GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

Walee Ahmed says he is motivated by a love of learning.

The claim might sound like a stretch coming from a 18-year-old high school student in the midst of preparing for SAT subject tests and Advanced Placement courses. But Ahmed has interests that span far beyond the classroom.

This summer, Ahmed has his sights set on launching a technology blog that focuses on open-source programming. “Look at Firefox, where you had a ton of people working because they had passion,” he said, referring to the popular open-source web browser. “If you work for passion, it adds another level of sincerity to what you are doing.”

Ahmed’s passion has taken him to the top of his class at Hillcrest High School in Queens, where he will be a senior — taking four AP courses — in September. New Visions, the network that works with Hillcrest, recognized Ahmed by supporting his bid for the prestigious Annenberg Scholarship, which will provide a full ride to the college of his choice. (Last year’s winner, Karina Melendez, is headed to Columbia University this fall.)

Ahmed attributes his success in part to a habit of hard work that he learned in British-style schools in Bangladesh, where he lived until 2009. But in conversation it becomes immediately clear that Ahmed is motivated, above all else, by a wide-ranging curiosity. (more…)

Last month I wrote about how readily some of my students will link their disruptive or disrespectful behavior to their race or the race of their teacher. One student, Joseph, called me courageous for, as a white teacher, “coming in to teach us black kids every day.” When I inquired as to what he meant by this, he explained that he didn’t mean to say the word “black”; he essentially used his race to describe a constellation of disruptive, irresponsible, and disrespectful behaviors that both he and his classmates often exhibited when they were bored or otherwise unmotivated in class. (My post elicited numerous recommendations from educators to develop a lesson around internalized oppression, which I have done.)

Now I want to delve deeper into my students’ attitudes toward race and teaching, which have implications that reach far beyond my students’ behavior to some of the most important education policy debates going on in New York City today.

A few days after my conversation with Joseph, the class was still working on the assignment that had inspired his comment: an essay about someone they know who demonstrates courage. A Yemeni student, chin in hand, was at a loss for a subject.

“Don’t you know anyone who shows courage?” I asked her. This particular student has a great sense of irony and its delivery; she peered to one side and the other, looked at me, and pointed at my nose. (more…)

Mr. B, Barry Addison, at his desk at the Alpha School in East New York.

Mr. B has a very full desk.

Mixed in with pens and paper clips are four knives, two packets of marijuana, and two shining gold bullets. The drawer behind that one is overflowing with bandanas: dozens and dozens of red, blue, pink, and orange gang flags that Mr. B has confiscated.

These are the souvenirs you accumulate running Alpha School, an alternative program in East New York where 17-21-year-olds can earn GEDs, get treatment for drug addiction, and find a place to hang out in peace.

As he hugs everyone who crosses his path, there’s clearly nowhere else Mr. B, whose full name is Barry Addison, would want to be. But the combination of state budget cuts and a dispute over Alpha’s enrollment figures means that, barring an eleventh-hour change, the program’s doors are closing in seven days.

He was notified in mid-May that the program is losing all of its $367,000 in annual funding from New York State’s Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services.

“We’re toast,” he said. “It’s going to devastate a whole community. There’s no other prevention services in this neighborhood except for in the schools, and these are the kids who got kicked out of the schools.” (more…)

• The city rejected union leaders offer of layoff-averting funds, criticizing the conditions. (Times, WSJ)
• A Brooklyn school told eighth-graders to skip the last week and the principal didn’t know. (Daily News)
• A report by Public Advocate Bill de Blasio says layoffs could have long-lasting effects for the city. (NY1)
• The city could be on the hook for $40 million because of special ed delays, de Blasio said. (Daily News)
• Two advocacy groups are suing the DOE for not responding to FOIL requests. (Daily News, NY1)
• PS 51, where construction is causing health complaints, is moving temporarily. (Post, NY1, Daily News)
• Far Rockaway High School is holding its final graduation ceremony ever on Monday. (Daily News)
• Geoffrey Canada spoke at the first high school graduation ceremony for Riker’s Island inmates. (WNYC)
• Cancer patient Laura Rodriguez received a Regents diploma yesterday from her hospital bed. (NY1)
• The city is seeking homes for two Brooklyn daycares so a charter school can move in. (Daily News)
• An MS 126 student won an essay contest by writing about his twin brother. (Downtown Express)
• The Post says the timeline and structure of the UFT and NAACP’s lawsuit are simply meant to disrupt.
• The Daily News says the city teachers union is obscuring information about teacher pension costs.
• Joel Klein and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush argue in favor of national common standards. (WSJ)
• Chicago’s schools chief, Jean-Claude Brizard, wants teachers to make home visits. (Chicago Tribune)
• The head of the House education committee said he wants to curb flexibility on NCLB rules. (Times)

• A community dental clinic is threatened by co-location, the UFT’s newspaper reports. (Edwize)
• The decision not to challenge three co-locations arose in very different ways. (GothamSchools)
• A profile of the man behind the online learning center called Khan Academy. (NPR)
• A profile of Diane Ravitch discloses her drag-racing past growing up in Texas. (Washington City Paper)
• Diane Ravitch is a very prolific Tweeter, but is she the Tweetingest edu person? (Politics K-12)
• Exploring a plan to promise students’ attendance at community colleges. (Quick and the Ed)
• During the NFL lockout, a player decides to try out teaching as a substitute. (NPR)
• A look at a draft of the contract offered to new Chicago schools chief Jean-Claude Brizard. (Catalyst)

Donette Newyear, student body president at the Bronx School for Law and Finance, scored a coup when Chancellor Dennis Walcott accepted her invitation to speak at the school’s graduation today.

But the main attraction might as well have been graduating senior Karina Melendez, who overcame cancer, homelessness, and years in foster care to rise to the top of her class at Law and Finance.

GothamSchools profiled Melendez last year when she was one of five students nationally to win a prestigious scholarship that covers four years at any college.

Today, Melendez graduated as the school’s co-salutorian, and in the fall, she heads to Columbia University.

The master of ceremonies, Richard Kavesh, a teacher who was once mayor of Nyack, N.Y., called Melendez one of the most remarkable students he’d ever encountered. (more…)

A small window of opportunity to resume settlement talks between dueling sides in the charter school co-location lawsuit has been slammed shut.

On Tuesday, an attorney for the teachers union publicly invited charter school supporters to discuss a deal on the condition that the group apologize for staging rallies against the NAACP, which is a fellow plaintiff along with the union. Today, a group of those supporters released a strongly worded statement declining the offer.

The union attorney, Charles Moerdler, made his comments after Tuesday’s hearing. Moerdler called the negative sentiment that has surrounded NAACP’s involvement in the lawsuit “disgraceful.”

“What they did to they NAACP is one of the most disgraceful acts I’ve ever seen,” Moerdler said, referring to a large rally organized last month. “This is an entity that made our education what it was. They opened the boundaries and cleared the way for people to get an education.”

He then presented NAACP’s critics a way out: Apologize.

“They’re not sitting with me until they apologize to the NAACP,” he said. ”I don’t even want to talk to them.”

But a statement released this afternoon and attributed to Joe Williams, of Democrats for Education Reform, James Merriman, of New York City Charter School Center and Eva Moskowitz, of Success Charter Network, makes it clear that no apology is coming:

“While the leadership of the UFT and New York City chapter of the NAACP have demanded an apology from the same charter schools that their lawsuit threatens to close before even sitting down to talk, the only people who should be apologizing are those trying to deny families the right to choose the best education for their kids.”

The three schools released from the UFT and NAACP lawsuit this week followed different paths to legal freedom.

The case for one of the schools relied on a broad base of community support, but a single man, Geoffrey Canada, made the case for the other two schools.

Charter school advocates believe Canada’s profile as a well-regarded, African-American education reformer made him an unpopular target for the NAACP. They say the decision to drop these schools from the lawsuit, which charges that the co-locations give preferential treatment to charter school students, weren’t made on legal merits.

“It makes it pretty clear that it’s not about equity. It’s not about the children,” said Rafiq Kalam Id-Din II, whose new school in Bedford-Stuyvesant is named in the suit. “This is about politics.”

Girls Preparatory Academy was unique from the other 17 schools named in the suit because its co-location plan had already received widespread community support. At the initial public hearing in February, both of the schools’ leaders endorsed co-location, as did Lisa Donlan, the district’s Community Education Council president and a frequent charter school critic.

“There was not one person who opposed this co-location,” Donlan said. (more…)

• Teachers, students at Manhattan’s PS 51 say construction is making them sick. (Post, Daily News, NY1)
• Kindergarteners from Harlem Success Academy are already touring colleges. (Daily News)
• Families at PS 9 in Prospect Heights say the city’s new space-sharing plan is still flawed. (Daily News)
• Family and friends memorialized Nicole Suriel, the student who drowned on a field trip last year. (NY1)
• Merna Heridi, a senior at the HS for Telecommunications Arts, pushed herself to get involved. (WNYC)
• A hearing on placing two charter schools in the JFK HS building drew three people. (Riverdale Press)
• Since moving to Governor’s Island, the Harbor School has held classes on the water. (Voice of America)

• City budget talks are paused while a major union considers a teacher layoffs deal. (Daily Politics)
• Dennis Walcott’s first graduation speech was at a school for students with disabilities. (Capital NY)
• A new movie pokes fun at the lengths parents go to get their children into private schools. (WSJ)
• A bad math problem from the algebra Regents exam sparks a conversation among teachers. (JD2718)
• A teacher suspects he was given extra Regents grading because he is an ATR. (Chaz’s School Daze)
• Parents across the city cheat to get their kids into schools they’re not zoned for. (Gotham Gazette)
• Nationwide, charter schools offer a range of alternatives to states’ teacher pension plans. (Flypaper)
• A founder of Rocketship Education charter schools on the pros and cons of online learning. (Hechinger)
• The federal Department of Education created a new office just for school turnarounds. (Politics K-12)
• The city plans to change the tests it uses for admission to gifted programs. (City Room)
• The case of a Chicago high school shows there’s no perfect code for vocational education. (The Lookout)
• Ten tips for a good teaching interview, starting with the old standby, “Be prepared.” (Mrs. Ripp)