GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

The latest ATR numbers are out, and they suggest a mass exodus has occurred in the last few days.

In the last two weeks, the so-called Absent Teacher Reserve pool has declined by about 300 teachers, a third of whom found work in the last two days. Earlier this summer, the Department of Education estimated that roughly 3,000 former teachers who had lost their jobs because of declining student populations or because the school was shuttered due to poor performance remained in the pool and on the city’s payroll. As of Tuesday, that number is down to 1,695.

The sudden increase in hiring could be attributed to principals who were holding out hope that the DOE would lift the hiring freeze, allowing them to fill empty slots from a wider selection of teachers. As the summer has worn on, the DOE did relax the freeze to allow principals more flexibility in hiring special education and science teachers, as well as teachers for gifted programs.

A spokeswoman for the DOE, Ann Forte, said that currently, there are 1,375 vacancies in the city’s schools, which is about the same number there were last September.

Though the reserve pool is, by definition, a place for teachers who once taught in the city’s public schools, this year the DOE made an exception and added 15 Math for America recruits. Forte said the recruits were given special dispensation because of their “highly specialized training.” Fellows in the program have to make a five-year commitment to teaching in public schools, in exchange for close mentoring and support from master teachers in the program. In May, the father of a Math for America fellow wrote to GothamSchools to criticize Joel Klein for instituting the hiring freeze so late in the year.

There’s something wrong if one school is severely overcrowded and another, just two miles away, is cutting services because of declining enrollment, writes teacher Arthur Goldstein in his latest entry in the community section. In “A Tale of Two Queens High Schools,” Goldstein suggests that the city promote a symbiotic relationship between the two schools, instead of a competitive one.

He writes:

I’m in one of the most overcrowded schools in the city, Francis Lewis High School. Our building is designed for 1,800 kids, and last year we were up to 4,450. This year we hit 4,700, and the sky’s the limit. Where the extra kids will go I have no idea. …

On the other hand, James Eterno, chapter leader at Jamaica High School, has a completely different problem. Not enough kids are enrolling in his school. Could we help one another?

Imagine there are two high schools in the same borough. One school can’t enroll enough kids to stay open, and the other is filled to 250% of capacity. What would you do? It might seem logical to even out the population of both schools, but that is not how New York City operates.

I’m in one of the most overcrowded schools in the city, Francis Lewis High School. Our building is designed for 1,800 kids, and last year we were up to 4,450. This year we hit 4,700, and the sky’s the limit. Where the extra kids will go I have no idea. I teach in a trailer out back, and you wouldn’t use it to house your dog if you had a choice.

In the trailers, you never can tell if there will be heat on cold days or AC on hot ones (and don’t buy a used car from anyone who tells you tin keeps you cool). The bathrooms are an abomination. Though school trailers are all the rage in New York City, you never see them on the news. If I didn’t visit one every working day of my life, I probably wouldn’t believe they existed.

On the other hand, James Eterno, chapter leader at Jamaica High School, has a completely different problem. Not enough kids are enrolling in his school. Could we help one another? (more…)

A line of parents and students stretches down the street. At right, Comptroller William Thompson greets a parent. (Michael Markowitz)

The line to get into PS 41 in Greenwich Village yesterday wrapped around the block, giving parents and students time to meet the politicians who made the school a campaign stop yesterday. Comptroller William Thompson, who is running for mayor, appeared at PS 41, where enrollment has swelled, just hours before releasing an audit taking aim at the city’s spending on class size reduction efforts. Also on hand were City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, who represent the neighborhood.

PS 41 parent and District 2 parent council member Michael Markowitz sent us these pictures. Send yours to tips@gothamschools.org.

• Photo slideshows from the first day of school. (Daily News, Times)
• Mayor Bloomberg is drawing fire for his efforts to please black voters on school issues. (Daily News)
• The controversial Hebrew charter school opened in its backup location, in a Brooklyn yeshiva. (Post)
• Children were turned away at crowded schools in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. (Times, Daily News)
• Mayor Bloomberg wouldn’t speculate about possible changes to the teachers contract. (Times)
• Parents at Harlem’s PS 123 protested against Harlem Success’s opening. (GothamSchools, Daily News)
• Swine flu fears percolated below the surface of the first day of school. (Post)
• Comptroller Bill Thompson: The city misused class size reduction funds. (GothamSchools, WNYC, NY1)
• Thompson’s support for Outward Bound programs follows his own harrowing experience. (Times)
• The Daily News sides with the charter school parents, who say their children are learning more.
• High-performing students do better at selective colleges, a new study finds. (USA Today)
• Time Magazine takes a look at Ed Sec Arne Duncan and his $5 billion pot of reform money.
• Two new arts high schools, one shiny and one scrappy, opened this year in Los Angeles. (L.A. Times)
• The Wall Street Journal says the media are ignoring D.C. parents angry about losing vouchers.

• It’s back to school for Diane Ravitch, too. She says the new year will be “interesting and dangerous.”
• Chris Dodd didn’t want to chair the Senate’s education committee, so Iowa’s Tom Harkin will step in.
• The Queens school nurse who saw the city’s first swine flu case says everyone needs paid sick days.
• The Times’ City Room blog has eight back-to-school scenes from around the city.
• The new school year will be the last for Saint Ann’s head of school Larry Weiss.
• Peter Murphy wants Albany schools to improve their own special ed rather than focusing on charters’.
• Just in time for the remake of Fame, Chicago gets its first public arts high school.
• A new book tackles some myths about affirmative action and college graduation rates.
• Chaz says principals who circumvent the ATR pool to hire younger teachers are ageist.
• Schoolgal explains a ritual for teachers in overcrowded schools — scavenging for desks and chairs.
• Teacher Mimi’s biological clock is ticking, but it’s not the clock you’re thinking of.

Comptroller Bill Thompson chose the first day of school to stoke long burning disputes over whether the Bloomberg administration has reduced class sizes as much as it promised to.

Thompson accused the Department of Education of redirecting or misspending millions of dollars that he says the department promised to use to reduce class sizes. The audit, which is based on data collected in 2008, states that $48 million of the nearly $180 million set aside for Early Grade Class Size Reduction funding was not used to create new classrooms.

Thompson, a mayoral hopeful, said the DOE has been living in a “childish neverland.”

“To use this money for other things [than class size reduction] is to defeat the purpose,” he said.

Class sizes have risen in the last year despite several programs — either foisted upon the administration or willingly adopted — that aimed to reduce them. The administration has repeatedly portrayed class size as too costly a reform to be realistic. In May, Chancellor Joel Klein warned that average class sizes would increase this year as the size of the teaching force declines.

The dispute centers around whether or not the city committed a set amount of money to be used to reduce class sizes for grades K-3. (more…)

Protester William Hargraves in front of P.S. 132 this morning

A gaggle of public officials and reporters weren’t the only ones crowding entrances to New York City public schools this morning. Students at Harlem Success Academy 2 were welcomed to school with protests over the use of their building space.

“No justice, no peace,” chanted roughly fifteen protesters as they circled in front of the 140th St. entrance of P.S. 123, where Harlem Success Academy principal Jim Manly and dean of students Khari Shabazz waited for their students to arrive. As students arrived for school, the two escorted them through the circle and into the building. Several smaller students dodged and weaved between demonstrators to get into the building and many looked upset and perplexed at the hubbub. (more…)

Families walking toward PS 261 in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, this morning (GothamSchools)

Wearing new backpacks and blindingly white-soled shoes, students at Brooklyn’s PS 261 streamed into the schoolyard this morning to meet their new classmates and find their teachers, who carried tall signs identifying themselves. Parents and children compared notes about the summer, and passing cyclists complained about how the street was clogged with car traffic for the first time in months. Just outside the school’s gates, City Council candidate Doug Biviano distributed pamphlets; he said his own kids were campaigning for him at their school, PS 8 in Brooklyn Heights.

That’s what I saw this morning. What did you see? E-mail us your first-day-of-school pictures.

It’s not just children who are heading back to school today. Every year, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein takes reporters on a five-borough tour of the first day of school. Anna reported to the press van outside Tweed Courthouse at 6:45 a.m. and will be filing dispatches all day. 

Quote of the day: Asked (again) about his position on swine flu by a television reporter, Klein said, “I’m against it.”

A class at Staten Island Tech

2 p.m.: Classes are buzzing at Staten Island Tech, a specialized high school with about 1,000 students. Principal Vincent Maniscalco said the school had weathered the budget cuts easily because enrollment is up since last year. In fact, he said, the school was able to hire seven teachers to replace teachers who retired last year. The school also hired a grant writer last year when it became clear cuts were coming down the pike, Maniscalco said.

Department of Education officials corralled a group of student government members to talk to Klein. David Pfuhler, 17, president of the senior class, said Staten Island Tech has improved in recent years. Comparing it to the city’s other specialized schools, he said, “It’s in the same league, but the style of teaching is different. It’s a friendlier school to learn in.” Another student said the school had seen a recent influx of Brooklynites.

1:35 p.m. Off to Staten Island Tech now. Anna’s the only reporter remaining, so should any major news drop in Richmond County this afternoon, check here for an exclusive.

1:30 p.m.: Nearly every classroom at IS 220 in Sunset Park has an electronic SmartBoard, Anna reports. Principal Loretta Witek said she bought them with the money the state gives to schools it says are in need of improvement. JHS 220 got off that list this year, so there won’t be more money. “I used the money wisely when I had it,” Witek said.

Witek said the budget cuts haven’t hit her school too hard — yet. Witek excessed one teacher over the summer, and she said she’s worried about sustaining after school programs. “I have to see how my budget falls out,” she said.

12:45 p.m. After losing most of its members in Manhattan, the press corps is off to Brooklyn now, where the three remaining reporters will visit IS 220. The latest news is that kids will be bringing home letters about swine flu in their backpacks tonight. (more…)