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Remember that Red Hook high school that is not only getting shut down this year, but is closing immediately, without a phaseout — making it the first school in the city (at least that I know of) never to graduate a single student?

An Agnes Humphrey junior just wrote in with a description of what it feels like to have your school close around you:

Im a junior at this high school and i was P.O when i found out. we (the students) was notified about this about 2 or 3 weeks before high school applications where supposed to be sent in, that was back in december. a week before the deadlines, they told us that we had to pick schools to transfer to. most of the students here including myself have been here since pre-k even middle school we are not ready to transfer into a new big high school when we were so used to attending a small school setting. also since ive been here i have seen a GREAT turn around in students behaviors. its not that bad as it used to be. Its january now and were not hearing much word of what to do next…

Speaking of the average length of the school day, I took this picture at 3 o’clock on the dot, on 19th Street in Brooklyn.

 

Three boys leaving school in Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn, at 3pm on the dot.

In the spirit of transparency, here is this week’s Principals’ Weekly, the newsletter Chancellor Joel Klein sends to principals alerting them to policy updates every week.

In his opening note, Klein tells principals why he went to Washington, D.C., on Monday for the Education Equality Project. He said he’s “calling out for our nation’s attention”:

Addressing the achievement gap and helping our students graduate from our schools ready for college or work is not a frill or an extra; these steps are fundamental necessities.

Per request, I’m uploading the letters the KIPP charter school teachers in Brooklyn wrote explaining their decision to form a union. A tiny, wonderful detail enclosed within: In their organizing efforts they apparently used the e-mail address yeswecan.brooklynteachers@gmail.com.

Read the letters here (PDF). Here’s a visual for the PDF-shy of the e-mail the KIPP AMP teachers sent to other KIPP teachers in the city:

And the end of the e-mail, with that amazing gmail address they created:

Regarding this morning’s news, here’s the 11-page investigation, in PDF form.

Note: This post has been updated with a Scribd embed, rather than a Drop.io file, after the web site Drop.io closed.
Christopher Cerf Conflict of Interest Investigation

Principals’ Weekly is the newsletter that Chancellor Joel Klein sends to principals every week, to keep them in the loop on internal policy news and updates. (Here’s a workshop.) It used to be available online for the world to see. Then it disappeared. Only principals can access it on the Internet now.

But we have this week’s copy, and we’re uploading it. Click here to read the full newsletter, in Word document form, or look below the jump for a transcription. (more…)