GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• Now that the bus strike is over, a call for thinking about how the city does special ed. (Ms Speducate)
• Some members of the school bus drivers union are angry about how the strike ended. (Socialist Worker)
• A 17-year Los Angeles teacher who did not get a Bloomberg donation issues a challenge. (Patch)
• A teacher recalls his first year in the classroom, when he was transitioning to being a man. (BuzzFeed)
• Professors are reading the high school teacher’s letter on students’ poor readiness. (Inside Higher Ed)
• A former teacher who now works on tech for educators explains the app he created. (New Visions)
• The city is considering tearing down two West Side schools and developing the lots. (West Side Rag)
• The former press secretary for Ed Sec Arne Duncan is Joel Klein’s latest hire at Amplify. (Answer Sheet)
• A critique of tying teacher pay to outcomes is that doctors aren’t paid that way. But they could be. (HuffPo)
• Finland has the same number of teachers as New York City, but only half as many students. (Guardian)
• Principals describe the difficult and constantly evolving job of running a city school. (Brian Lehrer)

At East Brooklyn Community High School, as at many city schools, Black History Month brought an assembly to celebrate the many achievements of black Americans.

But the small transfer high school in Brownsville also took a less traditional approach to the month. It convened students to watch and discuss a documentary about the United States government’s war on drugs, which has landed millions of black Americans in prison.

“A lot of schools are afraid to do something political for Black History Month,” said science teacher Amy Fitch. “This is a political film, but I think our students can handle it. Politics are part of life, and our students are affected by politics all the time.” (more…)

A screenshot from Educators 4 Excellence's new television ad, which encourages a quicker adoption of new teacher evaluations in New York City than Gov. Andrew Cuomo's budget proposal would allow.

After the city and teachers union failed to agree on an evaluation system by his Jan. 17 deadline, Cuomo announced that he would use this year’s budget cycle to seek the right to impose a system on the city. Under his plan, legislators would write the right into state law when they sign off on this year’s state budget.

Budget amendments are due this week, and Fredric Dicker of the New York Post reported over the weekend that Cuomo is planning to propose language that would allow him to impose a teacher evaluation system on New York City if one is not in place by Sept. 17.

That’s not fast enough for some advocates of new teacher evaluations. The teacher advocacy group Educators 4 Excellence, which has been lobbying for new teacher evaluations, is running a television ad this week arguing that Cuomo should impose an evaluation system well before September. (more…)

The school bus strike:

• The school bus drivers union ended its monthlong strike. (Times, Post, Daily News, SchoolBook, WSJ)
• Chancellor Walcott: Buses should run normally Wednesday, with bumps. (SchoolBook, Daily News, NY1)
• The end of the strike is welcome news to students and parents who have struggled for weeks. (NY1)
• A Staten Island bus matron whose son rides a school bus says she is glad that she went on strike. (NY1)
• The city spent more than $20 million on transportation during the strike, but says it saved more. (WSJ)
• Also affected by the strike: Museums and cultural attractions, which lost out on field trip traffic. (Times)

In other news:

• Gov. Cuomo plans to seek the right this week to impose a teacher evaluation system on the city. (Post)
• The city’s changes to its gifted screening tests are meant to make getting in harder to prepare for. (Times)
• A teen advocate for students with disabilities helped launch a campaign aimed at inclusion. (Daily News)
• A new charter school and affordable housing complex are rising together in the Bronx. (Daily News)
• Randi Weingarten is now involved in an L.A. school board race that has netted Bloomberg dollars. (Post)
• Across the country, physical education classes are becoming more academic amid test pressure. (Times)
• In many cities across the country, charter schools use complex applications to screen students. (Reuters)
• After Newtown, some school districts are cracking down on kids’ simulated gunplay. (USA Today)
• San Francisco is seizing on state law and tripling rent for charter schools in city space. (S.F. Chronicle)
• Los Angeles’s schools chief wants test scores to count for 30 percent of teacher evaluations. (L.A. Times)