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We had a number of questions this week from parents who are confronted with “Promotion in Doubt” letters, or “PIDs” as they are known in DOE lingo. These letters are sent to families of children who are at risk of repeating a grade or who may be failing a course needed to graduate. Here are three recent questions from parents who received a PID letter.
1.Why did I get a promotion in doubt letter, when my daughter's teachers have said that she is doing well and on target for graduation?
2. My kindergartner’s teacher says my son is making good progress according to the terms of his IEP, so why the letter?
3. I never heard this before from my child’s teachers and here it is almost the end of the school year and I'm just now getting the letter?
Here's some advice to these and other parents with similar problems.
Fifth-graders around the city should find out today or tomorrow where they have been accepted to middle school. That's several days earlier than the May 20 date posted on the Department of Education's calendar.
Public elementary schools are picking up the letters at the enrollment offices on Thursday and will distribute them to children. If you don't get a letter today or tomorrow, contact your parent coordinator. Private school students should get their school assignments in the mail; if you don't receive a letter, go to the nearest enrollment office for help.
Unlilke the citywide high school application process, middle school admission varies by district. Some districts have zoned schools where children are assigned to middle school based on their address. Other districts have school choice and no zoned schools. A few, such as District 2, offer both zoned and unzoned schools. All students are guaranteed a seat at a school in their district. Those who apply to citywide, charter or other non-district choice schools may be accepted at several schools.
If you're not happy with the school to which you have been matched, you can appeal. Public school students should ask their elementary school guidance counselor for an appeal form; private school students may get one at the enrollment center. Wednesday, May 29 is the deadline to appeal.
Insideschools would like to hear from families who have appealed their middle school assignments in the past. Parents would like to know how the process works and whether appeals are generally successful. This is information that the Department of Education does not make public...at least they have not done so in the past.
If you've got a child entering public school kindergarten in September 2013, you may want to attend one of this month's "Getting Ready for Kindergarten" workshops led by the Department of Education's Office of Early Childhood. The evening workshops will be held in every borough from May 16-30 in public schools and libraries.
The goal is to give parents an introduction to "who's who" in elementary schools, what to expect in kindergarten and how to become involved in your child's school. Childcare will be provided, as will snacks and activities for kids. The DOE will also provide information about local library and summer programs.
All workshops are from 6-8 p.m. See a flier on the DOE's website [pdf] for dates and locations. Call 212-374-0351 for more information.
A catalogue arrived the other day from Urban Outfitters, the ubiquitous clothing chain that dresses so many U.S. teenagers. Along with hipster uniforms of skinny jeans, chunky jewelry and platform sandals, I saw photographs of long-limbed girls wearing shorts so skimpy they might as well have been bathing suit bottoms.
With so little left to the imagination, I couldn't help asking the teenage boys who reside in my household if this was how girls dress at their New York City public high school.
"All the time,'' was their answer, and I should not have been surprised. Since middle school, I've repeatedly noticed girls coming to school wearing not much at all.
Apparently, I'm not the only one who has taken note. A lot of New York City public school officials aren't terribly happy about the scantily clad students whose desire to shed layers increases as the weather warms up.
You can't make this stuff up. The Department of Education discovered still more errors on the scoring of this year's gifted and talented exams and may fire Pearson, the company that administers the tests, it announced Friday afternoon.
Chancellor Dennis Walcott called Pearson's repeated errors "deeply disturbing" and said he was "reviewing a variety of options, including terminating Pearson's contract."
More than 300 young test-takers are affected, mostly incoming kindergartners: 82 additional students now qualify for district G&T programs (scoring at or above the 90th percentile) and 64 more children scored above the 97th percentile and now qualify for citywide programs, according to a DOE statement.
Dear Judy,
I know that kids are required to go to school a certain amount of hours and days. Can you tell me how many hours of school are required and if they are different at different grades?
Mary
Dear Mary,
Your question opens a complex set of issues – bound up in state law and regulations, allocation of state aid and New York City's own variations, developed with the United Federation of Teachers and codified in their contract.
Students in New York state are required to attend school from age six. (In NYC the age is five, except that parents can choose to opt out of kindergarten and start their six year olds in 1st grade instead.)
When figuring out the length of the school day and hours of instruction, keep in mind that state laws define minimum hours. Increased number of days and hours are allowed, provided that the union agrees. Charter schools are not bound by these rules, indeed most charters have extended instruction time, and many non-charter public schools do as well.
Candidates face off on mayoral control, testing
Written by Jacqueline Wayans Wednesday, 08 May 2013 23:21
Six mayoral hopefuls showed up on Tuesday night for the Democratic Mayoral Candidate forum for parents at Eagle Academy for Young Men in the Bronx. Below are highlights of most of the questions asked and answered, reported by Jacquie Wayans, assignment editor at Insideschools and the mother of an Eagle student. The statements are not direct quotes but a synopsis of each candidate's response.
Q1: What would you seek to accomplish within your first 100 days of office?
|
John C. Liu |
Christine Quinn |
WilliamThompson |
Adolfo Carrion |
Bill DeBlasio |
|
Stop the pipeline to prison and create cradle to career instead.
|
Allocate resources so that every neighborhood can have good schools. Extend the school day and expand successful models of existing schools.
|
Choose a chancellor who is an educator. Encourage critical thinking and not memorization for standardized tests. Form a parent academy with a clear message that families should be involved. |
Jobs where our children contribute to the economy and climb up the employment ladder.
|
Tax the wealthiest to improve schools. Implement Full day Universal Pre-k. Guaranteed 3 hour after school for middle school.
|
Q2: By show of hands, how many would still support mayoral control?”
All candidates raised their hands, but all said they would implement changes.
Q3: What major initiatives of mayoral control would you keep? What would you get rid of?
|
Lui |
Quinn |
Thompson |
Carrion |
DeBlasio |
Albanese |
|
Keep - “The buck stops with the Mayor” but mean it. Rid - shutting down failing schools and move from testing to teaching.
|
Rid- living and dying by test and move more schools to portfolio model. |
Keep - More Eagle Academies (lol). More career & technical education. Rid - from day one – stop closing schools.
|
Keep – accountability and responsibility on mayor. Rid – stop posturing with the teachers union.
|
Keep testing but utilize a better system so that it can be done right. Rid – parents being disrespected.
|
Rid – high stakes testing. Invest in teaching corps with 1 year internship. Promote pediatric wellness.
|
- DeBlasio challenged Quinn on the issue of high stakes testing. Click to see NY1 coverage.
Q3: Would you continue to support single gender education?
All said yes.
Q4: Cathy Black – Show of hands that believe next chancellor must be an educator?
All hands went up, except Quinn's.
|
Quinn |
DeBlasio |
Liu |
Carrion |
Thompson |
|
I don’t believe the next chancellor has to be an educator and I will look at all options.
|
Disagreed sharply. We need an educator, the whole system will not respect non-educator.
|
State law requires an educator to be chancellor. As mayor, I would follow state law. Handling schools like business divisions is not fostering learning .
|
(No longer present. He left early for another panel discussion)
|
We haven’t had a serious discussion on an educational vision and direction in 12 years.
|
Q6: Do you support the teacher evaluation system supporting teacher terminations?
|
DeBlasio |
Albanese |
Liu |
Quinn |
Thompson |
|
Yes, I think it is right – the 2 year timeline can work. Bigger challenge is teacher retention.
|
Need to recruit and support teachers. Need to train and use best practices.
|
Teacher evals should be about making teachers better not getting rid of them. The evaluations should be done by educators and not outside consultants. Peer reviews are also important; other teachers don’t want bad teachers in the classroom. |
Implement teacher modeling based upon a Texas model. |
Use a combination of test, principal evaluations and peer evaluations.
|
Q7: Describe a time when the UFT was wrong on a position
See Gotham Schools for a description of their different perspectives. (DeBlasio & Albanese left after that question.)
Q8: Would you continue the co-locations of DOE schools and charters
|
Liu |
Quinn |
Thompson |
|
I don’t think the co-locations work. I see stark differences in charters from other public schools and it sends a terrible message to kids. This is classism. It’s playing shell games with our children’s lives. |
Both sides say co-locations are not working. I don’t want to eliminate charters as an option, but it is not the answer – however, there is no way to do that without co-location. I would clarify the process and make it transparent.
|
I agree with Liu. Put an end to co-locations. Schools are closed without consultation. Announcements of 72 new schools and only 2 are actually new. Students can’t be second class citizens in their own building.
|
Last Question: Budget – How would you hold the DOE accountable?
|
Quinn |
Thompson |
Liu |
|
I’d make the budget municipal-controlled and then parents can get involved and go to the city office to raise their voices. Make a full city agency for balance of power, as every other city agency, and clear reporting.
|
Agrees with Quinn. Would also have annual budgets published and go back to a budget breakdown.
|
I agree but I am more concerned about ending the millions spent at headquarters on no-bid contracts.
|
Each remaining candidate had one minute for a closing statement.
|
Quinn |
Liu |
Thompson |
|
I want NYC to have the best schools and best choices. Engage all stake holders in conversation, bringing resources into schools and not central. Take a look at what we are doing well and replicate it. Schedule longer school days, evaluate teachers and move from testing. |
I am a product of NYC public schools, came here as an immigrant and didn’t know the language. My wife and my kids are also products of NYC public education. We have some of the best schools in the country and we must reinforce and reinvigorate the system. |
Mayor Bloomerg wanted to be known for education. I want NYC to be known as the education city. We must involve all stakeholders again. I would select a chancellor with a background in education. I would move away from this “One size fits all” mentality for our schools. I will not sentence our kids to poverty. |
The start of the 2013 mayoral race began in earnest in February when Christine Quinn was the first out of the gate to release her education plan at The Center for NYC Affairs. Since then, there have been numerous forums with mayoral candidates - separately or collectively - with many more to be scheduled before election day. However, there has yet to be an event targeted specifically to parents, an after-work forum that gives parents the opportunity to address potential candidates about issues close to their heart.
Such an event is finally happening on Tuesday, May 7, at Eagle Academy for Young Men in the Bronx. David Banks, head of the Eagle Foundation, invited all of the candidates to come and answer parent questions. The forum is part of Eagle Week, a series of events designed to give Eagle students an opportunity to do community service as well as exposure to engaging speakers and workshops. Banks opened the policy forum to the public so that city parents, educators and community leaders can pose their concerns directly to the mayoral candidates, and. in return, hear their proposed solutions.
Confirmed candidate attendees are: Sal Albanese, Bill DeBlasio, John Liu, Christine Quinn and Bill Thompson. It will be moderated by Elinor Tatum, Publisher of the New York Amsterdam Newsand Gerson Borrero, columist for El Diario/La Prensa. A nice community touch is that WBLS will be present in order to run a live audience poll.
As an Eagle parent, former CEC & PTA member, I encourage all parents to take advantage of this moment. Let's show up and be prepared with the hard, intelligent questions that need to be asked!
See the details on our calendar.
College Counselor: Are college fairs worth it?
Written by Dr. Jane S. Gabin Monday, 06 May 2013 14:13
Q: Is there any point in going to a college fair? I went to the NACAC fair held last week at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan. My friends and I waited on line for half an hour just to get in! Then there were hundreds of booths, and huge crowds, and colleges I’d never heard of. The colleges I had heard of had lots of people crowded around so you couldn’t really get to talk to the reps. I got a lot of brochures, but don’t feel I gained any in-depth knowledge about the schools.
A: There are many types of college fairs, and the one you went to is not designed to provide ”in-depth knowledge” but rather to give a huge array of colleges and universities exposure in a large urban market. That is why these large NACAC fairs are held in major cities across the country. For most students, this will be their first exposure to the many possibilities out there in the word of higher education. It’s a good place to start, to browse, and get a general idea. So the purpose of this was to 1) provide publicity for the colleges and 2) to get students to write, go to the website or visit for more information.
Apply for city's summer youth job by May 10
Friday, 03 May 2013 11:48
If you are between the ages of 14 and 24, you may apply by May 10 for the New York City Summer Youth Employment program.
Participants work up to 25 hours a week for seven weeks, earning $7.25 per hour. Job sites include government agencies, hospitals, summer camps, nonprofits, small businesses, and retailers. See the NYC Department of Youth & Community Development website for more information and an application.
Still looking for a free summer program for your teen? The Long Island University campus in Brooklyn has several programs that still have space, including one for budding accountants, another on college readiness, a third for artistic kids who will learn to draw and paint from professional artists and a fourth for coursework and class trips on writing, speaking, critical thinking, research and creativity. The Fort Greene-Clinton Hill Patch gives a rundown, including contact information for each program. Deadlines have been extended until June.
