GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• A Chicago charter school network earned $200,000 by fining students for discipline infractions. (CNC)
• City high schools with top progress report grades had few self-contained special ed students. (WNYC)
• The head of a Success Academy charter school says he wants to model work-life balance. (SchoolBook)
• Newark is building a “Teachers’ Village” to encourage educators to live in the city’s heart. (The Nation)
• An Orlando charter school has 50 percent students with disabilities — and does well. (State Impact)
• A Georgia superintendent has premiered his school reform plan as the “Macon Miracle.” (GPB)
• TedXNYED is holding an open casting call for city teachers with stories to tell or lesson to share. (TED)
• An in-depth look at Memphis’s possible consolidation, which could threaten recent reforms. (Atlantic)
• The Queens borough president’s pick for the PEP explains his “no” vote on closures. (NYC P.S. Parents)

TFA New York Executive Director Jeff Li, who is leaving TFA to return to the classroom

New York’s Teach for America executive director has taken the term “lead by example” very literally.

Jeff Li announced last week that he is resigning from his top post at Teach For America after less than two years on the job and returning to the classroom as a teacher. The announcement comes just days before his organization is set to announce a campaign meant to encourage alumni to stay in the teaching profession, rather than leave for other professions.

“A funny thing happened along the way as our team thought through this campaign,” Li wrote in an email to TFA alumni teachers on Thursday. “As I personally thought more about teaching beyond two years, and all that can be accomplished by doing so, I became truly re-inspired myself.”

The program that TFA is launching is called “Teach Beyond 2,” a not-so-subtle reminder for its alumni that even though their TFA commitment is technically only two years long, they should consider teaching to be a longer-term pursuit.

More than 40 percent of all TFA corps members in New York City stop teaching once their two-year requirement is fulfilled — a number that is consistent with nationwide TFA studies and only slightly higher than the 50 percent three-year departure rate for all teachers in urban schools. TFA’s critics say the high attrition shows that teaching is merely a resume-builder for some young college graduates before they move onto graduate school programs or higher-paying jobs. (more…)

For the third straight year, the city’s charter sector has made it easier to apply to charter schools.

This year, 110 of the city’s 136 charter schools will be allowing students to use a digital version of the common application to apply to multiple schools by their April deadlines. Charter schools are not allowed to close applications before April 1.

Until two years ago, families applying to charters schools had to fill out individual applications for each school or network of schools they wanted to attend. In 2010, the city debuted a common application system on paper by which students could apply to multiple schools using a single application. Last year, city’s main charter advocacy organization, the Charter Center, devised the Common Online Charter Application to give students access to the common application online for 20 pilot schools.

The push to streamline the charter school application process counters criticism that some schools’ applications are time-consuming, complicated, and too onerous for some families. The common application may also help schools draw more applicants and maintain longer waiting lists — one figure the charter sector points to as evidence the public wants more charter schools. (more…)

Grady High School students protest the city's "turnaround" plan after a walkout today.

A new phase in school closure protests opened today as hundreds of students at William E. Grady Career and Technical Education High School walked out of classes this afternoon to protest the city’s plan to “turn around” the school.

The plan, which Mayor Bloomberg announced last month as a way to obviate negotiations about teacher evaluations with the teachers union, would require Grady to be closed and reopened with a new name and at least half of the teachers replaced. Grady is one of 33 struggling schools facing turnaround this year.

Grady students were the first to hold a closure protest since Thursday’s massive Panel for Educational Policy, where thousands of protesters railed against 23 school closure proposals that were approved. Now the city’s attention is shifting to the turnaround schools, whose closures are likely to come before the panel in April.

Department of Education officials explained the plan to confused students and parents at the Brighton Beach school late last month.

There was little confusion today as students executed a protest that was tightly scripted by members of the student government. After a rally on the sidewalk outside the school, students marched around Grady on a path that abutted the Shore Parkway and passed a police substation. Their cries of “Save our school!” caused neighborhood residents to lean out of windows and elicited a honk of support from an ambulance driver parked outside a home for the elderly. (more…)

It would be a big mistake for New York City to let Gov. Andrew Cuomo settle its teacher evaluations dispute, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio said at a press conference Sunday.

The press conference came four days before Cuomo’s deadline for school districts to agree on new evaluations. If they don’t settle on new evaluations by Feb. 16, he said, he would “do it for them” — presumably by using the budgeting process to change the state’s teacher evaluations law.

In recent weeks, Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott have signaled that they might prefer letting Cuomo take the lead, possibly because they hope he would side with them in a seemingly intractable local dispute. The city and teachers union have been stuck for more than a month on the issue of appeals for teachers who receive low ratings under a new system.

But de Blasio warned that passing the buck could backfire for the city.

“The minute it goes to Albany anything can happen,” he said. “There’s a much better chance of a plan that will work it’s agreed to up front.” (more…)

If the UFT’s television ads are really as effective as Mayor Bloomberg says, the status of teachers is set to rise with the newest one.

An ad that aired late last month took aim at the mayor’s education record, and last week, Bloomberg blamed the attack for his low public approval on education.

The ad premiering today takes a softer approach by focusing on the hard work of teachers and not even mentioning Bloomberg’s name. Titled “Better Future,” the ad showcases four teachers working with students and meeting with parents.

“My students inspire me, and they should inspire us all,” says Christine Wong, a special education teacher who works in Manhattan. (more…)

News from New York City:

• The city has released details about “Targeted Action Plans” to help set-to-close schools improve. (Post)
• A investigation is open into grading practices at Manhattan Theatre Lab, which is closing. (Daily News)
• Michael Winerip: P.S. 142 adds real-life experiences such as sitting in a car to the curriculum. (Times)
• Gov. Cuomo’s deadline for districts to agree on new teacher evaluations is this week. (Post, Daily News)
• Professors at Bronx Community College rejected requests to offer less rigorous course options. (Post)
• Parents are worried about special education services as the city’s special ed reform advances. (DNAInfo)
• Parents at P.S. 87 want to know why a school aide with a checkered past could work there. (Times, NY1)
• A longtime “rubber room” teacher who retired last week could get a $90,000 pension. (Daily News, Post)
• The teacher, Alan Rosenfeld, will also get $55,000 for more than 200 unused sick days. (Post)
• Churches held services inside public schools for the last time yesterday. (Times, WSJ, NY1)

And beyond:

• At least four states are weighing bills to end “social promotion” of third-graders who fail state tests. (WSJ)
• A North Carolina district is finding success in reshaping instruction through new technology. (Times)
• The head of Georgia’s schools says the state’s NCLB waiver means “teaching to the test” is over. (AJC)
• A Vermont school recruits Bronx students, but tension is rising over the basketball team. (Times)
• Some wonder what will happen to a Chicago school’s basketball glory after the school closes. (Times)
• Some California parents are funding P.E. teachers so schools can afford to teach fitness. (Times)
• A new trend in “unified” athletics integrates special education students on high school teams. (Times)
• Illinois is struggling to provide bilingual services to the new immigrants in its suburban districts. (Times)