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Classes will start a day later than planned in September so that teachers have more time to plan how to bring new curriculum standards into their classrooms.

The city’s school schedule had teachers reporting for duty Sept. 6, the day after Labor Day, and students were scheduled to arrive the following morning. Now, students will stay home an extra day while their teachers undergo training in the “common core” curriculum standards being rolled out citywide. The first day of school for students will be Thursday, Sept. 8.

The surprise one-day extension of summer break is the result of an agreement among the city, teachers union, and principals union. Chancellor Dennis Walcott, UFT President Michael Mulgrew, and principals union president Ernest Logan are sending a letter to families today explaining the change.

“While in many classrooms this work is already underway, next year teachers will challenge all of our students to think critically, to read and understand more difficult texts, to do more writing, and to apply the math they are learning in the real world,” the letter reads. “We have heard again and again from principals and teachers that they need more time to plan for this important new instructional work.”

The agreement to change the schedule at a time when the city and teachers union are feuding on several fronts, including over school closures and planned layoffs, signals that there is, as Walcott has said, “energy” behind the new standards. (more…)

Teachers and administrators earned $33 million in performance bonuses this year, 65 percent more than they took home last year, despite the school system’s shrinking budget.

The $33 million, which came from public coffers for the first time this year, was also significantly more than the Department of Education had set aside for the bonuses. Spokeswoman Ann Forte said the department had budgeted just a little more than it spent last year on the bonuses, about $20 million. To cover the $13 million difference, “we’ve found savings in central,” Forte said, referring to the department’s central administration. She did not identify where the savings came from.

The performance bonuses were handed out based on how schools did on their progress reports, the vast majority of which showed improvement this year. Forte said the city is likely to award less money next year, when the bonus trial extends into a third year, because it will be harder for schools to get high progress report scores.

Two years ago, the city made a deal with the teachers union to try the bonuses on a temporary basis, with taxpayer money funding one year of the program. Now that the two-year trial is over, Forte said the city anticipates maintaining the program next year and has had “discussions” with the UFT about doing so, also using taxpayer money. (more…)