GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• Adding to issues, foreign language versions of this year’s state tests had many errors. (NY1, Daily News)
• Criticism of new Common Core standards as a federal intrusion into state matters is mounting. (WSJ)
• A judge extended a halt on the city’s plans to close Williamsburg Charter High School. (GothamSchools)
• A student wrongly accused of cyberbullying a teacher at John Bowne High School is suing. (Daily News)
• The city agreed to temporarily stop hiring in schools set for turnaround. (GothamSchools, SchoolBook)
• Joe Williams: The UFT-CSA lawsuit against the city’s turnaround plans strains logic. (Daily News)
• Connecticut’s school reform deal includes less than the governor wanted but still big changes. (WSJ)
• Los Angeles will now require all students to pass a college prep course before graduation. (L.A. Times)

• Dealing with NewsCorp’s phone-hacking scandal has pulled Joel Klein from his education job. (Times)
• The UFT and CSA sued the city over school “closures.” (GothamSchools, Daily News, Post, NY1, WSJ)
• P.S. 234′s kindergarten wait list cleared already after the school added another class. (Tribeca Trib)
• Educators at the seven Queens schools set for turnaround fear some programs could die. (Daily News)
• Queens’ J.H.S. 157 students got a science lesson while designing the school’s new playground. (Times)
• The Baccalaureate School for Global Studies is the top city school in U.S. News’ rankings. (Daily News)
• A deal on school reform in Connecticut includes tenure changes and aid for charter schools. (The Day)

• Advanced Placement courses, once just  for top students, are a key strategy for schools to add rigor. (AP)
• Aaron Academy, a school for students with special needs, includes sex ed as part of its mission. (NY1)
• Michael Winerip: UMass students are resisting a new trend of outsourcing teacher training. (Times)
• One city charter school has students counting the words they read in a gap-closing bid. (GothamSchools)
• The principal of Manhattan’s Museum School is under investigation for being frequently absent. (Post)
• Brooklyn’s Packer Collegiate School is struggling as its identity evolves and profile strengthens. (Times)
• Charles Blow starts Teacher Appreciation Week by lauding his mom and the teaching profession. (Times)
• California is issuing pink slips to teachers for the fourth straight year, but fewer are actually laid off. (AP)

Last week on GothamSchools:

• Early childhood advocates are unhappy about the city’s step forward in an overhaul process. (Friday)
• M.S. 244 in the Bronx is winning accolades for its data-driven approach to helping students. (Thursday)
• Mayor Bloomberg’s budget proposal cuts after-school slots — and counts on added state aid. (Thursday)
• For the first time in years, Bloomberg’s budget would allow the city to hire new teachers. (Wednesday)
• A high-paying charter school attracted would-be teachers despite bumps in its early years. (Wednesday)
• The City Council grilled education officials over rising numbers of school referrals to EMS. (Tuesday)
• The U.S. Justice Department sued Princeton Review over fraudulent tutoring claims in the city. (Tuesday)
• Students and teachers at P.S. 261 highlighted what they could have done instead of testing. (Tuesday)
• Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the members of a promised education reform commission. (Monday)
• A self-critique by the city’s charter sector praised scores but found room for improvement. (Monday)
• Kenneth Cole said it would remove a controversial billboard days after we reported about it. (Monday)

• Students from Paul Robeson HS and other schools walked out in protest on May Day. (Amsterdam News)
• Mayor Bloomberg’s budget was good for teachers but bad for after-school. (GothamSchools, Times)
• Bloomberg said he did not think unions should get retroactive raises when they get new contracts. (Post)
• M.S. 244 is winning attention for applying a data-driven approach to students’ needs. (GothamSchools)
• Behind Philly’s school restructuring plan is a seemingly agenda-driven consulting group. (City Paper)
• More on the showdown over school space developing in Manhattan’s District 2. (GothamSchools, NY1)
• Teachers who were reassigned during a L.A. school’s sex scandal say they are depressed. (L.A. Times)
• Calling for school vouchers, N.J. Gov. Chris Christie said Republicans are leading ed reform. (ABC)

• Eva Moskowitz says she is considering running for mayor and will decide in the next month. (Times, Post)
• An internal DOE audit found many teachers teach fewer classes than the contractual minimum. (Post)
• Officials are investigating if an official at J.H.S. 226 told teachers to cheat on state tests. (Daily News)
• For the first time in four years, the city won’t cut teaching spots this fall. (GothamSchools, WSJ)
• The Young Women’s Leadership School of Astoria is on the way to going totally sugar-free. (Daily News)
• Bronx students desperate for school options sought spots in a charter transfer high school. (Daily News)

• Some educators continue to say that the city’s special education reforms are financially motivated. (Post)
• Federal prosecutors accused Princeton Review of fraud in New York City. (GothamSchools, Times, Post)
• Advocates say schools are calling 911 over discipline issues. (GothamSchools, Daily News, SchoolBook)
• Parents at P.S. 67 in the Bronx are not happy that a high school is coming to the building. (Daily News)
• Two Brooklyn parents describe their sons’ stress over state tests and call for change. (Daily News)
• State Senate Republicans voted at the last minute to send funds to GOP-controlled school districts. (Post)
• Michael Goodwin: The growing number of out-of-wedlock births is a big education problem. (Post)
• Phone companies are not complying with a mandate to cut prices for poor school districts. (ProPublica)
• Students in a Michigan town with many Muslim students threw an all-girl prom this year. (Times)
• Two dozen high-performing Los Angeles schools want to go charter to get more money. (L.A. Times)

• The city’s new social media rules for educators encourage them to avoid students’ profiles. (WSJ, Post)
• A group of advocates in District 9 in the Bronx say if the city won’t fix their district, they will. (Daily News)
• Charter schools say they are strong but have room to improve. (GothamSchools, Schoolbook, Post, NY1)
• Parents at two Bronx charter schools say their kindergartners got “psychiatric suspensions.” (Daily News)
• Gov. Cuomo announced members of a state education commission. (GothamSchools, SchoolBook, Post)
• Clothing line Kenneth Cole yanked a controversial education-related billboard. (GothamSchools, WSJ)
• Cafeteria trash disposal at P.S. 154 in Windsor Terrace is attracting hungry raccoons. (Brooklyn Paper)
• The city Conflict of Interests Board fined two principals for abuse of power. (Daily News, Post, GS Twitter)
• Two ex-teachers at a Queens high school are suing, saying the principal plays favorites. (Daily News)
• P.S. 68 in Ridgewood was evacuated after a real-looking toy bazooka was found. (Daily News, DNA Info)
• New Jersey could get a set of high school subject exams similar to New York’s Regents exams. (WSJ)

• UFT chief Michael Mulgrew signaled the union might not help with rehiring at turnaround schools. (NY1)
• Several turnaround schools had no teachers rates unsatisfactory in recent years, or just a handful. (Post)
• A for-profit education firm is seriously gouging some city charter schools on rent and facilities costs. (Post)
• The scheme used to boost attendance rates at the Shuang Wen School might not be rare. (DNAInfo)
• A handful of school administrators were demoted after being caught in affairs with colleagues. (Post)
• Mayor Bloomberg, again: Results of teacher evaluations shouldn’t go just to parents. (Daily News)
• Michael Winerip: Very little separates some A- and F-rated schools on the city’s progress reports. (Times)
• When families withdraw from private schools, the schools sometimes sue for the year’s tuition. (Times)
• Several issues are frustrating families as competition between public and private schools builds. (WSJ)
• As Common Core implementation advances nationally, criticism of it is growing louder. (USA Today)
• Gail Collins: The “Pineapple” test question epitomizes the ill-advised privatization of education. (Times)
• The Daily News frets that SUNY’s Board of Trustees might be turning against charter schools.
• The Post says Mayor Bloomberg’s latest bid to close 24 schools is a sign of strength, even if it wasn’t 33.
• The Washington Post asks why it took a hurricane to induce changes to New Orleans’ school system.
• A youth newspaper serving Los Angeles since the Rodney King riots is facing funding cuts. (L.A. Times)

• Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he would not support making teacher evaluations fully public. (Daily News)
• The PEP approved turnaround closures at 24 schools after a long hearing. (GothamSchools, Post, NY1)
• The city first withdrew closure plans for two schools. (GothamSchools, Times, WSJ, Daily News, NY1)
• Hugs are banned at Brooklyn Prospect Charter School; students have fretted for months. (Daily News)
• Legislation that would let New York City require kindergarten is now pending in Albany. (SchoolBook)
• Local Head Start programs remain worried about a federal plan to have them reapply for funding. (WSJ)
• An overcrowding task force in Manhattan says the DOE’s efforts are not enough. (Downtown Express)
• An arrested teacher’s aide was freed after being cleared of making lewd comments. (Daily News, NY1)
• A woman whose parents were city teachers targeted in the Red Scare is seeking records. (Daily News)
• An apprenticeship program that began in Boston is being replicated in city middle schools. (WNYC)

• This generation will be the first in many not to undergo much more schooling than its parents. (WSJ)
• Preparations are underway for tonight’s Panel for Educational Policy votes on turnaround. (NY1)
• We summed up turnaround’s past, present, and probable future in two parts. (GothamSchools 1, 2)
• Council speaker Christine Quinn was the latest official to support one of the schools. (GothamSchools)
• Principals union chief Ernest Logan says the city needs reforms beyond unwise closures. (Daily News)
• But Chancellor Dennis Walcott defends school closures, saying they induce improvement. (Daily News)
• Bedbugs are down in the city, but parents say they are all over East New York’s P.S. 224. (Daily News)
• Parents are giving three charter middle schools proposed for Queens a warm response. (Daily News)
• P.S. 24 is likely not to be able to accommodate all the gifted qualifiers in its district. (Riverdale Press)