GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• A new discipline system at Brooklyn’s Excellence Boys Charter School has some parents angry. (PIX11)
• Graduates of LaGuardia HS’s jazz program gathered to honor Justin DiCioccio, its founder. (City Room)
• A story about the growth of charter schools in Williamsburg has a strong point of view. (Village Voice)
• To mark a year in the rubber room, teacher Mr. Portelos read his former students’ names. (YouTube)
• Researchers who studied city charter schools also found that schools’ early patterns persist. (CREDO)
• A former education reporter is leaving journalism to improve schools for low-income students. (Russo)
• A teacher with 10 years as his school’s UFT chapter leader is the most senior one in the Bronx. (JD2718)
• A mother says she’s having her son repeat kindergarten since she couldn’t start him late. (Insideschools)
• A teacher tries to balance assigning writing assignments with not ruining his life. (Starting an Ed School)
• Andy Rotherham has backstory on school sports for students with disabilities. (School of Thought)

Striking bus drivers picketed outside the Department of Education's headquarters at Tweed Courthouse on Monday.

A union proposal to suspend the city’s two-week-old school bus strike temporarily got a swift rejection this week from city officials, who said the plan would block cost-cutting measures for over a year.

The bus drivers union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181, called a press conference today to announce that the city had turned down its proposal for a two-to-three month “cooling off” period during which drivers would return to work and the city would not solicit bids for new transportation contracts.

The union called the strike because the city is not including seniority protections for current drivers in the new contracts’ terms.

In a mediation session organized but not attended by the city, union president Michael Cordiello met on Monday with Justice Milton Mollen, who brokered an agreement to end the last bus strike, in 1979, and representatives from several major bus companies. (more…)

Appearing with legislative leaders this morning, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that he would seek the right to take over teacher evaluation planning in New York City if local negotiations fall through again.

Cuomo said he still hoped Mayor Bloomberg and teachers union president Michael Mulgrew can break their impasse and agree to a deal on their own terms. But the two sides have failed to reach a deal for more than a year, despite mounting financial penalties for the city, and they fiercely defended their positions in back-to-back legislative hearings this week.

Negotiations resumed this week, and Cuomo said he’s planning to “firmly request” they get a deal done.

“If they don’t, then let the state step in and let the state … determine the evaluation process and impose it on the city of New York,” said Cuomo, who was flanked at a press conference by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate leaders Jeff Klein and Dean Skelos.

(more…)

• A 5-year-old Bronx student was handcuffed after a $5 theft allegation at P.S. 114, a lawsuit says. (Post)
• A students’ comment about a toy gun sent P.S. 4 in the Bronx into lockdown yesterday. (Post, NY1)
• The state Board of Regents told legislators that they want more funds to be directed to schools. (WSJ)
• Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Walcott detailed midyear school budget cuts. (GothamSchools, NY1)
• But Bloomberg said budget cuts to schools could evaporate with an evaluation deal. (Daily News, Post)
• UFT and city negotiators are preparing to reopen negotiations. (GothamSchools, SchoolBook)
• UFT chief Michael Mulgrew and Walcott testified about the state’s school budget. (GothamSchools)
• The Daily News says Mulgrew’s testimony reveals that all he really wants is a mayor he can control.
• Non-striking bus drivers were harassed as they tried to return to work with new skills. (WSJ, Post, NY1)
• Security concerns have prompted the city to give Walcott police protection during the strike. (Daily News)
• A substitute teacher was charged with collecting steep fees for tutoring he pretended to deliver. (Post)
• School closure critics from many cities testified at the U.S. Department of Education. (Washington Post)
• In Chicago, charter school advocates held a counter-protest over the school closure issue. (Tribune)