GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

If you weren’t at the GothamSchools party last week, then you missed a real treat: Diane Ravitch reading publicly for the first time from her forthcoming book, ”The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education.”

Reading from a selection titled “What I Learned About School Reform,” Ravitch explained why she has reversed her position on policies from test-based accountability to school choice. (more…)

Members of a citywide school board displayed flashes of independence last night, a rare event for a group critics frequently deride as a rubber-stamp body.

For the first time in the Panel for Educational Policy’s history, protests from school leaders and panel members pressured education officials into withdrawing a proposal from consideration.

Officials pulled back plans to eliminate the sixth grade of P.S. 126 in the Bronx, turning it into K-5 school — an idea that angered those who want to expand the school and others who worried about the lack of middle school choices in the area.

Department of Education officials said the scale-back was meant to alleviate overcrowding in the school, but it could wait. “There’s enough space for it to be K-6 for one more year,” said Debra Kurshan, head of the DOE’s Office of Portfolio Planning.

The panel also voted to postpone another resolution, ignoring pleas from DOE officials to approve it immediately. Several panel members — including some appointed by the mayor — said they needed more information. (more…)

• The PEP approved a contract with a bus company that’s part of a federal bribery probe. (NY1)
• At seven hyper-competitive arts high schools, students stress over endless auditions. (Times)
• PAVE Academy, the Red Hook charter school, says it has enough money for a building. (Brooklyn Paper)
• Students and teachers predict devastating consequences if student Metrocards are eliminated. (Times)
• The DOE added a District 2 zoning option that’s similar to one parents proposed. (Downtown Express)
• The Daily News says legislators have to hustle to make needed changes before RttT’s Jan. 19 deadline.
• Also in trouble at James Madison HS: an assistant principal accused of sexual harassment. (Daily News)
• Los Angeles is stepping up efforts to weed out bad new teachers before they get tenure. (L.A. Times)
• An Albany charter school is likely to be closed because of low performance. (Albany Times Union)

• Members of District 1′s CEC took a stand against Girls Prep Charter’s expansion on the Lower East Side.
• Corey Bunje Bower worries that conversations around merit pay are never totally honest.
• Merryl Tisch says the January RttT deadline leaves lawmakers plenty of time to change charter law.
• The UFT’s Leo Casey charges the state charter association with putting ideology ahead of schools.
• Casey also calls the MTA’s cuts to free student Metro passes “class warfare against poor kids.”
• Politics K-12 handicaps state RttT chances according to whether Gates is helping with their application.
• The debate over whether students should be tracked is fueled by two new reports.
• Norm posts video from the Q&A meeting about the proposed closure of Beach Channel HS.
• Joanne Jacobs argues the state should do away with “one size fits all” diploma standards.
• And Deborah Meier proposes an alternative way for schools to share data and best practices.

Hundreds of Queens residents filled the school's auditorium. Many had graduated from Jamaica or could name family members who had.

An event billed as a question and answer session about the proposed closure of Jamaica High School quickly became a pep rally for the school’s supporters last night. 

Hundreds of angry students, parents, and teachers packed Jamaica’s auditorium last night to protest the Department of Education’s plan to close the school. Chants of “Save our school” and “Four more years” could be heard blocks away and department officials had to fight to explain per-pupil funding and the school’s phase-out plan over waves of boos and shouts.

One of several large high schools marked for closure, Jamaica has struggled in recent years with low graduation rates and a high number of students who have learning disabilities or are recent immigrants and don’t speak English.

In its proposal, which the Panel for Educational Policy will vote on in January, the DOE says it plans to replace Jamaica with two small high schools.

Built in 1927, the school has graduated generations of Queens residents, many of whom turned up last night to defend their alma mater. Many who spoke accused the DOE of underfunding Jamaica while “dumping” some of the most difficult to educate students on its doorstep. (more…)

• January’s meeting on school closures will now be in easy-to-access Brooklyn. (GothamSchools, Times)
• The principal of Jamaica HS told teachers he has “no intention of stepping back.” (Queens Chronicle)
• Girls Prep Charter School bused hundreds of supporters to a space rally at City Hall. (NY1)
• Budget cuts are taking a toll on the city’s plan to turn schoolyards into parks. (AP)
• The city is set to give a school bus contract to an ambulance company that uses uncertified drivers. (Post)
• Joel Klein, talking leadership, says he’d rather drive “over the hill” than not drive at all. (Washington Post)
• State unions sued Gov. Paterson over his unilateral school aid cuts. (GothamSchools, Times, Post, NY1)
• Every student at a low-income Boston school has to deliver a Shakespeare monologue. (Boston Globe)

• Gov. Paterson said the education coalition that sued him today “don’t care about anybody but themselves.”
• Alan Lubin of NYSUT, part of that coalition, said raising the charter cap to 400 would be “ridiculous.”
• Peter Murphy of the state charter association responds that it’s NYSUT’s position that’s “ridiculous.”
• Shael Shuransky responds to more readers’ questions following his defense of progress reports.
• Chaz recommends ways to improve the process for removing teachers from the classroom.
• More than half of NY school cafeterias failed to meet federal inspection requirements in 2007-08.
• Does short-term tutoring intervention help English language learners? A study is inconclusive.
• Ruben Brosbe worries that a $4.50 field trip cost might be too much for some of his students.
• The UFT party New Action wants to organize a Day of Solidarity against school closings in each borough
• Tiger Woods makes Corey Bower wonder if the best schooling always teaches kids the right lessons.
• John Liu says the comptroller’s office should investigate the difference between city test scores and NAEP.
• Ken Hirsh learns how to game the new Tier 5 public pension system.
• And a Brooklyn principal shares how she prepares herself for her school’s quality review.

There’s an array of differences between a high-need school like the one I teach in, and a better-off school in the suburbs or the Upper West Side. But it’s often the simple, minor details that bring the juxtaposition into focus.

For example, the field trip the third grade has planned to the Bronx Botanical Gardens. The school’s subsidizing the cost for the kids, so each only has to pay $4.50. Still, I cringed giving them only a week’s notice to turn it in, knowing it may be impossible for some of them. We’re all feeling acutely aware of the economy these days, but it’s still hard to grasp the reality of a situation where $4.50 isn’t readily available. It’s a humbling reminder of the world my students inhabit outside of the community I’ve tried to create in my classroom.