GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• Contrary to what some high schools say, there’s no reason to write a “first-choice” letter. (Insideschools)
• Twenty-six city schools are among 800 to get new funds to support AP courses. (Curriculum Matters)
• A fan of “value-added” says the feds were wrong to lump it into evaluation requirements. (Answer Sheet)
• New Orleans has high charter school enrollment. It also has high selective-school enrollment. (Shanker)
• Kickstarter’s odd projects include a 200-percent-funded proposal for a zombie geography class. (Russo)
• A teacher offers a tongue-in-cheek list of ways schools can use 300 added hours a year. (Jose Vilson)
• Naoual Eljastimi, among the year’s Sloan Award winners, said teaching makes her learn. (SchoolBook)
• A Long Island superintendent describes the burden of implementing new teacher evals. (DR’s Blog)
• All city students can continue to eat school lunches for free this month using federal funds. (SchoolFood)
• A special ed teacher outlines the thrill and challenge of making new students feel welcome. (Mr Foteah)

The city’s redesigned childcare system is safe for now, but faces cuts in the near future and increased funding uncertainties, according to a report by a budget watchdog.

Earlier this year, advocates successfully lobbied the City Council and Mayor Bloomberg to nix a plan that would have cut 7,200 contracted child care slots. The proposed cuts were the result of the city’s implementation of EarlyLearn — an initiative that aims to streamline and improve early childhood education.

But 4,900 of the seats were restored with one-time City Council funding, an annual stopgap solution that does not address “ongoing funding problems faced by the child care system,” according to the report, authored by the Independent Budget Office. (more…)

Michelle Persaud of Murry Bergtraum High School of Business Careers is one of seven math and science teachers to win an annual award for their work.

A leading nonprofit thinks one of the city’s very best science teachers works at one of the city’s most struggling high schools, and it’s putting its money where it’s mouth is.

For the fourth straight year, the Fund for the City of New York and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation are giving city teachers awards for excellence in teaching science and mathematics. One of the seven winners is Michelle Persaud, whose school, Murry Bergtraum High School for Business Careers in Manhattan, received a “D” from the city last week.

The honorees were nominated by students, parents, colleagues, and administrators and then selected by a committee made up of representatives from local science museums and universities, based on their students’ achievement, their involvement in extracurricular activities, and their efforts to promote math and science inside and outside the classroom.

Schools with winning teachers each receive $2,500 to support their math and science programs. They are honoring their winning teachers in a series of assemblies today and Wednesday, and the teachers will receive their prizes — $5,000 to $7,500 each — at an award ceremony on Wednesday.

Here are this year’s recipients, along with a highlight about each that we pulled from longer biographies compiled by the Sloan Awards: (more…)

As Elaine Gorman, a top official in the Department of Education's Division of Portfolio Planning, looks on, seniors Lindita Nuculli and Samantha Calero talk about Lehman High School's strengths.

For the third time in a year, students and teachers at Herbert H. Lehman High School lined up Monday night to tell city officials why the school should remain open.

They were there a year ago, when the city first shortlisted the school for possible closure. And they were back there this spring for a spate of meetings and protests over the city’s plan to close and reopen the school according to a federally prescribed overhaul process — a process Lehman only narrowly escaped.

Yesterday evening, Department of Education officials returned to Lehman to warn that closure is on the horizon again.

At an emotional “early engagement” meeting—a meeting between officials, school staff, community members that is the first step in the closure process—current and former teachers and students defended the large, East Bronx school, arguing that the Department of Education’s reform policies are to blame for Lehman’s decline. Department officials have held early engagement meetings at Lehman twice before, but the school ultimately remained open.

In a presentation at the beginning of the meeting, principal Rose Lobianco said the school is already on the slow and steady path to improvement, thanks to the creation of a small learning academy structure that splits students into several “academies,” with their own assistant principal leaders, based on academic interest. (more…)

• Rochester is the only N.Y. State district to participate in an extended-day grant program. (Times-Union)
• The prime minister of South Korea visited Democracy Prep Charter High School. (GothamSchools, Post)
• Supporters of schools the city has could close are pushing back against the possibility. (GothamSchools)
• Parents say the city did not test adequately for mold before reopening P.S./M.S. 114 after Sandy. (NY1)
• A carbon monoxide leak sickened students and teachers at an Atlanta elementary school. (AJC)
• The city’s School Construction Authority is a local leader in hiring diverse contractors. (City & State)
• Assemblyman Karim Camara calls for a strategy to keep good Catholic schools from closing. (Post)
• A ruling against Louisiana’s school voucher program is seen as surmountable by the state. (Times)