GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

On many issues, they’re at odds, but right now the teachers union and city are working together to stop the spread of swine flu, the potentially dangerous virus that first emerged in Mexico and has now infected schoolchildren in Queens.

A confirmation that students at a Queens Catholic school were diagnosed with swine flu sent officials into a frenzy this weekend about how to deal with the disease and its accompanying panic. According to a United Federation of Teachers spokesman, union president Randi Weingarten spent part of her Sunday on a conference call with the city Department of Education and the UFT’s Health and Safety Department. 

The UFT and DOE last night issued guidelines for schools, encouraging teachers to maximize air circulation by opening classroom windows and to stay home if they feel sick. The DOE also instructed school nurses to place surgical masks immediately on students who have a fever over 100.5 degrees and any other flu-like symptoms. Both sets of full instructions are after the jump.

Earlier this weekend, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that dozens of students at a Queens Catholic school are suspected to have contracted swine flu, although none has become seriously ill. (Two of the cases suspected there are the daughters of State Sen. Malcolm Smith and City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., according to Liz Benjamin at the Daily News.)

Some Brooklyn students might have escaped exposure after the DOE cancelled their spring break trip to Cancun. Parents from MS 447 were angry about the last-minute cancellation, which the department said was needed because of heightened violence in Mexico. I’m guessing those parents are feeling relieved right now. (more…)

Two education leaders who have been dueling via press releases, bristling statements to reporters, and dueling events in Harlem will come face-to-face this week, in a debate broadcast on NY1, the local TV news channel, spokespeople for both leaders have confirmed. The debate is scheduled for this Thursday night.

Randi Weingarten, the leader of the politically powerful teachers union, is preparing to debate Eva Moskowitz, the former City Council member-turned-charter school operator, on Dominic Carter’s evening talk show, “The Road to City Hall.”

The teachers union spokesman, Brian Gibbons, said that NY1 contacted Weingarten and asked her to appear on the show with Moskowitz. Weingarten said yes. (more…)

• The UFT funds several organizations that are lobbying to change mayoral control. (Post)
• The DOE is cracking down on schools that illicitly pay teaching assistants with PTA funds. (Post)
• City kids are considering turning down out-of-state colleges to save money by staying home. (Post)
• From Gotham Gazette: A primer on the mayoral control debate up to now.
• The Bloomberg administration loves charter schools. (Post)
• Williamsburg Collegiate Charter School is one good school that has opened under Bloomberg. (Post)
• A new charter school in Brooklyn is filling up with middle-class kids. (Daily News)
• The $30 million charter school budget restoration won’t take away from school districts. (Buffalo News)
• Kids from PS 205 in the Bronx held a protest march about the zoo’s plan to close some exhibits. (Post)
• More on Friday’s bizarre barricading teacher incident. (Times, Post,  Post)
• Newsday says the Board of Regents should pick a new education commissioner faster. 
• The Post has guarded praise for Randi Weingarten’s talk about the opportunities charter schools provide.
• Using student test scores in teacher tenure decisions is just a first step in tenure reform, the Post says.
• Reforming mayoral control is just good business practice, according to Andrew Wolf. (Daily News)
• Outside the city, preschools can’t fill their classes. (Times)
• Jay Mathews wonders why more high schools don’t require senior projects. (Washington Post)
• In the D.C. region, first-year teachers are getting more support than ever. (Washington Post)

A flier from the discussion on mayoral control in Brooklyn today at 3pm.

I apologize for the horribly short notice, but please try to stop by at the mayoral control panel in Brooklyn that I’m moderating this afternoon!

The neat thing about this discussion is that most (if not all) of the panelists are critics of the current school governance system. So while debates are starting to get predictable — critics cry for democracy; City Hall demands accountability — this one will get into the gritty details of exactly what a changed system would look like.

Panelists include Carmen Alvarez, vice president-at-large of the teachers union; Assemblywoman Inez Barron, who’s also a former principal; Carla Phillip, a member of the Parent Commission on School Governance; and a representative of Local 372, part of D.C. 37, which has taken one of the hardest line against school governance and the mayor.

The details are at our community calendar, but here’s the basics:

When

April 26, 2009   3:00 pm

Where

Union Temple 17 Eastern Parkway @ Grand Army Plaza Brooklyn, NY

• Aaron Pallas provides a primer on how to understand if the effect of a school reform is large or small.
• Ken Hirsh FOILed the state to get charter schools’ financial audits, but he wonders why he had to.
• The UFT and elected leaders are leading Harlem children in a “school pride parade” this weekend.
• Also in Harlem tomorrow, LinkEducation is holding a fair to showcase education resources.
• The teacher who allegedly threatened his school today recently participated in a UFT safety workshop.
• Baltimore school system has launched a feel-good Web site about the city’s students. (Via InsideEd)
• Think preschool admission is crazy in New York City? Be glad you aren’t living in Tokyo.
• Yes, few teachers are part of Teach for America. But the number who are has tripled in the last five years.
• Andy Smarick reports on the joyful highlights of his recent visits to four NYC schools.
• Actress Glenn Close planted trees with kids from PS 155 in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, today.
• A Teachers College student reports on the history and future of parent involvement in NYC schools.

The story about the Bronx teacher, Francisco Garabitos, who barricaded himself in a classroom and caused three schools to be evacuated this morning before being taken into police custody, keeps getting stranger. Earlier today, United Federation of Teachers President Weingarten apparently placed some of the blame for the incident on Garabitos’s principal, Dorald Bastian. She later distanced herself from those comments after a disturbing Web site operated by Garabitos came to light.

I didn’t make the press conference that Weingarten held as soon as she returned this afternoon from Washington, D.C., but judging from the statements I’ve just received from the principals union and the city Department of Education, she must have had some harsh words about Bastian.

Here’s what Chiara Coletti, the principals union communications chair, had to say:

There’s only one issue in the case of MS 328 and Francisco Garabitos. Mr. Garabitos — a teacher and a UFT Chapter Chair — threatened to bomb a school and blow up the 1200 children inside of it. He barricaded himself within a school room, pretending to wait for the bomb to go off. This is a serious criminal act.

Dorald Bastian, the Principal [of] MS 328, did everything he could do to protect the school today, and he and the NYPD should be thanked for their work.

It’s astonishing that the President of the UFT is now finding fault with the Principal, when one of her chapter chairs has committed a hideous crime directed against children. (more…)

I have removed a story that previously appeared in this space out of concern that it relied on inaccurate information. The story described a conversation I had with a student at a transfer alternative high school. But my post relied only on the conversation I had with the 18-year-old student. After I published the remarks, administrators at the school brought information to my attention that disputes the student’s report.

The number of principals who have resigned, retired, or been dismissed has fallen in the last three school years. Data from the Department of Education

The number of principals who left the school system dropped by more than half from a high when Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein took control of the city’s public schools, data from the Department of Education show. Last school year, 81 principals left the school system, down from 183 in the 2001-2002 school year. The decrease began in the 2005-2006 school year, when 127 principals left the system.

The number of principals leaving the system every year represents about 5.5 percent of the total principal workforce, which is now at 1,520 — a number that is much higher than years past, thanks to the Bloomberg administration’s vigorous program of new school creation. The 183 principals who left the system during the 2001-2002 school year made up about 15 percent of the total workforce, which then numbered around 1,200.

Even with the drop in departures, looked at over the span of the last six years, the turnover is still dramatic: 1,056 principals have left the city public schools since 2001-2002. That means that almost as many principals have left the system since the 2001-2002 school year as there were principals in the system that year. Elissa Gootman wrote a good story about that turnover in 2006 for the Times, finding that a wave of teacher retirements was coinciding with a shift toward younger principals.

The increasing proportion of principals who are decades away from retirement could be one reason why turnover in the principal ranks is now abating. We’ll take ideas for other explanations in the comments section.

A line of parents that wrapped around the block, blue and orange balloons, and a carefully choreographed program greetged hopeful families and political supporters last night at the admission event for the four Harlem Success Network charter schools. In addition to the main event, the naming of admitted students, the evening featured a barnstorming speech by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein (in the video above), a surprise announcement about charter school funding from State Sen. Malcolm Smith, and political exhortations from Eva Moskowitz, Harlem Success’s lightning rod CEO. 

“I wish we could open them faster and have spots for absolutely everyone,” Moskowitz said about her schools to the thousands of assembled parents. But she said, “There are special interests and even elected officials who don’t support the growth of charter schools.” Moskowitz has sparred for years with the teachers union over her aggressive school reform strategies.

For the thousands of parents in attendance, politics took a distant second to anxiety about whether their children would be among the 475 selected from the 3,500 entered into the lottery. (more…)

We reported yesterday that charter schools, which were disappointed by an unexpected freeze in their budgets for next year, are going to be getting some relief, thanks to a plan by Governor David Paterson and State Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith. But that $30 million figure turns out to be the highest possible amount, not the guaranteed amount. Smith yesterday vowed to send “up to” $30 million to charter schools.

Charter school supporters are downplaying the distinction and keeping a thankful tone toward Paterson and Smith. But it means that the schools, which are publicly funded but operate outside of the regular district system, will remain in limbo for at least a few more days as to how much money they can actually expect to get. It’s also not yet clear how the pot will be distributed between charter schools.

Peter Murphy, of the statewide lobbying group for charter schools, which played a role in brokering the deal with Smith and Paterson, said that he’s satisfied with the fund, even if it will be smaller than $30 million. “Were assuming ‘up to’ doesn’t mean half, but it may not mean the full thirty,” he said on the telephone this morning. “Sure we would have liked the whole thing, but school districts aren’t happy with their small increase, either.”