GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

News from New York City:

• Educators fear city high schoolers won’t be able to pass a fifth Regents exam, as they now must. (Post)
• As competition for selective city middle schools has intensified, tutoring firms have flourished. (Times)
• Some schools, such as P.S. 15 and P.S. 189, spent the break in intense test prep. (NY1, Insideschools)
• Charter school supporters don’t like Assemblyman Keith Wright’s bill that could limit co-locations. (Post)
• Wright is also one of several sponsors of a bill that would strip the city’s mayor of school control. (Post)
• Eighth-graders’ state science test scores are mediocre and unchanged over the last decade. (Post)
• State education chief John King said he is sure the city will get new teacher evaluations. (S.I. Advance)
• The state teachers union chief says he would accept a ratings’ release for parents only. (Daily News)
• Gov. Andrew Cuomo said releasing the ratings widely would be a “knee-jerk reaction.” (Daily News)
• The city is getting a growing number of complaints about teachers’ inappropriate Facebook use. (Post)
• Special Commissioner of Investigation Richard Condon says he needs more investigators. (Daily News)
• The city complains that it can’t punish teachers, but in fact a discipline system exists for them. (WNYC)
• Two years into a federal grant program to help struggling schools, the city has little to show for it. (NY1)
• Lawmakers questioned and city officials defended turnaround. (GothamSchools, SchoolBook, NY1)
• Bushwick Community High School’s supporters protested its planned turnaround. (GothamSchools, NY1)
• Families are upset that J.H.S. 80 in the Bronx will have had three principals this year. (Daily News)
• The founder of a Brooklyn charter school chain was charged with tax fraud. (GothamSchools, Post, NY1)
• More kindergarteners applied for and qualified for gifted programs. (GothamSchools, Times, Post)
• A data watchdog gave mixed reviews to school letter grades. (GothamSchools, Daily News, SchoolBook)
• The lawyers arguing that the city should speed its cleanup of PCBs in schools laid out their case. (NY1)
• A teacher at LaGuardia High School was beaten to death, allegedly by her son. (Post, DNAInfo, Times)
• A federal judge okayed a religious discrimination suit against a Bronx assistant principal. (Daily News)
• Families and colleagues remembered Fortunato “Fred” Rubino at a memorial service. (Brooklyn Paper)
• The Daily News says it’s not fair that the city could fire an elderly teacher but not some who misbehaved.
• The Post says Cuomo should fill an open seat on the state’s charter school board with a supporter.
• The city’s Blue School is emerging as a laboratory for incorporating neuroscience into education. (Times)

And beyond:

• Louisiana is poised to adopt vouchers not just for schools but for business apprenticeships. (WSJ)
• Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel still wants to lengthen the school day, but not by as much. (Sun-Times)
• A former high school teacher praises a new breed of schools that exalts creative thinking. (WSJ)
• The Posse Foundation, which helps urban students attend college, is expanding to Houston. (Times)
• Michael Winerip: Some students use community colleges as a step to selective universities. (Times)
• Cleveland’s mayor, who has control of that city’s schools, is taking on the teachers union. (AP)