GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

Yesterday was cold outside — but not in Mimi’s New York City elementary school classroom:

I was snuggled up to a little friend today, chatting about their writing, when I felt beads of sweat rolling down my back. And I thought to myself, “self, WTF, it’s December and you’re sweating through your SLEEVELESS SHIRT!” I then glanced at the radiator, which was pumping out heat at such an intense level that you could actually see it rising up in front of the windows. Four of which were open. Again, it is December and today it was only 38 degrees outside. …

So now, not only am I mourning my inability to wear my favorite winter wear, but I am also dealing with chronic bloody noses…, sleepy children and abandoned sweaters piled up in all corners of the classroom. In the last week alone I have said the phrase, “put your clothes back on” more times than I care to admit as children attempt to strip down to their undershirts.

Also, props to the commenter on Mimi’s blog who called this “Bikram teaching.”

The New York Civil Liberties Union has spent the last few years arguing that police officers are too aggressive in public schools. Today, it is spotlighting a Queens high school where a 16-year-old says police beat him so forcefully that he had to have surgery. Other students at the school also say they have been assaulted by safety agents.

Yesterday, NYCLU sent a letter to Chancellor Klein and police commissioner Ray Kelly calling on them to investigate the allegations of abuse. At a press conference this afternoon, at Hillcrest High School in Queens, they will make this demand publicly, and will also call on the City Council to pass the Student Safety Act, which would increase oversight of the more than 5,000 safety agents in city schools.

NYCLU’s letter, obtained by GothamSchools, says the school’s administration has not responded to complaints about alleged abuse:

It is our understanding that several students and at least one community organization have approached the school’s administration about these reports in hopes of remedying the situation. These attempts have been fruitless, according to the organization, as the administration has turned a deaf ear to these concerns.

Just a few weeks ago, a student at Robert F. Kennedy High School in Queens filed a lawsuit alleging that a school safety agent there kicked open a restroom stall door, injuring him. NYCLU has filed a complaint with the Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau on his behalf.

A Department of Education spokesperson said she cannot comment on pending litigation.

Last year, New York City first grade teacher Peace in the Classroom got trained in a literacy tutoring program which her administration promised to implement this year. But more than three months into the school year, they haven’t started yet, she says:

I am so desperate to get it off the ground that I have repeatedly inquired about when I am tutoring and which kid I will be tutoring. I even made up a possible tutoring schedule using times when a school aide could be with my class (like right when they come up from lunch), which I now can’t even offer because I need to use that time for oral storytelling. I offered for them to pay off my preps and tutor then. I have tried all I can so that this training, which probably cost at least $15,000 can actually be put to some good use.

I can’t help but hope Obama agrees to an interview with Florida elementary school student Damon Weaver. He’s probably the only reporter who can offer court-time with Miami Heat basketball players.

Weaver, the Anderson Cooper of his school’s television station, first hit the national spotlight with his interview of then-candidate Joe Biden. What could make an educational experience more authentic than getting hundreds of thousands of YouTube views — and having your interviewee elected to national office?

[Via This Week in Education]

After two incidents of youth violence in the city this week, New York City teachers may share Chicago teacher (and New York Times blogger) Victor Harbison’s fear that the economic tailspin will expose students to even more violence:

As unemployment figures go up, I imagine readers of the Times thinking about IRA’s and who will be on Obama’s economic team. … Me? When I hear unemployment is going up, I wonder how long before my students have to face violence in the home as well as on the streets. (There are tons of studies, like this one, that show a correlation between unemployment and a rise in domestic violence.)

Children growing up in poverty have brains that are substantially less developed than children who grow up more comfortably, a new study finds. The under-development is so substantial that the children’s brains resemble those of an adult who has suffered brain damage.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley measured the brain’s electrical activity as children completed a task. They found lower levels of activity in a part of the frontal lobe that controls creativity and problem-solving.

The researchers posit that children’s brains can be affected by growing up in a stressful environment and having less exposure to cognitive stimuli like conversations with adults and visits to museums. But demography isn’t destiny, they say:

“This is a wake-up call,” Knight said. “It’s not just that these kids are poor and more likely to have health problems, but they might actually not be getting full brain development from the stressful and relatively impoverished environment associated with low socioeconomic status: fewer books, less reading, fewer games, fewer visits to museums.” (more…)

Schools are feeling the effects of city belt-tightening, reports Peace in the Classroom, a first grade teacher:

I spent about 30 minutes today chopping 3 inches off about 500 copies of reading logs, writing paper choices, homework assignments, etc. You see, we are having another copy crisis at my school. I was told that this crisis is city-wide. Apparently (according to my AP), the chancellor has put a “freeze” on all new purchases, including copy paper. We have been without white paper for almost a week right now. …

When my “office” friends ask me what my job is like, I tell them, imagine being the CEO of a small company where you are expected to oversee employees, communicate with associates, and make a profit without email, copies, a phone, or any office supplies.

Teachers from another school have also told me about the supply freeze resulting in a shortage of copy paper.

As Elizabeth noted, it’s high school admissions season in New York City. The test that determines who gets into the city’s elite high schools happened back in October, and yesterday eighth graders submitted their lists of high school choices.

I wonder how many of today’s students know that only 40 years ago, Stuyvesant High School was boys-only? It wasn’t until 1969, when a young woman named Alice De Rivera successfully sued, that the ultra-competitive school admitted girls. I also wonder where De Rivera ended up. (Brooklyn Tech was the last of the three original exam schools to go coed, in 1972.)

New York City elementary school teacher-blogger Mimi has been keeping us updated on the parking permit distribution process at her school. She reports that some teachers lied about their commute to get passes — but here’s how her principal (a.k.a. “the Visionary”) handled the situation:

The Visionary also sent around a chart which included the names of everyone who requested a pass, their REPORTED mileage, their ACTUAL mileage and, my favorite column, the DIFFERENCE between those two numbers. …

[O]ne individual reported that she lives 55 miles away, when in fact her distance from school is a mere 22 miles. Wrong double digits, sweetheart. Another one of my favorites was the group of people who requested a pass, yet live less than one mile from school.

Middle school English teacher Ms. Malarkey shares her real-life experience with the city’s data management tools:

I’ve been a good little soldier and have been attempting to use more data. Of course, it took me about three weeks to be able to log on to Acuity. No one could figure out why, but then I realized that my old DOE e-mail account is somehow lost in cyberspace, replaced with a newer one I had no idea about with both my maiden and married names. In the meantime, I still haven’t been able to log on to ARIS.