GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• Could a new teachers’ contract be a win-win for Bloomberg and the UFT? Ed in the Apple speculates.
• Miss Brave struggles with the suspicion that a students’ IEP misclassifies him.
• Kim Gittleson looks at how much charter schools pay to for-profit management companies.
• Norm Scott argues the principal change at Robeson sheds light on DOE strategy for closing schools.
• Leonie Haimson explains some objections to the proposed new rules on School Leadership Teams.
• The chapter leader of a unionized charter school criticizes the tone of Tuesday’s advocacy day.
• Just seven black students and 17 Hispanic students were admitted to Stuyvesant’s incoming class.
• Marc Dean Millot argues that the USDOE may have political conflicts of interests involving RttT.
• Want to review federal educational innovation grant applications? The USDOE is looking for judges.

Teachers at a high school under investigation for grade-changing were surprised to receive the school’s yearly progress report this week. The report was supposed to be under wraps until an investigation into the school’s grading process ended.

But a bureaucratic mistake at the Department of Education led to the letter grade being released and folded into a report that was given to the school and posted online.

Last year, when the DOE published schools’ grades, Herbert Lehman High School was left off the list. Allegations that the school’s executive principal, Janet Saraceno, was changing dozens of grades to boost the school’s graduation rate, were serious enough that the progress report data couldn’t be published, officials decided. The report, which is based on Regents passage, credit accumulation, and graduation rates, heavily relies on data that could be compromised by Saraceno’s alleged actions. (more…)

• Principal Ira Weston is out at Paul Robeson HS, apparently for drinking at work. (NY1, Daily News, Post)
• The city says Queens’ IS 190 shouldn’t have had a student arrested for drawing on a desk. (Daily News)
• The principal of Staten Island’s PS 52 apologized for complaining about a student’s toy gun. (Daily News)
• The English Times Educational Supplement takes a long look at New York City’s teacher rubber rooms.
• Arts programs vary widely in quantity and quality across city schools. (Gotham Gazette)
• Elected officials are angry that being homeless forced a student to miss a Regents exam. (Daily News)
• With Columbus HS closing, nearby Truman and Lehman are worried about the impact. (Bronx Times)
• Los Angeles officials are unsure about whether to allow a Hebrew language charter school. (L.A. Times)
• The Times says USDOE should tweak NCLB but should be careful not to weaken the law.
• The key to boosting student performance could be increasing recess time. (Christian Science Monitor)
• Psychologist Dan Willingham says linking salaries to test scores will cause bad behavior. (Boston Globe)