight series is the story of Bella, a young girl who, in the first two books, falls in love with a vampire (Edward) and a werewolf (Jacob). She then spends the next two books pining over them, threatening to kill herself when one of them leaves her, distancing herself from her friends (so it’s not too hard to say goodbye when she finally becomes a vampire herself to join Edward), jumping off cliffs (to “hear Edward’s voice” getting mad at her), and purposely endangering herself so she will be rescued by these supernatural non-men.

Despite all its modern trappings, the girls of Twilight are still girly girls, and the boys are traditional manly men. More specifically: The boys are muscular and unwaveringly brave, while the girls bake cookies, make supper for the men and hold all-female slumber parties. It gets worse for feminists: Bella is regularly threatened with violence in the first three books, and in every instance she is rescued by Edward or Jacob. In the third book she describes herself as ‘helpless and delicious.”

Is that how we want young girls defining themselves? This is 2009: What about capable and strong? The Twilight books indicate that being “helpless and delicious” are attractive and desirable qualities. And are these hunky netherworld types the role models for young boys to follow? The young men in Twilight are all head over heels for Bella Swan.

Beth Handman, PS 321’s assistant principal, says, “It is a perennial problem in elementary schools that children who are sophisticated readers end up with books laden with concepts that are beyond their emotional development. Young children can be very vulnerable to messages in literature. It would be best if children could wait until they were older to read these kinds of books.”

If that means they’re reading books like Twilight, parents and teachers should be familiar with the content and engage them in conversations on the messages and morals. Better yet, read it yourself — and decide whether it’s right for your child.

Editor’s Note:  Due to a technical error, we published an incomplete citation and link in the post above.  Insideschools regrets any confusion, and thanks the sharp-eyed reader who brought the matter to our attention. 

More than half of the readers who responded to our poll said that parents who didn’t speak English were involved in their child’s school. But the biggest segment, 28 percent, said that non-native speakers weren’t part of the school community, and nearly one in five readers said they weren’t much aware of non-English speakers in their school — testament to the invisibility many immigrant parents report. But one parent put the question in perspective; at her child’s school, she said, parents weren’t made to feel welcome, no matter what language they spoke.

This week, we have questions about the high-school admission process. Add your comments here, or start a new string here: It’s a question that affects the lives of hundreds of thousands of young New Yorkers, including yours.

Maybe Brooks is just going through a particularly promising phase, or maybe I’m seeing him through my Mom’s rose-colored glasses, or maybe, just maybe, my little boy with autism is no longer so definitively a little boy with autism. Hmm.

When my Mom, who’s visiting from Canada, wakes up in the morning, Brooks’s face lights up: “Look, Mommy — Baba’s up! Hi, Baba!” (Baba: Grandma.) No longer any need to prompt him for social greetings, at least not when my Mom’s around. He doesn’t whisper his good morning shyly, or spit it out robotically; his cadences are natural and sound like music to me.

Even though Baba has a ton of stamina, Brooks is able to exhaust her with the kind of play that was out of his reach during her previous visit, last March. Directing her to read aloud to his stuffed animal friends and then subjecting her to their questions: “What was your favorite part, Bear?” and then following up with “Bear, you need to talk louder — we couldn’t hear you.” Inviting her to take a pretend bus ride with him to the North Pole. Getting her to help him feed the pretend baby sweet potatoes. All spontaneous. All appropriate. All ratcheted up a notch or two higher than what we’re used to.

At Brooks’s most recent parent-teacher conference, my husband and I learn that Brooks is on track to achieve the goals his Intensive K team defined back in September. We also learn that his cognitive skills are at or above age level. Really? We are unprepared for this. We know how to discuss why he is scoring below his age level; we know how to talk about how the strategies in place are not getting the job done so we need to come up with new ones, but frankly, we’re a little lost in this meeting. There’s no “bad” part at the end. We’ve clenched our stomach muscles to absorb the blow, but there is no blow. Do we exhale now?

Yes, for the moment, we exhale. Without forgetting that Brooks still has a long way to go. Without forgetting that he is still very awkward when it comes to greetings that involve hugs and kisses, or that he has never once favored playing with a child when an adult is available. Without forgetting that bathroom independence is tough because buttons and zippers are hard and he often gets distracted by the running water, and he still doesn’t get the social part of why he has to pull up his pants before he leaves the bathroom. Without forgetting for a heartbeat that his imaginative play we celebrate would look awfully juvenile for a typically developing 6-year-old.

Without forgetting all those things (because we don’t have that luxury, because we have to stay on-task), we can also take a moment to celebrate how far Brooks has come, and how hard he’s worked, and how lucky we are.

Things are looking up — the glass is three-quarters full. Cheers!

Most 6th-graders aren’t yet thinking about high school, but students who aspire to attend the city’s most selective high schools, should start planning now. The Specialized High School Institute, a free 16-month, tutoring and test-prep program geared to help kids prepare for the specialized high school exam, is accepting applications for its 2009-2010 program. Eligible students should have received an application from their school guidance counselor. The application due date is Monday, March 23.

To be eligible for the program, which is sponsored by the city Department of Education, students must be in the 6th grade, qualify for free lunch under the Federal Title 1 program, have scored a level 3 or 4 on the 5th grade state ELA and math tests, and have at least a 90 percent attendance rate. Last year 2000 students participated in SHSI. Sandy Ferguson, executive director of middle school enrollment, said he anticipates that about the same number will enroll this year.

The DOE pre-selects students based on the above criteria, and applications for those students are sent to the student’s school, said a Bronx middle school guidance counselor who asked not to be identified. At his school, where more than 90 percent of the nearly 900 students are poor enough to qualify for free lunch, only four 6th graders are eligible this year.

Admitted students will attend five-week summer sessions in 2009 and 2010. Breakfast and lunch are included, although the schedule is still being finalized, Ferguson said. During the school year students will meet on Wednesday afternoons and Saturdays.

In past years, some parents have complained that their school’s guidance counselor was unaware of the Specialized High School Institute application and thus their children missed the deadline. When asked if parents could submit their application directly to his office, Ferguson replied, “No, there’s a process and they should follow it.” Parents who haven’t received an application but think their children are eligible should contact the school’s guidance counselor. Non-public school students should mail their applications to the Office of Student Enrollment.

Got a question about the process? Contact Paul Shapiro, SHSI program director at PShapiro2@schools.nyc.gov or e-mail SHSI@schools.nyc.gov.

Immigrant parents want to participate in their children’s school, but too often experience barriers that make it difficult to do so, according to a 52-page report released today by Advocates for Children of New York.

“There is a common misconception that immigrant parents are not interested in getting involved in school activities, but 80% of immigrant parents we surveyed said they would like to be more involved in their children’s schools,” said Arlen Benjamin-Gomez, a staff attorney in the Immigrant Students’ Rights Project at Advocates for Children, who was quoted in a press release about the report. “The DOE has to address what keeps these parents out of schools and lead a citywide effort to make schools more inclusive of immigrant communities.”

According to the report, Our Children, Our Schools: A Blueprint for Creating Partnerships Between Immigrant Families and New York City Public Schools, parents don’t know how to get involved and are made to feel unwelcome by school personnel. Immigrant parents say their concerns are often not addressed by administrators even when they make the effort to reach out to someone at the school. A few parents say they are active and involved because school staff speak their language and make efforts to include them in school activities.

The report, which surveyed 82 immigrant parents whose children attend New York City public schools and the staff at 16 community organizations, offers 48 recommendations on how to make schools more welcoming. Representatives from these community groups and public school immigrant parents attended a press conference held today by Advocates for Children to share their personal experiences, attesting to the barriers that the report documents.Parents who spoke at the press conference emphasized the need for schools to create parent identification cards for immigrant parents who do not have state-issued ID, one of the recommendations in the report. They acknowledged the need for school security but not to the extent that parents are effectively barred from entering their children’s schools.

The report suggests that all school employees be trained on how to create a welcoming environment for non-English speaking parents who are new to the education system. Additionally at the school level, the report advises that schools educate parents about parent associations and school leadership teams, as well as record phone messages in different languages. On a broader scale, the report advocates for the creation of an Immigrant Family Resource Center in each borough for parents who need assistance communicating with their school or resolving a problem.

The report stresses the importance of collaboration with community organizations that already serve as trusted resources for immigrant families. It suggests that the Department of Education would do well to tap into the knowledge of these organizations in developing resources for parents and in conducting well-planned outreach. As an example, the report notes that turnout for the DOE’s Office of Family Engagement and Advocacy Native Language Forums, which strive to inform parents about school-related issues in eight languages, significantly improved when community organizations were involved in an advisory committee to plan the meetings.

Advocates for Children Executive Director Kim Sweet said, “We’re really pleased with the content of this report, and we believe that it will have a significant impact on forming equal partnerships with immigrant families in the schools.”

-Catherine Man, additional reporting by Cristin Strining, March 18, 2009

A parent of a District 15 fifth-grader wrote us about middle-school tours, and the people who offer them.  While experiences vary from person to person, parent OR child, this parent’s observations about the human interactions that define a school’s first impressions seemed to resonate.  What’s your take on the “face people” who have enchanted (or alienated) you ?  Does your experience compare with this school-tour travelogue?  

As my daughter and I shopped for middle schools, I was repeatedly surprised by how little thought schools appear to invest in  their “face people” — the individuals who, on tours and interviews, function as ad hoc PR representatives of the school’s culture and philosophy. These encounters form powerful first impressions that can make or break a family’s decision about which schools make the top of a family’s list.

We fist visited a school that I  thought would be of no interest to us.  At the open house, we fell in love: The principal was great — warm, open, ready to nurture the creative best in every student. But at my daughter’s interview, the woman we met with was aggressive, intimidating, and negative, even gossiping about other students . Could we, too, become fodder for community tabloid conversation?  The interviewer’s manner undid the principal’s great impression; we decided not to apply.

At a second school, my emails and calls about a tour earned a short, curt response informing me that we could visit after my child had tested in and been accepted. No further inquiries were acknowledged. Why, I thought, would I send my child to a school that expresses such disdain for prospective students and their families? Another one off the list.

School number three was a ‘thumbs down’ from the moment the gruff, inarticulate tour guide began to speak. He turned out to be the school’s sole point person and was unhelpful and condescending at application time. That school was out, as well.

Of the four other schools we visited, most of the face people were warm, informative, and enthusiastic. The principals we met left us feeling excited and connected. These schools conveyed the focus of their communities while welcoming and engaging kids and parents. Obviously, it’s not easily done.

When we started out on these tours I thought  I’d be judging schools on their merits. But during the process, I realized how hard it is to separate the people we met from the schools they represent. Could I send my child to a school that generated enormous bad will? Could one lousy tour really sabotage a school’s good character?

Now that the applications are in, I see the outsize influence of the people we met along the way. I found it very difficult to guide my child to schools, even those with excellent academics, whose administration really turned us off. When will schools figure out that they, like the applicants, have to put their best face forward? Academic rigor is important, but feeling comfortable n the school community shapes a child’s experience, and her family’s perceptions as well. I can only hope that when it comes time for the high-school tours I’ve become a wiser shopper, and better able to see past the person who greets us at the schoolhouse door.

Editor’s Note:  Easy, it’s not — but sussing out middle-school choice isn’t impossible, either.   A bit of education helps; look here  for ideas and strategies.