GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• A parent coordinator says she wants more accountability for the city — and for parents. (SchoolBook)
• A massive rally to protest after-school cuts in the mayor’s budget coalesced at P.S. 134. (Lo-Down NY)
• A parent is blowing the whistle on draconian cafeteria policies at Brooklyn’s P.S. 104. (Home Reporter)
• More on the mistaken idea, repeated across the city this week, that the school year is over. (Mr. Foteah)
• A new, disputed report finds some city charters spend more than district schools. (Charters & Choice)
• New research argues that, done right, Common Core math is like other countries’. (Curriculum Matters)
• Dozens of D.C. public schools would lose their librarians under the latest budget cuts. (Answer Sheet)
• House of Representatives candidate Hakeem Jeffries is liberal, except on education. (Brooklyn Ink)
• A student essay about the problem with awards turns into an ode to perseverance. (In the Middle)
• Districts nationwide aren’t happy about the scrutiny a cheating analysis has brought. (Educated Reporter)
• “We Are Young” takes on new meaning when sung by Staten Island schoolchildren. (P.S. 22 Chorus)

Advocates protest the city's proposed cuts to after-school programs during a rally outside City Hall today.

The city would spend $387 million more on its schools next year and hire more teachers under the budget proposal Mayor Bloomberg unveiled today.

But it would also slash spending to after-school programs, leaving 27,000 children who currently attend city-funded programs without care.

“I’m concerned,” Bloomberg said about the after-school cuts during a press conference about the budget today at City Hall. He said the programs are “extremely valuable” for working families but had unfortunately fallen victim to scarce resources. “We cannot do everything for everybody,” he said.

Advocates from Upper Manhattan gathered on the steps of City Hall in protest right after Bloomberg’s presentation, and critics of the mayor’s budget said the child-care cuts would prove short-sighted.

“These are dollars that allow parents to go to work and pay taxes; cutting them will only force more families to seek public assistance and add to taxpayer costs,” said Manhattan Borough President and mayoral candidate Scott Stringer in a statement.

But both the mayor and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn signaled that the toll could be lessened by the time a final budget is set by July 1. (more…)

Dolores Peterson listens as one of her students goes over a speech she delivers for an honors event later in the evening.

Two years ago, Omarina Cabrera’s academics were a distant concern. Her family had been evicted and Cabrera was uncertain where she’d be sleeping each night. And as her brothers descended deeper into the gangs they recently joined, Cabrera was not even sure if she felt safe moving back in with her family.

Months into her sixth-grade year, Cabrera was showing up late to school and teachers were noticing that her attitude seemed to be worsening.

But admission letters pinned to a bulletin board located in the main office of the New School for Leadership and Journalism, where Cabrera is now an eighth-grader, shows that she now has a bright future. Years after teachers intervened to help Cabrera, she received offers to attend top public and private schools in the city, including Brooklyn Technical High School, and boarding schools throughout New England.

Most students at the Kingsbridge school, also known as M.S. 244, don’t wind up at posh boarding schools. Ninety percent of the students come from families so poor that they qualify for free or reduced lunch, and 70 percent come from homes that speak a language other than English. Many struggle to pass state math and reading tests.

But the school’s ability to catch students such as Cabrera before they are lost has caught the Department of Education’s attention. As part of a high-profile initiative to solve entrenched troubles of the city’s middle schools, officials there are directing a group of schools to replicate M.S. 244’s successful implementation of an early warning system to identify and intervene with at-risk students. (more…)

• Eva Moskowitz says she is considering running for mayor and will decide in the next month. (Times, Post)
• An internal DOE audit found many teachers teach fewer classes than the contractual minimum. (Post)
• Officials are investigating if an official at J.H.S. 226 told teachers to cheat on state tests. (Daily News)
• For the first time in four years, the city won’t cut teaching spots this fall. (GothamSchools, WSJ)
• The Young Women’s Leadership School of Astoria is on the way to going totally sugar-free. (Daily News)
• Bronx students desperate for school options sought spots in a charter transfer high school. (Daily News)