Allison Gaines Pell is the founder and principal of a new, small public middle school called Arts & Letters, located in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. She lives in Brooklyn, and is a public school...

The Child Nutrition Act is up for reauthorization. All of the Untied States Department of Agriculture nutrition programs that fall under this legislation, including School Breakfast and School...

In October, Governor Paterson proposed $686 million in school budget cuts. Democratic Senate Leader John Sampson stated yesterday that these cuts "are not going to happen." The official decision is...

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...

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...

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...

Dec. 4 is the date when high school applications are due to school guidance counselors. If you're like the average New York City public middle school parent, you have spent the fall accompanying...

Q: How can I possibly make my application special when colleges are getting thousands of them? How can mine be different and get their attention? A: How can you make your application stand out?...

Nearly half -- 45% -- of all New York City public high schools are "A" schools, according to their grades on progress reports released today by the Department of Education. An additional 30% of the...

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the middle school fairs. Several open houses and tours later, my family is taking on the seemingly impossible task of ranking schools. Schools that I thought would be...

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...

The "Race to the Top" dominated this week's education headlines, but left a lot of us wondering, "who's racing and to where?" Basically, states will "race" to create comprehensive education reform...

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...

Urban Word NYC is a spoken word, poetry, and hip-hop group aimed at serving New York City youth. They were “founded on the belief that teenagers can and must speak for themselves” and “provide...

Tomorrow, Night Owl's kindergarten will finally receive the H1N1 vaccine, but for us, it's too little, too late. My daughters were both ill two weeks ago with what their doctor described as...

|   |   |   | 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...

A few weeks ago, my 5th-grade son "J" and I attended the first of two middle school fairs. Although we live in District 10 in the Bronx, my children attend elementary school in Manhattan's District...

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...

Q:  My son is a junior at a high school in Queens.  He is an excellent student and would like to go to a prestigious college.  But his high school is huge and the college counselors don't have much...

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...

In our last poll, we asked if you planned to vaccinate your child against the H1N1 virus. More than 1,000 of you responded. Thirty-four percent said 'yes;' 46 percent said 'no.' And with the flurry...

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

UPDATE: The City Hall protest on Nov. 13 will now begin at 3 p.m., not 2 p.m. as previously noted. Please join students from around the city to protest the new regulation on bake sales on Friday,...

Before I say anything else about this hot-button topic, let me say this: I am not a doctor. I have no medical degree. And here on the internet, where anyone can claim to be an expert on anything, I...

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...