GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

Students read books at the UFT Charter School, which narrowly escaped closure today. The struggling school will be allowed to stay open for at least another two years.

The UFT Charter School received a two-year lifeline today, thanks in part to a city policy that the teachers union has opposed in the past.

The Department of Education’s proposal to move the school’s struggling middle grades under the same roof as the elementary school next year was an important reason that authorizers voted to renew the school’s charter for two more years, state officials said today. The school now faces an automatic “death penalty” in 2015 if academic performance doesn’t improve.

“I don’t want to have another round of this,” said Joseph Belluck, chairman of SUNY’s Charter Schools Committee. “Now is their time to show they can do this.” (more…)

Senators and Bloomberg administration officials met last night and this morning to resuscitate the mayoral control negotiations that collapsed last week.

Democratic conference leader John Sampson and senators Shirley Huntley and Martin Dilan met with advocacy groups and City Hall officials last night to restart negotiations, according to Senator Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn). And early this morning, members of Sampson’s staff met with deputy schools chancellor Christopher Cerf, according to a source close to the discussions. Cerf did not return requests for comment late this afternoon.

“There was a meeting held today with the mayor’s office that we believe went extremely well,” the source said.

“There was no agreement, but they’re moving forward. We’re hopeful that we’ll have something in the upcoming days.”

Sources said that Bloomberg did not attend either of the meetings. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office declined to comment on the negotiations.

Adams said he had “no idea,” whether the school governance fight would be resolved before the Fall. “We’re not scheduled to go back up to Albany until it’s time to deal with the deficit,” he said. “So I don’t know if we’re going to make a special trip.” (more…)