GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

A parent just left this comment on today’s Rise and Shine post:

I think education reporters should disclose information about their schooling–public or private–as well as where their children go, if they have them. I think this is fair especially when a cover story blasts certain aspects of public schools. I always wonder after reading such a story: Did this reporter go to private school? Just a random thought.

We agree that it’s fair to ask education reporters, like all journalists, to reveal any biases they might have. So here’s the answer to Random Question’s question for GothamSchools’ four reporters: We are all products of public schools, but not New York’s. And none of us has children.

Losing our Metrocards to budget cuts would prevent students from so many low-income and middle-income families from grasping success.

My mother is a single parent. She is putting two kids through college — one at Howard University and the other at St. John’s in Queens — and she still has to keep up with her mortgage payments and other bills. Her job gives her great benefits and a good salary. But it is still really hard and I see her struggle every day to provide for her family and keep us together especially lately in this economic downturn. The last thing she needs on her plate is the question, “How am I going to get transportation to and from school for my son?” Providing a Metrocard for me to get to school would be another bill and another burden on her back.

I wouldn’t even attend the great school I go to, Francis Lewis High School in Queens, if I hadn’t known I would be able to get there for free. But my mom knew I couldn’t go to the schools in my neighborhood. Now those schools are among 19 that the mayor and chancellor are closing. Next year, if I don’t get a free Metrocard, it would be hard for me to stay enrolled at Francis Lewis for my senior year. And all the students who might have gone to the schools that are closing will have to spend their own money to get to schools like mine, which are already overcrowded.

And it’s not just about getting to and from school for me. (more…)

• The UFT has given donations to most of the politicians that signed on to its school closure lawsuit. (Post)
• Recent questions about the city’s crime data veracity sound like those about school gains. (Times)
• Queens politicians are banding together to protect schools that could face closure. (Queens Courier)
• City investigators recommended firing the teacher who’s been in the rubber room for seven years. (Post)
• The KIPP high school’s gym teacher runs a program that pairs students with Columbia athletes. (Times)
• A peace-loving fiberglass cow was stolen from Brooklyn’s Seth Low Intermediate School. (Post)
• School officials cut the ribbon yesterday on a new high school dedicated to sports management. (NY1)

• If the Elementary and Secondary Education Act isn’t renewed, the federal gov. has a back up budget.
• A home schooled student in Queens danced her way to acceptance at LaGuardia High School.
• The DOE gets great political mileage out of attacks on the rubber rooms, a blogger writes.
• Richard Kessler writes about how fightin’ words get adopted by education advocacy groups.
• In the wake of doubts on crime data, uncertainty could spread to schools’ numbers.
• Kim Gittleson looks at what charter schools pay in management fees, be they for or non-profit.
• A charter school advocate warns Harlem Sen. Bill Perkins of the wrath of charter school parents.
• Less test prep would set minority students up to pass the specialized high school test, a parent writes.
• Here’s a Super Bowl-themed downer: New Orleans and Indianapolis don’t graduate > 60% of students.
• Chancellor Klein should not be targeted, writes Norm, but Mayor Bloomberg should be.
• A Bronx special ed teacher says students give the best teacher assessments through their behavior.
• A group that runs theater classes in city schools is holding a “Billy Elliot”-themed writing contest.
• And an oncoming snow storm has postponed specialized high schools’ open houses this week.

Major state education stakeholders are funneling money to both sides in the not-yet-official-but-looking-likely gubernatorial primary contest between Governor David Paterson and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

But donors say that although their gifts coincided with increased speculation about Cuomo’s entry into the governor’s race, the donations are more a reflection of what they want to see happen now than a sign they’re taking sides in a future race.

The state teachers union, which vigorously opposed Paterson’s recent attempt to raise the cap on charter schools in the state without additional restrictions, gave $8,400 to Cuomo in the middle of December. That donation followed a $10,000 gift to the attorney general last June.

Union spokesman Carl Korn said that the most recent donation was an indication of support for the attorney generals’ crackdown on predatory lending to students and not a forward-looking political move.

Cuomo has so far kept quiet on his views on charter schools and recently refused to comment on whether he supported Paterson’s push to increase the number of charters allowed under state law. (more…)

Charter school advocates’ day of political action in Albany last week appears to have had an unintended consequence: State Senator Bill Perkins now wants to hold hearings to expose an alleged lack of oversight and parent voice in the schools.

In a half-hour interview on WWRL’s Working New York radio show this Saturday, Perkins said that a group of charter school parents who have become disenchanted with their childrens’ schools came to see him and left a lasting impression. Those parents belong to the New York Charter Parents Association, a recently-started group that’s supportive of charter schools, but quite critical of their management.

“There’s a parent movement that’s not being paid attention to within the charter schools,” said Perkins, who recently supported a bill backed by the teachers union that would have lifted the charter cap while placing tight restrictions on how and where the schools open. (more…)

• Many states are going to have big education budget problems without more stimulus funds. (Times)
• Students at Automotive HS can take a class to learn how their food gets to their plates. (Times)
• A teacher accused of molesting several students has been in the rubber room for seven years. (Post)
• Post columnist Andrea Peyser outlines some ways the DOE has proposed tackling the rubber rooms.
• State Sen. Ruben Diaz responded to the Post’s rubber room crusade by decrying DOE policy. (Post)
• Thousands of people turned out for a fair advertising new high schools opening this fall. (Daily News)
• Chapter president Hazel Dukes defends the NAACP’s decision to oppose school closings. (Post)
• Even fewer minority students were accepted to specialized high schools this year. (Times, Post)
• Haven Academy, a charter school, is using donations to help its students who are in foster care. (Times)
• NY1 visits East New York Prep, the charter school facing closure at the end of the school year.
• The A Better Chance Program helps city students get into, and pay for, elite schools. (Daily News)
• The principal who had a student arrested for doodling on a desk says she was in the right. (Daily News)
• A Daily News columnist says NYC principals might have less common sense than their students.
• The Post urges the DOE to send “dopey principals” who discipline excessively to the rubber room.
• The Obama Administration is going to try to outlaw candy, sweets, and soda in schools. (Times)
• Dismal circumstances make life hard for Detroit’s students and teachers. (Detroit Free Press)
• Chicago’s schools are looking to hire a “Culture of Calm” coordinator. (Times)
• A Chicago high school offers students the chance to be trained in stagecraft. (Times)
• A Bay Area charter school that caters to Muslim students gave its founder lavish perks. (Times)
• Early college high schools, of which New York has several, blend high school and college. (Times)

• 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…)