GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• Some Brooklyn parents like the fact that their schools are free. (Daily News)
• Homeschooling is on the rise in New York City, just as it is nationally. (Daily News)
• Caroline Kennedy is being asked to disclose her finances after all. (Times)
• D.C. politicians are pushing for an independent review of Michelle Rhee’s reforms. (Washington Post)
• A new study shows Boston charter schools scoring high but also raises red flags. (Boston Globe)
• British officials are taking on a new school scourge: boring teaching. (BBC)
• The Times says principals, not police, should have authority over school discipline.

FROM NEW YORK CITY:

• Caroline Kennedy was not required to disclose her finances when she was a DOE employee. (Times)
• The fate of mayoral control is still undecided. (Queens Chronicle)
• Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said he will vote to renew mayoral control if it’s “tweaked.” (Post)
• Both the Post and the Daily News line up in favor of mayoral control, without tweaks.
• The city’s teaching force has grown more experienced in recent years. (Post)
• Because of a quirk in the city’s funding formula, closing schools have lots of extra money. (Post)
• The expansion of middle school choice has created middle school admissions panic. (Times)
• At Queens cram schools, kids spend vacations prepping for high school admissions tests. (Times)
• Most Muslim students feel safe in school. (Daily News)
• Kids are still dealing with the cell phone ban in underhanded ways. (Riverdale Press)
• Nat Hentoff adds another column to his chronicle of police abuse in the city schools. (Village Voice)

AND BEYOND:

• 2008 was no banner year for the country’s public schools. (USA Today)
• All those education plans of Obama’s will probably have to wait. (NPR)
• Schools in Chicago were home to innovations under Arne Duncan. (Washington Post)
• Passed over for ed secretary, Denver’s superintendent is becoming a senator. (Times, Denver Post)
• The country is still short on math and science teachers. (Christian Science Monitor)
• The New Teacher Project says new teachers do better than experienced ones. (Times-Picayune)
• Michelle Rhee plans to fire more teachers and improve those who remain. (Washington Post)
• Nationally, homeschooling is on the rise. (USA Today)
• PTAs are covering the costs of some budget-cut casualties. (Wall Street Journal)
• Some school districts are letting students lead parent-teacher conferences. (Times)
• Jay Mathews tries to unpack the vague phrase “21st-century skills.” (Washington Post)
• Bill Ayers calls Arne Duncan “the smart choice” for education secretary. (Huffington Post)

• The city’s budget shortfall next year could be worse that the mayor has anticipated. (Post)
• The number of families with kids living in shelters is at a record high. (Times)
• Families are struggling to make Catholic school tuition payments. (Post)
• Stuyvesant HS won’t have anti-cheating metal detectors, despite its principal’s wishes. (Post)
• A former assistant principal was fined for using school funds to take herself shopping. (Post, Daily News)
• Caroline Kennedy’s positions on education are mostly a mystery. (Politico)

• An advocacy group says the DOE isn’t helping pregnant and parenting teens enough. (Daily News)
• Schools that share buildings deal with special challenges. (Times)
• A Brooklyn school librarian scrimps and saves to fill her shelves. (Times)
• Students at a Brooklyn school say a teacher used a racist slur in class. (Daily News)
• A Queens middle school spent $40,000 getting free professional development. (Post)
• DUMBO might not be getting a new middle school after all. (Brooklyn Paper)
• Linda Darling-Hammond says U.S. educators should look to Singapore and Finland. (Newsweek)
• New Jersey is considering holding school board elections at the same time as regular ones. (Times)
• A California judge has blocked the state’s plan to require all 8th-graders to take algebra. (AP)
• Ramon Cortines discusses his new job as Los Angeles schools superintendent. (L.A. Times)

• The State Assembly is investigating the Fund for Public Schools’ disclosure-exempt status. (Times)
• Downtown Express profiles a new dual language high school that made a national best-of list.
• A Brooklyn community board conditionally approved a new middle school in DUMBO. (Brooklyn Paper)
• Lower Manhattan parents worry the new capital plan doesn’t meet their needs. (Downtown Express)
• The Times interviews a young Bronx teacher who says the kids’ hugs get her through the worst days.
• Jay Mathews says “Whatever It Takes” is a must-read about poverty and schools. (Washington Post)
• In the Daily News, Michael Rebell writes that Gov. Paterson’s budget cuts are “illegal, unfair and unwise.”
• Former Ed Sec Rod Paige argues that reforms are doomed without teacher buy-in. (Houston Chronicle)

• Gov. Paterson’s budget cuts would undo recent gains in school funding, advocates fear. (Times)
• Charter schools will also be affected by the budget cuts, but not as much. (Albany Times-Union)
• A special needs preschool in Brooklyn will phase out, not close, after protests. (Times, Brooklyn Paper)
• The Riverdale Press covers a recent hearing in the Bronx about the capital plan.
• Charter school advocates celebrate the 10th anniversary of the state charter law. (Post, Daily News)
• An upstate man wants to see school districts merge to combat segregation. (Times)
• The Christian Science Monitor probes the education divide in the Democratic Party.

• Parents say racism is behind the plan to move a school from the East Side to Harlem. (Daily News)
• Gov. Paterson’s budget proposal includes statewide education cuts. (Buffalo News)
• Mayor Bloomberg says Paterson’s budget would require teacher layoffs. (GothamSchools)
• Former NYC schools chief Ramon Cortines is taking over the schools in Los Angeles. (L.A. Times)
• Under Obama, early childhood education could be a priority for the first time. (Times)
• Arne Duncan’s selection signals that Obama supports NCLB, at least in general. (Wall Street Journal)
• Duncan’s leadership style is hands-on. (USA Today)
• And Duncan’s promotion shows that Chicago’s schools are thriving. (Chicago Sun-Times)

• Arne Duncan will be education secretary. (GothamSchools, Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post)
• The governor’s state budget proposal includes a $206M cut to the city schools. (Daily News)
• Class sizes are on the rise. (GothamSchools, Post, Daily News)
• Two more new charter high schools will open in Brooklyn next fall. (Post)
• Kids with good grades are seeing Broadway shows today for free. (AP)
• Some complain that award-winning children’s books are too tough for kids. (Washington Post)

FROM NEW YORK CITY:

• Many kids with special needs aren’t getting legally required services. (Daily News)
• The School Construction Authority is looking to buy land in Bay Ridge. (Brooklyn Paper)
• A successful — but volatile — Queens basketball coach has been suspended. (Daily News)
• Students at a business-focused Bronx high school discuss the economy. (WNYC)
• A Brooklyn preschool for kids with special needs might be closing. (Times)
• Brooklyn’s PS 58 is one of several schools offering unconventional school pictures. (Times)

AND BEYOND:

• We still don’t know where Obama stands on education. (Times)
• The Washington Post asks everyone from a student to a superintendent how to fix NCLB.
• In an editorial, the Boston Globe says we need a “reformer” as education secretary.
• A nontraditional high school upstate works with kids who might drop out. (AP)
• Jay Mathews writes that the best teaching doesn’t rely on textbooks. (Washington Post)
• In D.C., conflicts of interest underlie some charter school decisions. (Washington Post)
• Private fundraising is a major focus for charter school leaders. (Washington Post)

• In Forbes, Chancellor Joel Klein defends Gates-funded small schools against Diane Ravitch’s criticism.
• Ed Sec Margaret Spellings says Arne Duncan would make a good replacement. (Chicago Sun-Times)
• Some worry that budget cuts to after-school programs could leave kids alone and at risk. (AP)
• Former NYC schools head Ramon Cortines could become L.A.’s new superintendent. (L.A. Times)
• Sidwell Friends, where the Obama girls will go to school, has other famous parents. (Washington Post)
• Linda Darling-Hammond says her record is one of “real reform” in a letter to the Times.
• Alfie Kohn writes in favor of Darling-Hammond as education secretary in The Nation.