GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

Earlier this month, U.S. District Court Judge Sidney H. Stein issued a decision in Almontaser v. New York City Board of Education, 07 Civ. 10444, finding that a principal fired for statements leading to a misleading press report was not protected under the First Amendment.

The decision and the actions it protects are problematic on grounds of law and policy. First is the misapplication of precedent by the District Court, carried over from an earlier opinion and repeated by a Circuit Court ruling in the same case. Second, and perhaps more seriously, is the extent to which the Bloomberg administration continues to push a policy agenda squelching free expression.

Background

On August 5, 2007, New York Post reporter Chuck Bennett interviewed Debbie Almontaser, the interim acting principal of the Kahlil Gibran International Academy, a New York City public school which was due to open the following September. KGIA was the focus of intense public scrutiny for its emphasis on Arab language and culture. Also at issue was an allegation that Almontaser had ties to Arab Women Active in the Arts and Media which had created t-shirts stating “Intifada NYC.” (more…)

While the school system limps toward a new governance structure, we at GothamSchools are shaking things up, too. To mark our first anniversary, we’re adding new staff (have you noticed those shiny new bylines?), excessing old ones, paying the bills in a new way, and changing up our content delivery model. We also plan to throw a party, at which we hope you’ll help us celebrate our continued existence despite the tough times.

Finally — permit one more forced parallel? — this post marks a new era of transparency and reader input, because we are both telling you all about the changes and asking for your help in pulling them off.

Please begin by enjoying our revised design, in which we distinguish between shorter dispatches and full-blown, robustly reported daily news stories. The shorter dispatches are indented and touched off by arrows, as in the post below this one. The stories are in the same maroon-headed format that you’re used to seeing blog posts.

The goal is to hold ourselves to an even higher standard, truth-telling-wise, while still keeping you up to date on the minutiae of school news (who just went wild at a City Council hearing, what article we just read and recommend, a deep thought, a breaking news item). (more…)

• Teachers excessed at closing schools can’t help out at the new schools in the same buildings. (Post)
• Bus routes for special education students are not running smoothly at the start of this year. (Post)
• Mayor Bloomberg’s latest campaign leaflet attacks Bill Thompson’s education record. (Daily News)
• The city is laying plans to seek new Snapple-esque sponsors for school sports. (Daily News)
• In old news, students can miss most questions on the state math and reading tests and still pass. (Times)
• The aggressive changes Michelle Rhee wanted in the D.C. contract aren’t likely. (Washington Post)
• Questions asked and answered about the city’s earliest black principals. (Times)
• Schools Chancellor Joel Klein isn’t the only BrickBreaker addict out there. (Times)
• Parents are contemplating how old is old enough for kids to walk to school alone. (Times)
• The Post comes down hard on protesters at PS 123, likening them to segregationists.
• Many school districts are cutting foreign language instruction in the face of shrinking budgets. (Times)
• Teachers in a Washington State school district have been on strike for two weeks over class sizes. (AP)
• Jay Mathews calls for retesting at D.C. schools where test results raised red flags. (Washington Post)

• Teenagers who don’t remember 9/11 think of it like any other history lesson.
• Parents sound off on the value of preschool gifted and talented programs.
• Leonie Haimson elaborates on her call for the state to withhold funds until the city reduces class sizes.
• The Ford Foundation is supporting a new education coalition critical of standardized testing.
• Want higher reading test scores? Listening to music could help.
• A Maryland policy group recommends letting teachers contract individually with school districts.
• Washington, D.C.’s own teachers’ union contract negotiations may be near an end.
• California’s state budget cuts will trickle down into the curriculum.
• Checker Finn wonders if we should just give up on education reform altogether.
• And several L.A. preschool teachers accidentally got stoned at school.

The highly anticipated contract negotiations between the teachers union and the city are officially off and running.

In anticipation of the UFT contract’s October 31 expiration date, officials from both sides met yesterday to begin the negotiation process. The negotiations are colored by the city’s dismal financial projections and the upcoming mayoral election — the UFT has yet to endorse a candidate for mayor. They are also UFT president Michael Mulgrew‘s first significant challenge, and are likely to be a factor when he comes up for election in the spring.

Though both sides have signed confidentiality agreements allowing them to keep mum when the press pushes for details, neither has been entirely silent about changes they’d like to see made to the contract.

Chancellor Joel Klein has made no secret of his desire to see the Absent Teacher Reserve drained. The pools currently holds 1,695 teachers who previously worked in schools that have been closed. Though they remain on the city’s payroll, they do not have full-time teaching positions. The point of tension between Klein and the UFT is how to drain it.

On Wednesday, the first day of school, Klein reiterated his support for Chicago’s model, which allows teachers who’ve been laid off to spend one year searching for a new spot in the school system while receiving their regular salaries. At the end of that year, those who haven’t landed new positions are forced to move on. (more…)

Parents who battled the mayor over school governance and lost are regrouping and redirecting their efforts to electing sympathetic city candidates.

The new organization, NYC Kids PAC, announced a roster of candidates for City Council, Comptroller and Public Advocate they will support in the fall campaign season. Ann Kjellberg, president and spokeswoman for the PAC, said that the group has begun to collect donations and will distribute them amongst the candidates they endorse.

Many PAC steering committee members were also active in the Parent Commission on School Governance, which lobbied heavily for stronger outlets for parent involvement during the debate over mayoral control. Kjellberg said that many members were disillusioned by their experience as parents fighting for the ears of Albany lawmakers. Rather than continuing to lobby their opponents, she said, they decided to boost their political allies.

The PAC’s steering committee looked for candidates whose voting records align with the organization’s mission, which includes strengthening local control and community involvement in schools, reducing class size, opposing private sector influence in public schools and reducing standardized test preparation in classes. But the deciding factor, Kjellberg said, was each candidate’s stance against the city’s school capital program.

“We were very, very grateful and moved by those officials who stepped forth under considerable pressure from the mayor and voted their consciences on the capital plan and we wanted to encourage other officials,” she said. (more…)

• Half of the teachers whose jobs were cut this spring have new ones, but few others do. (Daily News)
• A Utah school district that barred Obama’s back-to-school speech will now show it. (Times)
• The Upper West Side school that fought a moving plan is now happily ensconced in its new home. (NY1)
• The only new school to open on Staten Island this year will have pre-K through eighth grade. (NY1)
• Jay Mathews profiles a top graduate of a low-performing D.C. high school. (Washington Post)
• Boston’s teachers union joins New York’s in running its own charter school. (Boston Globe)
• NYU has implemented fees for printing on campus computers for the first time. (Post)

• Bronxteach is finishing up what feels like the “longest short school week” of his life.
• Attention math teachers: a new scholarship could help you bring the history of math into your classrooms.
• Pissed Off Teacher shares evidence of a student falling through the cracks in English language learning.
• Deborah Meier thinks Mayor Bloomberg is inappropriately intimidating NYU.
• One thing missing from a Massachusetts school library? Books.
• New York parents are building social capital at their child care centers, says one researcher.
• Education stimulus funds aren’t being used to create real change in schools, according to a new report.
• EdWize finds that welcoming school environments correlate to higher middle school test scores.
• Is your school green and clean? InsideSchools wants to know.
• Community groups that want to use school facilities for social services could get a Congressional boost.
• And in news of the truly creepy, a severed hand and torso were found near a Los Angeles middle school.

Scroll over the slideshow or press play to view.