GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• No Child Left Behind came close to reflecting Scientology teaching methods, a new book says. (Vulture)
• An Ohio teacher is suing after she was pushed to retire due to “pedophobia,” or fear of children. (Gawker)
• Columbia University professors are criticizing the state’s new teacher certification exam. (Teacher Beat)
• A star of the television show “Breaking Bad” is running for school board in his New Mexico town. (CNN)
• The Department of Education has published the hearing schedule for 26 schools it wants to close. (DOE)
• Guidelines from educators and parents on how to make the most of teacher-parent talk. (Sara Mosle)
• A meeting for high school teachers offered hints about what could come in an evaluation deal. (ICE-UFT)
• An active union member compares critics of an evaluation deal to Tea Party members. (Ed in the Apple)
• Some N.J. teachers say having student surveys count in their ratings has been helpful. (Hechinger)
• The mother of a student with special needs says a school bus strike is a new indignity. (Insideschools)
• More analysis of the Gates Foundation’s MET Study report finds more shortcomings. (Gary Rubinstein)

Commissioner John King and Chancellor Merryl Tisch discussed the remaining school districts without approved evaluation systems during a Board of Regents meetin today.

ALBANY — State education officials cleared their schedule in anticipation of a busy week as dozens of school districts, including New York City, scramble to meet a Thursday teacher evaluation deadline.

Over the weekend, they finished assessing the last of the evaluation plans that districts had proposed, Commissioner John King told the Board of Regents this morning.

“As of 5 p.m. [Sunday], our desk was empty,” he said. “We’ve reviewed and provided feedback on everything that’s been submitted.”

Now they are just waiting for six districts to submit their plans for the first time and 29 others to resubmit plans that needed revisions.

King did not name New York City when he mentioned the districts that have not yet submitted plans. But there was no mistaking which district was most on his mind.

“One of them is quite large,” King said, to laughter. (more…)

The city school bus drivers union announced today that its members would strike starting Wednesday over the city's plan for new contracts with bus companies.

After more than a year of strike threats, city school bus drivers will walk off the job on Wednesday, their union announced today.

The work stoppage means that more than 150,000 students — including many with severe disabilities — will have to find their own way to school. All students affected by the strike who can get to school using public transportation will receive Metrocards, and the city will reimburse families who must drive or hire cars for the commute to and from school.

Still, city officials say they expect that the burden of providing transportation will lead at least some families to keep their children home.

The strike also means that the city’s streets will be clear of yellow buses for the first time since 1979, when the city ended a three-month strike by extending new protections for drivers.

The strike comes as the city prepares to seek contracts with bus companies in an effort to cut student transportation costs, which are the highest in the country. The drivers’ union, Amalgamated Transit Union’s Local 1181, wants a guarantee that current employees won’t lose their jobs even if the companies they work for do not win a new contract. But the city, citing a 2011 legal ruling, says it cannot make such a promise.

“Have you ever heard of a strike where one side is demanding something that the courts have ruled illegal?” Mayor Bloomberg said today during a press conference just before the union officially declared the strike. “It is just meshugana, as we say in Gaelic.” (more…)

The Department of Education is rolling back some special education policies that drew sharp criticism last week from many principals.

The principals were alarmed by a deadline, originally set for today, to “clean up” data about students with disabilities. The deadline raised concerns that the department would take back funds from schools whose students fell into lower-than-anticipated funding tiers.

“The last-minute data capture has left us scrambling to account for potentially massive cuts to our budgets halfway through the school year,” 20 principals wrote Thursday in a letter to Chancellor Dennis Walcott.

In an email sent late Friday, the department’s chief financial officer, Michael Tragale, told principals that the department would push back the deadline and relax a particularly anxiety-inducing rule so schools could retain their special education funds. (more…)

• School bus drivers seem increasingly likely to start a strike this week. (Post, Daily News, NY1, WSJ)
• Chancellor Walcott called a potential strike irresponsible and illegal. (Times, NY1, Post, SchoolBook)
• Union activity suggests that a teacher evaluation deal could also come this week. (GothamSchools, WSJ)
• Gifted classes mean some city schools that look diverse are segregated; by how much is unclear. (Times)
• One low-performing school that isn’t being closed has strong political allies on its side. (GothamSchools)
• Leasing by schools is up 50 percent in Manhattan, mostly in Lower Manhattan, in recent years. (WSJ)
• A teacher who was fired last year told investigators that she wished she could stab her students. (Post)
• City investigators have found improprieties by multiple school custodians in recent years. (DNAInfo)
• Teachers in tiny Hamburg, N.Y., rejected a teacher evaluation deal over its appeals plan. (Buffalo News)