GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• The typical Race to the Top judge is “a former female teacher from the Northeast who has a PhD.”
• Norm Scott has footage of the time the DOE turned off the microphone when the NAACP was talking.
• The DOE released its guide to the new high schools that will be on view at this weekend’s fairs.
• Joel Klein is a co-chair of the Education Equality Project. Al Sharpton is not.
• Obama’s budget could require states that receive Title I funding to link teachers and student test scores.
• Quick & the Ed looks at what might happen if tenure decisions were made entirely off value-added scores.
• Chad Aldeman also disputes Ravitch’s argument that the city’s small schools serve fewer at-risk students.
• A charter school can’t move into a Gowanus industrial warehouse, voted a Brooklyn community board.
• And Bronx Mom wonders how schools can keep students engaged, even in times of budget cuts.

The mom of a former student of mine started following me on Twitter today. It was a surprise and presents a bit of a conundrum. On the one hand, up to this point I’ve mainly used Twitter to share inane updates (Quest for a Niners bar has finally come to an end.) and funny/interesting headlines (RT@TheOnion Friendship Between Caterpillar, Horse Exploited for Cheap Children’s Book http:/onion.com/5iCtj4) with friends. At the same time, it’s become increasingly clear that Twitter is not the place for privacy.

Still, while I’ve worked to maintain an appropriate public image on Twitter, I still hoped to keep it a personal space. Connecting with parents (and eventually students presumably) ends that, and blurs the space between my professional and personal realms. To paraphrase George Constanza, “My worlds are colliding!”

It seems simple enough to block this woman and any other professional contacts from following me. I just worry about her taking offense since she’s already started following me. Maybe someone with a better knowledge of Twitter can tell me whether she will have any way of noticing she’s not getting my Tweets?

Regardless of how I solve the problem, it’s definitely a new problem characteristic of the new era teaching is entering. (more…)

• State ed chief David Steiner said the state would take years to recover from Gov. Paterson’s cuts. (AP)
• Paterson’s proposed budget would cost the city schools 8,500 jobs, Joel Klein reiterated. (WNYC)
• Klein also begged lawmakers for rules that would make it easier for teachers to be fired. (Post)
• State Sen. Carl Kruger told Klein not to ask for help without taking lawmakers seriously. (Daily News)
• More than 3,000 charter school parents lobbied lawmakers. (Albany Times-Union, GothamSchools)
• Gov. Paterson told charter school parents that he’ll continue to push for more charters. (AP)
• A charter parent advocate argues that charter schools are again getting deeper budget cuts. (Daily News)
• The principal of JHS 226 in Queens was knocked out while intervening in a student fight. (Post)
• More on that fourth-grade fight club in Queens: The two teachers say nothing happened. (Daily News)
• Students at Parkchester’s PS 106 were allowed to move from dingy trailers into the school. (Daily News)
• Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch likes Harold Ford for Senate, to her brother’s chagrin. (Times)
• The city’s oldest Catholic school will definitely close in June, the New York Archdiocese said. (NY1)
• Supporters of abstinence education have been invigorated by the new study showing it can work. (Times)