Chalkbeat

NYC school board rejects $1.65 million tech deal in early setback for Mamdani

2026-08-28T21:14:19+00:00

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New York City’s school board failed to approve a technology contract advanced by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration this week, a month after Mamdani’s slate of board members began their terms.

The $1.65 million contract would allow the Education Department to continue using Oracle software that supports “mission critical” functions including an HR help center serving more than 150,000 employees and an enrollment support center fielding roughly 1,000 calls a day about issues ranging from student transportation to special education, officials said. Losing access to the software could result in lost data and prevent families from accessing enrollment information online, a department spokesperson added.

But after fierce pushback against Oracle and its co-founder Larry Ellison during the board’s public comment period, including over the company’s investment in artificial intelligence, city officials could not muster the votes to approve the contract.

Two mayoral appointees to the Panel for Educational Policy, as the board is known, abstained from the vote. Three other mayoral appointees did not attend the meeting. The contract failed with nine votes in favor, six opposed, and two abstentions, falling four votes short of the 13 needed to pass.

Shortly before the vote, Deputy Chancellor Lindsay Oates, who oversees human resources, urged the board to approve the contract. She argued that the Education Department relies on Oracle for HR systems that are essential as the city welcomes thousands of new hires to the nation’s largest school system.

“Many of them are coming in and calling the call center with questions about their benefits,” she said. “We are worried about the disruption of service if this contract is tabled.”

Education Department officials said the service would run through September. They did not elaborate on whether they have backup plans to avoid disruptions.

The contract represents a small part of the roughly $13 billion the Education Department spends on outside vendors. But the administration’s inability to secure enough votes for the deal suggests the board may not be a rubber stamp for the Mamdani administration’s agenda. Under previous administrations, the board has generally voted in line with the administration’s proposals, with some notable exceptions.

The vote also suggests that growing pressure on the panel to scrutinize AI and technology contracts could complicate efforts to continue using existing education technology or adopt new tools. Education Department officials have promised to release new guidelines for artificial intelligence and technology before the first day of school on Sept. 10.

In the run-up to the vote, several educators and other tech skeptics criticized the Oracle contract and Ellison, who has embraced AI and supported Donald Trump’s 2024 election bid.

Liat Olenick, a parent, educator, and climate activist, said she worried about the company’s environmental footprint connected to growing AI use. Though the city’s contract with Oracle indicates it would not include student- or teacher-facing AI products, Olenick wondered if there might be other AI applications embedded in it.

“Will Oracle services include AI use by administrators?” she asked before the vote. “Is it necessary to contract with a company that’s fueling the climate crisis and putting New York City students’ health and futures at risk?”

An Education Department spokesperson said there is “no AI use associated with this contract.” Reps for Oracle did not respond to a request for comment.

Others raised concerns about how Oracle would protect sensitive data, including names, addresses, and Social Security numbers. Education Department officials implemented Oracle’s cloud software service “as a proactive measure to safeguard this information,” rather than relying on email, according to contract documents.

One board member said she was reluctant to vote against the contract in part because Education Department contract documents say Oracle would be required to delete the department’s data from its systems within 90 days of the contract’s expiration.

Raysa Rodriguez, whom Mamdani appointed last month, said she took concerns about Oracle “very seriously” but felt it would be riskier to let the contract lapse. She said a new agreement would “further protect the data that we have.”

The two mayoral appointees who abstained, Crystal Vera-Montalvo and Karla Cordero, did not respond to requests for comment. Primo Lasana, another mayoral appointee, said he wished the contract had been tabled until a future meeting so the board could consider it more carefully. He ultimately voted in favor.

Some panel members elected by parent leaders said they voted against the contract because they believed the city should control its sensitive technology systems.

“The staff that manages it should be public servants,” said panel member Naveed Hasan.

Panel chair Greg Faulkner, whose term ends in September, said in an interview that he was frustrated by the vote and worried the Education Department would be forced to scramble to fix its HR systems. But he acknowledged that panel members are feeling pressure to be cautious around tech contracts.

“Anything we do with technology gets scrutinized,” Faulkner said.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC schools head toward first day without gradebooks and other software amid tech freeze

2026-08-26T20:27:04+00:00

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After intense backlash to its initial artificial intelligence policy, New York City’s Education Department ordered principals last month to halt software purchases while officials develop new guidelines.

But the city has yet to release a new policy or lift the purchasing freeze despite the approaching Sept. 10 start of school. Principals are increasingly worried they won’t have access to key software programs — including electronic gradebooks and platforms teachers use to communicate with families — for the first day.

Four public school administrators, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid reprisal, said they have been unable to make routine software purchases, even for programs they’ve used for years that do not rely on AI.

“Two weeks before the start of school, we’re not sure what we’re going to be allowed to have and not allowed to have,” said one Brooklyn high school principal. “It’s a huge pain.”

Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels announced the moratorium on software purchases in early July to give the city time to develop a stronger AI policy. An initial set of guidelines released in March ignited fierce pushback from families who said it did not do enough to limit AI, especially for young children.

Samuels later acknowledged the policy “missed the mark” and indicated the final guidance would include clearer limits. An Education Department spokesperson did not respond to questions for this story, including about when the guidance will be released or when software purchases may resume.

That uncertainty is causing headaches for school leaders, who often use basic education software tools that require annual purchase orders.

School leaders said they have been unable to renew subscriptions to digital hall passes or electronic gradebooks, raising fears the programs will not be available for students’ return.

Another administrator was unable to order software programs designed to help students who need more support in reading and math, including i-Ready, a major tech platform. Separately, the Education Department provides schools with access to i-Ready for required student assessments.

“I’m concerned about the operation of the school,” a second high school principal said.

Samuels initially suggested that software tools required for “mandated services or school opening needs” would be exempt from the pause, though multiple principals said they have not yet heard back about their requests to buy software during the freeze.

Some experts said the city has good reasons to be cautious about pressing ahead with education software tools, given concerns around student privacy, data breaches, and the proliferation of AI tools and chatbots added to products that schools have long used.

But Tom Liam Lynch, an expert who previously worked on education technology for the Education Department, said the city is behind the curve in developing a clear digital learning strategy.

“It’s really late in the game for the city to be figuring this out,” he said, noting the school system has struggled to adapt to AI.

He said that there are risks to releasing guidance so close to the start of the school. Principals typically plan well in advance of September and the last-minute technology policy could upend choices schools have already made about how to support teachers and students.

“Schools are unfortunately going to be in a position where they have to scramble with this,” he said. “That doesn’t lead to what you really want when it comes to quality pedagogy.”

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC paraprofessionals’ $10,000 pay bump becomes law as City Hall vows a legal challenge

2026-08-19T19:41:35+00:00

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A bill guaranteeing paraprofessionals a one-time $10,000 pay bump became law automatically on Wednesday after Mayor Zohran Mamdani declined to sign or veto it.

But within hours, City Hall announced plans to file a legal challenge, arguing the legislation improperly sidesteps the collective bargaining process.

The confrontation puts Mamdani in an awkward position because he supported similar legislation to boost paraprofessionals’ pay during his campaign, which focused on affordability issues. At the same time, allowing the legislation to stand could weaken City Hall’s power to manage labor costs if other unions began clamoring for legislation mandating pay raises.

Paraprofessionals, school aides who typically support students with disabilities, are among the lowest-paid employees of the city’s public school system with starting annual salaries of roughly $33,000. The $10,000 pay bump — known as the “respect” check — passed without a single dissenting vote in City Council last month.

Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, vowed an “all-out war” if the mayor tried to derail the bill and has argued it is consistent with state law.

“We are prepared to engage in a legal fight for the RESPECT check and the paraprofessionals who keep our schools running,” union officials wrote in an email to members on Wednesday.

City Hall spokesperson Matt Rauschenbach acknowledged that paraprofessionals are “indispensable” and “they have not been fairly compensated for their essential work.”

But Rauschenbach said in a statement that legislation sets a “dangerous precedent” and allows “politicians to bypass workers and their unions and dictate the terms of employment themselves.” He added: “The City is filing a lawsuit to protect the right of every union to negotiate on behalf of its members.”

City lawmakers swiftly criticized the administration’s lawsuit against the council.

“The Respect Check passed the Council by a vote of 49 to 0 because members across every borough and every political perspective agreed these workers deserve better,” Eric Dinowitz, chair of the council’s education committee, said in a statement. “Rather than build on this consensus, the administration has chosen to sue the body fighting for our paraprofessionals.”

City Council estimates the total cost of the $10,000 payments, issued in four installments between January and August 2027, will be about $325 million. Roughly 25,000 paraprofessionals are eligible in addition to substitute paraprofessionals, whose pay bumps will be prorated based on the number of days they work.

The union argues the pay increases are essential to begin addressing a shortage of roughly 1,600 paraprofessionals. Those vacancies can have severe consequences for students with disabilities, some of whom are not able to ride school buses without an aide.

The legislation has strong support from many paraprofessionals who say they deserve wages that reflect their importance to the school system and must work second or third jobs to make ends meet.

Undrea Polite, who has worked as a paraprofessional for 30 years, said she was disappointed that the city is fighting the pay bumps in court. She said she planned to use the money to help equip her sister’s house with a ramp so her elderly mother could get in and out more easily.

“I am so sad that the city is choosing to fight us — and fight some of the most underpaid, dedicated workers that they have,” she said.

Yet others argue the one-time payments aren’t a long-term fix and are frustrated the pay bumps won’t count toward their pensions.

“I’m all for getting more money but this does not solve the problem,” said Marie Wausnock, a union executive board member who co-founded a slate called Fix Para Pay, which largely opposes Mulgrew’s Unity Caucus. “The paras are pawns in this political game.”

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC teachers were promised $8,500 bonuses for large class sizes. The details are murky.

2026-08-18T19:03:17+00:00

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When Mayor Zohran Mamdani secured a two-year delay in fully complying with the state’s class size law, the teachers union won a concession: Educators could receive pay bumps of up to $8,500 if their classes exceeded the caps.

But more than two months after the union announced the bonuses — and with the first day of class less than a month away — it remains unclear which teachers will receive them.

Teachers may be eligible for extra pay if their classrooms are exempt from the law because their building doesn’t have enough space or if their school can’t hire enough educators to staff smaller classes. But not every teacher in an exempt classroom will get a bonus, according to the union. The Education Department declined to explain how bonuses will be awarded or how much money has been budgeted for the payments.

Union officials contend the payments create a powerful “accountability incentive.” The possibility of doling out big pay bumps could push the city to shrink class sizes rather than seek exemptions from the law, which generally require union approval. Last school year, the city relied on thousands of exemptions to comply with the law, which generally caps class sizes at 20 to 25 students depending on the grade level.

But experts and advocates said the bonuses could disproportionately flow to teachers at more affluent schools, where classrooms tend to be more crowded. They worry that could exacerbate turnover at high-poverty schools by adding a financial incentive to move to a lower-poverty one.

“I wish they were using strategic compensation to do the opposite: to try to retain teachers in our lowest performing, traditionally hardest-to-staff schools,” said Evan Stone, CEO of Educators for Excellence, a teacher advocacy group that has raised equity concerns about the class size law. “The priority is about pressure to meet class size.”

Dan Goldhaber, a teacher labor market expert at the University of Washington, said pay differentials can help with retention. The city could strategically deploy them to the most effective teachers who wind up teaching larger class sizes in a bid to keep them in the system, he noted.

But the ambiguity about which teachers will ultimately get pay bumps could dampen the effect on retention, he said. There is no guarantee that teachers who receive the bonus this coming school year will get it again the following year when the value rises to $9,500. It’s unclear if the pay bumps, which count toward educators’ pensions, will continue after that.

“The effect would be a lot larger if it’s really clear what are the parameters of the program going forward,” Goldhaber said. “That is, I think, an example of a real missed opportunity.”

Education Department officials are expected to hash out which classrooms will be exempt from the law by November, which means teachers won’t know whether they will receive a bonus until the school year is underway. This coming school year, the law requires 70% of the city’s classrooms to comply with the class size caps or win an exemption, which are subject to approval from the Education Department and unions representing teachers and principals.

The city’s Independent Budget Office estimated that at least 2,463 general education teachers could be eligible for the bonuses based on last year’s exemptions. If all of those teachers receive the full $8,500, the pay bumps could cost roughly $21 million in the first year.

United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew recently told Chalkbeat that the union is still hashing out details about the pay bumps. He declined to address concerns about whether teachers at more affluent schools will disproportionately benefit.

“We’re working through it right now, so we will let you know as soon as we are there,” he said. Union officials have previously suggested that higher-need schools would be “addressed first.”

Some teachers have expressed mixed feelings about the pay bumps. Robert Effinger, the union chapter leader at the Bronx High School of Business, said he is already trying to manage teachers’ expectations about them.

Most of the teachers who are aware of the bonuses have assumed they will be eligible for them, he said. “I have to patiently explain to them that it’s not that simple.”

One of Effinger’s social studies classes last year had 34 students — the current limit under the teachers’ contract — which generates significantly more grading and administrative tasks. His classroom is so crammed that he doesn’t have space for students to do group work or other activities, he said.

Effinger said he would rather teach classes of no more than 25 students than win a pay bump.

“The money is not going to make up for all the amount of work,” he said.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC delays school AI guidance after backlash

2026-06-24T22:39:22+00:00

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New York City education officials are hitting pause on releasing comprehensive artificial intelligence guidelines after their draft policy from March sparked fierce backlash.

Officials initially said their final guidance would be released in June, but backed away from that timeline during a Wednesday City Council hearing focused on AI in schools. Instead, the policy guidance will be released sometime this summer, First Deputy Chancellor Danielle Giunta said.

Giunta said the “shifting national conversation, which has really escalated over just the last couple of weeks alone” was one reason for the delay, along with nearly 6,500 comments responding to the March draft. Officials have not released those responses but told City Council members they would do so.

Worries about AI — and education technology in schools more broadly — have increased in recent months. More than half of City Council members signed a letter urging Mayor Zohran Mamdani and schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels to pause AI use in schools citing concerns about learning and mental health. A broader petition seeking a moratorium on generative AI use in city schools has received thousands of signatures.

The Education Department’s draft policy used a traffic light framework that spelled out various uses of AI and their risk levels. Assessments and grading are not allowed, for instance, but brainstorming lesson plans gets a green light. Student AI use was largely left out, even though it’s one of the most pressing issues schools face. In response to the draft policy, parents packed public meetings and largely criticized the approach.

Samuels, who did not attend Wednesday’s hearing, recently said that the Education Department’s draft policy “missed the mark” that AI “is the most invasive technology that we’ve seen.” He suggested the final guidance would have stricter limits for the city’s youngest students.

Giunta said Wednesday that the city is considering different expectations based on age and grade level and thinking about how to prepare older students “for a world in which AI is already present without allowing AI to replace their own thinking.”

City Council members repeatedly pressed Education Department officials about the extent to which AI tools are already used in classrooms and indicated families should have a greater say over how their children are exposed to it.

“There are huge gaps in our understanding of how the technology is being deployed and when,” said Manhattan council member Carmen De La Rosa, who chairs the technology committee. “We do need the time to be able to wrap our arms around what is happening in our classrooms.”

Education officials said they are working with superintendents and principals to develop a more comprehensive sense of what tools schools are already using.

The Education Department’s stance on AI has whipsawed in recent years. When ChatGPT gained widespread use, city officials blocked its use in schools in 2023. Three months later, they rescinded the ban.

Former schools Chancellor David Banks grew increasingly warm to the technology, saying “AI can revolutionize how we function as a school system” and could be used for everything from college advising to assessing student work. But he never released a clear policy, leaving that task to Mamdani and Samuels to complete. Meanwhile, schools have been left to devise their own approaches.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Samuels turns to local communities for advice on making NYC schools safe, rigorous, and integrated

2026-06-17T20:47:28+00:00

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Since taking office in January, schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels has repeated a refrain that he wants the nation’s largest school system to be safe, academically rigorous, and integrated.

But he has revealed little about his tangible policy goals in each of those areas. Now, he’s signaling that some of those ideas may come from local communities rather than top-down from the Education Department or City Hall.

On Wednesday, education officials announced that five of the city’s 45 superintendents will convene working groups with parents, teachers, principals, and community organizations that will “address structural and instructional inequities in their district,” according to a press release. They are expected to meet monthly.

The groups represent “local solutions for systemic problems,” Samuels said Wednesday morning during a discussion with author Heather McGhee who has written about how racism has broader effects beyond people of color. Officials said all districts will have similar groups within three years.

Samuels suggested that the groups, which will be led by local superintendents, could begin to tackle some of the system’s biggest policy challenges. His conversation with McGhee touched on declining enrollment and the growing number of underenrolled schools; a state mandate to lower class sizes; and segregation of students by race, ability, socioeconomic status, and language.

Officials did not share who was selected by superintendents to serve on each working group, or commit to release each group’s recommendations publicly.

Previous administrations have also set up working groups to tackle thorny policy problems.

Under pressure from parents and advocates to address deep racial segregation in the city’s schools, former Mayor Bill de Blasio created a working group to recommend solutions. Some advocates were frustrated that the city did not embrace some of the group’s most sweeping suggestions. Still, some local districts have taken action to integrate local schools absent a broader citywide mandate, though others have sputtered. (Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that he would adopt some of the recommendations from de Blasio’s diversity advisory group that were not implemented, but he has yet to do so.)

On the campaign trail, Mamdani committed to getting rid of mayoral control — which gives the mayor largely unfettered power to set the school system’s policy direction — in favor of a more democratic system. He reversed his position just before taking office and recently won a two-year extension for it from state lawmakers.

But he has consistently vowed to give families and educators more of a say in policymaking and Samuels signaled the working groups were an effort to make good on that promise.

“When people ask me … ‘You have mayoral control, and are you going to really listen to parents, and are you going to listen to communities?’” Samuels said, “this is one of our main initial first steps.”

The first five districts that will participate are: Manhattan District 3 (Upper West Side, Morningside Heights, and parts of Harlem); Bronx District 7 (Mott Haven and Port Morris); Brooklyn District 13 (Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill); Brooklyn’s District 16 (much of Bedford-Stuyvesant); and Queens District 25 (College Point, Whitestone, Hillcrest). Samuels previously led District 3 and 13.

The Wednesday morning event was livestreamed but the Education Department did not invite reporters to attend. Education Department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein said members of the working groups were invited and there wasn’t additional room due to the fire code.

The five working groups are expected to share their recommendations with the Education Department by the end of next school year, Brownstein said.

She indicated those reports could take multiple forms and officials plan to wait to release broader policy ideas until they review the recommendations. No funding has been earmarked for the working groups, officials said.

“We have to figure out what is the thing that we are going to do on behalf of our most marginalized young people, oftentimes, but on behalf of every single child in your district,” Samuels said.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

5 new public schools opening this fall in the Bronx and Queens

2026-05-05T14:14:39+00:00

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Five new schools are expected to open this fall in the Bronx and Queens: Two will exclusively serve students with significant disabilities, three will have an arts focus, and all promise to incorporate project-based learning.

The new schools aim to ease overcrowding in neighborhoods that have historically been bursting at the seams, city officials said. They also are geared to expand access to seats in District 75, a network of public schools for students with significant disabilities, so students don’t have to travel as far to school.

“Our new schools reflect a bold commitment to expanding access to high-quality, rigorous learning experiences for every student, in every neighborhood,” schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said in a statement on Thursday.

Several of the new schools have been in the works for a while, but the move to open new campuses comes at a time when the nation’s largest school system is getting smaller, and the city is increasingly eyeing school mergers as it grapples with enrollment losses. There were roughly 793,000 K-12 students, according to preliminary data for this school year. That’s down about 15% from the 2019-20 school year, when the city served about 912,815 students.

The city opened seven new schools this year and nine new schools the year before. The city recently nixed plans to open New Generation Technology High School, a proposed selective school with an AI focus after community members pushed back on its admissions process and raised concerns about AI use in the classroom.

Here’s a look at the schools expected to open in September:

Academy of Cultural Excellence

Long Island City, Queens

The school, which will serve prekindergarten to fifth grade, aims to foster “confident, curious, and compassionate learners,” according to its website. It will embrace project-based learning and the arts, city officials said. Starting in third grade, students will “co-design an individualized learning pathway, allowing them to pursue areas of interest while maintaining strong academic foundations,” said a blurb on MySchools.

The school will not be zoned, according to MySchools. But students from the nearby P.S./I.S. 78, which had a waitlist last year for students in its zone, will get priority.

The school is in District 30, which has long been overcrowded and is one of the few districts where enrollment has been growing. The district is also home to the largest number of new apartments constructed in the past year — more than 2,470 — according to 2026 data from the New York City School Construction Authority. Yet, city officials expect enrollment to decline in the district, along with most others, over the next decade.

Bronx School of Arts & Exploration

Highbridge/South Crotona, Bronx

This District 75 school, for students in grades K-8, will have an arts focus, integrating core academics with visual and performing arts. It will also employ project-based learning and performance-based assessments, school officials said.

The Bronx School of Hip-Hop

Claremont, Bronx

Students at this 9-12 school will study hip-hop — emceeing, DJing, and graffiti — in the borough that birthed the art form. The school will also teach entrepreneurship and civic engagement through music while creating pathways to college, internships, and careers for students, school officials previously said.

“It’s about keeping the Bronx at the center of a culture we gave to the world,” Carl Manalo, the high school superintendent for Districts 7, 9, and 12, said when the city approved the school in December.

Each classroom will operate like a studio, according to the school’s MySchools page, with units culminating in showcases for students’ original work.

Admissions are based on what’s known as “Ed. Opt,” where a certain number of students performing at “high, medium, and low” academic levels are accepted.

Queens Academy for Innovative Learning

Astoria, Queens

Students from grades 6-12 at this District 75 schools will focus on STEM and work-based learning to help prepare them for jobs after high school.

West Q Elementary (P.S. 437)

Woodside, Queens

This new elementary school in Queens’ District 24 will seek to blend math and literacy instruction with more hands-on projects. According to its MySchools page, each grade in the K-5 school will take on a “signature project that connects classroom learning to real-world experiences.” District 24 has roughly 1,300 open seats across its middle and elementary schools, but roughly a third of its 83 school buildings were listed as overcrowded last year, according to city data. The district is also projected to lose among the most students of any district in the next decade, according to the city’s predictions.

West Q will not be zoned, but will give priority to students who live in the district, according to its MySchools page.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

State audit slams NYC schools for lack of student data privacy oversight

2026-05-04T20:52:34+00:00

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From student addresses to bus routes, New York City public schools collect and manage large amounts of sensitive personal information on its nearly 900,000 students.

But a new audit released Monday found that the nation’s largest school system “does not have a clear understanding” of the data it collects or the risks it faces. There are major gaps in state-required data security policies and weaknesses in how student information is tracked, secured, and managed, the audit of the city’s student data and privacy operations by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli showed.

The report — which spans from 2020 to 2025, and covers five different chancellors — also cites multiple security breaches of data stored in third-party products used by schools. Upon examining those breaches, auditors found that the Education Department does not maintain a complete inventory of software used across schools.

The findings come at a critical moment for city schools: The Education Department’s recently released framework for AI could potentially open the floodgates to schools using more tech in day-to-day operations from lesson planning to translating materials for bilingual learners.

While auditors did not find a direct violation of the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which would require reporting a breach to the federal government, the state said the gaps in data policy and process could put the district at risk of noncompliance.

“Protecting the privacy and security of student data is of the utmost importance to NYCPS,” Kevin Moran, deputy chancellor of school operations wrote to DiNapoli in response to the audit. “In the past year alone, NYCPS has made several improvements to its privacy practices and policies.”

The city, for instance, has made a new student privacy webpage to inform families of their privacy rights, and it convened a data privacy working group of school leaders, parents, advocates, and industry experts. And while the city accepted most of the comptroller’s recommendations, saying on Monday that it “will continue strengthening policies, oversight, and training to ensure student information is protected across our schools,” it also took issue with some of the state’s findings.

Data breaches show lack of central oversight, auditors say

New York City’s schools system has fallen victim to a few high-profile cyberattacks in recent years, including a security breach that occurred in Illuminate, a platform used for online grading that affected the personal information of about 820,000 current and former students in the 2021-22 school year. In a 2024 data breach of PowerSchool, a school records program, hackers accessed students’ names and dates of birth. The city’s Education Department did not know about the breach until January 2025, according to the audit.

Affecting over 3,000 students and 317 staffers, the PowerSchool incident revealed that the Education Department has no centralized tracking system for what programs each school uses, auditors said. City officials had to reach out to schools individually to find out which had been affected. Education officials ultimately confirmed that four schools had been part of the breach.

In all, the audit identified 141 data security incidents involving breaches of student and staff information from both third-party vendors or internal Education Department systems between January 2023 to February 2025.

“New York City Public Schools does not have a clear understanding of what third party actually has access to the students’ information,” said Tina Kim, head of the comptroller’s state government accountability division. “If there is a breach at one of these different vendors, they don’t know who to notify, or what school to go to.”

The audit also surveyed whether individual New York City public schools use other electronic reporting systems than the two known central ones (Automate The Schools and STARS). Of the 528 schools that responded, 218 said they used at least 70 different applications, “reflecting decentralized and uncoordinated application usage,” according to the report.

Community members calling for a moratorium on AI voiced concerns about schools’ increasing use of third-party tech programs during last week’s contentious Panel for Educational Policy meeting. Many said they’re concerned that the Education Department doesn’t have sufficient oversight of school educational technology products.

The comptroller’s report “confirms what many NYC advocates have long known,” Leonie Haimson, the executive director for Class Size Matters and a long-time advocate for stricter school privacy controls, said in a statement. “The privacy policies and practices of the NYC Dept. of Education are sloppy, irresponsible and show a lack of concern for keeping students’ personal information safe from breach and misuse.”

She criticized the city’s new AI framework, “given how these tools represent an even greater risk to student privacy and safety.”

In response to the audit’s findings, the Education Department agreed to update its data classification policy and create a process for tracking school-level technology program usage.

But school officials took issue with the audit’s claim that the city “lacks centralized oversight,” saying that schools use a centralized process to vet third-party vendors to ensure only approved products are used.

Auditors, however, said approval through the city’s vendor vetting process isn’t the issue. Even with the current vetting process, the Education Department doesn’t know which individual schools are using which systems and whether those systems contain sensitive student data.

Incomplete staff training and reporting delays highlight compliance failures

The audit also found roughly 25% of the Education Department — nearly 43,000 employees — did not complete annual data privacy training. State rules require the training to ensure the protection of student data. Auditors said the district does not have a system to confirm whether untrained employees can still access sensitive data.

Education Department officials said they would explore ways to increase completion rates but argued that tracking only staff with access to sensitive data is administratively complex.

Nearly half of data incidents were reported to the state Education Department later than the 10 days allotted, and families were notified later than the 60 days deadline in about 11% of cases. The city said these delays came from time-consuming third-party investigations but vowed to improve timeliness. The state comptroller called the delays “unacceptable” and said the Education Department rejected suggested changes to its internal audit process.

Panel for Educational Policy member Naveed Hasan said the findings in the comptroller’s report were “not at all surprising” and that the city lacks staffing and resources to address data privacy issues.

“My ongoing policy recommendation is to reconsider the outsourcing of what should be in-house technology implementation by NYC,” said Hasan, who supports a two-year moratorium on AI use. “We should be building and maintaining infrastructure to better address data security and privacy before they become breaches.”

The state comptroller’s office said they will conduct a follow-up audit of the city’s progress after one year.

Correction: May 5, 2026: This story initially stated that NYC schools collect and manage students’ Social Security numbers. Schools do not collect or manage those numbers.

Lizzie Walsh is a Data Fellow at Chalkbeat New York. She reports on New York City education and produces data-driven stories across Chalkbeat’s national network. Contact her at ewalsh@chalkbeat.org.

Where is NYC’s 2026-27 public school calendar? Kamar Samuels says it’s coming next week.

2026-04-16T17:26:37+00:00

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New York City public school parents and educators eagerly awaiting to know next year’s first day of school will likely get the answer soon: Chancellor Kamar Samuels expects the school calendar to drop next week.

“Everybody wants to know: When will the school calendar be released?” Randi Garay, the co-chair of the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council, pressed Samuels Thursday morning.

Samuels responded: “Feel confident saying by the end of next week.”

Families and staff have yet to receive confirmation about the first day of the 2026-27 school year and the timing of holidays, making it difficult to plan summer camps or make child care arrangements. But most are expecting a late start to the school year.

The first day of school for students is typically the Thursday after Labor Day, which falls on Sept. 10 this year. It’s on the later side since Sept. 1 is on a Tuesday, and it could mean many families will struggle with the longer stretch of post-Labor Day child care.

This year’s calendar might bring other quirks that have made planning especially difficult for next school year. Students are unlikely to get off this year for the Jewish new year of Rosh Hashanah, which falls on the weekend of Sept. 11, just after the start of school. But they will likely have off on Sept. 21 for Yom Kippur, just after what is expected to be the first full week of the school year.

The trickiest thing is that Easter and Passover are far apart in 2027, with Easter Sunday on March 28 and the first night of Passover on April 21.

When these holidays were spread out in the 2023-24 school year, the Education Department ended up going back to the drawing board after releasing a calendar that sparked backlash. After giving Good Friday off, the city added a day after Easter Sunday. And after giving schools a weeklong spring break that coincided with most of Passover, the city ended up adding two more days for the last two days for the eight-day holiday.

The timing of the school calendar’s release has varied widely over the past decade. Officials have often released it in March or April. In recent years, the calendar has come as late as the end of May, prompting loud complaints. Many other school districts, including Newark, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, have already published their 2026-27 calendars.

The city recently experimented with releasing multiple years of calendars at once — after the teachers union fought for that. Samuels, however, said the city will only release one year at time, at least for now.

“The calendar is coming out right on time,” Education Department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein wrote in an email. She called the prior decision to release multiple years at once “an anomaly.”

Many observers will be watching closely to see how many days of class students will have.

Under state rules, the city must offer 180 days of learning. This year, the city is on track to have only 175 days of instruction after the state gave the city permission to cancel a day of school due to a snowstorm on top of having four teacher professional development days that counted toward the state’s limit, as the rules allow. (Before Mayor Zohran Mamdani reinstated a snow day this year, the city’s post-pandemic approach during storms has been to pivot to virtual learning rather than canceling class.)

In general, New York City students have fewer hours of instruction than average, largely because the 6 hour and 20 minute school day is shorter than what many other districts offer.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy atazimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Former NYC schools Chancellor Meisha Porter again a finalist to lead Chicago schools

2026-03-13T17:39:37+00:00

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Former New York City schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter is once again a finalist for the top job in Chicago’s public school system, the school board announced Friday.

Chalkbeat first reported that Porter, who served as chancellor at the tail end of former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, was a finalist for the Chicago job in November, but the process was bogged down by in-fighting for several months.

At the same time, Porter was also reportedly among the top contenders for schools chancellor under Mayor Zohran Mamdani, but the job ultimately went to Manhattan superintendent Kamar Samuels.

The other finalists for the Chicago job are interim CEO Macquline King and Sito Narcisse, a former superintendent of East Baton Rouge Parish schools in Louisiana, and chief of secondary schools in Washington, D.C., the school board said.

During Porter’s short tenure as chancellor, which started in early 2021 while the COVID pandemic was in full swing and ended when Mayor Eric Adams took office in January, 2022, she was seen as a steady hand who had the respect of district and school staffers. Porter, who rose from teacher to principal to superintendent in the Bronx, also oversaw the introduction of a long-promised plan to phase out separate gifted and talented classes, which have long been starkly segregated. (The plan was swiftly overturned by Adams.)

After she left the school system, Porter took over as CEO of the Bronx Community Foundation, an organization charged with distributing philanthropic donations to needy local organizations. But the foundation was in turmoil during her tenure and failed to distribute most of its donations, according to reporting from New York Focus. Porter was fired by the organization’s board in 2024.

She has served as a visiting fellow at the Center for Educational Innovation since 2024, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Porter didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

NYC reverses Upper West Side middle school closure after mom’s viral racist remark sparks outcry

2026-03-03T12:56:25+00:00

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New York City education officials have reversed plans to close an Upper West Side middle school after a mom’s racist comment during a public meeting thrust the school into the national spotlight.

Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels wrote in a letter to families Monday night that the city will not begin phasing out the Community Action School, known as CAS, as originally planned next school year.

The move comes after a mom’s comment, which was made on a hot mic on Zoom while a Black student was speaking during a public meeting, went viral. “They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school,” the mom said. Samuels said he and the local superintendent visited the school to meet with students and school leadership and ultimately were persuaded to scrap the plan.

“First, the CAS community is continuing to process and recover from the racist and unacceptable remarks directed toward a CAS student at a [community education council] meeting in February,” Samuels wrote in the letter obtained by Chalkbeat. “And second, members of the school community shared a strong desire for stability as they move forward.”

Samuels, who recently visited the campus and met with students, added: “What the CAS community needs right now is meaningful and comprehensive support — and that would be difficult to provide authentically in the context of a phase-out proposal.”

The decision represents a remarkable about-face. Samuels helped launch the closure plan in his previous role as the superintendent of District 3, a diverse chunk of Manhattan that spans from the Upper West Side to part of Harlem. The controversy represented an early test for Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has vowed to listen to feedback from school communities in decisions that affect their schools.

City officials previously argued CAS was too small to sustain, enrolling just over 170 students this year. They also pointed to standardized test scores that are below the city average. Families and educators pushed back against the plans, noting the school added about 40 students this year and predominantly serves Black and Latino children from low-income families. Some parents said the school is an unusually supportive environment with strong social emotional programming.

But the closure proposal earned more intense scrutiny after a Feb. 10 public meeting in which Allyson Friedman, a mom from The Center School, a more affluent and majority-white school, was caught on a hot mic apparently insulting the intelligence of a Black student from CAS. (Friedman — whose school is part of a separate relocation plan — participated in the meeting on Zoom while the student was in person; multiple people in attendance said the student likely did not immediately hear the comment.)

After making the comment about “dumb” students, Friedman then appeared to misattribute and misquote Black historian Carter G. Woodson. “Apparently Martin Luther King said it: If you train a Black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back. You don’t have to tell them anymore,” Friedman said.

The District 3 interim acting superintendent had quoted from Woodson earlier in the meeting in his remarks on Black History Month.

In the 1933 book, “The Mis-Education of the Negro,” Woodson described how racism in schools can perpetuate inequities. “If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door,” Woodson wrote.

A recording of Friedman’s comments captured international headlines and drew rebukes from Mamdani and Black parent leaders and elected officials. In the aftermath, Hunter College placed Friedman on leave.

In an earlier email to Chalkbeat, Friedman wrote that she inadvertently unmuted herself during the meeting. “As a parent, I was trying to explain the concept of systemic racism by referencing a historical example,” she said. “My remarks were not directed at the student speaker, and they do not reflect my beliefs or values.”

Samuels previously announced that the Education Department would take action in response to the incident, offering support to the CAS community, expanding access across the system to the city’s Black Studies curriculum, launching training for families focused on combating prejudice, and devising a citywide plan to combat anti-Black racism.

The chancellor’s letter to families did not indicate whether two other middle school closure proposals under consideration in District 3 will move forward. One of those schools, the Manhattan School for Children, shares a building with CAS.

The other proposal would close the middle school program at P.S./I.S. 191, which is majority Black and Latino. Meanwhile, The Center School, where Friedman’s child attends, would move into the P.S./I.S. 191 building.

Families at both campuses have raised concerns about the proposal. The parent association at The Center School previously distanced themselves from Friedman’s comments.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Two coveted Queens high schools wanted the same new building. Both may get new homes.

2026-02-21T00:02:57+00:00

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Queens’ only specialized high school may soon get its long-awaited new home — and another selective Queens high school vying for the same building has secured funding for a new space of its own, officials said.

The city’s Panel for Educational Policy is expected to vote Feb. 25 on a proposal to relocate Queens High School for the Sciences to a bigger building in Jamaica’s District 28, a move that students have been waiting for since the high school’s opening 24 years ago.

Queens High School for the Sciences, often referred to as QHSS, is housed across 14 classrooms on the second floor of York College’s Jamaica campus and is over capacity by roughly 130 students.

The new school building at 165-15 88th Avenue is less than a mile away from the York campus, and would allow QHSS to expand from roughly 500 students up to 700 by the 2029-30 school year, according to Department of Education projections in the Jan. 9 relocation proposal.

HBCU Early College Prep was also eyeing the 88th Ave building but has since come up with plans for a site of their own, said Greg Faulkner, chair of the Panel for Educational Policy, who was briefed on plans by Education Department officials.

“I don’t foresee obstacles at the vote meeting,” Faulkner said, “and with this new announcement of HBCU’s plans, I expect the proposal will pass. It’s a win-win.”

A relocation promised two decades ago

The Queens High School for the Sciences is one of eight schools in New York City that admit students based solely on Specialized High School Admissions Test scores.

If approved, QHSS students would move to the new school building in the fall, sharing the facility with up to 100 students at P.S. 438, a newly opened high school in District 75 serving students with complex disabilities.

Students at QHSS say relocating to a larger facility would help the school address a range of overcrowding issues: large classes, limited access to shared spaces like libraries, and lack of dedicated science laboratories and art rooms.

“As the No. 1 high school in the state, they should be able to offer a range of sports teams, clubs, and extracurriculars that other specialized schools have,” said Shirley Aubin, the Queens borough president’s appointee to the Panel for Educational Policy, referring to the school’s U.S. News and World reporting ranking within New York State.

Aubin said QHSS has been waiting for their own building since opening their doors in 2002.

“I remember being drawn to QHSS; it was just a few minutes away from where I lived. I was ready to commit until I learned that it had no building,” Stuyvesant High School freshman Saadat Azam told The Cardinal Chronicles, the student newspaper at QHSS, in April.

Despite its limited facilities, 11,809 New York City students listed QHSS on their Specialized High School application, and just 148 students received offers, according to the Education Department.

Vinny Dong, a sophomore at QHSS who has commented at three panel meetings in the past year, said sharing the York College campus created pressing academic and quality of life issues for his school.

QHSS students receive pre-made lunches prepared off-site and, instead of a cafeteria, have two microwaves located in a basement room. The shared gym, which is located two blocks off-campus, can only be accessed by QHSS students between 8:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., according to the Cardinal.

“We serve 514 students and we have a grand total of one floor. Our gym is two blocks away across a very active road. I almost got run over, by the way,” Dong said at the November panel meeting.

HBCU Prep to announce relocation funding

HBCU Early College Prep, a selective Queens high school that offers college credits and an associate degree upon graduation, opened its doors to its inaugural class of ninth graders last fall.

Students begin synchronous college courses in 11th grade, thanks to its partnership with Delaware State University, a historically Black college.

The school serves local Queens students, reserving up to 40% of its seats for District 29 residents, 40% for those from District 27 and 28, and the remaining 10% of seats for other Queens residents. The program aims to provide Southeast Queens residents with an alternative to specialized high schools, the bulk of which are located outside of these districts.

HBCU Prep admits applicants based on their seventh grade GPAs, a writing assessment, and a video.

The school had also asked to move into the new building on 88th Street, but overcrowding isn’t a concern in their current facility shared with I.S. 238 and P.S. 9 Walter Reed School. According to Department of Education enrollment projections, the building HBCU occupies will reach 80% capacity by the 2029 school year.

Officials at the Education Department’s Office of District Planning told Faulkner that HBCU Prep is expected to announce that budget funds have been set aside for the school’s own relocation, though the timeline and building site have not yet been determined.

Faulkner said he originally advocated for HBCU Prep to relocate to the new building, but after touring the cramped QHSS campus at York College, he saw that the high school’s facilities are “bursting at the seams” and “are not sufficient to allow QHSS to grow.”

HBCU Prep is expected to make an official announcement about their relocation plans at the Feb. 25 vote, Faulkner said. Information about the hearing and live streaming can be found here.

Correction: Feb. 21, 2026: This story initially said that the address of the proposed new location for Queens High School for the Sciences was 165-15 88th St. The correct address is 165-15 88th Avenue.

Lizzie Walsh is a Data Fellow at Chalkbeat New York, reporting NYC local news and data-driven stories across Chalkbeat’s bureaus. Contact her at ewalsh@chalkbeat.org.

NYC school board member faces outcry for using R-word in Bad Bunny Super Bowl post

2026-02-09T21:17:01+00:00

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Joe Borelli, a member of New York City’s school board, is facing backlash for using the word retarded in a social media post on Sunday evening.

The post was a response to U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar, who shared a photo of himself on the social media site X smiling in front of a television during Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance. Thanedar, a Michigan Democrat, captioned the image: “Loving it!!”

Borelli, a member of the city’s Panel for Educational Policy, quoted Thanedar’s post with his own comment: “This was the most retarded thing to happen during the Bad Bunny show.” The post has since been deleted.

A screen grab of a Tweet by Joe Borelli, who then deleted it.

Former Mayor Eric Adams appointed Borelli, a former leader of City Council’s Republican delegation, to the panel in the final weeks of his administration. The panel oversees the nation’s largest school system and votes on major contracts, policy changes, and school closures. More than 1 in 5 New York City public school students has a disability, or over 200,000 children.

Greg Faulkner, who chairs the school board, called on Borelli to apologize Monday morning.

The word is a “harmful slur that carries a long history of marginalization and pain for the disability community,” Faulker wrote in a letter to Borelli. “Such language is fundamentally at odds with the mission of this Panel and the inclusive environment we strive to build for our students and their families.”

Some parent leaders shared similar sentiments with Borelli.

Borelli acknowledged that the language was not appropriate given his role on the panel. “I apologize to the chair and the members of the board,” he told Chalkbeat.

He added: “As stupid as the member of congress taking selfies with his TV was, it’s not as stupid as my comment.”

All of Adams’ appointees to the school board have terms that run through June, which means Mayor Zohran Mamdani will not be able to appoint a majority of the board until then.

But under state law, Mamdani can remove mayoral appointees to the school board for “good cause” if a public explanation for the removal is provided 10 days in advance and the appointee has a chance to refute the claims (they cannot be removed simply for voting against the mayor’s wishes).

A Mamdani spokesperson deferred to the Education Department for comment and did not respond to a question about whether the mayor would consider removing Borelli.

“We are unwavering in our support for all of our students, regardless of background or disability, and we strongly condemn the type of language used by a PEP member yesterday evening,” Education Department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein wrote in a statement.

Use of the word retarded has exploded in recent years on X, spurred in part by Elon Musk’s use of it, researchers have found. Other high-profile conservative figures have used it, too. President Donald Trump used the word in a social media post to refer to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz last Thanksgiving. Joe Rogan, whose podcast has topped the charts in recent years, described the trend last April as “one of the great cultural victories.”

The phrase “mental retardation” was once considered a socially acceptable term, though it has fallen out of favor. In 2010, the federal government replaced the phrase in federal legislation and policies with “intellectual disability.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Plans to close Manhattan middle schools test Mamdani’s parent engagement pledge

2026-02-06T22:53:24+00:00

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Before Kamar Samuels took the helm of the nation’s largest school system, he set in motion plans to shutter three small middle school programs and relocate another coveted school in the Manhattan district he supervised.

Now, those nascent plans in District 3 — which includes the Upper West Side, Morningside Heights, and parts of Harlem — are generating pushback from families who are hoping to persuade Samuels and other top officials to reconsider.

How the Education Department reacts will represent the first stress test of a major campaign promise from Mayor Zohran Mamdani to give communities a greater voice in decisions that affect their schools. It is also a high-stakes moment for Samuels, who indicated he might ramp up mergers and other significant changes, moves that often spark strong reactions.

Education officials argue the plans, which have been discussed with parent leaders but not yet released publicly, would help address broad systemic issues, including the growing number of tiny campuses that are difficult to sustain and the need to reshuffle school space to comply with the state’s class size mandate.

To families, the moves represent grave threats to beloved community institutions, including a campus that is known for welcoming students with disabilities and another with an emphasis on social emotional learning.

“I’m hopeful about the messages that the mayor and chancellor put forward,” said Olivia Greer, a parent who has children at two schools that would be significantly altered by the proposals. But she worries about what will be lost if the current plans go through.

District 3 plans represent broader issues facing the school system

Enrollment in the city’s public schools has been declining for years, with losses accelerating during the pandemic. That’s resulted in a growing number of schools that officials say are too small to sustain.

At the Joan of Arc campus on West 93rd Street, two of the building’s three middle schools welcomed fewer than 200 students this year.

Schools below that threshold may lead district officials to “question the sustainability of offerings for students,” Mariela Graham, the deputy superintendent in District 3, told families at a community meeting this week. Schools are funded on a per-student basis and could struggle to afford basic programs without healthy rosters.

The city is looking to close the campus’ two smallest middle schools: the Community Action School and the middle school grades of the Manhattan School for Children. Officials hope to phase out the programs over three years, according to district officials and families briefed on the plans. The building’s third middle school, Lafayette Academy, had already merged with a school on a different campus in 2023, despite parent opposition.

District officials also are planning to relocate the Center School, a popular grades 5-8 program, from its West 84th Street home shared with P.S. 9. The elementary school needs more space to comply with the state’s class size law. With pressure to shrink all classes by 2028, these kinds of moves could become increasingly common.

The city would relocate the Center School a mile and half south into a building occupied by P.S./I.S. 191, which would then lose its middle school grades, which enrolled 151 students last year.

Samuels has pulled off controversial school moves, but parents are deeply concerned

During his time as a local superintendent in Brooklyn and Manhattan, Samuels built a reputation for successfully completing mergers and relocations, even as some of them proved contentious.

These four proposals will likely face additional scrutiny, as Samuels set them in motion as the District 3 superintendent before Mamdani elevated him to lead the system. Families have launched petitions against the plans and are packing community meetings to voice their opposition.

“We’re not taking this sitting down,” said Tiffany Rodriguez-Noel, a parent at P.S./I.S. 191. She said the school took on many asylum-seeking families and contends the Education Department has not properly supported the program.

Parents at the Center School have also raised strong objections to the move. They contend their school’s flourishing theater program would struggle because their new campus does not have a proper space for it and that the move would require other programmatic changes. The Manhattan School for Children, which enrolled 130 students this fall in the middle school grades, has developed a reputation for including students with disabilities in classes alongside their general education peers. Families worry it would be difficult to find similarly welcoming communities elsewhere.

Meanwhile, at the Community Action School, dozens of parents and educators pleaded with district leaders not to close the school during a virtual community meeting this week. They stressed that the school’s small size has advantages, and it boasts strong social emotional support and restorative justice programs. Plus, enrollment shot up to 171 students this fall up from 131 last year.

When District 3 officials suggested the school’s below average reading and math scores also factored into the closure proposal, families were quick to counter that the vast majority of students come from low-income families and many arrive behind grade level.

Nicki Holtzman, a Bronx parent of a sixth grader who was bullied at his previous school, said the family sought out the program after an extensive search for a campus with the right support. “All of the teachers are highly engaged,” she said. “My child went from having no self-esteem academically to making honor roll twice.”

The closure plan, she added, “feels like a punch to the stomach — it feels rushed.”

District officials told families during the town hall they began deliberations about the district’s changes more than a year ago and included parent leaders and other representatives from each school.

But that argument did not sit well with some who said details about the plans were largely kept to a district-led working group and only trickled out to wider school communities in the last couple months. In some cases, parents heard rumors of the plans just before the December middle school admissions deadline, causing confusion and last-minute application overhauls to avoid listing schools that could soon close.

Andrew Sullivan, the principal of the Community Action School, noted during the town hall meeting that working group meetings took place during the day, making it difficult for parents to attend. (Mamdani has said he wants to rethink when meetings with parent leaders are held so “working parents can actually attend them.”)

Greer, a parent with children at the Center School and Manhattan School for Children, acknowledged that district officials have incorporated some feedback, such as phasing out middle school programs over three years rather than shutting them down outright.

“It’s not that there has been no listening and incorporation of feedback,” she said. But “my sense is that there has been a plan in place from the beginning and a view about what the preferred outcome is.”

Reginald Higgins, the acting superintendent in District 3, acknowledged in the town hall meeting that families felt the process was opaque and frustrating and suggested the process left room for improvement. He stressed that the proposals were formed before he was appointed and vowed to hear school communities out.

“I want to ensure that whatever we do moving forward, that that is a different experience for all of us,” he said.

Education Department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein noted that District 3 has held several meetings with families, parent leaders, and elected officials since December and said the superintendent plans to “schedule additional engagements.”

“Creating space for community voice is critical to this administration,” she wrote.

Fight over school closures comes at an awkward time for Mamdani

How Higgins manages the process could offer an early window into the new administration’s approach to community engagement, and it comes at a politically delicate moment for Mamdani.

On the campaign trail, the mayor vowed to cede his substantial power over the school system to give families and educators more voice. But he recently abandoned that proposal and is now pushing lawmakers to extend mayoral control of the school system, which expires this summer and is dictated by state law.

Mamdani pledged his version of mayoral control will give communities more of a say without giving up his power. That could be an awkward sell while scores of parents from District 3 are protesting decisions to close their middle schools.

Making matters more complicated, Mamdani has not been able to appoint the majority of the members of the Panel for Educational Policy, the board that makes the final decision on school closures and relocations and has historically voted in line with City Hall’s wishes. The terms of the current members, including appointees of former Mayor Eric Adams, don’t end until June. But if the Education Department moves forward with the plans in District 3, they would likely come up for a vote by the panel in April.

Board members are already paying close attention, with several attending community meetings in District 3 to learn more about the plans.

Panel chair Greg Faulker said he expects the board to carefully weigh the Education Department’s proposals, offering no guarantee of their fate. “The DOE has to work harder because they have to convince us,” Faulkner said. “I don’t think the days of ramming things through really exist anymore.”

On the campaign trail, Mamdani’s critique of mayoral control invoked the image of parents protesting plans to upend their children’s schools in hourslong meetings, only for the panel to vote in line with City Hall’s wishes.

In the coming months, the mayor that families might be protesting is Mamdani.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC schools pivot to remote learning Monday during snowstorm, Mamdani says

2026-01-25T15:34:11+00:00

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New York City public schools are going remote on Monday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed on Sunday as the snowfall was predicted to reach 6-10 inches.

All school programs are canceled, including after school and adult education, the mayor said. Charter schools and private schools make their own decisions about whether to close buildings and pivot to remote learning. Students in high schools and schools serving grades 6-12 were already scheduled to be off for professional development.

“As snowfall begins to blanket our city and conditions become hazardous, closing school buildings is a necessary step to keep New Yorkers safe,” Mamdani said in a statement. “Over the past week, my administration has prepared for this moment – ensuring devices are in hand, families are informed and educators are ready to welcome students online.”

The transition to remote learning for roughly 500,000 of the city’s 884,000 students represents the first major operational challenge for the Education Department under the new administration.

The mayor and schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels briefed the city on Friday, letting families know that school buildings would either remain open or classes would pivot to remote learning, but that a traditional snow day was off the table because the city needs to meet a certain number of instructional days under state law.

But Samuels also said that schools could be flexible in how they approached the day.

“No one is asking kids to be on a device for six hours and 20 minutes,” Samuels said on Friday. “Some learning will be synchronous. Some will be asynchronous. You can still have your hot chocolate; you can still go out and enjoy the snow.”

Many schools asked their families and staffers to practice logging into remote learning platforms over the weekend to avoid glitches on Monday. Education Department officials also encouraged school leaders to stagger school start times for each grade level by 15-minute increments “to ensure a smooth login experience,” according to a letter to principals obtained by Chalkbeat.

When in-person classes were canceled because of snow two years ago, a technical meltdown prevented many students and teachers from logging on despite efforts to practice in advance. The Education Department subsequently conducted another drill but it was optional, and many students seemed to have opted out.

Samuels said the city “stress tested” the system for remote learning, most recently in December.

“We’ve increased the capacity to make sure that we can house as many students as possible on that day,” Samuels said. “So we now have the capacity of having a million students logging at the same time within 60 seconds.”

City officials advised families needing technical support to visit selfservice.schools.nyc or contact their school directly.

Tell us how Monday goes for you and your child or students: ny.tips@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Officials mistakenly told NYC principals students with weapons would face automatic arrest

2025-12-08T22:51:47+00:00

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An Education Department safety official sent a letter to Brooklyn high school principals last week, signaling a major change: Students found with weapons on public school grounds will be automatically arrested.

The message sparked confusion among school leaders and families about how widely it would be applied and whether it could lead to a spike in students getting tangled up in the criminal justice system.

On Monday morning, some schools swiftly informed students and parents about the new policy on student arrests. By the afternoon, Education Department officials admitted the letter was sent in error.

The messages “do not represent a New York City Public School policy,” wrote Jenna Lyle, a department spokesperson. “They are being corrected with the small number of schools that received them.” She did not explain how the mistake was made.

The NYPD, which oversees school safety, confirmed there were no changes in their arrest policy. A spokesperson said about 1,700 weapons have been confiscated in schools so far this school year, a 5% decline compared with the same period last year.

The episode represents a significant miscommunication with school leaders. Multiple principals said that the policy would have been a major change, as arrests have often been made on a case-by-case basis and the Education Department has encouraged less punitive approaches to student misconduct in recent years.

Millenium Brooklyn High School Principal Kevin Conway informed families of the assumed policy shift.

“If you have a pocketknife, razor, scalpel, or any other contraband item in your bag at scanning — regardless of your reason for having the item — you will be arrested as per DOE policy,” he wrote to families in a Monday letter obtained by Chalkbeat. “Students, please make sure to double-check your belongings every morning and adhere to this policy!”

Educators and families were concerned that the communication did not clarify whether all weapons listed in the discipline code would have immediately triggered an arrest. Box cutters and scissors are considered weapons under Education Department policy, though some students might use those for jobs or school projects. Students often carry pepper spray for protection on their commutes, even as it is considered a weapon under school rules.

Corinthia A. Carter, the parent of a junior at Park Slope Collegiate in Brooklyn who heard about the policy through a conversation with the school’s principal, worried that the erroneous policy would have had a disproportionate effect on Black and Latino children. She wondered how the city would explain the mistake to families.

Other school discipline reform advocates were frustrated by the mixed messages but were relieved the student arrest policy was not altered, noting that arrests of city students have declined substantially. In the first three quarters of 2025, police made 485 student arrests — a nearly 52% decline from the same period in 2016, NYPD data show.

“It’s very alarming to allow for any confusion on something like this,” said Johanna Miller, director of the education policy center at the New York Civil Liberties Union.

“Arrests in New York City are very low and that’s something we should be proud of.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC’s next mayor could shake up the schools chancellor search. This group has ideas for doing that.

2025-09-10T21:58:01+00:00

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Unlike most city leaders, New York City’s mayor exerts near-complete control over its school system, with the chief executive able to unilaterally select the schools chancellor and dictate education policy priorities.

Zohran Mamdani, the current frontrunner in November’s race, has campaigned on ending mayoral control and giving students, parents, and educators more influence over the school system — though he has shared few details about how that would work.

Now a group of progressive education advocates is releasing a slate of policy proposals to make the school system more responsive to local communities in the hopes of influencing the next mayor. Their coalition may have sway with Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, as he devises an education agenda. Among their top priorities is rethinking the search process for the next schools chancellor, typically a new mayor’s first major education decision.

If Mamdani takes the helm at City Hall, how he picks his schools chief could offer an early barometer of whether the 33-year-old Queens assembly member will follow through on his biggest education promise: to reduce mayoral power over the Education Department.

“This is a big test,” said Jonathan Collins, a professor of political science and education at Columbia University Teachers College. “In a system like New York’s, you are who you appoint.”

The chief of New York City’s public schools is one of the most visible and coveted education jobs in the country. The chancellor oversees a $41 billion budget, roughly 150,000 employees, and influences policy that is often closely watched by other districts. The decision could be even more consequential if Mamdani wins because he has not outlined a clear vision for improving the city’s public schools.

“If education is going to be the stepchild, then whoever he appoints is probably going to have a lot of freedom to be creative because it’s just not a top priority,” Collins added.

The policy blueprint is from New Yorkers for Racially Just Public Schools, a coalition of advocacy groups. It calls on the next mayor to create a search committee made up of students, parents, educators, and representatives of City Council and the comptroller’s office to vet chancellor candidates and devise selection criteria.

The report also proposes a series of town hall meetings in each borough for members of the public to offer input on the “qualities and priorities the next Chancellor should have that best represent the communities they will serve.”

The blueprint is based on feedback from more than 1,200 community members.

“I think it’s really important to have input from the people who are being directly impacted,” said Kassidy Khuu, a junior at Manhattan’s Hunter College High School and a member of New Yorkers for Racially Just Public Schools. “I personally go to a test-in school that happens to have a lot of school segregation and lacks diversity. That’s definitely a key issue that I would want to see addressed.”

The next schools chief should have deep policy knowledge and prior experience managing a school district or other education organization, and preferably have extensive knowledge of New York City, the report contends. The policy recommendations are set to be formally released at an event next week.

NYC mayoral candidates differ on schools chancellor search

Mamdani said last week that he plans to select a chancellor in consultation with groups who have supported his campaign, including the teachers union, and told reporters he will pick someone “who can deliver the outcomes that so many New Yorkers are in desperate need of.”

A Mamdani campaign spokesperson did not respond to questions about whether he would solicit public input.

A spokesperson for Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent, said he would welcome “collaboration from all stakeholders in making these decisions” but added “it is too early to speculate about candidates for top positions or processes for choosing them.” During his primary campaign, the former governor has said he “strongly” supports mayoral control of the city’s schools.

Mayor Eric Adams, who is also running for reelection as an independent, did not conduct wide searches for either of his two schools chancellors. David Banks, his first schools chief, was a longtime friend with deep roots in the system.

Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa said in a statement that he would “welcome a more inclusive, transparent citywide search for a schools chancellor that brings parents, students, and educators to the table for what is arguably the second most important job in city government.”

Proposing a more-inclusive chancellor search process isn’t without precedent. Comptroller Brad Lander, who is widely seen as a contender for a high-level job in City Hall if Mamdani wins, said he would seek “advice and consent” from the City Council during his campaign for mayor. (Lander and Mamdani endorsed each other in the primary.)

Ilona Nanay, a teacher at the High School for Teaching and the Professions who was involved in crafting the report’s recommendations, said making the chancellor search process more open could be a first step to reducing the mayor’s power over the system. She acknowledged that soliciting public input is “a messy process and it does take time, [but] it makes for a more cohesive and informed system.”

Mamdani has remained tight-lipped about who he would consider for the top education post, or if he planned to conduct a national search.

Several possible candidates have emerged in preliminary discussions, The New York Times reported, and all of them have local roots. They include Meisha Porter, a longtime Education Department veteran who served briefly as chancellor under Mayor Bill de Blasio; Rita Joseph, the chair of City Council’s Education Committee; and Kamar Samuels, a superintendent who oversees schools in Manhattan’s District 3.

Jamaal Bowman, a former member of Congress and vocal opponent of standardized testing during his time as a middle school principal in the Bronx, has also come up in discussions, according to the New York Post.

Asked last week about whether Bowman was in the running, Mamdani indicated the process was still in its earliest stages.

“I have not started any personnel interviews as it pertains to the schools chancellor,” he said.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex atazimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Fewer Black and Latino students win offers to attend specialized high schools

2025-08-01T14:57:19+00:00

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Fewer Black and Latino students were offered seats at New York City’s specialized high schools for this fall, potentially deepening segregation at some of the city’s most coveted campuses.

Just 3% of offers at eight of the city’s specialized schools went to Black students, down from 4.5% last school year, according to Education Department data released Thursday. Meanwhile, 6.9% of offers went to Latino students compared with 7.6% a year ago. Across the city’s public schools, nearly two-thirds of students are Black or Latino.

Asian American students received nearly 54% of the offers, a slight increase. The proportion of offers that went to white students, about 26%, was flat. Nearly 17% of public school students are Asian American and about 15% are white.

Specialized high schools command outsized attention because they are widely considered to be some of the most prestigious public schools in the country, even as they only enroll about 5% of the city’s public high school students. They also contribute to the city’s status as one of the nation’s most segregated school systems.

Admission to eight of the city’s nine specialized high schools depends entirely on a student’s score on a single standardized exam. Five of the eight specialized schools that rely on the Specialized High School Admissions Test, or SHSAT, admitted 10 or fewer Black students this year. Out of 781 offers to Stuyvesant High School, the most selective of the specialized schools, just 8 went to Black students.

Overall, nearly 26,000 eighth graders took the SHSAT, and 4,000 were offered a seat based on their score, according to the data.

On Friday, a day after department officials released the admissions data, spokesperson Jenna Lyle wrote in an email that “when our schools are segregated, students lose out on the incredible education that a richly diverse, inclusive environment carries.”

She noted that the city greenlit three new selective schools where most students are Black or Latino. And she pointed to an existing program that allows schools to set aside seats for students in underrepresented groups.

Lyle did not address questions about the timing of the release. For at least a decade, the Education Department has released the high school admissions statistics by mid-June, raising questions about whether officials delayed the release deeper into the summer to draw less attention to the issue. After Chalkbeat published a story on Thursday about the delay, officials released the data.

Education Department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein indicated on Thursday morning that the statistics were delayed because officials were waiting to verify new data. When asked what new data was included in the release that caused the delay, Brownstein pointed to a list of admissions deadlines.

The persistently low percentage of Black and Latino students who gain admission to the specialized high schools has fueled calls to scrap the test, which critics contend unfairly excludes many students who could thrive in those schools.

But the exam’s supporters argue that it is an objective assessment that does not factor in prior academic achievement and which levels the playing field for students who work hard to prepare. The majority of students admitted to the city’s specialized high schools are Asian American, many of whom come from immigrant and low-income families.

Before he was elected mayor, Eric Adams blasted the test-only admissions process and said officials were “tolerating a Jim Crow school system.” Since taking office, Adams hasn’t advanced any proposals to reform the admissions process at those schools, nor has he prioritized school integration policies more broadly.

“We’re seeing the story get worse, and I think this is indicative of the lack of approach this administration has taken to addressing segregation across the city and in the specialized high schools,” said Matt Gonzales, a longtime integration advocate and the campaign director of New Yorkers for Racially Just Public Schools. “It’s time for serious action on this.”

None of the major candidates running for mayor have proposed significant changes to the SHSAT, which would require approval from lawmakers in Albany. In 1971, the state legislature required the city to begin using a single test for admission at three specialized high schools (the city later designated five more test-only specialized schools).

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor and a graduate of Bronx Science, a specialized school, previously said he supports “an independent analysis of the Specialized HS exam for gender and racial bias.” He has not proposed any specific reforms.

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running an independent campaign, supports using the SHSAT while expanding access to test preparation, an idea that has historically not moved the needle. Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa also supports the exam and wants to open more specialized schools.

Any proposal to overhaul admission to the coveted schools would likely invite intense backlash. The specialized schools are often seen as a springboard into top colleges, though studies have found that students with similar academic qualifications who attend different schools end up with similar SAT scores and college admissions offers.

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed scrapping the exam in favor of a system that would automatically admit the top-performing students at each middle school, a reform that officials projected would dramatically increase Black and Latino enrollment. Still, the proposal would have sharply reduced offers to Asian American students, prompting fierce pushback from community leaders who argued they had not been included in shaping the policy.

Complicating matters, de Blasio’s proposal failed to gain traction in Albany, and lawmakers have brushed off other proposals to change the law.

City officials on Thursday also released statistics on admissions offers to programs outside the specialized schools.

Across roughly 72,000 eighth graders who received a high school admissions offer, 59% got their first choice, up from 51% last year. Officials said roughly the same proportion of middle schoolers were matched with their top choice as last year, or about 77%.

Unlike last year, city officials did not immediately release the overall demographics of students who were admitted to screened high schools other than the specialized schools. On Friday, officials released statistics that showed there have not been major demographic shifts on those campuses.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional responses from the Education Department that were provided after this story was published.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex atazimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC’s highly anticipated high school admissions data faces lengthy delay

2025-07-31T19:29:18+00:00

Shortly after this story was published, the Education Department released admissions data. Read our coverage here.

New York City’s Education Department has yet to release highly anticipated high school admissions statistics, marking the first time in more than a decade that officials have not disclosed the results by mid-June.

The figures include demographic breakdowns of offers to the city’s specialized schools — widely considered among the nation’s most prestigious public high schools — and often command national headlines because the campuses enroll tiny numbers of Black and Latino students.

School integration advocates, government accountability groups, and even former department officials have begun to question the delays.

“It’s a completely reasonable public expectation that this information is published as soon as it’s available,” said John Kaehny, the executive director of Reinvent Albany, a group that pushes for government transparency. “It’s right to ask the mayor, ‘Where the heck is this?’”

Under Mayor Eric Adams, the Education Department began releasing high school admissions figures in June, months later than his predecessor. In recent weeks, education officials repeatedly promised to disclose the data imminently, though they have yet to do so.

The figures often generate fresh debate about the status of the city’s schools as among the country’s most segregated. New York City is home to an unusually large share of public schools that enroll students based on academic performance, including eight specialized high schools that only consider a student’s performance on a single exam.

Although they only enroll about 5% of the city’s students, the specialized high schools command outsized attention because they are widely considered to be among the country’s most prestigious public schools. Still, the campuses’ demographics do not reflect the student body as a whole, prompting longstanding debate about whether the admissions process should change. Even as offers to Black and Latino students inched up last year, four of the eight specialized schools that rely on a single test offered admission to 10 or fewer Black students.

Some observers have wondered if the delay could reflect an effort by Adams, who is seeking reelection, to release the specialized high school figures over the summer when they might get less attention. In response to a social media post making that claim, former Education Department spokesperson Nathaniel Styer wrote on July 3 that “they should’ve had this data out at least a month ago.”

Styer, who left the department in April, added that he encouraged the department to release the high school school admissions statistics in June instead of earlier in the spring to include them along with middle school, kindergarten, and prekindergarten figures all at once instead of in separate batches. (Those groups have slightly different admissions timelines.)

Typically, the statistics also include the share of students who got into programs they ranked at the top of their application and other basic information about the number of applicants for each grade level.

Education Department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein said the data has not been released because the department is planning to include a new set of statistics this year that need to be vetted for accuracy. She declined to elaborate.

“We are working on it — that’s all I can really say to you right now,” Brownstein said during a brief phone call. She later wrote in an email the results would be published on Thursday.

Matt Gonzales, a longtime integration advocate and the campaign director of New Yorkers for Racially Just Public Schools, argued the delayed statistics are part of a pattern.

“When it comes to transparency around data, and when it comes to addressing issues around segregation, this administration has made it pretty clear that they don’t care,” he said.

A City Hall spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Other advocates wondered if the department is simply overwhelmed, as the federal government freezes education funding and some families have been caught up in more aggressive immigration enforcement.

“2025 is like no other year prior in my lifetime in regards to everything that is happening,” said Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari, co-executive director of the Alliance for Quality Education, an advocacy group.

She noted that it is unlikely that the admissions figures will reveal significant demographic shifts at the specialized schools, but she was intrigued by the promise of new information about the admissions process.

“It would be interesting to see what new data they’re trying to parse out,” Shaakir-Ansari said.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex atazimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

‘I didn’t sign up to be exploited’: NYC Teaching Fellows await payment for summer training

2025-07-28T21:23:39+00:00

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Omena El signed up for the New York City Teaching Fellows program in search of a more stable career.

El previously cobbled together work as a substitute teacher, nutritionist, and massage therapist, though making ends meet was a struggle. She was thrilled when she was accepted to the city’s Teaching Fellows program, which quickly trains career changers and recent college graduates to fill hard-to-staff positions in the city’s public schools. She looked forward to building a career in the public school system that educated her.

But as the seven-week training program winds down this week, El and many other teaching fellows have yet to receive promised stipends of up to $4,500 to cover summer living costs, according to interviews with five fellows and a site supervisor.

“I’m not able to pay that bus fare” to get to the program, El said. “I’ve been eating the same frozen dinners for lunch every day.” She added: “I love this work, but I didn’t sign up to be exploited, and I didn’t sign up to work for free.”

Teaching fellows across the city said they have struggled to pay their bills even as they worked long hours learning how to manage classrooms, devising lessons, and honing their craft with summer school students. The Education Department has sent vague messages in response to fellows’ concerns about the payment delays. A spokesperson told Chalkbeat in a statement fellows will receive their stipends within the next two weeks.

The payment issues come as the Education Department is trying to ramp up hiring to comply with a state class size mandate that will require recruiting thousands more teachers than usual every year. The Education Department hopes the Teaching Fellows will be one pillar of that strategy. There are nearly 1,000 fellows this year, roughly double the number last year, officials said.

About 12% of the city’s current educators came through the Teaching Fellows program, which launched in 2000 as a fast-track process to the classroom that skirts the traditional certification process. It is also designed to attract more teachers of color to enter the profession.

But payment delays could complicate those efforts by making it harder to recruit future fellows or saddling new educators with unexpected debt.

“This makes me not want to be a teacher,” said one teaching fellow who previously worked in publishing and spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. “If anyone asks me to apply for this program, I’m going to tell them ‘no.’”

The teacher-in-training said he expected to be paid in installments beginning early in the summer based on an information session he watched. During that webinar, a Teaching Fellows staff member said “our stipend is distributed from June and it is divided equally,” according to a recording obtained by Chalkbeat.

The fellow was depending on regular payments to replace some of his publishing salary. Instead, he has relied on loans from friends to pay rent.

“It’s placed incredible strain on my relationships,” the fellow said. He recently restarted medication to handle depression and anxiety that have “skyrocketed” as a result.

Education Department spokesperson Chyann Tull did not respond to questions about what caused the payment delays. But an internal message to some fellows blamed bureaucratic snafus.

“Unfortunately this year’s Fellows cohort was caught in the middle of a transition to a new payment structure that was required for us to remain in compliance with tax regulations,” according to an unsigned email sent to some fellows on Friday.

“While the Office of Teacher Recruitment and Quality has been working tirelessly to issue this payment as soon as possible, we deeply apologize for the delay caused by this transition and appreciate your patience and understanding,” the email continued.

The message noted that some fellows should pay attention to their mail after Aug. 1, as the payment will come as a paper check and may take months to replace if lost.

Some observers worried that the payment issues could make it more likely that this crop of Teaching Fellows could leave the classroom more quickly.

“If I’m starting my teaching career in debt, the likelihood that I’ll stay in the teaching profession shrinks,” said Jonathan Collins, a professor of political science and education at Columbia University Teachers College. “As teachers, they’re not on a trajectory to earn a king’s ransom.”

In the context of the looming class size mandate, Collins added, “any small stepback in terms of getting more teachers, or teachers’ aides, into the classroom, is a big deal.”

Another fellow, who is biracial and previously worked as an accountant, said he applied for the program in part because he thinks the teaching force should be more racially diverse. Research suggests students of color have better outcomes when they learn from teachers who look like them.

“I really wanted to be part of the diversity,” said the fellow, who is planning to become a special education teacher and spoke on condition of anonymity. He wound up borrowing $6,500 from relatives to afford rent and groceries this summer, an experience that made him second guess his decision to work for the city’s public school system.

“It is putting people at a disadvantage,” he said. The payment issues “made it feel as if it’s not worth it.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex atazimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC schools to get $29 million for cellphone ban. But when will funds arrive?

2025-07-16T21:11:00+00:00

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With just six weeks to go before all New York schools must comply with a “bell-to-bell” ban on cellphones, officials said they are putting $29 million behind the effort for New York City’s public schools.

But the funding — $25 million from the city and $4 million from the state — has not yet been distributed to schools, and officials did not say when it would become available.

Many school leaders have been planning to implement cellphone bans for months, and more than half of the city’s schools already restrict cellphone use, Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said Wednesday at a Bronx press conference with the governor. On many campuses, students use lockable pouches or store their phones in bins or lockers before they head to class.

But other principals may still be devising their policies, decisions that could be complicated by the uncertainty about the availability of funding.

A city Education Department spokesperson did not respond to questions about when funding would be distributed. Officials said some schools that recently purchased storage devices could be eligible for reimbursement.

The $29 million earmarked for New York City represents roughly $35 per student in grades K-12, which is about the cost of Yondr pouches, cloth devices with metal locks that students keep with them during the day. The state’s contribution, which is designated for secondary students only, will be made available to districts on Aug. 29.

During a joint appearance with Aviles-Ramos on Wednesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul stressed that the policy is meant to reduce distractions, boost learning, and improve students’ mental health.

It may be a difficult transition for students, she acknowledged. “We have to prepare the parents for really what will be a detoxing period for them,” Hochul said.

In New York City, Aviles-Ramos said principals must be ready to restrict phones on the first day of school and will not be granted leeway to slowly phase in the new policy.

“If we slowly trickle it into the school year, what ends up happening is we miss the moment,” Aviles-Ramos said. “Habits are built from day one and so we are going to be ready on day one.”

New York City officials have already updated the Education Department’s guidance, which had been on the books for nearly a decade, after former Mayor Bill de Blasio lifted the school system’s cellphone ban over equity concerns. (He worried that students at schools with metal detectors were hit harder by the ban, forcing many kids at low-income schools to pay $1 a day or more to store their phones at bodegas.)

The new guidelines call on schools to come up with a plan to store all internet-enabled devices — cellphones, smartwatches, laptops, tablets, MP3 players, and game consoles — that students bring to school. Possible methods include: school storage lockers, students’ assigned lockers, or Yondr pouches. Schools are also on the hook for providing a way for students to access their stored devices during school hours “when necessary.”

“The law is very flexible, and it does not state that we must collect, and so there are a number of methods that schools can use,” Aviles Ramos said.

Officials outlined a host of exceptions, such as for specific education purposes, to monitor medical conditions, or for student caregivers. Devices might still be used for translation services, for student emergencies, or for reasons related to a student’s special education plan. (And students can have access to their devices if they go off campus for lunch, which adds another logistical complication for schools.)

Schools must also provide families with their direct phone number or any other ways they can contact their children in an emergency during the school day. Schools must clearly explain how students will be disciplined for cellphone ban violations as well policies for confiscating devices when students violate the rules. Students may not be suspended solely because they violated their school’s cellphone ban and accessed a device during the school day, the city’s guidance states.

The city also requires schools to consult their school leadership teams, which include principals,teachers, and parents, on developing their cellphone policies. These teams, however, don’t typically meet during the summer.

The rules are expected to be voted on by the Panel for Educational Policy on July 23.

This story has been updated with an additional response from the city Education Department.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex atazimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy atazimmer@chalkbeat.org.

NYC taps recent high school grads as school safety agents. Advocates have concerns.

2025-06-26T20:28:44+00:00

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In a bid to reverse a drop in school safety personnel in recent years, New York City officials are recruiting assistant school safety agents fresh out of high school.

But the hiring process, already stalled nearly two years, is attracting complaints from advocates, who worry about putting teens in that role.

The New York Police Department got the green light to hire 400 assistant agents, young people under 21 who will help existing school safety staff in elementary schools, police officials said during a City Council hearing last month. The move to recruit the agents was first announced in 2023, but the Police Department has been slow to hire any.

The first class of assistant agents is expected to come in July. They will be tasked with answering phones, greeting visitors, monitoring doorbells, and helping identify people “violating New York City Public Schools rules and regulations,” according to the job description. Similar to regular safety agents, the assistants will wear uniforms and will not be armed.

The new hires are eligible as soon as they earn a high school diploma following eight weeks of training, which will include information about restorative justice techniques and responding to children dealing with emotional crises, police officials told City Council. The assistant job will pay $37,399, about $3,000 more than minimum wage (city officials had previously floated a lower starting salary for the role). The assistants are not expected to be placed in middle or high schools.

Recruiting people who may still be teenagers into the ranks of the school safety division has sparked heated debate. Dozens of advocates sent a letter to Mayor Eric Adams and schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos this week and protested outside the Education Department’s Lower Manhattan headquarters, urging them to abandon the decision to hire young people into school safety roles.

“These young adults deserve better employment opportunities and pipelines that don’t lead to poverty wages in high-stress roles for which they will not be properly trained or developmentally prepared,” according to the letter, which was signed by a slew of groups including the Dignity in Schools Campaign, Advocates for Children, and the Alliance for Quality Education.

“Reallocating resources from policing to student-centered supports such as mental health clinics and wellness centers, restorative justice coordinators, and social workers is essential,” they added.

City officials hope the assistant role will create a pipeline to help replenish the ranks of safety agents, which have plummeted 28% over the last five years to just 3,600. The decline has been fueled by high attrition during the pandemic connected to the COVID vaccine mandate, meager pay, and moves by Adams not to restaff the division.

School principals raised alarms earlier this year that the shortage was compromising safety. Many campuses have fewer agents to patrol school grounds during arrival and dismissal when staff say skirmishes are more likely to escalate. At some high schools, there have not been enough agents to operate scanning equipment, forcing students to wait in long lines to get to class.

Kevyn Bowles, the principal of New Bridges Elementary School in Brooklyn, said his campus is supposed to have two agents but routinely only has one. That means there is often no one conducting patrols or perimeter checks around the building. If a safety incident occurs, someone has to scramble to cover the front desk while the agent responds.

As much as he would like additional school safety staff, Bowles said he has some reservations about hiring fresh high school graduates.

“They have to do SOMETHING to solve their staffing crisis,” Bowles wrote. “However, I question whether agents at that age will consistently have the emotional maturity and judgement to respond to conflict and high stress situations in a safe and appropriate way.”

Representatives of the NYPD and Education Department did not respond to requests for comment. The union representing school safety agents declined to comment on the new role.

After this story was first published, City Hall spokesperson Zachary Nosanchuk wrote that “we are expanding school safety resources in direct response to feedback from families and community advocates by creating the new position of assistant school safety agent.” He downplayed critiques of the program, saying they came from a “vocal minority.”

Some school safety agents have previously expressed skepticism that the new assistant role will reverse the staffing decline, given that low wages can be a major barrier.

How to keep schools safe has long been the subject of intense conversation for years. Some critics argue stationing police staff in schools can lead to the criminalization of low-level misconduct, particularly among students of color. Still, large majorities of parents, students, and educators believe the agents help keep schools safe.

Zohran Mamdani, the presumptive Democratic nominee for mayor, has indicated that he favors expanding mental health support and restorative justice programs rather than hiring more school safety agents. His campaign did not immediately respond to questions about the assistant school safety agent program.

Meanwhile, Andrew Cuomo, who is still mulling a third-party run after conceding the Democratic primary, has said he would increase the number of school safety agents. Jim Walden, who is running as an independent, said he would add school safety agents by increasing their pay and rehiring those who failed to comply with the city’s vaccine mandate. Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate, also supports hiring more school safety agents.

This story has been updated with a comment from the mayor’s office.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Should NYC’s mayor control the public schools? Here’s what the candidates say.

2025-06-09T21:40:04+00:00

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This is part of a series in which Chalkbeat asked the mayoral candidates questions about important education issues that will likely define the next four years. The primary is June 24, with early voting from June 14-22.

The winner of this year’s New York City mayoral election will step into a role with an unusual level of authority over public schools.

Under the state’s mayoral control law dating back to 2002, the city’s chief executive has almost unfettered control over the nation’s largest school system. The mayor unilaterally appoints the schools chancellor and names the majority of members to the education oversight panel that approves contracts and school closures. The City Council, which acts as a check on the mayor’s power in other areas, has little authority over education policy.

But the controversial governance system will be up for renewal once again midway through 2026, part of a long-running pattern in which the state legislature renews mayoral control for only short stints, turning it into a perennial political football. That means the city’s next mayor will once again be thrust into the debate over whether — and for how long — lawmakers in Albany should extend his or her control over city schools.

Supporters of the governance system, including the city’s past three mayors, say that making one person responsible for the performance of the public school system is the best way to ensure it’s responsive and there’s a clear line of accountability. The previous school board system was rife with corruption and inefficiency, mayoral control supporters contend.

Detractors argue the system is anti-democratic and ties the school system to shifting political winds rather than sound education policy. A 300-page report commissioned by the state legislature and released last year offered no definitive conclusions on the academic effects of mayoral control but sparked some renewed calls to reevaluate school governance.

Many of the current contenders for mayor have taken up the question of mayoral control before — as state legislators, city officials, and governor. But Chalkbeat wanted to know how they would view the question when it’s their own authority over city schools at stake.

Chalkbeat asked the leading candidates how they would address mayoral control as part of a questionnaire on March 25 to find out their views on seven pressing issues. A spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams said he declined to participate since he isn’t in the primary.

Here’s what they told us about their views on the city’s school governance model.

Responses may have been edited for formatting or trimmed for length, but otherwise each candidate’s answers are as submitted, including hyperlinks.

NYC is facing a growing number of small schools. Will the next mayor close them?

2025-06-06T20:25:05+00:00

New York City is facing a glut of tiny schools.

As enrollment declines accelerated since the pandemic, nearly 200 schools enrolled fewer than 200 students last school year — more than double the number of small schools compared with 2016.

The growing number of small campuses presents a dilemma for the next mayor. These schools are expensive to run, yet also struggle to afford a full range of programs, since funding is tied to student headcount.

Should the city support these schools? Or should officials ramp up closures and mergers, moves that often disproportionately affect Black and Latino communities and generate community backlash?

Enrollment drops are expected to deepen in the coming years, according to projections from the School Construction Authority, making those questions even more urgent.

Chalkbeat asked the mayoral candidates how they would approach the ballooning number of small schools. Some were more open to closures than others, but many of them agreed there should be a more thorough community engagement process.

This was one of seven pressing issues Chalkbeat posed to the leading candidates in a March 25 questionnaire. A spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams said he declined to participate since he isn’t in the primary. During his tenure, Adams has ramped up mergers to address the issue and has also moved to close three schools. (We updated the story with a response from Zohran Mamdani’s campaign, which was provided after publication.)

Here’s what the candidates told us about how they would approach the issue.

Responses may have been edited for formatting or trimmed for length, but otherwise each candidate’s answers are as submitted, including hyperlinks.

NYC faces a massive (and expensive) class size mandate. Here’s where the mayoral candidates stand.

2025-05-16T20:11:27+00:00

The next mayor of New York City will be responsible for implementing one of the biggest changes to schools in recent years: sharply reducing class sizes.

Under a state law passed in 2022, the city’s K-12 classrooms must be capped at 20-25 students depending on grade level, with performing arts and physical education classes allowed up to 40. Fewer than half of the city’s classrooms currently fall within those caps. The city must reach full compliance by September 2028.

It’s a massive task that will require a hiring spree projected to cost as much as $1.9 billion annually and potentially many billions more to create new classroom space. Where that money will come from remains an open question the next mayor must answer.

Most of the candidates said they would push state lawmakers to finance it — though it’s unclear if state officials will pony up.

The next administration will also have to confront other tricky tradeoffs. Should some schools receive exemptions from the law? Should popular schools cap enrollment? Which schools will get to build new space? How can it be implemented without shortchanging high-need schools, which already tend to have smaller classes?

Chalkbeat sent a questionnaire to the leading candidates on March 25 to find out their views on seven pressing issues. A spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams said he declined to participate since he isn’t in the primary.

We asked each of the candidates how they would approach the class size reduction mandate. Here’s what they told us.

Responses may have been edited for formatting or trimmed for length, but otherwise each candidate’s answers are as submitted, including hyperlinks.

Parent leaders demand overhaul amid dysfunctional school council elections

2025-05-13T21:59:43+00:00

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Parent leaders across the city are raising alarms about New York City’s local school council elections, citing “gross mismanagement” of the process by the Education Department.

At issue are Community Education Council races, which are held every two years to elect parent leaders in each of the city’s 32 local districts and four citywide councils representing English learners, students with disabilities, and high school families. Families vote online through their New York City Schools accounts, or NYCSA, through May 13.

The Education Department’s office of Family and Community Engagement, known as FACE, runs the elections which saw just 2% of voter turnout during each of the past two cycles. This will be the third election in which all parents with public school children can vote; previously, PTA leaders selected candidates.

The problems in this election cycle range from inconsistently listing candidates on ballots, with some appearing with their last names first and others in the reverse order, to larger problems that have interrupted voting or erased some votes entirely.

This year’s election cycle got off to a bumpy start. Hours after voting began April 25, Education Department officials took the system offline to fix “technical issues.” The system was down for about 11 hours.

In Manhattan’s District 1, which covers the Lower East Side and East Village, one parent vying for a council seat was left off the ballot. Voting had already been underway for a week, but FACE staffers told families who had already voted, that they would have to vote again.

Meanwhile, the Citywide Council for High Schools contends that FACE has not properly overseen candidate forums, “allowing various violations of the rules by candidates without interruption from the FACE representative on duty who was either passive or left prematurely.”

Three councils — District 1, District 20 in Brooklyn, and the high school council — have drafted resolutions calling for FACE to be overhauled or dismantled and urging local and state elected officials to intervene.

“The persistent and systemic failures in FACE’s administration of these elections undermines parent trust in the process and threatens to depress parent participation in school governance,” according to language from all three resolutions, which are advisory and are expected to be voted on this week.

An Education Department spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment about the resolutions. Officials said only that they are extending the deadline for voting — from 5 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. on May 13. They said state law prevents them from extending it further.

Community Education Councils’ main formal role is to approve boundaries that define geographic areas from which schools may draw students. They have little policymaking power, though they offer an important feedback mechanism from parents to Education Department officials. Some have taken up hot-button issues in recent years, from transgender students’ participation in sports to protecting students from immigration enforcement at school.

As some councils have waded into the culture wars, this year’s elections have garnered more interest from parents who previously had paid little attention to these democratic bodies.

Critics have raised concerns for years about the election process, often noting that participation is frequently dismal. In 2023, the city spent about $224 per voter, or nearly $4.3 million, to operate that election, department officials told parent leaders.

A Chalkbeat investigation after the last election highlighted numerous concerns as to how FACE conducted the process, including how the office was gripped internally by turmoil and factions, potentially affecting the turnout and its outcomes. City Comptroller Brad Lander proposed a series of reforms last November to improve outreach and set clearer campaign rules.

Fivel Rothberg, who worked as an outreach consultant supporting the education council elections until last month, said he is disappointed that the process remains so dysfunctional.

“FACE had two years, from 2023 to 2025, to organize a better election rollout,” Rothberg said. The Education Department’s “mismanagement of the [education council] elections is disheartening because there is so much possibility … for parental involvement in improving schools.”

Some District 1 families said they worry there is no easy fix for leaving a candidate off the ballot. Even as the Education Department extends the voting window, it’s unclear if every family who had already voted will cast another ballot.

City officials told parent leaders this week that 83 parents had voted prior to canceling and restarting the ballots, but they didn’t provide information on how many of those parents revoted, said Noah Harlan, the president of District 1’s council. He said he had “serious concerns about disenfranchisement” of the parents who votes were cancelled and did not have the same voting window as those in other districts after the vote restarted.

“It’s unpredictable where this will go because it’s so messy,” said Robert Murtfeld, a District 1 parent and former education council member. “Even if we extended the voting for a week, where’s the fairness?”

The dysfunctional elections process suggests the Education Department sees the councils as an afterthought, said Erika Kendall, president of the education council in Brooklyn’s District 17. But for her, the councils are an important conduit for parent voice and driving additional resources to the district. The council recently advocated for the city to open a local school geared toward students with reading challenges, she noted.

“The idea that we don’t have to be taken seriously, that we’re just kind of this burden that everybody tolerates, I find it very disrespectful especially considering the meaningful work that we can do,” Kendall said.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex atazimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy atazimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Brooklyn school closure wins approval, making way for new ‘literacy academy’ for struggling readers

2025-05-01T21:28:33+00:00

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After months of intense debate, a citywide education panel voted Wednesday night to close a Brooklyn school with dwindling enrollment and open a new one for struggling readers in its place.

The city’s Panel for Educational Policy nearly unanimously approved the Education Department’s plan to phase out M.S. 394, a prekindergarten-8 school in Crown Heights, over the next three school years.

And the panel greenlit opening a new school, the Central Brooklyn Literacy Academy, in the same building. It will be the second city-operated public school designed to serve students with dyslexia and other reading challenges.

City officials contend that M.S. 394 is too small — and low performing — to stay open. Two hundred students currently attend, 41% fewer than five years ago. The school’s reading and math proficiency rates in grades 3-8, at 23% and 27% respectively, are less than half the city averages last year.

The Education Department is under pressure to address a growing number of tiny schools, which are expensive to operate and struggle to offer a full range of programs because funding is tied to student headcount. In recent years, officials have ramped up school mergers, which are often less contentious than closures. M.S. 394 represents only the third school closure to be approved under Mayor Eric Adams.

The M.S. 394 proposal drew intense pushback, including a rare rebuke from the school’s principal, prompting some panel members to call for a broader conversation about how to improve the closure process to incorporate community input earlier.

“To be excluded from discussions about the very future of my school feels like a missed opportunity to explore creative, viable solutions together,” M.S. 394 Principal Sojourner Welch-David said in December before a closure vote that was ultimately postponed. “I just want to say this to the chancellor: Please allow principals [to] have a seat at the table so they’re not standing here like me trying to fight for my school.”

Fierce community pushback sparks broader debate about closure process

In recent months, students, parents, and educators from M.S. 394 have packed public meetings in a bid to save it. The school is a community hub with a core of dedicated educators who know their students well, are dedicated to improving student performance, and even attend their birthday parties, families said. Many were frustrated that the city seemed more focused on opening a new school rather than investing in improving M.S. 394.

“This proposal to phase out our school over three years feels like a profound injustice — a direct assault on our children and their education,” Aliza Ellison, the school’s parent association president, said before the closure vote at Wednesday’s panel meeting. “The tight-knit community we have built [will be] dismantled.”

The closure vote was initially scheduled for December but was postponed after panel members were caught off guard by the depth of community opposition, Chairperson Greg Faulkner previously said. Education Department officials scheduled a new vote in February but abruptly removed it from the agenda that month.

In the months that followed, top Education Department officials, including Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos and First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg, visited the school. “We were impressed by an environment that was full of safety and love for the kids,” Weisberg said Wednesday. The city ultimately agreed to modify the proposal.

Instead of closing the school at the end of this year, they proposed phasing it out gradually with the 2027-2028 school year as its final year of operation, keeping its pre-K program open during that time. Officials also vowed to give current students priority admission to the new literacy academy. (Several surrounding Brooklyn districts, including 13, 16, 23, and 32 will also get an admissions priority.)

The new literacy academy will open in the building next year and serve students in grades 2-3 before it eventually expands to become a grades 2-8 school with specialized instruction for students who struggle with reading. Education Department officials said half of M.S. 394’s current first and second graders would be eligible based on mid-year reading assessments.

The Education Department framed the tweaked proposal as a direct response to community feedback, though the changes did not seem to win over many families and educators who testified for hours on Wednesday evening in opposition to the plan.

Many caregivers emphasized that as the school gradually jettisons entire grade levels, beginning with grades K-3 next year, some siblings will no longer be able to attend school together, complicating their commutes.

“Our feeling is the same as before,” Leon Gidron, a parent of three children at M.S. 394, said of the plan in an interview before the vote. “It doesn’t take closing our school to promote a [new] program.”

Still, all of the panel members voted to approve the phase-out plan with only Faulkner abstaining. Tom Sheppard, an elected parent member of the panel, said he was sympathetic to the community’s arguments to keep the school open but argued it had simply become too small.

“We’ve seen the same thing play out in the Bronx, where I’m from, where schools get to a point where they just are not sustainable,” he said. The phase-out plan “allows for 394 to wind down with a degree of dignity that hasn’t been afforded to a lot of schools.”

Faulkner said he hopes to use the M.S. 394 debate to inform a broader discussion about how to overhaul the closure and merger process in the future and has created a committee to explore the issue.

“There were some missteps,” Faulkner said Wednesday. “We can credit the parents at 394 for having us take a look at the way that we do this process.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

‘Technical issues’ take NYC parent council elections offline on first day of voting

2025-04-25T19:22:27+00:00

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Just hours into the first day of voting for New York City’s elected parent councils, Education Department officials took the system offline to fix “technical issues,” a spokesperson said.

It wasn’t immediately clear what officials were fixing. But on Friday multiple parents reported glitches and mistakes in the online voting system, including parents appearing on ballots for seats for which they are not running.

As of early Friday afternoon, a message on the online voting page said “voting has been paused, as there are updates being made to the site. We are hopeful to resume this afternoon.”

The setback was frustrating for some Community Education Council candidates who said they’ve been working hard to remind parents to vote and help them troubleshoot, and worry that the technical glitches Friday will make an already complicated process that much more difficult.

“It’s just extremely disappointing because we’ve been working so hard to have our school parent community be involved in this process,” said Alejandro Epifanio Torres, an elementary school parent running for the council in District 1 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

During the last election cycle in 2023, only 19,000 parents — or 2% of eligible voters — cast their ballots in the council election. A 2023 Chalkbeat investigation found mismanagement of both outreach and voting administration during the last council elections.

Department spokesperson Onika Richards said a vendor was addressing the “technical issues” with voting. “In the interest of ensuring a fair and accurate process, we have temporarily paused voting,” Richards said. “We are working diligently to resolve any issues by this afternoon, and we expect to resume voting promptly thereafter.”

Debbie Kross, the parent of a high school student in the Bronx who is running as the Bronx borough representative for the Citywide Council on High Schools said when she logged in to vote this morning, she discovered that her name appeared on both the Bronx and Brooklyn ballots.

“I wrote to them immediately and said, ‘remove me,’” she said. Kross said she hadn’t heard back as of early Friday afternoon.

Even though she’s technically eligible to be a Brooklyn representative since she has a child in school there, Kross said she didn’t indicate that she wanted to run there and doesn’t “know anything about Brooklyn schools … I don’t think I would be a good representative.”

Gavin Healy, a council member in Manhattan’s District 2, said he heard widespread complaints from parents about the voting process.

The advocacy group Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education, known as PLACE, sent a press release just before 10 a.m. Friday urging the city to pause the voting process because of “incorrect ballots.”

The Education Department emailed parents shortly after 10 a.m. to notify them the elections were paused — just minutes after sending a reminder to vote, according to screenshots obtained by Chalkbeat.

Education Department officials didn’t immediately say how many parents voted before the site was taken offline and whether they would have to recast their ballots.

Voting remains open until May 13, though it wasn’t immediately clear whether the Education Department would extend that window. Parents vote through their New York City Schools Account, or NYCSA, and can cast ballots for up to three candidates.

Votes for the city’s district-based Community Education Councils and its citywide councils are held every two years. The elected volunteers on the councils have few formal powers outside of voting to approve rezoning proposals, but play an important role in communicating with district officials and representing parents in policy debates.

In recent years, the councils have waded into charged political issues, passing advisory resolutions on sports policy for transgender students and protections for students against President Donald Trump’s executive orders.

Friday’s voting snag comes after critics have repeatedly raised concerns about the city Education Department’s management of the elections. Last November, city Comptroller Brad Lander issued a set of recommendations to improve the election process by shoring up outreach and setting clearer rules for campaigning.

Fivel Rothberg, who until recently worked as an outreach consultant supporting the CEC elections, said the entire concept of relying on NYCSA accounts for voting was “doomed to fail” regardless of glitches because some parents struggle to access them.

“Parents and guardians already have so much on their plate,” he said. “The NYCSA system created one more twisted maze for everyone to navigate in an already complex bureaucracy.”

Healy said the fact that problems continued at the start of this election cycle was unsurprising.

“I do wish at some point they would send this to the Board of Elections,” he said. The Education Department’s Family and Community Engagement department “isn’t really able to do this kind of project, so send it to someone else,” he added.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Officials promised all NYC classrooms would get air conditioning. 1 in 5 still lack it.

2025-04-17T22:07:35+00:00

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Almost three years ago, New York City officials declared victory on a major project: outfitting every public school classroom with air conditioning.

Yet after spending nearly half a billion dollars to upgrade outdated electrical systems and purchase new units, nearly 1 in 5 classrooms are still at risk of overheating.

About 18% of instructional spaces in city public schools did not have access to air conditioning last school year, according to an analysis of city data by the Independent Budget Office. Among classrooms dedicated to special education support, 22% did not have access to cooling units.

Chalkbeat previously found some students and educators were left sweltering even after the Education Department said its AC for All initiative was complete. The latest data show AC access remains a widespread issue.

“You got a lot of people running around patting themselves on the back about that, but there are still a lot of spaces that don’t have air conditioning,” said Tom Sheppard, a Bronx parent who serves on the city’s Panel for Educational Policy, which votes on Education Department contracts and other policy decisions.

When former Mayor Bill de Blasio launched AC for All in 2017, he framed the effort as essential to ensuring students have comfortable spaces to learn and a response to families that had long complained about stifling classrooms. But the program was a one-time infusion, leaving the subsequent cost of repairing or replacing AC units to individual schools. Some administrators say they don’t have money in their budgets to address broken units, leading to a patchwork of air conditioning coverage.

“They did ‘AC for All,’ but what’s the idea for replacing [them]?” said Stacey McStine, an assistant principal at P.S. 279 in Brooklyn. The school’s PTA kicked in some money for air conditioners years ago, but some units are now past their useful life, McStine said, and city officials did not replace all of them through the air conditioning program.

On hot days last school year, some classes had to be moved to the auditorium, which is air conditioned, disrupting instruction. The school’s custodian was able to track down portable AC units for preschool classrooms, though they felt more like a fan.

“They’re babies. They need AC, and we’re running on a portable,” McStine said.

City officials did not explain why maintaining or replacing air conditioning should fall to individual schools unlike other building maintenance costs, noting only that the Education Department has not historically paid to maintain window AC units.

“The AC for All initiative took important steps to cool our schools, and while our custodial engineers work hard to maintain AC units, the repair and replacement of units is the responsibility of our dedicated school leaders,” department spokesperson Jenna Lyle wrote in a statement.

The AC for All initiative also did not guarantee air conditioning in every space where students learn. Converted classroom spaces that were not originally designed for instruction were excluded — a noteworthy exception as schools may increasingly lean on makeshift spaces for instruction to comply with a mandate to reduce class sizes. The program also left out rooms without windows and a slew of other spaces such as gyms, auditoriums, and libraries.

Air conditioning access is an increasingly urgent issue. School years in New York City regularly include more than 30 days of temperatures of at least 80 degrees, and extreme temperatures are likely to become more frequent because of climate change. Some studies, though not all, suggest student learning suffers in hotter temperatures.

Lack of air conditioning could also pose additional logistical headaches for school leaders this coming school year. Under a state law that takes effect this September, schools will no longer be allowed to send students into spaces hotter than 88 degrees, forcing administrators to find alternative spaces on sweltering days. City officials did not say whether schools could consider remote instruction as an alternative.

Some data show AC for All didn’t lead to sweeping change

Even as the city purchased at least 19,000 AC units and upgraded electrical systems in roughly 700 buildings, it is unclear how much of a dent the air conditioning program made.

When AC for All launched in 2017, officials said 26% of city classrooms were unairconditioned — or 11,500 rooms — though the true number turned out to be closer to 13,000 thanks to a miscount.

By 2021, 20% of classrooms lacked AC based on data city officials publicly reported. That figure dropped to roughly 11% by the summer of 2022. Later that year, Education Department officials said the project was “completed” and stopped releasing reports tracking the program.

But separate data analyzed by the city’s Independent Budget Office shows that over the past eight years, the city only increased classroom air conditioning coverage by a little more than 2 percentage points — from 20% of classrooms lacking AC in the 2016-17 school year to 18% last school year.

Some of the discrepancy may be related to differences in how the IBO and Education Department classify whether a room is used for instructional purposes and therefore is eligible for the air conditioning program.

The data sources are also different. The figures analyzed by IBO came from annual principal surveys while the figures released publicly by the Education Department to track the progress of AC for All were based on walkthroughs conducted by other department staff.

Education Department officials did not dispute the IBO’s findings. Kevin Ortiz, a spokesperson for the School Construction Authority, noted that the IBO data is based on self-reported information and may not be fully accurate. IBO officials said those figures are supposed to be periodically validated.

The program’s costs also turned out to be far higher than initially estimated. A 2017 press release said the Education Department planned to spend nearly $29 million over five years to purchase and install the units with another $50 million in capital costs for electrical and other upgrades.

The Education Department’s costs grew to at least $39.6 million though officials did not offer a final tally. Meanwhile, the capital costs soared to $460 million, according to Ortiz. He said the $50 million figure came before the agency had actually assessed the number of classrooms that needed electrical upgrades and retrofits.

Despite the investment, some students said they still deal with uncomfortably hot classrooms.

Autumn Wynn, a junior at Park Slope Collegiate, said her social studies class last year did not have a working air conditioner. That made it challenging to concentrate, she said, especially as the room filled with body odor.

The heat also affected instruction, as her teacher sometimes pivoted to showing YouTube videos or offering online quizzes.

“It affected them teaching,” Wynn said. “It’s just so hot that no one can think straight.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC’s school safety force has shrunk by nearly a third. Principals are raising alarms.

2025-03-10T22:50:05+00:00

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As Principal Mark House greeted students at the John F. Kennedy campus in the Bronx last month, a student staggered toward him, face covered in blood.

Initially, House thought the 16-year-old had been in an accident and started escorting him to the on-site health clinic. But on the way there, the student collapsed. It turned out he had been stabbed.

In past years, school safety agents patrolled near the site of the attack, a stone’s throw from the school entrance. But no one was stationed outside that morning due to a significant decline in agents assigned to the complex.

The campus once had upwards of 20 school safety agents. Now it typically has 10 or fewer, House said. He believes the presence of an agent could have helped.

“It’s a question of prevention. If an adult is standing there in an NYPD uniform, there is a much lower probability that the violent incident happens,” said House, a veteran principal who leads Bronx Engineering and Technology Academy, one of seven schools serving a combined 2,400 students in Kingsbridge’s JFK campus.

A profound change has quietly taken root in the city’s school safety system in recent years, and the situation at the JFK campus vividly illustrates the fallout many school leaders fear it’s causing.

The number of school safety agents — unarmed but uniformed New York Police Department employees stationed at schools — has plunged from about 5,000 to 3,600 over the past five years, a roughly 28% drop, according to data from the Independent Budget Office and NYPD. K-12 enrollment shrunk by 11% during the same period.

The declines have been driven by various factors: high attrition during the pandemic fueled by the COVID vaccine mandate, slow hiring in recent years, and a $37,000 annual starting salary.

Large high school campuses like JFK that depend on safety agents to operate metal detectors have been hardest hit, as they often do not have enough staff to run the machines, making students late for class as they snake through long lines during arrival.

School leaders have raised alarms about the issue. Some campuses have seen their rosters of school safety agents cut by half or more in recent years, according to more than 120 school administrators and staffers who signed an open letter to NYPD and Education Department officials in November calling on the city to hire additional agents and replace broken scanners.

The shortage of agents makes it harder to keep campuses open on nights and weekends for extracurricular activities, since agents are often required to be on site, school leaders said. And there are rarely enough agents available to do perimeter patrols that used to be commonplace during arrival and dismissal.

Some principals said they don’t have enough excess school staff to help monitor those transitions, and even if they did, the staffers don’t have the training to respond to a violent incident.

At the JFK campus, city officials reacted to the stabbing by adding about five additional agents, House said. And while the student who was attacked is recovering, the incident left the community shaken.

“It’s devastating,” House said. “To have [a student] bleeding in your arms is pretty awful.”

Fears of a looming school safety crisis

While the ranks of safety agents shrunk during the pandemic, the number of weapons showing up at schoolhouse doors surged — with students often reporting that they’re trying to protect themselves on their commutes. That’s created a daunting safety challenge for many schools.

Some principals fear the decline in safety agents may snowball into a broader crisis.

Other educators and advocates, however, see the reduced police presence as a step in the right direction after warning for years about school police criminalizing minor misbehavior, particularly among Black and Latino children. On certain campuses, school leaders partner with community organizations whose staff help supervise dismissal and defuse conflicts rather than relying solely on safety agents.

“Politicians and school leaders have chosen to harden schools for over 40 years, and it just doesn’t work,” said Andrea Ortiz, from the Dignity in Schools coalition, which opposes NYPD and metal detectors in schools. Ortiz supports hiring more staff to help with safety during arrival and dismissal — though not NYPD employees.

Large high school campuses like JFK, pictured here, have been hardest hit by the school safety agent shortage.

But even as some school administrators are open to alternatives to safety agents, many are frustrated that there has not been a systemic response to the shortage.

Neither the Education Department nor the NYPD responded to the November letter about the lack of safety agents, said Michael Barakat, the principal of the Bronx High School for Law and Community Service, one of the letter’s authors.

“The fact that there’s been absolutely no response,” Barakat said, “is alarming.”

Education Department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein did not dispute that the agency had not responded to the letter, noting school safety agents are under the NYPD’s purview.

“We recognize that our city is facing a shortage of school safety agents, and we are continuing to work with our partners at NYPD School Safety to mitigate these issues,” she wrote in an email.

An NYPD spokesperson said the agency is “always ready and willing to recruit for the School Safety Division.” They did not cite any specific efforts to significantly increase the number of agents.

A decline years in the making

The city’s school safety division rivals the size of many other cities’ police forces and has long sparked fierce debate.

Critics note that safety agents often respond to crises better left to counselors. Others counter that large majorities of students, parents, and teachers believe the agents help keep schools safe, though students at predominantly Black campuses are less likely to agree.

Pressure to overhaul school policing reached a boiling point amid the racial justice protests of 2020. Facing calls from progressive lawmakers to reduce the NYPD’s budget, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio planned to move the roughly $400 million school safety division to the Education Department. But de Blasio slow-walked the transfer, and Mayor Eric Adams abandoned it.

In the meantime, the school safety force continued to shrink. Despite his supportive rhetoric, Adams has not taken significant action to restore the number of school safety agents to pre-pandemic levels — and even helped solidify its smaller size.

Hank Sheinkopf, a spokesperson for the school safety agents union, placed the blame for the shrinking numbers on elected officials who have pushed to limit the NYPD’s footprint in schools, including comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.

Williams told Chalkbeat he wants a “just transition” to a new system that doesn’t include “letting go of the workforce.” Lander said in a statement that school safety agents’ wages are “far too low and there has not been enough investment into training or maintaining their workforce.”

One veteran school safety agent in the Bronx, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said “many people don’t want to join” the school safety division because of the pay. The NYPD’s recent move to loosen the eligibility requirements for police officers amid a shortage of cops might draw even more people away from the school safety division, the agent said.

NYPD officials announced a plan in 2023 to hire 650 “assistant school safety agents,” a new position with a $33,000 starting salary open to high school graduates 18 and older. The city has yet to hire any, police officials said during a City Council hearing.

School entry wait times balloon

The shortage of school safety agents created a “perfect storm” this fall, said Evan Schwartz, principal of Alfred E. Smith Career and Technical Education High School in the Bronx. Without enough agents to operate the metal detectors, the building sometimes opened late.

“It just backs it up [with] students waiting outside,” Schwartz said, noting the delays eased several weeks into the school year. “If it’s raining, there’s not anywhere for them to be.”

Staffing issues can create additional safety risks by keeping kids clustered outside for longer in big groups.

At the Theodore Roosevelt Campus in the Bronx, which serves 2,500 students, there’s often a line around the block because at least one of the campus’ three scanners isn’t running, said Barakat.

Bashar Assaedi, a 14-year-old freshman at the Bronx Academy for Software Engineering, said it’s frustrating to get marked tardy when “you got to school on time, but metal detectors [that make you] take off your jackets, any keys, any watches, rings” cause delays.

Some educators and students, including Assaedi, would rather get rid of metal detectors altogether, arguing that caring relationships with staff are more effective deterrents against students using weapons in school.

But others, like Barakat, say the machines help keep students out of danger, and school staffers are not allowed to operate them.

Schools experiment with alternative approaches

The steep drop in school safety agents has left administrators confronting difficult questions about how to keep kids safe during arrival and dismissal, when conflicts are most likely to break out.

Some schools have seen promising results by tapping organizations that specialize in violence interruption, where community members are trained to de-escalate conflicts as an alternative to police intervention.

The Spring Creek Community School in Brooklyn’s East New York hired the group Elite Learners through the Education Department’s Project Pivot initiative, which brought community organizations into more than 300 schools for extra support at a cost of $14 million this year.

Employees with Elite Learners help diffuse incidents outside Spring Creek Community School through a city program called Project Pivot.

Elite’s employees typically fan out around the school’s exit and the surrounding blocks, clad in gray jackets with bright orange letters. In one recent instance, a group of men across the street wanted to fight several students, said officials at the Academy of Young Writers, one of the schools in the building. Elite staffers intervened and contacted the police.

“There’s definitely been a decrease in incidents outside of the school,” said Principal Tanisha Brown.

But partnerships like the one at the Spring Creek school are not yet widespread. Just 50 or so of the roughly 320 schools receiving Project Pivot funding are using it for “safe passages” programs, an Education Department spokesperson said.

House, the principal who recently responded to the stabbing, is open to other approaches to school safety. But he said that should be a long-term project that solicits community input, examines what other districts have done, and proposes a clear alternative.

Until that happens, House believes more safety agents are necessary.

Right now, “We’re still playing the ‘if’ game: ‘If we had had somebody here, would that have made a difference?’” House said. “In another year or two, we’re not going to be speculating. We’re going to be drawing straight lines.”

This story has been updated with additional information from a Tuesday City Council hearing.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

After a yearslong battle, panel votes to close NYC’s smallest school

2025-02-27T02:09:25+00:00

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An education panel voted Wednesday evening to close P.S. 25, New York City’s smallest school, following a yearslong battle to shutter it.

Only 53 students are currently enrolled in grades K-5, making it all but impossible for the Bedford-Stuyvesant school to offer a full suite of programs. With city funding directly tied to headcount, the school has struggled to pay for core academic instruction, such as special education teachers, as well as art and extracurriculars, District 16 Superintendent Brendan Mims said Wednesday.

The city’s Panel for Educational Policy, a majority of which is appointed by the mayor and must vote on major changes to schools, voted unanimously to close P.S. 25 at the end of the school year. Although the local Community Education Council supported the closure, several educators and caregivers voiced opposition, arguing the school should be given more time to reverse enrollment declines.

Meanwhile, the Education Department withdrew a separate proposal that was originally slated for a vote Wednesday to shutter M.S. 394, another school with dwindling enrollment.

P.S. 25 is an extreme example of a deepening problem: The number of tiny schools has exploded in recent years as enrollment plummeted during the pandemic and has not rebounded. About 190 campuses enroll fewer than 200 students, more than twice as many as in 2016. Small schools are expensive to operate on a per-student basis and struggle to afford basic programs. It cost $45,420 per child last year to operate P.S. 25, more than double the city average.

The city has largely turned to school mergers to address the issue, arguing that consolidating schools is often less disruptive than closing them, making the decision to shutter P.S. 25 an outlier. It is only the second school under Mayor Eric Adams to face closure.

P.S. 25 has fended off previous efforts to shut it down. When its enrollment slipped below 100 students seven years ago, city officials moved to close it. But a group of advocates filed a lawsuit challenging the closure, arguing the move required action from the local education council because it would have left some families without a zoned option, and the councils have authority over zoning. The city ultimately agreed to keep the school open.

This time around, the Education Department submitted rezoning plans that were approved earlier this month by the local education council, likely heading off a repeat of that legal battle.

“We have done all we can do — and it’s best to go ahead and close that school and get those families into a more stable environment,” said NeQuan McLean, president of the local education council, which unanimously voted in favor of closing the school. (The council’s vote is not binding.)

McLean noted that his council is also encouraging the Education Department to come up with a broader strategy for Brooklyn’s District 16 to address persistent enrollment challenges across schools in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

The city needs to “take a real deep look at enrollment in District 16, or we’re gonna be back next year and the year after talking about consolidations and mergers,” McLean said.

Vote to close M.S. 394 and open new ‘literacy academy’ delayed until April

Another Brooklyn school was spared from closure, at least for now, after members of the community pushed back against the city’s plans.

A proposal to close M.S. 394, a pre-K-8 school in Crown Heights, was scheduled for a vote in December. Education Department officials argued the school is too small and low-performing to stay open. It serves roughly 200 children, a 36% decline over the last five years. About 21% of students were considered proficient in reading last year and 25% in math. Citywide, 53% of students were proficient in math and 49% were in reading.

After several community members voiced opposition to the closure proposal at the December meeting, the panel voted to delay taking any action. The vote was rescheduled for Wednesday evening, but the Education Department abruptly removed it from the agenda. An Education Department spokesperson said they plan to reschedule the vote for April.

Delaying the closure decision for the second time also affects a brand-new school geared toward students with reading challenges that the Education Department hopes to open in the same building. The city’s plans to open the new school, known as the Central Brooklyn Literacy Academy, are tied to the closure of M.S. 394.

Some parents previously said they were frustrated the city was investing in a new school rather than working to revitalize M.S. 394 to attract more families.

“The kids who are already at 394, ultimately, why should they have to leave the school to bring in an institution that I feel will help benefit them as well?” Leon Gidron, a father of three children at the school, said during a public meeting in December. “Why not combine the two?”

Gregory Faulkner, who chairs the Panel for Educational Policy, said education officials are considering altering their proposal to slowly phase out M.S. 394, instead of closing it entirely at the end of the year, while clearing the path for the Central Brooklyn Literacy Academy to open. He suggested some M.S. 394 students could get priority to attend the new school. (An Education Department spokesperson did not respond to a question about whether the city plans to alter its closure proposal.)

Faulkner said the level of community opposition to the closure plan caught him off guard.

“I’ve been talking to parents in 394 to find out … if there’s some kind of a compromise that will work for them,” Faulkner said, adding that the details are still in flux. He noted that Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos personally visited the school this week.

“We prioritize family engagement, including in connection with school closures and openings, which have deep impacts on surrounding communities,” Education Department spokesperson Chyann Tull wrote in an email. “We will continue engaging with families, educators, and community members to ensure transparency and collaboration in this process.”

Still, the Education Department’s decision to postpone the vote leaves M.S. 394 families in limbo about whether they will need to find a new school for their children next year. And the further delay may complicate efforts for the Central Brooklyn Literacy Academy to recruit students and educators in time to open in September if the proposal is ultimately approved.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

School for immigrant students to open in Queens despite pushback from school sharing its building

2025-01-23T23:43:42+00:00

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A network of schools that exclusively serves newly arrived immigrants will be getting its first 6-12 school.

The new school, known as Queens International, won approval to open its doors this fall, following hours of debate during a contentious public meeting Wednesday evening.

Members of Ridgewood’s I.S. 77, the middle school it will share a building with, said the campus previously struggled with another school temporarily housed in its building. They also fear a new program could exacerbate enrollment declines at the school, which offers a Spanish dual language program.

Queens International will join the Internationals Network for Public Schools, which supports 17 public schools across New York City that exclusively cater to students who recently arrived from other countries. It will be the first middle school for new arrivals in Queens.

City officials said the new school will help accommodate a rapid increase in the number of migrant families — an estimated 48,000 newcomers have enrolled in local public schools since the summer of 2022. Queens public schools have absorbed the largest share of newcomers of the five boroughs, city officials said.

It’s unclear whether the city will continue to see such an influx in the coming years, or whether it might even see some people leave as local and federal officials attempt to reduce the flow of new migrants and the city faces an affordability crisis.

Approval to open the new international school comes as President Donald Trump has vowed to accelerate deportations and his administration this week rescinded a longstanding policy that limited immigration enforcement at schools and other sensitive locations. Mayor Eric Adams refrained from taking a clear stance on the shift.

Leaders of the Internationals Network previously said they have been preparing for a more hostile stance from the Trump administration. And the Panel for Educational Policy, which has the power to approve school openings, unanimously voted Wednesday evening in favor of a resolution laying out protections for undocumented students.

Similar to other schools in the Internationals Network, the new Queens outpost promises to offer support for children who are in the process of learning English and may have experienced disruptions to their schooling. Students at Queens International will also have access to Advanced Placement courses, opportunities to sample college coursework through CUNY’s College Now program, and paid apprenticeships in technology, finance, and business.

Much of the pushback to the new school at Wednesday’s panel meeting came from community members from I.S. 77, who pointed to a two-year co-location with Bushwick Leaders High School for Academic Excellence, an arrangement they described as chaotic. Some children from I.S. 77 said students at the high school sometimes got into fights that required them to stay in their classrooms until the disruption was resolved.

Other community members worried that opening Queens International in the building would strain access to shared resources, such as the cafeteria, and exacerbate enrollment declines at I.S. 77. They pushed for the Education Department to instead invest in expanding I.S. 77.

“It would create competition and comparison by parents and students and may lead to a shift of their students to an international school which is equipped with more resources,” Manisha Jain, a member of the local parent council in Queens District 24 said during the Wednesday evening meeting. The District 24 parent council overwhelmingly passed a resolution urging the city to reconsider the co-location proposal.

City officials contend that there is plenty of room for both schools, as the building is only at 39% capacity. Even once Queens International reaches its full projected enrollment of up to 510 students, the building will still have excess space, city projections show.

Alan Cheng, an Education Department superintendent who oversees the Internationals Network schools, noted that Queens International will focus on enrolling newly arrived immigrants who are learning English.

“This ensures that Queens International is meant to compliment, rather than compete, with the I.S. 77 dual language bilingual program,” he said, adding that the school “will address a critical need in our city.”

After hours of testimony, the proposal to open Queens International won nearly unanimous support from the education panel.

Notably, one of Mayor Adams’ appointees, Darling James Miramey, abstained from the vote. He called the proposal a “lose-lose situation.”

“I know that I’m [a] mayoral appointee and I should say yes,” Miramey said, referencing the longstanding practice of mayoral appointees voting in favor of proposals advanced by the Education Department, which the mayor controls. “I want more time for [a] better solution.”

The panel also approved another new Queens high school this coming fall called HBCU Early College Prep, a selective program that will partner with a historically Black university and offer early college credit. The vote in favor of that school was unanimous.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Some crowded NYC schools want enrollment caps to cut class sizes. Will the city pay for it?

2025-01-22T23:15:18+00:00

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P.S. 8, a coveted elementary school in Brooklyn Heights, has few options to reduce class sizes to comply with the state’s new law.

The school could try to secure additional space through a new building or annex, or split into multiple sites, but that would take years to complete. The school could get an exemption from the law, but the process for granting waivers is still unclear. And the reality is that most families at the school want lower class sizes, parent leaders say.

So when city officials earlier this year gave schools across New York City the chance to apply for extra funding to reduce class sizes, P.S. 8’s proposal included a request for one thing parent leaders say could make an immediate difference: reducing enrollment.

The school, which currently enrolls about 580 students and operates above 100% of its building capacity, asked to limit kindergarten registration starting next year to students who live in the school’s geographic zone, a change estimated to reduce the overall size of the grade from about 125 to roughly 90, parent leaders said. The school’s principal declined to comment.

At least three other overcrowded schools are also seeking to reduce the size of future incoming classes in order to make progress toward the state mandate, which has a deadline of September 2028 to be in full compliance, families and educators told Chalkbeat. The move would require the schools to keep roughly the same number of teachers — an additional cost because school budgets typically are based on student enrollment.

“This is the only thing we can do,” said the principal of an overcrowded elementary school, on the condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to talk to the press. The schools are among nearly 500 citywide that officials say do not have space to comply with the mandate.

The requests are notable because the Education Department has so far been reluctant to consider enrollment caps at overcrowded schools as a means of reducing class sizes, even when it’s the most expedient, or realistic, option. Officials have repeatedly expressed concern that reducing enrollment at schools that are maxed out on space — which, by definition, tend to be some of the city’s most in-demand — could anger parents or even drive some to leave the system.

“New enrollment caps are not being considered at this point,” said Education Department spokesperson Jenna Lyle. “New York City Public Schools is continuing to focus on expanding choice and access for families.”

Principals can get some wiggle room on the size of their incoming classes with the approval of their superintendent and the central enrollment office, a spokesperson said, but didn’t share specific criteria for approving those requests.

Officials have signaled that they’re unlikely to commit extra money to help schools seeking to reduce enrollment retain all their teachers. This year’s class size reduction funding aims to support schools to meet the required caps through approaches like filling unused classroom space and hiring more teachers — without reducing their enrollment, Education Department officials said.

Some 750 schools applied for the funding, the city teachers union said.

Right now, just two of P.S. 8’s 25 classes are below the caps set by the law, which limit elementary school classes to 20-23 students, according to Education Department figures.

The school’s enrollment-shrinking proposal, coupled with the extra funding, would allow it to get all five kindergarten classes below the cap, said PTA co-presidents Jennifer LaRusso-Leung and Carol Capece. As those smaller classes move through the school, it would eventually help bring other grades into compliance (though not all before the 2028 deadline).

That’s what most parents in the building want, regardless of the state law, Capece said.

“Our school survey supports this every year,” she said. “Small class sizes is the number one priority for almost all parents at our school.”

The city is nearing a critical phase of the class size law, which passed in 2022. As of last fall, roughly 46% of the city’s classrooms were under the caps. That number has to grow to 60% by this September, and by an additional 20 percentage points each of the two following years.

Education Department officials believe they can reach 60% by supporting schools with the space to comply, but will soon face much tougher decisions about how to handle overcrowded schools.

The stakes are high. The city could lose about $800 million in state funding a year if it fails to comply with the class size law, according to city estimates.

Enrollment caps could be a key tool for crowded schools

Plans like P.S. 8’s were a key component of the recommendations from the city’s class size working group, a committee of dozens of educators, parents, policymakers, and advocates who issued a 2023 report advising the city on how best to comply with the law.

The group concluded that capping enrollment would be a necessary, and relatively cost-effective, tool to help overcrowded schools meet the mandate, but proposed some “guardrails” to minimize the disruption to families.

For instance, they recommended targeting overcrowded schools in close proximity to other schools with excess space, so students affected by the caps would have somewhere close to go, suggesting no more than a 30-minute walk for elementary students.

They also recommended that caps apply only to students who want to attend school out of their zone — an approach that would be quicker and less disruptive than trying to cap zoned enrollment.

Roughly 23% of current kindergartners at overcrowded schools are out-of-zone, and the share is even higher for middle schools and high schools according to the working group. High schools in the city’s choice system are largely unzoned.

The recommendation to pursue enrollment caps was among the most contentious the working group considered, and some members opposed it, arguing that parent choice alone should drive enrollment and urging state legislators to amend the law.

The option, which isn’t favored by the Education Department, is by nature time sensitive: Enrollment caps work best by starting with the lower grades and then moving those smaller classes through the school rather than disrupting existing classes.

“The longer they [the Education Department] wait, the worse it’s going to become,” said Leonie Haimson, the executive director of Class Size Matters, an advocacy group that has pushed for years to lower class sizes, and a member of the working group.

Enrollment caps could have spillover effects

In addition to helping reduce class sizes, enrollment caps could have positive spillover effects citywide, including shoring up enrollment at under-enrolled schools and fostering racial and socioeconomic integration, the working group argued. Overcrowded schools tend to have higher populations of white and Asian American students, while underutilized ones tend to enroll Black and Latino students.

The group acknowledged that in some cases, enrollment caps could undercut diversity efforts by excluding students from underrepresented groups seeking to enroll at a school outside their zone, and members urged the city to consider each case individually.

P.S. 8 is largely white and among the most affluent schools in the city, while its neighboring elementary school in Dumbo, P.S. 307, is largely Black, Latino, and low-income. A controversial rezoning proposal a decade ago that shifted some students previously assigned to the P.S. 8 zone to P.S. 307’s zone drew significant attention and sparked concerns from both schools.

Even though P.S. 8’s current enrollment cap proposal wouldn’t affect zoned families, it will likely disappoint some out-of-zone families hoping to attend the school, Capece acknowledged.

That’s part of why the Education Department has been reluctant to pursue enrollment caps, raising concerns that if fewer families get into their top choice schools, more will leave the system.

When incoming kindergartners get an offer to enroll in their first choice school, roughly 70% of parents accept, and another 21% leave the city or enroll in a charter, according to 2022 data the Education Department shared with the working group. When kindergarten families get an offer at their second or third choice, 37% enroll, 34% leave the public school system, and the remaining families enroll in other city public schools, according to the data.

Enrollment caps alone are unlikely to get the city to 100% compliance with class size caps, the working group acknowledged.

In some districts, especially in southern Brooklyn and Queens, almost all of the schools are overcrowded. In those districts, the only path forward is a big boom in school construction, contends Haimson. But the city’s current construction plans fall well short of those needs, Haimson charged in a December letter to state education officials.

Schools can get exemptions from the law under certain circumstances, including over-enrollment, if the teachers union, principals union, and Education Department all agree. But the specific criteria for those exemptions and the process for deciding on them have not been fully fleshed out.

“The main problem is they have absolutely no plan to provide space either by building more schools or adjusting enrollment between schools,” said Haimson.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Leadership shakeup: Official overseeing reading overhaul steps down to run Brooklyn school

2025-01-14T22:09:11+00:00

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A senior Education Department official who helps oversee Mayor Eric Adams’ sweeping literacy curriculum overhaul is stepping down to help run a new Brooklyn school focused on students with reading challenges.

Jason Borges, executive director of Literacy and Academic Intervention Services, will leave his post at the end of the month according to an internal message obtained by Chalkbeat.

In his new role, Borges will help spin up a school that city officials are planning to open this fall. He will serve as program director of School Planning at the Central Brooklyn Literacy Academy, which is slated to be the second city-operated public school exclusively devoted to students with dyslexia and other reading issues.

He is expected to become the school’s principal, said Naomi Peña, director of community and family engagement for the Literacy Academy Collective, a nonprofit organization that will support the program.

“I think we were all surprised initially because he was leading the [literacy] work” at the Education Department, Peña said. She said his leadership of the school would be “massively valuable” given his experience atop the Education Department’s labyrinthine bureaucracy.

Borges has been responsible for implementing Adams’ signature education initiative, which requires elementary schools across the city to transition to one of three city-mandated reading curriculums. His departure represents the latest leadership transition for the program, known as NYC Reads. Last year, city officials disbanded the division of teaching and learning, which coincided with the departure of a deputy chancellor involved in implementing the curriculum changes.

Jason Borges, who oversees NYC’s literacy curriculum overhaul, will leave his post at the end of the month to open a new school focused on students with reading challenges.

Borges’ transition to an individual school from a senior management position left some literacy overhaul supporters feeling nervous. Susan Neuman, a New York University literacy expert who serves on a literacy advisory group for the city’s Education Department, said Borges was involved in a wide range of elements of NYC Reads, offering the group updates on issues including distributing curriculum materials to educators and student assessments.

“Of course I’m worried about the continuity,” Neuman said. “This is just the first year of enactment for so many of our schools. Who is minding the store?”

Department officials indicated that Meghan Duffy, who serves as director of Academic Intervention Services, will temporarily assume some of Borges’ responsibilities, including oversight of NYC Reads, in addition to her current role.

“While his leadership and steadfast commitment to the success of NYC Reads will be greatly missed, we are confident he will make a significant impact at CBLA,” Miatheresa Pate, interim executive chief for Academics and Instruction, wrote in an internal letter. “We are confident that under Meghan’s capable leadership, the department will continue to thrive.”

Borges did not respond to a request for comment. Although he has classroom experience, Borges has never served as a principal.

The Central Brooklyn Literacy Academy has not been formally approved to open. The Education Department’s proposal for opening the school hinges on the closure of M.S. 394 in Crown Heights, which has struggled with declining enrollment, so the new program can take over its space.

But after families and educators at M.S. 394 voiced concerns about the closure plan, the city’s Panel for Educational Policy, which must sign off on closures and school openings, postponed a scheduled vote on the plan last month.

The city will consider alternative options to open the Central Brooklyn Literacy Academy if the closure is not approved, a department spokesperson said, though that may delay the timeline for opening the school.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Application black hole? Some NYC high schools warn families they can’t see auditions or essays

2025-01-14T00:14:07+00:00

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Many of New York City’s eighth grade families breathed a sigh of relief after submitting high school applications last month.

But some faced a fresh jolt of panic in recent weeks, as multiple schools that require auditions or essays emailed families asking them to resend their materials and raising concerns that technical snafus could prevent scores of applications from being considered.

LaGuardia High School, a top performing arts campus, sent messages to some families asking them to resend materials directly to the school. Staffers at Beacon High School have been unable to view hundreds of student essays, which are required for admission, because of problems opening the files, according to several people with knowledge of the situation. At Manhattan’s School of the Future, officials reached out to more than 100 families to resubmit essays that count for the entirety of a student’s application.

New York City has an unusually large share of high schools that admit students based on their academic or artistic abilities. Families can choose among more than 700 programs, submitting their school rankings through a centralized website called MySchools. Dozens of programs require additional materials for admission, such as artwork portfolios, video auditions, and essays.

Staffers at multiple schools said they saw a significant increase this year in the number of students whose application materials they were unable to access through MySchools, a platform that has experienced technical problems in the past.

Education Department officials contended there were no systemic technical glitches with the website and pointed to a number of reasons that a file might not properly upload to MySchools. Using a symbol like a pound sign or underscore in the document title, using a browser other than Google Chrome, using a phone rather than a computer, uploading a file that’s too big, or closing the browser before the document is fully submitted could all interfere with the file fully uploading, officials said.

Manhattan mom Stephanie Little uploaded her son’s portfolio of artwork, including drawings and a video statement, to the MySchools portal, according to screenshots reviewed by Chalkbeat. But earlier this month, she received a message from Gramercy Arts High School, one of the programs her son applied to, that claimed she had not uploaded her son’s required portfolio.

“It would be nice to have some confidence that when you’re going to upload to a central portal that it’s going to work as advertised,” said Little. She received a request to resubmit the materials. “If you’re going to make the system like this, shouldn’t it at least work?”

Little swiftly emailed her son’s materials directly to the school, and Gramercy officials confirmed that they received the portfolio.

The exchange prompted Little to reach out to a handful of other programs her son applied to that require supplemental materials. “If one school is having a problem, what’s to say another school isn’t?” Little wondered. Staffers at Gramercy declined to comment.

Most of the other campuses confirmed they could see her son’s submissions, but one his top choices, Frank Sinatra School of the Arts High School in Queens, responded that they were “unable to confirm” that they could review the materials.

Little resent them directly to the school.

Application problems increased this year

School officials and observers said it’s not unusual to experience some difficulties accessing supplemental application materials. But staffers at multiple campuses said this year’s technical problems were more pronounced.

At Beacon High School, where a supplemental essay counts for 80% of a student’s application, officials have been unable to view hundreds of students’ essays out of thousands of submissions, according to several people with knowledge of the situation.

That represents a big jump compared with prior years, sources said, requiring the school to reach out to individual families to ask for materials and keep track of which ones have been submitted, a painstaking process that is not complete.

At School of the Future, Principal Stacy Goldstein said the school has not been able to view about 110 out of 1,432 supplemental essays, affecting roughly 8% of applicants. The essay counts for 100% of a student’s application.

The Education Department’s central enrollment office offered as much support as it could and advised her to reach out to the affected families to have them resubmit their essays directly to the school, Goldstein said. Still, only about 50 of the 110 resubmitted their materials so far.

“This wasn’t an issue before,” Goldstein noted.

Education Dept officials say all materials will be reviewed

Families may not see or respond quickly enough to requests to resubmit, potentially costing them a chance at admission. At LaGuardia High School, officials wrote to one family on Jan. 2 asking them to resubmit materials by Jan. 5, according to emails reviewed by Chalkbeat. (The assistant principal who sent the message declined to comment.)

“What if a parent doesn’t get an email or doesn’t see an email? They don’t know this is happening,” said Elissa Stein, who runs High School 411, an admissions consulting service. “Families that have schools on their applications might not be considered because of this.”

Education Department spokesperson Jenna Lyle noted that most students are able to upload materials without issue. Families can confirm that their materials were correctly submitted by contacting their current or prospective school counselor or logging on to MySchools and downloading the materials a family previously submitted to make sure they’re viewable.

Department officials added that when families receive admission offers in early March, their results will show how each school scored the application materials. If a family does not receive a score, Lyle said officials would work with the family and school to ensure the materials will be reviewed and potentially make an admissions offer.

Still, some families are frustrated with the process.

The mom who received a three-day deadline to resubmit materials to LaGuardia and spoke on condition of anonymity said she wasn’t too stressed about the situation because the school is not her child’s first choice. Yet the back-and-forth left her feeling uneasy.

“I’m just submitting to the chaos of this system with an attitude of acceptance and helplessness,” she said.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Former NYC Chancellor Banks urges ‘decisive action’ on school cellphone ban

2025-01-03T21:59:17+00:00

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Former New York City Chancellor David Banks on Friday urged Mayor Eric Adams to take “decisive action this year” on a systemwide school cellphone ban, in some of his first public comments since his abrupt exit last October.

“As Chancellor, this was one of the initiatives I deeply believed in,” Banks wrote on LinkedIn Friday, referring to a New York Daily News op-ed entitled “Ban smartphones in public schools.”

“While Mayor Adams decided to take more time to consider this policy, I hope that we see decisive action this year,” Banks continued.

Banks’ comments Friday were his clearest effort yet to distance himself from the decision to not move forward with a systemwide school cellphone ban this school year.

Adams put the kibosh on that proposal last August after Banks spent months hinting about an imminent plan. Disagreement over the cellphone ban was reportedly part of a growing rift between the longtime friends in the final months of the school chief’s two-and-a-half year tenure. Banks departed in dramatic fashion last October amid escalating federal investigations into Adams’ inner circle.

Banks’ push also comes as conversations about school cellphone bans are heating up again in Albany. Gov. Kathy Hochul has repeatedly expressed her concerns about the role of phones in schools and is mulling issuing statewide policy in the coming weeks.

Adams said in a press conference last month that the city would comply with state policy.

The idea of a systemwide school cellphone ban in the nation’s largest school district gathered significant momentum last school year in a matter of months.

Banks expressed skepticism about the idea as recently as last March, but quickly became an ardent supporter. Banks credited the book “The Anxious Generation” by NYU professor and New York City public school parent Jonathan Haidt and conversations with school principals for changing his mind.

“The evidence is clear,” Banks said Friday on LinkedIn. “Limiting phone use in schools improves safety, reduces distractions, and addresses the growing mental health challenges our children face, including online bullying.”

Roughly 90% of schools across the country reported incidents of cyberbullying last school year, according to federal education department survey data.

Banks signaled early last summer that he intended to implement a systemwide ban starting this school year.

But Adams threw cold water on that idea in late August, saying the city was “not there yet” and that he didn’t want to introduce a policy he would later have to roll back. “We want to make sure we have parents on board,” Adams said.

Education Department officials ultimately encouraged schools to consider cellphone bans but didn’t mandate it. Officials said at the start of the school year that they expected some 850 of the city’s roughly 1,600 schools to have a ban in place this year.

Education officials also said they planned to work with the Health Department this school year to study the best practices for cellphone use in schools. A spokesperson told Chalkbeat that study is underway but didn’t share any findings or say when it will be done.

A spokesperson for Adams didn’t immediately respond to questions Friday about Banks’ comments or the city’s plans for school cellphone policy.

Less than two weeks after Adams announced he was pumping the brakes on the school cell phone ban, federal officials searched the home of Banks and his wife, former First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright. Investigators were reportedly looking into whether Banks’ brother Terence improperly leveraged his family relationships to try to secure city contracts for clients of his consulting firm. Soon after, Adams was charged with violating federal bribery and campaign finance laws as part of a separate investigation. Neither Banks nor Wright have been accused of wrongdoing.

Banks announced his retirement in late September, saying he had been planning to step down for months and denying that the decision had anything to do with the investigations.

He initially planned to stay in his position through the end of December, but Adams accelerated that timeline amid an effort to demonstrate to Hochul, who has the power to remove the mayor, that he could continue governing. That prompted a critical statement from Banks, who said the earlier departure date undercut his ability to conduct a “responsible transition for our staff.”

Banks didn’t respond Friday to a request for comment.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org

NYC Education Panel approves contract for computerized specialized high school exam

2024-12-19T04:53:18+00:00

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New York City’s school board voted overwhelmingly Wednesday night to approve a contract to computerize the entrance exam to several elite public high schools, ending several months of uncertainty over the test’s immediate future.

Fourteen members of the Panel for Educational Policy, which has authority over Education Department contracts, voted to green-light a 5-year, $17 million contract with the testing company Pearson to digitize the Specialized High School Admissions Test, or SHSAT, starting next year. Two members voted no, while four abstained.

The vote followed hours of public testimony — the vast majority urging city officials to approve the contract — and several weeks of mounting public debate around the contract. It stirred up a larger fight over the exam, which has long served as a lightning rod for conversations about diversity and admissions in the city’s segregated school system.

The vote garnered an unusual amount of attention because city officials asserted that without the contract, they would have no way to administer the entrance exam, which is enshrined in state law. That would leave the city unable to fill the freshman classes at the eight specialized high schools that use the test as the sole basis of admission, Education Department officials said.

Some critics challenged the city’s assertion, arguing that five of the eight specialized high schools not explicitly mentioned in the state law could use other admissions criteria. Several panel members said they proposed a temporary short-term extension of the paper and pencil test.

The city has contracted for years with Pearson to design and administer a paper and pencil version of the SHSAT, but that contract is set to expire this year.

Education Department officials initially introduced the proposal for a new, computerized version of the Pearson test in October, but agreed to postpone the vote twice to address the concerns of panel members. Panel members, the majority of whom are appointed by Mayor Eric Adams, organized their own town hall last week to hear from the public.

Critics of the contract argued that computerizing the test could heighten the inequity of a system that already admits few Black and Latino students, students with disabilities, and English learners. They contended that Pearson has a poor track record and questioned the price tag of the proposal. Some panel members argued they’re well within their rights to use the panel’s power over contracts to block the exam.

The panel previously rejected a city contract for a gifted and talented exam during the COVID pandemic over equity concerns.

“I have not been convinced at all tonight that this process is fair and equitable to my community in the Bronx,” said panel member Tom Sheppard, a representative of parent council presidents. “Whether it is online or on paper, I am voting no on this contract because I understand what this test represents.”

The other dissenting voter pointed to specific concerns about the shift to a computerized test.

“We’re being asked to radically change” the test’s format ”sight unseen,” said Jessamyn Lee, a Brooklyn panel member who also voted no.

But supporters of the proposal argued that the shift to a computerized test is in line with the way other assessments are moving and said the panel has no right to interfere with a process mandated by state law.

“Using the power of contract approval to cause operational chaos in service of a policy goal that is outside the PEP’s jurisdiction is grossly irresponsible,” said Micah Lasher, an incoming state assemblyman from Manhattan’s Upper West Side, on the social media platform X.

The threat to next year’s test administration sparked an outpouring of support for the test from parents and elected officials, including U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who issued a statement Wednesday in support of the contract.

The fight echoed the backlash to former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s failed proposal to scrap the exam in 2018 as part of an effort to diversify the specialized high schools. Many Asian-American families took the floor at Wednesday night’s panel meeting at Sunset Park High School in Brooklyn to fiercely defend the exam, arguing it’s an objective metric to determine admission to the coveted schools. Other parents and Education Department officials argued that pulling the rug out from under families expecting to take the test next year would be unfair.

“If we want to maintain these schools…we have to have a contract so the test can be administered,” First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg said at a Queens town hall last month. “If we don’t have that, there’s no incoming class in these specialized high schools and the schools can’t continue.”

Panel member Shirley Aubin of Queens, who abstained on the contract, argued that it’s the responsibility of the Education Department to have a backup plan in place in case the panel rejects a contract.

Panel Chair Greg Faulkner, who initially requested the delays in the hopes of getting more feedback, said the testimony that ultimately resonated the most came from students who could be affected next year by a no vote.

“I am convinced...that if we were to defeat this contact, we would really cripple the incoming freshman class,” he said, “and that’s not a position I would feel comfortable [in].”

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

NYC is offering schools money to meet class size mandate. Principals ponder the tradeoffs.

2024-12-11T23:05:16+00:00

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As New York City faces a looming deadline to sharply reduce class sizes, officials are dangling a tantalizing carrot to nudge schools to come up with their own plans to achieve that goal: more money.

Though school budgets are largely based on student enrollment, the Education Department is promising new funding next year to campuses that submit concrete plans to shrink classes. How much is available and where it will come from, however, remains unclear, and principals across the city have mixed feelings about whether to submit applications for the funds by the Dec. 20 deadline.

Some school leaders say that applying for money to hire more teachers is a no-brainer. Others feel torn. Among their top concerns are whether they will be able to find quality teachers amid a hiring frenzy — and how long the money will last, according to interviews with five principals.

City officials have emphasized that the program is optional, giving schools leeway to come up with strategies that work for their campuses with input from parent leaders and staff. The Education Department hopes the voluntary program will help ensure that 60% of the city’s classrooms align with the new caps by September 2025, a requirement under state law. About 46% of classes are already in compliance, and all classrooms must meet the new caps by 2028.

Under the law, classes are generally limited to 20 to 25 students depending on the grade level, with performing arts and physical education classes allowed up to 40. That’s a sharp reduction from previous rules that generally capped classes at 30 to 34 students.

Teachers union President Michael Mulgrew, who lobbied for the class size law, supports the department’s effort to allow individual schools to craft class size reduction proposals, even as he has criticized the city for being slow to come up with a broader plan.

“We want to send a clear signal that this is money outside of your regular budget that will come directly to your school,” Mulgrew said in an interview, adding that the program “will entice a lot of principals.”

He emphasized that schools can submit plans that bring only some of their classrooms into compliance. The teachers union, principals union, and Education Department are each part of a committee that will decide which proposals receive funding.

But even as city officials promise the money “will recur” beyond next year, principals wonder whether it will eventually come out of their own budgets.

“You could say, ‘Give me $400,000′ and hire four teachers, and the next year they could say, ‘We can’t fund this anymore,’” said a high school principal who oversees a campus where more than half the classes don’t meet the new caps. By volunteering to shrink classes early on, the principal worries that the school may face pressure more quickly to shift funding to teacher hiring.

“Counselors, after-school programs, those types of things are all going to be on the chopping block in order for us to get anywhere near full compliance,” said the principal, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Still, the school is leaning toward applying. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” the principal said. “But I just can’t see not trying for it.”

Evan Schwartz, principal of Alfred E. Smith Career and Technical Education High School in the Bronx, said he plans to submit a proposal to hire four more teachers, as roughly a third of his classes are above the new caps.

“If you want me to hit those class sizes next year, there’s no way I’m going to be able to do that with the current budget,” he said.

Schwartz also noted that the money could help ease a different problem: He owes the Education Department about $180,000 because his school’s enrollment was lower than projected last year, and the city is forcing him to repay the balance. Officials are not applying that midyear adjustment policy to schools with lower-than-projected enrollment this school year, but that won’t help Schwartz, since the unexpected enrollment dip at his school occurred last year.

“That just seems extremely unfair,” he said. “Schools that had a registration loss this year got to keep their money.”

Hiring teachers may prove challenging

Although research generally suggests that smaller class sizes benefit students, some principals worry that the advantages might be undercut as they struggle to find quality educators.

“Hiring teachers gets harder and harder each year,” said one Brooklyn elementary school principal. “It’s not like you open a classroom and automatically have a great teacher.”

The principal, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid retribution, said the school hopes to open a new kindergarten class because some of the other kindergarten sections are just above the new caps. But filling that class may be challenging, a prospect that raises concerns about how the school will afford the extra teacher in the long run.

Plus, the principal is concerned that applying for the additional money will invite city officials to second guess the school’s funding priorities.

The lengthy application to apply for the new funding requires schools to spell out all of the avenues the school is using to shrink classes, such as using virtual learning, rejiggering teacher schedules, and shifting funding from other areas, according to a copy reviewed by Chalkbeat.

“I’m worried the DOE is going to start to micromanage and scrutinize the way money is being spent,” said the principal, who cited potential pressure to reduce spending on teacher training or supplies.

Education Department spokesperson Jenna Lyle stressed that schools are not required to cut any student services to be eligible for the class size funding and noted the goal is to meet each campus’ needs. Hundreds of schools have started the application process, she said.

“Over the past couple of years, we have heard time and again that this process will look different in different communities,” Lyle wrote in an email. “By allowing schools to tailor their plans based on their specific needs and interests, we’re aiming to create a sustainable model for continuous improvement.”

Advocates call for a broader plan

Some advocates say the city needs to quickly come up with a more systematic plan beyond allowing principals to voluntarily apply for money. More than 500 schools don’t have enough space in their building for smaller classes, officials have said, and new construction takes years.

The city has so far avoided pursuing more contentious strategies, such as capping enrollment at in-demand schools and sending students to campuses with empty seats. And officials have yet to spin up a process that will eventually grant waivers to schools that can’t immediately meet the new caps. They are continuing to hammer out the details with the teachers and principals unions, officials said.

Class Size Matters, an advocacy group that pushes to shrink classes, has circulated a petition calling on the city to quickly establish a plan for reaching full compliance with the class size caps, including capping enrollment at some schools and spinning up construction projects.

“The DOE should develop an actual multi-year class size plan, demonstrating how sufficient funding and space will be provided over the next three years to allow all NYC students to benefit from the smaller classes they need and deserve,” the petition states.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC asks private school families to waive their right to sue in exchange for special education services

2024-12-05T23:37:04+00:00

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After denying thousands of New York City students with disabilities critical services earlier this year, Education Department officials are now offering them a chance to restart those services — with a big catch.

Just weeks before the start of the school year, the city Education Department, with little warning, began strictly enforcing a June 1 deadline for students with disabilities who attend private school and requested city-funded special education services to which they’re entitled under state law. The deadline had previously been loosely observed, and its newfound enforcement was part of a larger crackdown meant to rein in alleged fraud and ballooning costs.

While roughly 17,000 families filed on time, another 3,000 families missed the cutoff, losing out on services like tutoring or speech and occupational therapy.

Education Department officials promised to start restoring services for the late filers once they’d arranged services for families who met the deadline.

This week, officials took a step toward making good on that pledge, sending out letters to thousands of families who missed the deadline offering vouchers to cover the cost of special education providers.

But the offers come with a big asterisk.

To receive the vouchers, families have to sign a waiver relinquishing their rights to file a legal complaint against the city Education Department, according to the letter obtained by Chalkbeat. Families have two weeks to decide whether to sign it.

The proposal is already drawing sharp criticism from some lawmakers.

“After failing to provide these services, [the city’s] plan to dangle in front of parent and guardians their children’s badly needed educational support in exchange for being freed from legal liability is nothing short of outrageous,” said Rita Joseph, Brooklyn City Council member and education committee chair, in a statement posted to the social media platform X.

Officials told Chalkbeat that asking families to waive their rights to sue the Education Department was the only way to restore the services without opening up the city to “hundreds of millions of dollars in liability.”

By offering the late filers services, the city is forfeiting its right to use the missed deadline as a legal defense, which creates massive legal exposure, officials said. The Education Department is unwilling to take that risk without the waiver since the city already spends north of $500 million a year on special education for private school students, officials said.

For families eager to restart services, the new offer poses a dilemma.

On one hand, accepting the offer may be the fastest route to restarting desperately needed services, according to special education lawyers who spoke with Chalkbeat.

But it means losing the option to force the city to retroactively cover the costs of the services they’ve missed so far this school year, known as compensatory services. It also means families can’t force the city to supplement the value of the voucher if, as often happens, families can’t find a provider willing to accept the standard rate the city offers.

“They’re kind of putting parents in between a rock and a hard place,” said Jesse Cutler, a partner at Regina Skyer and Associates, a firm that represents families in special education cases. “I think it’s a case-by-case decision — you have to look at all the circumstances.”

Here’s what several lawyers said families should consider when weighing the offer from the Education Department:

How fast do you want to restart services?

For some families, the most important consideration might be how quickly they can resume services after months off, said Rebecca Shore, the director of litigation at Advocates for Children, a group that represents families pro bono in special education disputes.

“If the parent has already found a provider, and the provider accepts the voucher, it certainly can be a course that they should consider,” said Shore. “It would be probably the fastest course.”

Otherwise, families may need to file a legal claim called a due process complaint that is heard by an impartial hearing officer, a process that can take time to resolve.

“What you’re looking at is several months, if not longer,” Cutler said.

Plus, winning a favorable ruling from an impartial hearing officer isn’t guaranteed, and city officials would likely challenge a family’s legal claim by noting they missed the filing deadline, which is enshrined in state law.

Shore said a family still “can have a claim” against the city even if they missed the deadline. But she didn’t want to generalize about a family’s chances of prevailing because the outcome of a given case is highly dependent on the specific facts.

Education Department officials argued that families who missed the deadline “essentially have no legal recourse” and therefore have little to lose by accepting the city’s offer.

Are you seeking ‘compensatory’ services?

One concrete thing that families would give up by accepting the Education Department’s offer and signing the waiver is the right to push the city to pay for compensatory services for this school year.

Normally, families can file due process complaints to try to force the city Education Department to pay for services to which their child was entitled but never received. By signing the waiver, families lose that option.

“These students are entitled to services [in] September, October, November, December,” said Shore. “Giving up their right to make-up services for that entire time period, again, is a parent’s consideration.”

Can you find a provider who accepts the Education Department’s voucher?

The last big variable is whether families are willing to give up the right to try to force the Education Department to pay a higher rate than the voucher offers.

The city’s voucher for special education tutoring services is worth $86 an hour, but many providers charge more than that, Shore said. To cover the difference, families often have to file a legal complaint against the Education Department seeking an “enhanced rate.”

City officials have argued that the enhanced rate system is rife with fraud and say many providers are overcharging or collecting for services they don’t perform.

One of the conditions of accepting the Education Department’s new voucher offer, however, is waiving the right to seek an enhanced rate. That could put families in a tough spot, legal advocates said.

For families who don’t already have a provider lined up who accepts the Education Department’s rate, finding one in the middle of a school year would be a “Herculean feat,” said M’Ral Broodie-Stewart, a lawyer at Staten Island Legal Services.

“It’s great if the family has a provider that is able to accept the Department of Education’s rate,” Cutler said. “But there is a substantial and significant lack of providers citywide.”

Education Department officials said families unable to find a provider can contact their local Committees on Special Education for help. The Education Department also employs 19 itinerant special education teachers who work with private school families. But that’s a drop in the bucket of the roughly 20,000 students entitled to services.

Making matters even more complicated, the legal process for pursuing an enhanced rate is in flux. In past years, families have relied on due process complaints to compel the city to pay more than the standard voucher rate. The state’s Board of Regents passed a resolution this year empowering the city’s Education Department to set up its own system to adjudicate those requests. A lawsuit has temporarily put that resolution on hold, but it’s still unclear what the process will look like in the long term.

Education Department officials said they plan to post an FAQ on the city’s website to help parents decipher the waiver.

But Broodie-Stewart recommended parents consult a lawyer before making a decision.

“The average person may not fully understand what [the] legalese term of ‘release, waive and relinquish’ means,” she wrote in an email. “Yet they would be giving their rights away by signing this form.”

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC extends high school application deadline after tech glitch

2024-12-04T21:23:01+00:00

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New York City is extending the high school application deadline to Dec. 9, after officials discovered a glitch in a new tool that tells students their admissions chances, an Education Department spokesperson said Wednesday.

The glitch only affected two schools, but families said that could have had ripple effects on their rankings.

The extension came hours before applications were set to close for the city’s eighth graders, who rank 12 or more top choices from an array of over 400 schools.

In an added layer of complexity, the deadline will be extended even further, to Jan. 10, for roughly 1,500 students who officials said may have acted on incorrect information about their odds of getting into two popular Manhattan high schools.

Officials said they would still release admissions results for all families on March 6 as originally planned.

Education officials debuted the new prediction tool — developed by researchers affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — this year to give families a more realistic sense of their odds of getting into a given school and help them assemble more balanced applications. It gives students a “high,” “medium,” or “low” chance based on the school’s selection criteria and competitiveness, along with the student’s lottery number.

But the program spat out incorrect odds for families looking at two popular Manhattan high schools, Millennium and NYC Lab School for Collaborative Studies, based on incorrect information about the number of open seats, according to officials and Debbie Kross, the president of the Citywide Council on High Schools, a parent-led school board representing high school families across the five boroughs.

Both of those schools were part of a group of six competitive Manhattan high schools where officials decided this year to give students who live in the borough priority for 75% of seats.

Officials corrected the error Tuesday night, but emailed roughly 1,600 families who had either applied to one of the two affected schools or selected either as a “favorite” in the MySchools online portal letting them know about the mistake and offering a deadline extension until Jan. 10, according to Kross and an email obtained by Chalkbeat.

Education Department spokesperson Jenna Lyle called the glitch an “initial implementation issue,” noting “families are finding the tool helpful.”

“This issue, which only impacts a small percentage of students, has been resolved, and we apologize for this inconvenience,” she added.

The Education Department decided to extend the deadline for everyone to “ensure all families have enough time to complete their application and have the most accurate information,” officials said.

It wasn’t immediately clear how long the prediction tool had been using incorrect odds for the two high schools and why officials only caught the mistake this week. Enrollment officials told Kross they were performing an audit to ensure the tool wasn’t giving out bad information for any other schools, she said.

The introduction of the new tool was one of several changes to this year’s admissions process. Students could also rank an unlimited number of high schools this year for the first time, up from 12.

It is not, however, the first time that technical glitches have gummed up the city’s school application processes at the last minute.

Earlier this year, technical glitches with the city’s middle school application process delayed the start of the application period and forced officials to push back the deadline.

Officials also extended the high school deadline in 2022 because of technical issues. But Education Department officials in recent years have committed to streamlining the process and delivering admissions results earlier in the year so families have time to plan.

Kross, who helped push the Education Department to develop the prediction tool, thinks it’s reasonable to grant more time just to families who’d received incorrect information through it, in case it swayed how they ranked schools in their application.

“The way [the Education Department] identified the issue, communicated about it, and offered to remediate it is very fair,” said Kross.

But other parents felt it’s unfair to further extend the deadline for only some families.

“That is incredibly unfair … to selectively give some people more than a month to continue their application process,” said Kim Gabriel, a Brooklyn parent of an eighth grader who did not get the extension until Jan. 10.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Mergers ahead: NYC is combining more tiny schools to combat enrollment drops

2024-10-25T21:33:09+00:00

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On paper, New York City’s plan to eliminate the elementary grades of an under-enrolled Harlem K-8 school and merge its middle school grades with a more popular junior high across town isn’t a full school closure.

But to the families and staff at P.S./I.S. 76, where enrollment has shrunk from 476 to 287 over the last six years, it certainly feels like one.

“P.S. 76 is an institution. We’re not a merger,” said Marie Rosa, the school’s secretary, during a recent virtual hearing on the plan. “When you see something that needs to be fixed, you fix it. You don’t discard it.”

Plans like the one to merge P.S./I.S. 76 with Mott Hall II middle school in Morningside Heights are part of a strategy that New York City education officials have used with increasing frequency over the past year, according to a Chalkbeat analysis. New York City, like other districts across the country, is grappling with a yearslong enrollment decline and a growing number of tiny schools, which are more expensive to operate and more limited in what they can offer students.

Last year, the city approved 13 proposals to merge or remove grades from schools – the most of any year since at least 2018, according to a Chalkbeat review of six years of records covering dozens of meetings of the Panel for Educational Policy, which approves such proposals.

So far, the city’s acceleration of school mergers has managed to fly largely under the radar, for the most part avoiding the intense public backlash that accompanied many of the city’s school closure proposals in past years or the explosive debates that have cropped up in other parts of the country.

That may be in part because city officials haven’t laid out a citywide plan to consolidate small schools, instead leaving it to local superintendents to develop proposals that can pass muster in their communities.

Observers said it’s also possible the city’s strategy of leaning heavily on mergers rather than outright closures has also helped blunt some of the backlash.

Proponents argue mergers can feel less disruptive than simply closing a school and in some cases can create more racially and socioeconomically integrated schools.

But joining schools with disparate student bodies, cultures, and academic approaches comes with its own challenges. And for the school that loses its name and principal, the mergers often feel little different than a closure.

Whether the city will continue or accelerate the pace of mergers this school year — and how officials will navigate the community backlash — are critical and open questions for the nation’s largest system.

Shuttering schools can be politically perilous, and the areas of the city with the highest concentrations of under-enrolled schools — including Harlem, central Brooklyn and the Bronx — are critical parts of Mayor Eric Adams’ voting base at a time when he’s never been more politically vulnerable.

Education Department First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg credited the city’s approach of leaning on district superintendents with helping get communities on board, and said he plans to stick with that playbook.

Proposals to consolidate schools are “not being generated top down. They really are coming from communities and superintendents,” he told Chalkbeat. “There will certainly be a number of others. How many? We’ll have to wait and see.”

However the city proceeds, the stakes are high for families, educators, and the school system at large. Losing access to a cherished neighborhood school can be devastating for its community. Many families appreciate the intimacy of small schools, and they can boost academic results.

Yet, sustaining hundreds of ultra-small schools comes with serious costs for both families and the district.

There are already some signs that the city may be in for more of a fight this year. A plan to merge P.S. 295 — an arts-focused elementary school in Park Slope that’s lost half its enrollment in recent years — with nearby P.S. 10 is on hold while district officials give the new administration at P.S. 295 time to win back enrollment, according to a letter from the principal obtained by Chalkbeat.

And officials decided on Friday to postpone the vote on the P.S./I.S. 76 merger from Oct. 30 to an unspecified later date because newly minted Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos asked for more time to review the proposals, according to Education Department spokesperson Nathaniel Styer.

NYC grapples with a growing number of small schools

New York City’s K-12 public school enrollment fell by about 130,000 students, or 14%, since fall 2016, according to city data. As enrollment has declined citywide, the number of schools with fewer than 200 students has doubled, from 81 in 2016 to 190 last year, according to a Chalkbeat analysis.

And though enrollment stabilized last year thanks to an influx of migrant students, the School Construction Authority projects student numbers will fall by more than 200,000 students, or 26%, over the next decade due to a combination of lower birth rates and families exiting the city.

That means pressure will likely continue to build on the city to consolidate ultra-small schools.

Weisberg said the threshold at which a school becomes too small varies from school to school. Officials grow concerned when a school can’t staff classes with licensed teachers, offer extracurricular opportunities, or provide “advanced academic opportunities,” he added.

Some of the seeds of the current crisis were planted about two decades ago, when former Mayor Michael Bloomberg oversaw a sweeping effort to close struggling larger high schools and replace them with hundreds of smaller ones under the theory that smaller schools could deliver better results.

There’s evidence that smaller schools produced benefits, leading to higher graduation rates and college enrollment, though there is little research on how those schools are faring now.

“New York City’s small schools had a very large, consistent positive impact on students,” said Rebecca Unterman, of the research firm MDRC, who studied the effect of the small schools in the years after they opened.

Over the past six years, the city has passed 35 proposals to merge, close, or remove grades from schools, according to the Chalkbeat analysis. The vast majority were mergers, and only one was an outright closure. Roughly two-thirds of the affected schools were in Brooklyn or the Bronx, the two districts that have seen the largest enrollment declines in recent years.

A significant majority of schools affected by mergers or closures had a higher proportion of Black, Latino, and low-income students than the median school in the city, mirroring national trends.

Some of the recently merged schools are small high schools located in the same building, in a kind of reversal of the Bloomberg-era small schools movement.

“The idea of merging some of these schools together so they’re more sustainable in my opinion is fine,” said Tom Sheppard, a Bronx parent representative to the Panel for Educational Policy.

Eric Nadelstern, a former deputy chancellor under Bloomberg and one of the architects of the small school movement, disagrees with the city’s school merger strategy.

Mergers are politically appealing because they generate less pushback, but closures are the better choice because it can be harmful to combine schools that vary widely in quality and approach, he said.

Last year, a Brooklyn high school focused on training future firefighters and paramedics merged with one focused on civil rights, while Bronx Aerospace High School joined with the Bronx High School for Writing and Communication Arts.

“School cultures are different,” Nadelstern said. “The last thing you want is to take a couple hundred kids who have experienced failure in one school and send them wholesale to another school.

“Failed schools should close,” he added. “And one significant indicator of school failure is you can no longer attract kids.”

Harlem merger proposal raises thorny questions

The politics of school closures and mergers can be even more complicated at the elementary and middle school levels, where families are often fiercely attached to neighborhood schools.

Last year, P.S./I.S. 76 enrolled about 100 students in its middle school grades, while Mott Hall had nearly 400. Officials from Manhattan’s District 3, which spans the Upper West Side and parts of Harlem, said the merger plan has been in the works for about a year. It’s meant to address both the demand for a robust middle school option on the Harlem side of the district, while also finding a solution for a school that had become unsustainably small.

The plan would move Mott Hall, where roughly 77% of students are Black and Latino, 17% are white, and about two-thirds come from low-income families, from its current location in Morningside Heights to P.S./I.S. 76′s building on 121st Street in Harlem. P.S./I.S. 76 is currently 89% Black and Latino, 9% white, and almost all of its students come from low-income families.

Under the proposal, the merged Mott Hall II would expand to a 6-12 school, the high school portion of which would screen applicants based on criteria like grades.

Opening more screened high schools in communities that have historically had fewer of them was a policy priority of former schools Chancellor David Banks.

Kamar Samuels, the superintendent of Manhattan’s District 3, who has spearheaded several merger proposals, including the P.S./I.S. 76 plan, said he appreciates the fact that mergers keep communities of students and staff together, rather than dispersing them across a number of schools.

“The disruption is not as significant as it typically is with another intervention,” he told Chalkbeat.

Mott Hall II families who joined the virtual hearing earlier this week were largely supportive, despite some misgivings from families who would have longer commutes. Principal Marlon Lowe acknowledged the concerns of the P.S./I.S. 76 community, but assured them his school absorbed another one previously and would do it with “class, dignity, and respect.”

But P.S./I.S. 76 families and staff argued the district hasn’t done enough to help the school reverse its enrollment losses, and they said the merger would leave a hole in the community.

“I understand it’s financial,” said Rosa, the school secretary. “But it’s also displacing our families that think of P.S./I.S. 76 as a home and the center of the community.”

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Kae Petrin is data and graphics reporter for Chalkbeat. Contact Kae at kpetrin@chalkbeat.org.

This is a pivotal year for NYC’s class size law. Here’s where things stand.

2024-09-04T21:35:09+00:00

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New York City officials on Wednesday touted the opening of 24 new school buildings serving roughly 11,000 kids when classes begin Thursday – the most new school seats in two decades.

But this wave of new construction won’t come close to solving the city’s looming class size problem. In the coming years, the city will need more space — and teachers — to satisfy the sweeping state law that caps class sizes at 20 for kindergarten to third grade, 23 for fourth to eighth grade, and 25 for high school.

This year, the city will likely remain in compliance without having to do much. The first major test comes in September 2025, when the law requires that 60% of classrooms across the city fall below the caps. Getting there will require a historic reduction in class sizes over the coming year. City officials estimated last year that around 40% of the city’s classes were below the caps, leaving more than 70,000 classrooms above the legal limits.

And the stakes are high: The state can withhold more than $800 million a year in funding for the city school system if it fails to comply with the law, according to city estimates.

But even with next September’s daunting deadline looming, the city has so far stuck with a mostly piecemeal approach.

In its most recent class size plan in July, the Education Department outlined steps that schools can take to bring more classes under the caps, including repurposing space, reassigning teachers, rebalancing class rosters, and considering virtual classes. Officials charged each of the city’s 45 superintendents with bringing an additional 3% of classrooms in their districts under the caps, and for the first time directed $140 million to schools for the sole purpose of reducing class sizes.

But officials have so far stayed away from more sweeping systemwide mandates.

“We don’t think we need to do that in order to stay in compliance next year, so we’re leaving it up to superintendents and principals to think about how they can make progress,” Deputy Chancellor of Operations and Finance Emma Vadehra said in a meeting with parent leaders in June.

Officials also haven’t touched one of the most potentially powerful but controversial levers for reducing class sizes: capping enrollment at oversubscribed schools.

Schools Chancellor David Banks on Wednesday seemed to punt that decision to Mayor Eric Adams.

“We can meet the class size law if we were to cap enrollment at some of the most high profile schools in the city,” he said at Wednesday’s press conference. “Should we be doing that? … Ultimately, the decisions are the mayor’s to make.”

And despite the new funding for class size reduction, the city has so far hired fewer new teachers this year than last, according to Education Department figures. (An Education Department spokesperson clarified after publication that the department is continuing to hire teachers and said the city is on track to ultimately hire more teachers than last year, but didn’t give a final projection.)

The slow pace of progress prompted a coalition of advocates, parents, and educators to pen a letter to the state education department in June warning “it is highly questionable as to whether the city will be able to comply with the annual benchmarks in the class size law, starting next school year and beyond.”

Michael Mulgrew, president of the city teachers union, which was instrumental in lobbying for the 2022 class size law, urged the city to focus first on the hundreds of schools that have space to add classrooms and are motivated to lower class sizes, but need more staff.

According to a city survey, more than 600 of roughly 1,530 principals said they currently have the space they need to fully meet the class size mandate.

“We feel the next phase of this should be about the coalition of those who can” and want to reduce class sizes immediately, Mulgrew said at a Wednesday press conference highlighting a Queens middle school that’s brought all its sixth-grade classes under the cap.

Here’s a preview of what we currently know about what this pivotal school year will look like for class size reduction, and some of the big remaining open questions:

New funding hasn’t translated to spike in new teacher hiring

Education Department officials have pointed to hundreds of millions of new dollars in school budgets – some of which is earmarked specifically for lowering class sizes – as a way to boost teacher hiring.

But critics contend the new funds aren’t logically distributed: Many schools didn’t get enough to hire even one full teacher.

So far, that additional spending hasn’t translated into a noticeable spike in new teacher hiring. Education Department officials said schools have hired an estimated 4,200 new teachers this year, down from an estimated 4,500 last year. (The Education Department spokesperson clarified after publication that the city had hired only 3,500 of its total 4,500 teachers by this time last year.)

Some individual schools that prioritized class size reduction acted early to snap up new teachers, according to union officials. But systemwide, the city has yet to make any progress toward hiring an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 additional teachers needed by the time the law takes full effect in 2028.

At a press conference Wednesday touting the new school construction, Banks sounded a pessimistic note about the prospects of staffing up.

“The question becomes, do you lower your standards to get more teachers, or how much more innovative can you get, you know, to bring on 10 to 12,000 more teachers? It’s not an easy choice,” he said.

Mulgrew said “part of the next phase of this is us having real conversations with SUNY and CUNY about heavy duty teacher recruitment.”

Education Department “not eager” to make enrollment, admissions changes

One of the most potent tools the Education Department has at its disposal to reduce class sizes across the city without hiring new teachers or building new facilities is redistributing enrollment by capping student numbers at oversubscribed schools and steering kids toward under-enrolled ones.

But such policies would likely bring fierce pushback from parents, especially since some of the most overcrowded schools are among the city’s most in-demand.

“It’s something we are not eager to do unless we really need to,” Vadehra told parent leaders in June.

Vadehra didn’t foreclose the possibility of admissions changes for the 2025-26 school year, however.

“This is something we are very much discussing internally,” she said. “We’re very aware that if we’re going to make any large scale shifts, that’s something families need to know this fall, and we expect any changes would happen in compliance with that timeline.”

Officials added that they would work with some individual schools this year to make “small changes” to enrollment for incoming classes to avoid the need for new space.

Part of what might determine whether the city is forced to consider more drastic enrollment changes is whether overcrowded schools qualify for exemptions from the law, which must be approved by the teachers and principals unions.

Mulgrew suggested that in cases where schools are significantly overcrowded and there’s little parent or teacher demand to reduce enrollment, exemptions will be granted, at least temporarily.

“It’s about engaging with those parents,” he said. “We’re not diminishing the number of students that are going to Stuyvesant High School. So at this point, hypothetically, that school would be given a waiver.”

New school construction plans increase, but fall far short of need

The slowest and costliest way the city can shrink class sizes is by building new schools to alleviate overcrowding.

The city recently added $2 billion to the five-year capital plan of the School Construction Authority. And the agency said it’s now explicitly considering class size reduction in decisions about building new facilities.

But that still falls far short of what the city will likely need. Officials estimate that roughly 540 schools will need more space to comply with the law – with some schools needing as many as 60 new classrooms. School construction officials have placed the cost of all that new building in the tens of billions of dollars.

Critics have expressed concerns that many of the existing school construction projects don’t even have locations yet and that they won’t be completed in time to satisfy the requirements of the class size law.

This story has been updated with additional context on teacher hiring numbers provided by the Education Department.

Julian Shen-Berro contributed.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org

Shifting NYC school demographics: There are nearly as many Asian American as Black students.

2024-08-06T21:47:02+00:00

For the first time in eight years, student enrollment in New York City’s public schools didn’t go down year over year.

Just over 912,000 students were enrolled in the city’s prekindergarten to 12th-grade programs last school year, up from about 906,000 the previous year, according to final enrollment data released last month by the city Education Department.

Whether that trend continues is an open question and a critical one for the city since funding from the state is based on student headcount. The direction of enrollment in the coming years will play a central role in a number of key policy questions, including how the city complies with a new class size law and whether officials will be forced to combine or close more small schools.

It’s not just the overall numbers that matter. The composition of city students is changing as demographic patterns shift, including the arrival of tens of thousands of immigrant students and a continuing, yearslong decline in Black enrollment — creating new sets of needs for schools.

Here are five things to know about New York City student enrollment based on the latest data:

The number of English language learners is growing

Perhaps the biggest single enrollment change over the past two years is the influx of tens of thousands of migrant students fleeing Latin America, West Africa, and other regions.

It’s difficult to get a precise number because city schools don’t ask for immigration status. Officials have used the number of new students living in temporary housing as a proxy measure – because most of the new arrivals reside in shelters – and say roughly 40,000 such students have enrolled over the past two school years.

Another measure of the new arrivals is the rising number of English language learners. That number grew from around 135,000 in the 2022-23 school year to over 148,000 last year, according to the new demographic data. English learners now comprise 16.3% of the school system, up from 13.3% in the 2019-20 school year.

That change has a host of implications for the system, as schools scramble to hire more bilingual staff and English as a New Language teachers, and schools that have never historically enrolled many English learners are suddenly opening their doors to recently arrived immigrant students.

Black and Asian American student enrollment are almost equal

The share of Black and Asian American students in city schools is now less than a percentage point apart, with Black students comprising 19.5% of the system, and Asian American students 18.7%.

That’s a seismic change from the 2011-12 school year, when 28% of city students were Black, and 16% were Asian American.

The shift reflects larger demographic patterns in the city. The Black population has dropped by 9% over the past two decades, while the Asian American population grew by nearly 8% between 2010 and 2020.

The city has recently rolled out new efforts to teach about Asian American history and culture. But the teaching force hasn’t kept up with the changing student demographics. Only 7.8% of city teachers identified as Asian American in 2022, making Asian American students the least likely of any of the four largest racial groups to have a teacher who shares their racial or ethnic background.

Poverty is up among students

The city Education Department uses two metrics to measure poverty among students – and both of them show a small but noticeable uptick in the past year.

The student poverty rate, a measure of how many kids receive free or reduced-priced lunch or come from families that qualify for government benefits, rose to 75% last year, after hovering around 73% or below for the previous four years.

Another measure called the “Economic Index,” which takes into account a wider range of factors including whether a student was homeless or entered high school with a first language other than English, also ticked up from 72.2% to 73.3% this year.

More students identify as nonbinary

For the first time two years ago, the city began tracking the number of students who identify as neither male nor female. In the 2022-23 school year, 102 students were listed in that category. Last year, the number rose to 178, which represents just 0.02% of the student population.

Students who identify as nonbinary report some of the lowest levels of satisfaction with their school experience of any student group on the annual school survey, and there are new efforts to open schools that are explicitly designed to serve LGBTQ+ and gender nonconforming students, (though one team’s proposal to open a new charter school did not get greenlit).

Long-term enrollment projections are pessimistic

In the short term, Education Department officials are optimistic that enrollment will remain steady, projecting a 0.2% increase next school year.

But long-term trends, like a declining birth rate and higher levels of out-migration, could spell big enrollment losses for the city school system in coming years, according to the annual enrollment projections commissioned by the city’s School Construction Authority, which oversees the building of new public schools.

The most recent demographic projections, which were released in December 2023 by the consultant Statistical Forecasting LLC, predict that pre-K-12 enrollment will fall to just over 660,000 by 2032, a drop of nearly 230,000 students, or 26%, over a decade. (The enrollment numbers in the projections differ from the demographic snapshot figures because they don’t include students in specialized programs in Districts 75 and 79.)

A spokesperson for the School Construction Authority said the demographic projections are combined with a separate analysis of new housing to come up with a final enrollment prediction, but didn’t immediately share a combined total count.

The demographic projections are based on birth rates, which have been declining in New York City for more than a decade, along with rates of migration in and out of the city.

New York City’s population of kids under age 5 shrank by more than 18% between 2020 and 2023, a loss driven partly by the pandemic but also by a lack of affordable housing and child care.

The pace of migrants arriving in the city has slowed in recent months, but continuing unrest in Venezuela could prompt more people to flee for the United States.

Forecasters noted that the steep enrollment losses from the pandemic and the historic influx of migrant students have produced unusual levels of fluctuation in recent years. They adjusted their models without incorporating those fluctuations into their future projections on the assumption they’re likely to be one-time events, according to their reports.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

High-ranking NYC education officials switch positions in staffing shuffle

2024-07-08T22:04:52+00:00

In an unusual staffing shuffle, two high-ranking New York City Education Department officials are effectively swapping positions — with one returning to the public school system just months after leaving for a new job.

Melissa Aviles-Ramos, who left her role as chief of staff for schools Chancellor David Banks in February to start a job as a college administrator, will return to the Education Department to take over as deputy chancellor for family and community engagement and external affairs, officials announced Monday.

She will replace Kenita Lloyd, a long-time colleague of the chancellor’s, dating back to his days running a network of all-boys public schools. Lloyd was named Banks’ chief of staff Friday.

In press releases announcing the changes, Banks and Mayor Eric Adams praised both Lloyd and Aviles-Ramos and emphasized the importance of both positions.

Banks framed Lloyd’s move as a promotion, saying in a statement Friday that he was “elevating” her to the chief of staff role because “her deep knowledge of how this system and our communities work will provide my leadership team with the guidance and support it needs to pursue our critical priorities.”

Lloyd will be the fourth person to serve as chief of staff for Banks, who took over as chancellor in January 2022.

In Monday’s announcement about Aviles-Ramos’ return to the Education Department, Banks said her “extensive experience and dedication to advocating for students and families make her exceptionally qualified for this role.”

The press release highlighted Aviles-Ramos’ experience as a teacher, school leader, deputy superintendent, and acting superintendent, but left out her most recent and highest-ranking position as chief of staff.

Aviles-Ramos’s salary in fiscal year 2023, before she became chief of staff, was listed as $204,000, while Lloyd made $240,000 that year, according to payroll records posted on SeeThroughNY.

Both Lloyd and Aviles-Ramos took on some of the Education Department’s highest-profile challenges in their prior roles.

Lloyd oversaw the family and community engagement office, or FACE, which has dealt with a surge in conflicts among elected parent leaders over transgender students, the Israel-Hamas war, and other charged political issues. Last month, the department took the rare step of removing two parent leaders for allegedly violating the city’s code of conduct.

Even before those parent leader dustups, FACE has been roiled by internal strife over its handling of the most recent Community Education Council elections.

Aviles-Ramos, meanwhile, took charge of the Education Department’s efforts to support tens of thousands of newly arrived migrant students – an initiative officials called Project Open Arms. That initiative is no longer under the purview of the chief of staff, according to an Education Department spokesperson.

Banks has made several changes recently to the leadership structure of the Education Department. In March, he dissolved the Division of Teaching and Learning, a department that had roughly 2,000 employees and oversaw major initiatives like the NYC Reads elementary school curriculum mandate. Last month, he announced a new deputy chancellor to oversee special education and multilingual learners.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

How much does your NYC school spend? A new budget tool has the answer.

2024-06-21T19:26:18+00:00

How much money did your New York City school get this school year?

For years, the answer to that seemingly basic question has been surprisingly difficult to track down. While the city publishes detailed breakdowns of several components of a school’s budget, there was previously no public place where all those individual parts were added together.

A new online tool the Education Department rolled out in recent weeks is meant to change that.

The online infographics, called “Budget At A Glance,” provide an overview of a school’s entire budget, including the money it gets through the Fair Student Funding formula, an algorithm designed by the city Education Department to direct more money to higher-need schools, along with city, state, and federal initiatives like Title I funding for high-poverty schools.

A screenshot of NYC Public Schools Budget At A Glance for Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan.

The pages break down how much money each school received per student, and allows you to compare it to the citywide average of roughly $21,112 per student.

“Our families are our primary stakeholders, and transparency efforts like this help make school budgets more accessible for our families,” said Emma Vadehra, the Education Department’s chief operating officer. Vadehra said the idea for the pages grew out of recommendations from a working group convened in 2022 to improve the Fair Student Funding formula, which accounts for about two-thirds of school budgets.

A searchable version of the tool is available on the Education Department’s website. The Budget At A Glance pages are also posted on each school’s official city website. You can find the pages by navigating to the “Reports” tab on the school website, then clicking on “Budget and Finances.”

Along with the breakdowns of which sources of funding the school’s budget came from, the pages detail where the money went. They show the share of the budget going toward teacher salaries, salaries of other employees, non-personnel costs like supplies, and pension benefits.

The average spending of $21,112 per student doesn’t include expenses that benefit schools but are administered centrally, like school food, transportation, safety agents, and facilities maintenance. Those costs average out to around $13,000 per student, bringing the average total spending per student to around $34,000.

Schools outside of the city’s 32 community school districts, including District 75 programs for students with significant disabilities, also have Budget At A Glance pages, but are funded through a different formula.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Don’t scale back sports access, advocates and students tell NYC

2024-04-17T21:43:47+00:00

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In late 2022, New York City’s Public Schools Athletic League made a bold promise: By the following spring, every public high school student would have access to all 25 sports the league offers.

To reach that goal, officials proposed expanding a program called “individual access” that allows students without a particular sports team at their school to try out for that team at a nearby campus.

The expansion was a game-changer for schools like the Urban Assembly Bronx Academy of Letters that don’t have enough students to reliably field a wide variety of sports teams, said David Garcia-Rosen, the dean and athletic director of the 470-student school.

“In spring of 2023, every single kid in New York City, no matter where they went to school, had the opportunity to play whatever sport they wanted to play,” Garcia-Rosen said.

But Garcia-Rosen, a veteran advocate for sports equity in city schools, is worried that the Education Department is quietly laying the groundwork to scale back the initiative. And he’s gearing up for a fight. The dispute over individual access is the latest chapter in a long-running fight over sports equity in New York City schools.

Despite previously pledging to open individual access to “all” students, the PSAL updated its website in February to describe the individual access program as a “pilot” for students at schools with fewer than six teams in “targeted districts.”

That language is in line with the stipulations in a 2022 legal settlement about sports equity. But it excludes the vast majority of city students.

An Education Department spokesperson said the PSAL is now prioritizing individual access requests from kids in schools with the least access to sports. The spokesperson said roughly 1,500 students participated in individual access this year, but didn’t share how many kids participated last year.

Officials concluded that guaranteeing individual access beyond what was required by the legal settlement “moved us away” from the goal of increasing sports access for entire schools, the spokesperson said.

To better achieve that goal, officials have expanded the number of new teams by 222 over the last three years and created 20 shared-access programs between schools.

“There has been no scaling back of our commitment to providing equitable access to PSAL sports, and students and families have told us that they want access to teams at or close to their home school,” said spokesperson Nathaniel Styer.

But Garcia-Rosen said that approach demonstrates a “complete lack of understanding of how to solve the problem,” because equity isn’t achieved by simply expanding the number of teams. He noted that small schools often can’t sustain the teams because of their low student numbers.

Garcia-Rosen filed a complaint Wednesday with the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights alleging that curtailing individual access disproportionately harms Black and Hispanic students.

A long-running fight for sports equity

Black and Hispanic students are disproportionately clustered in small schools like Bronx Letters, meaning they’ve historically had far less access on average to a wide variety of sports.

Just 38% of Black and Hispanic students go to a school with 20 or more teams, compared to 61% of students who are white, Asian, multiracial, or belong to other groups, according to research compiled by Garcia-Rosen.

A major milestone came in 2022, when the city agreed in a legal settlement to add 200 new teams in future years and expand a “shared access” program that allowed small schools in the same geographic area to combine sports programs.

The city also committed to offering individual access to students in schools with under six teams and couldn’t participate in shared sports programs because of their location.

But Garcia-Rosen argues that those steps alone won’t erase the equity issues.

That’s why universal individual access — what Garcia-Rosen calls the “holy grail of equity” — is so transformative.

“It’s really simple, and it’s done all over the country,” he said. “If you go to a school that doesn’t have the team you want to play, you could try out [at] another school in the district.”

Students, educators report positive results

Students at Bronx Letters, a public school for students in grades 6-12, are accustomed to not knowing year to year whether there will be enough interested students to field a given team.

This school year, Bronx Letters didn’t have enough kids for a girls basketball team.

But 15-year-old sophomore Jayla Jerez, an avid player, was able to join the team at South Bronx Prep, just a five-minute walk from her school, through the individual access program.

“It was just a great experience,” she said. “I felt good to be able to play and get more used to being on the court and being more open to socializing with people.”

Bronx Academy of Letters student Jayla Jerez, wearing number 20, playing on the South Bronx Prep basketball team through the city's individual access program.

Jerez values basketball and wants to keep playing. If she can’t participate through individual access, she might have to consider transferring schools, she said — an option she is not relishing.

Losing a guarantee to individual access for all students could also change how schools communicate with families about sports options, he said. Last year, Garcia-Rosen could promise prospective families that their kid would have access to every PSAL sport at Bronx Letters. He even printed a banner advertising that option.

Without that same assurance for next year, he said, “when a family comes to pick a high school, I can’t guarantee them that they come to this school and have access to every sport.”

Setting up the individual access program requires clearing some administrative and logistical hurdles, but administrators have largely reported positive results, Garcia-Rosen found.

He said he reached out to athletic directors and principals across the city, and 49 of the 51 who responded said they supported maintaining universal individual access.

One athletic director from Manhattan, who asked to speak on the condition of anonymity, told him “it has definitely taken a lot of work to get this program off the ground but it is working and students are playing. It will only get better as we invest in it more!”

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

NYC schools disband teaching and learning division, which oversees Banks’ top literacy initiative

2024-03-25T20:34:00+00:00

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In a major shakeup, the city’s Education Department is disbanding its division of teaching and learning, which oversees schools Chancellor David Banks’ centerpiece literacy initiative.

The deputy chancellor who leads that department is leaving at the end of the school year, according to a letter Banks sent to Education Department staff on Monday.

The announcement of Deputy Chancellor for Teaching and Learning Carolyne Quintana’s departure took some staff by surprise. Quintana has been supervising Banks’ top education priority to reshape how the city’s elementary schools teach children to read, mandating that all elementary schools across the five boroughs are using one of three curriculums by next school year. The department has also been working to overhaul high school algebra programs.

“We are moving forward with dissolving the Division of Teaching & Learning and integrating its work into the Division of School Leadership under the leadership of Deputy Chancellor Dr. Danika Rux,” Banks wrote in a Monday letter to Education Department staff.

Banks signaled that the move was designed to put resources closer to schools — a pledge he made with Mayor Eric Adams when he first took the helm of the nation’s largest school district more than two years ago. He suggested some of the staff could be placed under the purview of local superintendents, who directly supervise principals.

The shakeup follows other efforts to give superintendents more power, with Banks previously assigning other Education Department staff who work in central offices to local superintendents’ offices.

“The superintendents are clearly in charge, and the content experts are subordinate,” one staffer who works in a superintendent’s office wrote in a text message, adding that they were “shocked” to learn of Quintana’s departure.

Shakeup could be logical for next phase of literacy push

Some observers are optimistic that the restructuring could help create clearer lines of authority and streamline the implementation of the curriculum changes. Before the latest shakeup, decisions about which curriculums to mandate and how to set up teacher training came from Quintana’s division. But the local superintendents who work with principals to implement those curriculums answer to Rux, the deputy chancellor responsible for school leadership.

There are challenges “having decision making split between the curricular choices and the implementation of those across two different deputy chancellors,” said Evan Stone, the CEO and co-founder of Educators for Excellence, a teacher advocacy group. The organization supported the Education Department’s push for a curriculum mandate, and Stone said Quintana is an “incredible leader.”

Another source involved with implementing the NYC Reads initiative said shifting responsibility for the program closer to the superintendents was logical now that districts have all chosen which curriculum to use and are focused on the daily work of helping schools adjust.

“This makes complete sense in terms of managing the NYC Reads initiative in particular,” said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Now we’re more into the implementation … and that falls on the superintendents.”

But other observers said that they are concerned that the reorganization will wind up shuffling many of the system’s literacy experts into superintendent offices where those leaders may not be able to deploy them as effectively. Education Department officials have not said how many staffers will remain in central offices or sent to local superintendents.

“Many of these district superintendents are just getting on board [with the new reading curriculums] and literacy is not necessarily their field of expertise,” said Susan Neuman, a professor at New York University who serves on the city’s literacy advisory council. She added the literacy council wasn’t in the loop on the shakeup which “came out of nowhere for us.”

Another department employee who works in a superintendent’s office said change could deliver needed manpower to help schools implement new curriculums.

“We don’t have the people to do that effectively on top of everything else,” the staffer said. Still, they added it was unclear who would be sent to their office and whether they would have relevant expertise.

The reorganization also comes at a delicate moment for Banks’ signature literacy initiative. The second half of the city’s districts will begin implementing the mandated curriculums in September, which requires a massive effort to train thousands of teachers. The initial rollout, which began this school year, has been bumpy so far with some teachers reporting that they have not received sufficient training on the new curriculum materials.

The overhaul of the high school algebra curriculum, which has drawn mixed reactions from educators, is also poised to expand next year.

Layoffs not expected

In his letter to Education Department staff, Banks indicated that the restructuring would not result in layoffs.

“I know change is hard,” Banks wrote. “I want to assure you that this restructuring is not a negative reflection of your work. In fact, we want to make sure that your hard work is as close to our students as possible.”

The teaching and learning division is staffed by about 2,000 people. The division includes hundreds of staff who oversee support for special education and multilingual learners; those people will not move to superintendent offices and will instead report to Rux.

Quintana did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the circumstances of her departure or whether she has another job lined up. The New York Post previously reported that Quintana was frustrated that she was paid less than a male deputy chancellor, though an Education Department spokesperson said that did not play a role in her departure.

“I want to thank the dedicated team of the Division of Teaching & Learning for their tireless work to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of students daily,” Quintana wrote in a statement. “It was an honor to lead you, and I will always be your ally in fighting for educational equity. I look forward to supporting this transition.”

Banks indicated the department’s Chief of School Support Miatheresa Pate will oversee the restructuring effort and will be the “interim executive chief” of teaching and learning during the transition period. The superintendent of Bronx District 10, Maribel Hulla, will move into the chief of school support role.

The chancellor indicated that Quintana will spend the remainder of the school year helping with the transition and advising him on “other key projects.”

Do you have inside details about the shakeup? Send us a tip to ny.tips@chalkbeat.org

Michael Elsen-Rooney contributed to this story.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC may encourage principals to hire teachers over other roles to reduce class sizes

2024-02-29T23:28:24+00:00

Principals with vacant positions next year might start feeling more pressure from the city to hire teachers over other roles to comply with the state’s class size law, officials said Thursday at a New York City Council hearing.

The law, passed by the state legislature in 2022, requires that kindergarten to third grade classrooms have 20 or fewer students, fourth to eighth grade classes have no more than 23 students, and high schools classes have 25 or fewer. The law takes effect in phases – requiring that 20% of classrooms across the city meet the mandates by this September, and 40% satisfy the requirements by September 2024. The entire city will have to be in compliance by September 2028.

So far, the city’s Education Department hasn’t had much trouble complying. Roughly 40% of classrooms across the city are currently at or below the caps, officials testified Thursday.

But to make sure the city is still in compliance by next September, and begin preparing for the stricter requirements in coming years, the department is considering some policy changes next school year, Deputy Chancellor for Operations Emma Vadehra testified on Thursday.

One of those changes may be “asking schools to prioritize hiring teachers over other positions” when they have vacancies, Vadehra said.

That could mark a significant shift in a system where principals have traditionally had wide latitude to manage their hiring decisions and decide how to distribute their dollars among classroom teachers and other positions including aides, administrators, deans, and counselors and social workers.

First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg said, pushing school hiring decisions “top-down” would be “overrid[ing] the judgment of the people we want making those judgments.”

Officials didn’t offer many details on how that directive would work. Schools already have some hiring restrictions unrelated to the new class size law, such as maintaining the mandated number of teachers and paraprofessionals for students with disabilities and ensuring they have teachers for required subjects.

The plan will need to be approved by the teachers and principals unions, and officials aim to communicate plans to principals by this spring before they have to begin hiring for next year, Vadehra said.

Henry Rubio, the president of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, the union representing principals, expressed concerns about the idea, calling it “tremendously short-sighted.”

In addition to more teachers, schools also need “support staff, paraprofessionals, and supervisors to maintain effective instruction and provide the adequate professional development that a school’s staff needs,” he said. “Otherwise, the academic gains from smaller class sizes may be eroded since new teachers and other staff will require more support given their lack of experience.”

Mike Sill, the assistant secretary at the United Federation of Teachers, said the union “like[s] the concept in general,” but there are “caveats.”

Some schools might need more counselors or deans, he said. “It’s a half-baked plan at this point.”

Education Department previews other potential changes next year

Officials said they are considering a recommendation from a recently-convened working group to restrict how schools can spend $215 million in funding through a state program called Contracts for Excellence, or C4E.

C4E money is distributed by the city, based on the level of student need at a school, measured by the number of low-income and academically struggling students, as well as English Language Learners and kids with disabilities.

Currently, schools that receive C4E money can use it for reducing class sizes, launching professional development programs to improve teacher quality, offering full-day pre-Kindergarten classes, and running programs for English Language Learners, among other things.

Officials on Thursday said they’re considering restricting that funding so it can only be used to lower class sizes.

More than 1,500 schools got C4E money this year, with an average of nearly $141,000 per school.

Bigger changes are ahead

The challenges facing the Education Department are going to grow as the class size law continues to phase in.

Officials estimate that the city will need to increase its teaching force, which currently stands at around 77,000, by between 10,000 and 12,000 to fully comply with the law. That will cost between $1.4 to $1.9 billion a year, according to the Education Department’s estimates, and require a significant boost in hiring at a time when the number of new teachers entering the workforce is shrinking. The Education Department also estimates that there are about 500 schools that will need more classrooms than they currently have in their buildings to meet the class size standards. Some schools that only need one or two extra classrooms might be able to shift around existing space. But other schools need as many as 78 additional classrooms, Vadehra said.

The School Construction Authority, which is in charge of building new facilities, estimated that it will cost between $22 and $27 billion to build all the new facilities needed to meet the class size mandates – a budget far greater than is currently slotted in the SCA’s capital plan.

State legislators have argued that the Education Department doesn’t need any additional funding to comply with the law because Foundation Aid from the state increased by more than $1 billion in recent years. But Education Department officials say they’ve already committed that money to bolstering school budgets, increasing funding for low-income and homeless students, and paying for increasing mandated costs for charter schools and special education.

Adding to the complexity, the schools with the largest class sizes currently are more likely to have larger concentrations of students from affluent families, creating concerns that the city could have to shift resources away from schools with needier populations to those with lower levels of student need.

One of the city’s cheapest options for reducing class sizes citywide would be capping enrollment at the most overcrowded schools, and redirecting students to schools with more room and lower class sizes. But that policy would likely spur significant pushback from parents, since many of the schools with the largest class sizes are among the city’s most in-demand, especially at the high school level, where students have the greatest freedom to apply to schools across the city.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the implementation timeline for the law. By September 2024, 40% of classes must be under the cap.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

When schools assign substitutes the wrong status, the error suppresses their pay

2024-01-31T10:00:00+00:00

This story was published in partnership with New York Focus, a non-profit news site investigating how power works in New York state. Sign up for their newsletter here.

This is the second installment in a two-part series reported with support from the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. You can read the first part here.

When the Queens public school where she was working assigned Antonietta Auriemma to seven classroom sections, she realized something was wrong.

Between January and June 2023, Auriemma, a substitute teacher, filled in for two different teachers on long-term leaves of absence, on top of extra classroom periods as needed.

According to her handbook, she should have been classified as a “long-term sub” — and qualified for the requisite pay and benefits.

In the nation’s largest public school system, most substitute teachers work day-to-day, filling in for short-term absences at a fixed daily rate of roughly $200. But amid a teacher shortage made worse since the pandemic spurred educators to flee in droves, more and more New York City schools have come to rely on substitutes on longer-term assignments. Because they are more like regular teachers, these long-term subs are supposed to earn around $100 extra per day, which can add up to roughly $25,000 more per year, according to the teachers union. Some accrue sick time, vacation time, and even get health insurance.

Auriemma wasn’t receiving any of that.

“I was basically a full-time teacher,” Auriemma told New York Focus. “I was lesson planning for these classes, entering grades for these students, speaking to parents for parent engagement, all while making the [lower] sub pay of $200 a day.”

For years, subs like Auriemma have been underpaid for their long-term services — a violation of the New York City Department of Education’s teacher contract with the United Federation of Teachers, or UFT.

Interviews with 10 former and current substitute teachers or substitute paraprofessionals suggest that the practice is systematic and widespread across the city, and that since the pandemic began, violations may have increased. In a Sept. 11, 2023, UFT executive board meeting, Mark Collins, the union’s grievance director, stated that schools paying substitutes at an incorrect rate is “probably the most common grievance we have in the city.” A UFT spokesperson confirmed that it is one of the top grievances in the union.

Nearly all the interviewed substitutes, whose labor spans multiple city boroughs, said they knew of schools that underpaid subs because of misclassification. Five of them said they had filed grievances related to these issues; three have won back pay as a result, while the others’ grievances are still pending resolution.

Those who don’t grieve their wage shortages may choose not to because they’re unaware of the contract provisions. Others, because of their relative precarity: Many subs depend on the work as their primary income and cannot miss days for fear of falling behind on bills. Six subs described a culture of retaliation that might get them fired or suddenly removed from the classroom if they complain.

“Once you file, you’re essentially blacklisted at a school.”
JOE DIODATO, SUB WHO FILED A LABOR GRIEVANCE

Even if subs get to stay in the same school, they might get moved from classroom to classroom to preserve their place in the arcane classification system that keeps pay down. And when teachers get shuffled, students suffer.

Beth Ellor, who retired from full-time teaching in 2009, has subbed regularly since. She said she covered a class whose students blamed themselves for their lack of a regular teacher.

“They said, ‘Everybody hates us. Nobody wants to stay with us. We are a terrible class,’” Ellor recounted. Later, she found out that another substitute teacher had previously worked 27 days with that class before being moved to another assignment.

Ellor believes it was done to prevent that substitute from achieving the higher-paying status.

Asked about the problem, Education Department spokesperson Jenna Lyle acknowledged the “critical support” that subs provided during the pandemic.

“Thanks to temporary stimulus funding, we were able to provide additional financial support to schools to take on the additional costs of hiring more substitutes and have worked with the UFT and individual employees to address any outstanding pay issues from this period,” Lyle wrote in an email.

She declined to comment on the widespread, sometimes intentional practice of misclassifying subs, which existed before the outbreak of COVID.

In the education system, it’s not uncommon for subs to fall through the cracks, said David Bloomfield, an education law professor at Brooklyn College and the City University of New York Graduate Center. “Those cracks widened during the pandemic,” he said. “This seems like a situation that hasn’t been given adequate attention by either the union or the central administration.”

Pay scale for subs varies by assignment length

The teachers union contract establishes various letter-coded “statuses” of service to which a substitute teacher can be assigned.

The most common sub classification, “O-status,” is for day-to-day subs who cover short-term absences. Subs are assigned “Z-status” or “Q-status” when working full-time for schools, filling in for longer-term teacher absences or vacancies. Those subs receive higher pay and limited benefits that are unavailable to O-status subs. The Education Department’s payroll system automatically grants the higher-paying Z-status to substitutes so long as they teach a class without an absence for 30 days.

When subs are told to miss a day, it resets the clock.

“What happens is a lot of principals know that [subs] get paid more money” under higher tiers of sub service, said a former school payroll secretary, who asked to remain anonymous because she still works in the school system and fears retaliation. “They don’t want to pay them the higher status, so they’ll tell a sub, don’t come in on this day, for whatever reason, and that defers them back to the old status so they can’t get paid more money.”

“You want to use money to hire more teachers, more supplies, or to get air conditioners. Nobody even thinks of subs.”
JOHN WENK, FORMER PRINCIPAL IN MANHATTAN

The substitutes who spoke to New York Focus described a widespread practice of either denying qualified substitutes Q- or Z-status, actively preventing subs from qualifying, or displaying incompetence in staffing subs under the appropriate status.

“It’s a known thing that principals have tight budgets … and [forcing a missed day] is one way they cut corners in saving money,” said the former payroll secretary. “It doesn’t even get discussed.”

When Joe Diodato subbed for a semester at an elementary school in the Bronx, it found a way to underpay him — without forcing a missed day.

Instead, according to documents Diodato shared with New York Focus, the school periodically changed the code in the payroll system associated with his work assignment. The action incorrectly made it seem like he wasn’t teaching the same class over the course of his employment, a condition required to earn Z-status.

Diodato didn’t learn about the higher-paying sub statuses until a couple months into the job. When he asked his payroll secretary about them, they said he didn’t qualify.

“Every day I came in I documented what I did,” Diodato explained. “I saved my classroom Zoom meetings, I saved my Google Classroom posts, my parent engagement. Everything that showed I did the job of a classroom teacher, I saved.”

At the end of the year, he used his records to file a 187-page grievance. He eventually won nearly $6,000 in a settlement with the Education Department.

Joe Diodato won nearly $6,000 in a settlement with the DOE. He’s now a full-time teacher.

Diodato intentionally waited for the school year to run out before filing his grievance. “Once you file,” he said, “you’re essentially blacklisted at a school.”

Now a full-time teacher, Diodato runs a private Facebook group for substitutes and a blog about the city Department of Education. He believes that more substitutes have likely been filing grievances on long-term status issues since the pandemic began, when the DOE increased its reliance on subs. But most violations, several subs explained, likely go unchallenged.

Without the higher pay and benefits, subs often quit mid-assignment, Diodato said.

Several subs who spoke to New York Focus requested anonymity because they were pursuing full-time teaching positions at their schools. They described a common belief that contesting their status would endanger their chances of full-time employment — or get them fired from their temporary positions.

One substitute, who requested anonymity, subbed regularly at a high school for seven years until she tried to claim increased benefits and wages.

When the sub challenged a principal’s reasoning as to why she could not earn Z-status, “she fired me on the spot,” the sub said. “She said, ‘You are on my last nerve … Yeah, I lied to you. I know what the rules are … but I’m the principal and I make the decisions, and you’re just a sub.’”

John Wenk, a former principal of a Manhattan high school, said that retaliation against subs is unsurprising behavior for some principals and can be done with impunity.

A principal, he explained, is free “to get rid of the sub for any reason whatsoever.”

“I’ve seen that happen,” said the former payroll secretary. But in most cases, she said, subs don’t bring the issues up in the first place. “They need a job. They need money,” she said, “so they’re not going to rock the boat.”

A UFT spokesperson acknowledged that most subs grieve pay violations after their assignment has finished, presumably out of fear of retaliation. They emphasized, however, that subs are already covered by contractual and legal anti-retaliation rules, and that the union is trying to add further protections so they are comfortable filing grievances as soon as the violation occurs.

Pointing fingers at Education Department red tape

Although it falls on individual school payroll secretaries, principals, and administrators to carry out pay violations, some argue that the DOE’s bureaucracy is to blame.

The money to pay substitutes comes from the DOE central administration, but once schools receive it, principals can use the money however they please. Operating under strained resources, with dozens of budgetary items to attend to, a principal may be incentivized to use the money intended for subs on resources deemed more necessary.

“You want to use that money to hire more teachers, or for more extracurricular activities, more supplies, or to get air conditioners,” Wenk said. “Nobody is thinking about this problem. Nobody even thinks of subs.”

Joe Diodato in the South Bronx. Though he's now a full-time teacher, he still runs a Facebook group for subs.

Bloomfield believes principals and individual schools are not equipped to deal with the problem in the first place.

“Principals have neither the expertise nor the budgetary acumen to make the substitute puzzle pieces fit together with all the other pressures they’re under,” he said. “It’s therefore incumbent on the central administration, both the DOE and the city, to offer clear guidance consistent with union contracts and other legal provisions to assist in filling these positions.”

A UFT spokesperson said the union has been working to shift the burden of ensuring correct pay from the subs to the Education Department. The spokesperson referenced an agreement the union won in recent contract negotiations to establish guidance to re-train and educate administrative staff on substitute hiring — to ensure correct classification, pay, and health coverage.

But some subs told New York Focus that they attribute the ubiquity of pay violations in part to the UFT’s inadequate representation of substitutes.

“While [UFT reps] seem to be helpful and they want to be that point of contact for when situations need to be escalated, a lot of them are just at a loss,” said a former substitute teacher in Bushwick, Brooklyn, who requested anonymity.

“We disagree that UFT reps are ‘at a loss,’” a teachers union spokesperson wrote in a statement. They noted that any substitute can receive immediate representation for a grievance.

Bloomfield sees the problem as baked into the DOE’s treatment of its workforce.

“Just that very term ‘substitute’ reeks of second-class citizenship in the personnel constellation,” he said. “They’re an afterthought.”

Teddy Ostrow is a journalist from Brooklyn. He was the host of The Upsurge podcast and his work has appeared in The Nation, The New Republic, In These Times, and elsewhere.

In NYC schools, substitute teachers are systematically denied COVID sick pay

2024-01-29T10:00:00+00:00

This story was published in partnership with New York Focus, a non-profit news site investigating how power works in New York state. Sign up for their newsletter here.

This is the first installment in a two-part series reported with support from the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.

Shane Lorenzen finally caught COVID days before Christmas in 2022.

A substitute teacher in New York City, he knew the state offered paid COVID leave to public employees — a key protection for essential workers put in place early in the pandemic. But when he asked his school payroll secretary about it, she informed him that as a sub, he didn’t qualify.

Like thousands of substitutes, Lorenzen helped prop up the city’s education system throughout the pandemic. He signed up in March 2020 to staff one of the education centers for the children of health care professionals, transit workers, and other frontline employees when regular schools were closed to other kids. During the omicron wave in January 2022, he was in the classroom as thousands of teachers went on sick leave.

When Lorenzen tested positive himself, the denial of paid leave felt like a slap in the face. He tried to insist — and was asked not to come back to his school.

Substitutes have been entitled to paid COVID leave since the state mandated the benefit in 2020, the New York state Department of Labor confirmed. But many subs assumed they didn’t qualify and never requested the benefit. And in New York City, many were denied even if they did ask.

The city Department of Education instructed schools to exclude nearly all substitute teachers and substitute paraprofessionals from the benefit, according to internal emails New York Focus obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request.

“Generally speaking substitutes … would not be eligible to receive the excused leave at full pay for up to two weeks if they needed to quarantine,” the DOE advised schools in an email. “They would not be paid for any time not worked.”

“I got COVID recently, and last year,” said one former substitute teacher in Bushwick who requested anonymity out of fear of employer retaliation. “[COVID leave] wasn’t a conversation that was had between me and the school.”

An education department spokesperson confirmed that during the pandemic, staff received guidance indicating that per diem workers — the teachers and paraprofessionals employed on a day-to-day basis who make up the majority of the substitute workforce — do not qualify for sick leave or other benefits normally provided to full-time staff. The spokesperson later contradicted this guidance, telling New York Focus in a phone call that subs could receive paid COVID leave if they provided a “quarantine order,” as required by the March 2020 state law.

Asked to elaborate, the department did not acknowledge the contradiction, only reiterating that per diems were not included in its guidance for schools.

The state Labor Department confirmed that per diem workers are included in the mandate.

“NYC DOE (including substitute teachers or sub paraprofessionals) qualify for paid COVID leave,” the Labor Department press office wrote. The DOE did not respond to the state agency’s apparently contradictory interpretation of the law.

Among subs, the lack of support has added to a sense that the school system sees them as disposable — even after they stepped up to help the city in a time of great need.

“I saw a couple of my coworkers get sick and get taken out in an ambulance, and I never saw them again,” said Lorenzen, recalling the fear and uncertainty of the pandemic’s early days. “And they were subs. They were subs or paras.”

While much attention has been paid to the sacrifices that full-time teachers made and the harms that students sustained during the pandemic, substitutes like Lorenzen played a critical role in holding the system together.

As sickness, refusal to abide by vaccine mandates, and burnout pushed thousands of teachers out of their posts, the city’s teacher attrition rate reached a decade high in 2022, with 2,000 fewer teachers in the system than five years earlier. Full-time teachers are still calling out sick at higher rates than before the pandemic, and the crisis may worsen as the United States experiences one of the largest surges in COVID cases since 2020, with New York flagged as a hot zone by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a public resolution addressing schools’ difficulties in hiring substitutes, the United Federation of Teachers recently asked the DOE to make nominations for substitute teachers and sub paras more flexible, and to offer subs pay differentials in “hard-to-staff” schools.

But while full-time teachers are still being offered COVID leave, subs remain in the lurch.

“There’s no safety net for me,” said the former Bushwick sub. “It was disappointing because there was this whole chatter about ‘essential workers,’ but it just felt like I wasn’t getting taken care of as a worker in the city.”

The DOE did not respond to requests for the number of substitutes in the city system, nor how many of them got sick with COVID. But based on broader figures — over 75% of Americans have contracted the virus at least once; over 35,000 short-term substitute teachers work in New York state; and well over 100,000 COVID cases have been confirmed among DOE staff since September 2020 — it’s likely that thousands of New York City substitutes have contracted the virus.

Although some subs work at their schools on longer-term appointments, many are still paid by the day — usually at a $200 rate. They typically don’t get employer-funded health insurance or paid sick days. But in March 2020 — when Lorenzen became a sub — the state passed a law, which is still in effect, granting some private and all public sector workers between five and 14 days of paid sick leave for Covid isolation and precautionary quarantines.

During severe coronavirus surges, DOE administrators tasked with answering COVID leave questions advised school staff that most substitutes did not qualify for paid COVID leave in at least 57 responses, according to emails New York Focus obtained via FOIL. (Initial senders’ names were redacted, but the number of threads suggests that dozens of schools inquired about the issue.)

Just four complaints were filed against the DOE for failing to provide substitutes paid COVID leave, according to Labor Department officials, who declined to provide further details about the cases. DOE officials said they received only one related complaint from the Labor Department, which was promptly addressed.

As teachers called out sick, schools grew increasingly desperate to place subs in classrooms, many in longer-term assignments. The DOE resorted to offering “special financial incentives” to subs when COVID rates were highest — up to $100 extra per day, according to emails sent to substitutes and obtained by New York Focus.

According to Lorenzen, there were periods during bad COVID surges, like the omicron wave, when most of the teachers in his school were substitutes. Others described a similar reliance.

“We reopened the schools back up and kept them open,” said Joe Diodato, a full-time teacher who subbed for a year and a half in the Bronx beginning in the winter of 2020. “It only happened because of subs.”

While subs often teach to supplement other jobs, some rely on substitute teaching as their primary source of income. From the three days Lorenzen was absent due to COVID isolation, he lost $615.75 from his paycheck. Other subs may have lost north of $2,800.

“Earned sick days are particularly important for low-wage workers who, absent sick leave, lack the savings, access to credit or assets needed to buffer against lost earnings if they need to take time off,” wrote Hilary Wething, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute who co-authored a report on state paid sick leave policies, in an email to New York Focus.

Paid leave can also protect the health of other staff and students by keeping people home when they’re sick. One substitute at a school in Brooklyn, who requested anonymity, said that he felt forced to work while down with the flu in order to pay his bills.

“I endured the whole week of just being sick,” he said. “I could not even speak, and I just did the job.”

When his school’s payroll secretary told Jack Ganley he was ineligible for leave, a teachers union representative instructed him to file a complaint with the Labor Department. Ganley, a substitute paraprofessional at a Brooklyn elementary school, decided not to file a complaint — or even raise the issue with school administrators.

“I can guarantee what the response would be, which would be we can’t help you,” Ganley said.

Multiple workers described a culture of retaliation in New York City public schools, with little recourse available to subs who are fired for filing grievances or otherwise challenging school administrators. Many of the subs who spoke to New York Focus requested anonymity for that reason.

Shane Lorenzen spoke out when he did not receive COVID sick pay.

Lorenzen was the only substitute interviewed who made a persistent attempt to claim his benefits.

When Lorenzen got sick, he emailed Nelson Mandela School for Social Justice in Crown Heights, where he was substitute teaching full-time. Aware of the March 2020 law, Lorenzen made sure to mention COVID leave in his initial communication.

“I’m hoping that at this point I am entitled to sick pay, as I cannot afford to take time off, but do not want to come in if I am still symptomatic,” wrote Lorenzen in a December 20, 2022, email, reviewed by New York Focus, to Nelson Mandela’s payroll secretary and principal.

He tested positive the next day and stayed home for the last three days before winter break.

The payroll secretary wished him well, but ignored his inquiry regarding sick leave.

After winter recess ended, Lorenzen returned to the classroom and asked the school repeatedly whether he would receive pay for the missed days. The school eventually said he wouldn’t because he wasn’t a full-time employee, though documents he provided to New York Focus show he was indeed working as a full-time substitute.

But it shouldn’t have mattered, Lorenzen believed. He shared with the school a public personnel memo from the DOE stating that part-time workers qualified for the leave, too. According to a United Federation of Teachers spokesperson, subs have previously won their paid sick days through the union grievance process by citing the memo.

In a conversation on January 9, 2023, a recording of which was shared with New York Focus, Nelson Mandela principal Matthew Anderson told Lorenzen that the problem was technical: Because of an issue with payroll codes, the school was operationally incapable of releasing the benefits. Anderson did not respond to multiple email requests for comment.

It seems the principal’s hands were tied. The Education Department did not appear to have distributed the appropriate codes for per diem employees, payroll memos obtained through a public records request confirmed. Only “long-term substitutes” classified as “part-time” — rather than “per diem” — workers qualified for COVID leave, as officials told schools in dozens of emailed messages.

Lorenzen kept on insisting, sending email after email. Then, less than two weeks after returning from winter recess, an assistant principal informed him that it would be his last day at Nelson Mandela. Originally, Lorenzen said, his position was supposed to last until June.

Anderson, the principal, told Lorenzen that he was being let go for budgetary reasons and that the school had teachers returning to fill his position, according to a recording of their meeting that day. A DOE spokesperson noted that terminations of subs’ positions are typical upon the return of a regular staff member or a shift in school needs, especially during the pandemic.

When Lorenzen suggested that the school was retaliating against him, Anderson chided him for being confrontational.

“I don’t have anything to do with the money you’re missing,” he said. “Continue with the process and you’ll get your money. That’s an issue with the city and central services.”

Lorenzen filed a complaint with the Labor Department shortly after he lost his position, but he has not heard back.

Nearly a year later, he’s still waiting to receive his benefits.

Teddy Ostrow is a journalist from Brooklyn. He was the host of The Upsurge podcast and his work has appeared in The Nation, The New Republic, In These Times, and elsewhere.

NYC rolls out long-awaited school bus tracking app

2024-01-19T23:38:34+00:00

New York City is finally rolling out a long-awaited school bus GPS app citywide – four and a half years after officials first announced the plan.

The NYC School Bus App, developed in partnership with the rideshare company Via, allows caregivers of the roughly 150,000 students who ride a school bus every day to track their kids’ vehicles in real time. The sprawling school bus system, which serves tens of thousands of students with disabilities, often subjects students to hours-long rides, delays, and no-show buses. In the past, parents often had to repeatedly call bus companies to track down missing buses.

Education Department officials first announced the five-year, $36 million contract with Via in summer 2019. They said at the time the app would roll out citywide in the 2020-21 school year. Those plans were scuttled by the COVID pandemic, but even after the full return of in-person learning in fall 2021, it took two-and-a-half more years to get the app up and running citywide.

Mayor Eric Adams and schools Chancellor David Banks struck a celebratory note in a press release announcing the citywide rollout.

“I’m thrilled to be launching this system for families across the city and to provide peace of mind to parents as they send their babies off to school each day,” Banks said.

Lori Podvesker, a parent and director of disability and education policy at IncludeNYC, said launching the bus-tracking app was long overdue.

She often relies on text messages with a bus attendant to get a heads-up on when her son, Jack, will be picked up and dropped off each day from his District 75 program, which serves students with more significant disabilities.

“Knowing that I can access this information helps build trust,” Podvesker said.

She recalled an incident several years ago when Jack’s bus didn’t turn up and she frantically called the bus company, which didn’t answer the phone. When Podvesker called the Education Department’s transportation office, she was placed on hold.

“It is so nerve-wracking — especially as a parent of a kid with intellectual disabilities who’s nonverbal. You just freak out,” she said.

One Staten Island parent in 2021 resorted to slapping an Airtag on her elementary school daughter in lieu of working GPS on the school bus.

Podvesker welcomes the new app, but she wasn’t sure if it’s working yet for her son’s bus route, which ferries him from Downtown Brooklyn to the Lower East Side. When she logged into the app on Friday, a page came up that said, “No activity so far. We hope to see you soon!”

Still, she noted her son was already off the bus when she checked.

Indeed, officials’ claims of a full citywide rollout come with several big caveats.

First, the app only works if drivers sign up for the program – and currently about 25% of the city’s bus drivers aren’t signed up, according to officials. In the press release, officials advised caregivers whose kids’ drivers aren’t subscribed to contact the bus company and ask them to help.

An Education Department spokesperson said drivers are required to sign up and can be fined if they don’t. Use of the app was a part of the protracted contract negotiations with the city’s largest school bus drivers union that threatened to throw the school bus system into chaos last fall, the spokesperson added. While negotiations were underway, union drivers were instructed not to use the app, delaying the rollout, the spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181, the city’s largest school bus drivers union, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Another obstacle for many families is that the app requires a New York City Schools Account, or NYCSA. Roughly a third of the city’s public school families weren’t linked to an account as of summer 2023. And for the tens of thousands of charter and private school students who also ride city school buses, signing up for a NYCSA is difficult or impossible, parents and advocates said.

A 2022 Education Department manual said private school students are “ineligible” for the accounts, and that charter school students can get one but have to go through a more onerous process.

Manhattan parent Naomi Peña said she lost access to her NYCSA when her son transferred to a private school because the Education Department couldn’t accommodate his learning disability. Her son still relies on city school buses, but she can’t access the new app.

“It’s incredibly frustrating,” she said. “When busing routes get switched … we are left scrambling waiting for the new bus driver or matron to call us.”

An Education Department spokesperson said the agency is working with individual charter and private schools to give families access to NYCSA logins.

The bus tracking app is also supposed to have a feature that allows school administrators to track the buses of their students.

The school bus tracking app is the Education Department’s second recent high-profile foray into developing software to support families. The agency recently released its own grades, attendance and messaging app, following a catastrophic hack of Skedula, a widely used online gradebook run by an outside vendor.

To allay concerns about privacy, officials said they will “share the minimum required data, will require highly secure logins for all users, and will perform data encryption and continuous security testing on the system.”

The Via app also isn’t the city’s first attempt to equip school buses with GPS. A City Council bill from 2019 required the Education Department to install location tracking technology in all city school buses by that September – a deadline council members said they didn’t meet.

And, of course, even if the new app works seamlessly and makes it into the hands of every parent, it won’t address the many other problems plaguing the sprawling school bus system, including frequent delays and no-shows, buses without air conditioning, and an ongoing shortage of drivers and bus attendants.

“It wouldn’t necessarily make the routes shorter,” said Sara Catalinotto a long-time transportation advocate and head of the group Parents to Improve School Transportation. “But at least people wouldn’t come out into the cold to wait.”

Alex Zimmerman contributed.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

NYC launches ‘campus revival’ program to upgrade neglected school buildings

2024-01-18T21:46:28+00:00

For years, students and staff at Bushwick Leaders High School for Academic Excellence in Brooklyn had a recurring complaint about their aging school building: There were no working water fountains.

Staff and students tried in vain to get them fixed, and Principal Enrique Garcia resorted to stockpiling bottled water to hand out to thirsty students. Seventeen-year-old senior Gabrielle Smith felt compelled to act after a friend passed out on a sweltering day because of dehydration.

“That was the turning point for me and my mom. She was like, ‘I need to bring this issue up, I need to do something,’” Smith recalled.

Her mom, Florence Knights, brought the problem to East Brooklyn Congregations, the four-decade-old network of faith-based community organizations that helped found the school. Leaders from that group got the attention of First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg, who came to the school to meet with families and staff in spring 2022.

“The day after he met with us, water and AC units were brought into our school,” Smith recalled.

City officials are now looking at Bushwick Leaders’ partnership with the community organization as a model of how to improve conditions in other schools and districts that have been historically overlooked when it comes to facilities upgrades, schools Chancellor David Banks said Thursday.

That means bringing in community organizations to work with school staff and families to identify the most critical facilities upgrades and setting aside funds in the Education Department’s capital plan for targeted districts. The resulting “campus revival project” began in the 2022-23 school year in Brownsville’s District 23 with $10 million in capital funding, and it will expand next year to District 5 in Harlem, District 7 in the South Bronx, and District 29 in southern Queens.

“When you have a building that is in disrepair it sends a message to kids subliminally about how important we really think you are,” Banks said. He added that he’s noticed that some schools have “out of order” signs hanging on water fountains for a year, while others see the problem fixed in a day.

P.S. 137 in Ocean Hill Brownsville, where Banks spoke Thursday, was one beneficiary of the new initiative. The school got a library redesign after several years during which the space was out of date and unusable, according to the principal.

Shaun Lee, the lead pastor at Mount Lebanon Baptist Church, recalled hearing in a spring 2022 meeting with District 23 families and school staff about “young scholars not going to the restroom because of broken and dilapidated bathrooms. Not being able to hydrate because water fountains were broken. Struggling to concentrate on hot days because there’s no air conditioning.”

The listening sessions surfaced a total of 168 repairs that the Education Department pledged to address. Facilities workers completed 117 of them last year, and expect to finish most of the rest this year. Some of the larger projects, like an upgraded swimming pool, will take longer, a spokesperson said.

Officials said schools in the three districts participating in the expansion of the campus revival initiative next year are currently working with community-based organizations to identify the problems they want fixed. Funding for repairs in those districts will depend on what problems the schools and community groups identify, a department spokesperson said.

Garcia, the principal of Bushwick Leaders, said community organizations were a key ingredient in getting the fixes.

“They connect the dots,” he said. “They have relationships with other organizations, they have relationships with elected officials. They’re able to get everyone into the same room.”

Garcia said he hopes this new focus and approach to targeting facilities in overlooked communities can begin to address the stubborn disparities in school buildings he’s witnessed first hand.

“I went to LaGuardia High School. I had students in my class who were from very affluent families. We had an escalator in the building, the water fountains worked,” he said. “You see the difference when you go to other school communities. It’s an injustice when you go to a school in Bushwick, or in District 23 and it’s not the same.”

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

NYC school suspensions spiked 13% last year, returning to pre-pandemic levels

2024-01-08T23:41:07+00:00

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Suspensions across New York City public schools came roaring back last school year, according to newly released data.

Schools issued 28,412 suspensions during the 2022-23 school year, a 13% spike compared with the 2021-22 school year, the first time students were required to return to school buildings in the wake of the pandemic.

The number of suspensions remained below the most recent academic year before the coronavirus forced school buildings to shutter in March 2020. But with fewer students enrolled in grades K-12, suspensions issued per capita returned to pre-pandemic levels. (The figures do not include charter schools.)

It’s difficult to know exactly why suspensions spiked last school year, the second year students were required to attend school in person since the pandemic. Some other large districts, including Nevada’s Clark County and Broward County, Florida, also have seen suspensions climb toward pre-pandemic levels.

It’s possible educators were reluctant to remove students from their classrooms the first year they returned to school buildings to avoid further disruptions to their learning — a feeling that may have faded last year. Student mental health remains a pressing concern that can affect behavior, and schools are not always well-equipped to handle it. There was also a 9% uptick in the overall number of weapons confiscated in schools last year, according to Police Department data.

Robert Effinger, a social studies teacher at the Bronx High School of Business, said fights and verbal altercations seemed to return to pre-pandemic levels, as students were less wary of the pandemic and masks were largely off. He noted that teachers’ were still dusting off their classroom management skills, too.

“I think some people had forgotten what it was like to go back to normal,” he said, noting that even as students first returned to buildings full time the prior year, they were still readjusting to regular school rhythms and were more skittish.

As in previous years, the new suspension data showed significant disparities between student groups. Roughly 40% of all suspensions went to Black students, though just 21% of students are Black. About 38% of suspensions were issued to students with disabilities, a group that represents about 22% of all students. Latino students represented about 40% of suspensions, roughly in line with their share of the student population. Meanwhile, white and Asian American students were much less likely to be suspended relative to their share of enrollment.

Still, the number of New York City students excluded from their classrooms remained at some of their lowest levels in at least a dozen years, partly the result of discipline reform efforts under former Mayor Bill de Blasio. But as suspensions creep back up, some observers contend that Mayor Eric Adams and schools Chancellor David Banks may be less focused on limiting their use.

Nelson Mar, an attorney at Bronx Legal Services, an organization that represents students in suspension proceedings, worries the uptick could signal “more of a disciplinarian approach” from the Adams administration.

“It definitely reflects the general attitude and approach,” he said.

Adams has ramped up harsher tactics to combat crime, one of his signature issues, though the administration has not sketched out a detailed vision on school discipline or moved to overhaul the discipline code, which spells out the city’s suspension policies. Banks has signaled that he doesn’t favor “zero tolerance” approaches to school discipline, though he has also said there must be consequences for misbehavior.

An Education Department spokesperson did not express concern over the rise in suspensions last year — or their disproportionate use against Black students and children with disabilities — and emphasized that students must follow school rules.

“We are focused on equipping schools with the resources they need to address any issues not only in accordance with our discipline code but in conjunction with meaningful moments for education,” Jenna Lyle, a department spokesperson, wrote in an email.

But some advocates worry that schools will soon have fewer resources at their disposal to address student behavior without resorting to suspensions. The city has used one-time federal relief funding to hire hundreds of social workers and expand funding for restorative justice programs, which prioritize peer meditations and other methods of talking through conflicts. Those programs are on the chopping block next school year as federal relief money runs out. Department officials have not said whether they are looking for alternate funding.

“With each of these, we continue to be concerned about the expiration of federal funding and what that will mean for support for students,” said Randi Levine, policy director at Advocates for Children. “It’s important for students to have access to mental health professionals who can help work with students and help address student behavior.”

The figures also include breakdowns of suspensions by how severe the punishments were. Principal suspensions, which last five days or fewer and are typically served in school, increased nearly 14% last year. More serious superintendent suspensions, which stretch beyond five days and are served at outside suspension sites, increased about 11%. (Superintendent suspensions can technically stretch for an entire school year but have been restricted to 20 days in most cases since 2019.)

Under city law, the suspension data was required to be released publicly by the end of October. Despite requests from Chalkbeat over the past two months, the Education Department declined to release the statistics or explain the delay. Officials ultimately released the figures after Chalkbeat prepared to publish a story about the missing data.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC’s class size working group delivers recommendations — but some members dissent

2023-12-12T00:54:10+00:00

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After months of deliberation, internal clashes, and comments from nearly 2,000 people, a working group tasked with advising New York City’s public schools on complying with a landmark state law capping class sizes released its final recommendations Monday.

The 55-page report, which had an initial Oct. 31 deadline, includes more than 50 recommendations. Its prominent suggestions include capping enrollment at some overcrowded schools, moving pre-K programs out of district buildings and into community organizations, and offering financial incentives to boost teacher hiring.

The report, which is similar to a draft version released in September, is non-binding. Education Department officials still have final say in how they’ll meet the new legal mandates, which are expected to be phased in over the next five years. But the contentious process of putting the recommendations together illustrates how complicated meeting the new mandates will be.

The caps require K-3 classes to be no larger than 20 students, classes in grades 4-8 to be smaller than 23 students, and high school classes to be capped at 25 students.

Proponents of the law, including a wide array of parents, advocates, legislators, and educators, point to extensive research on the educational benefits of lower class sizes — and argue that the new recommendations give the city a clear roadmap for how to get there.

“Given these actionable proposals — many of them cost-free — the Chancellor no longer has any excuse for delay,” said Leonie Haimson, working group member and executive director of Class Size Matters, in an email. “If the DOE really cares about following the law and the goal of providing all NYC students with a better opportunity to learn, the time for action is now.”

But the law has also prompted fierce pushback from city Education Department leaders, who argue they don’t have the necessary funding to implement it. Parents concerned the law could restrict enrollment at sought-after schools and advocates worried about equity implications have also criticized the law.

Several studies suggest that the highest-poverty schools will benefit less because they are already more likely to have classes under the legal cap.

The working group’s deliberations got so contentious that nine of the working group’s 46 members declined to endorse the final recommendations — and several even authored a dissenting “minority report.” Those dissenters argue that the law itself is deeply flawed.

Dia Bryant, the former executive director of Education Trust-New York and one of the dissenters, said the law and the working group ignored practical concerns and are “very aspirational.”

“Ultimately, I think the implementation under the current conditions … is just bad for kids,” Bryant said.

In response to the report, schools Chancellor David Banks noted the city is currently in compliance with the class size law, but that “the work to remain in compliance will take changes, tradeoffs and additional resources across NYCPS.”

Currently, more than half of the classes across the city’s 1,600 public schools, or more than 73,000 classes, are out of compliance, the working group has said.

Here are some of the working group’s most controversial recommendations.

Cap enrollment at overcrowded NYC schools

Capping enrollment at oversubscribed schools and diverting kids to under-enrolled ones nearby was among the most divisive suggestions.

There are 386 schools across the city currently enrolled above their building’s capacity, the report noted, and in many cases, there are neighboring schools with plenty of room.

But many of the city’s overcrowded schools are also among its most popular and sought-after, meaning any efforts to cap their enrollment are likely to meet fierce opposition.

One way to decide who should get access to limited seats is by prioritizing those who live within a school’s geographic zone, the working group noted. Roughly 17,000 kids at overcrowded schools are attending those schools from out-of-zone, according to the report.

But the authors cautioned that decisions about if and how to cap enrollment should still be made “in harmony with the principles of equity and community cohesion.” For example, they pointed out that some out-of-zone students attend specialized programs like dual-language classes.

Meanwhile, the dissenting minority report argues that enrollment caps are a nonstarter because they would lead to increased travel times for families in overcrowded districts and fewer seats in popular programs.

Instead, the working group’s dissenters want to give parents a role in deciding when schools should be exempt from the law, according to Stephen Stowe, a working group member and co-author of the minority report who is also Community Education Council President in Brooklyn’s District 20. (Currently, under the law, only the chancellor and union officials can weigh in on exemptions).

Moving prekindergarten classrooms out of overcrowded schools

As the city works to fill empty 3-K and pre-K seats amid enrollment declines, the working group’s enrollment committee offered a possible solution: consider relocating 3-K and pre-K seats from schools that are overcapacity to nearby pre-K centers that are under-enrolled.

This could help struggling programs — which get funding from the city based on their enrollment — have “more sustainable budgets,” according to the working group report. The pre-K sector has long complained about the competition it faces from programs in district schools.

With nearly 14,000 empty 3-K classrooms, all 3-year-olds in school-based programs could move to community-based organizations, the report suggested, freeing up as many as 451 classrooms in schools. For pre-K, which serves the city’s 4-year-olds, nearly 17,000 empty seats could accommodate the majority of those in school-based programs, potentially opening up 1,000 elementary school classrooms.

The report did say that some members of the working group worried this solution might inconvenience parents, especially those with older children in public schools. In response, the group urged programs to have flexible drop-off and pick-up times, as well as longer days for families needing after-care.

Merge co-located schools, avoid opening new schools

The creation of small schools gained traction under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, with nearly 470 new schools opening between 2003 and 2010. That has resulted in more administrative overhead and less classroom space, the report stated.

In light of that, the working group suggested merging schools that share buildings, “especially those that have similar or complementary designs, programs, and student populations.”

The working group also advised the city to reconsider the creation of new schools (except for schools in District 75 that serve students with significant disabilities).

“If there is a perceived need or idea for a valuable new program or service, existing underutilized schools should be given the resources and support to provide these new programs or services,” the report stated.

Pay teachers more in schools where hiring is hard

New York City will need to hire at least 17,000 new teachers to meet the class size mandate over the next several years, according to the Independent Budget Office. The Education Department put the figure at somewhere between 10,000 and 12,000.

Some working group members worried that a wave of new teachers could affect the quality of instruction — an issue that researchers have raised — and could dilute the intended impact of smaller classes.

At the same time, in public forums on the law, many teachers spoke out in favor of smaller classes. Some of them said it could improve their working conditions, reduce burnout, and cut down on attrition.

To address concerns around the influx of new teachers, the working group issued various recommendations, including providing teachers with “high-quality, research-based lesson plans” to reduce workload.

The group also wants to analyze whether teachers in non-teaching roles — such as deans, lunchroom supervisors, or grade advisers — could return to the classroom, giving greater oversight to superintendents of these so-called compensatory positions.

The report said such a change “would be a historical shift away from greater principal autonomy and defer control to a more centralized system.”

(Only one member of the working group dissented from this, the report noted.)

The working groups also wants to offer pay differentials to educators in hard-to-staff schools in places like the Bronx, Far Rockaway, and Central Brooklyn, as well as in difficult-to-hire subjects, including special education and bilingual education.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Participation in parent conferences has plunged 40%. Is Zoom to blame?

2023-11-09T23:04:04+00:00

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Remote parent-teacher conferences, a holdover from the height of the pandemic, continue to elicit mixed feelings among families and educators alike.

For some parents, these virtual meetings — which were enshrined in the most recent teachers union contract — have been a boon. They can Zoom with teachers during their work day. They no longer need child care to travel to and from schools for the meetings. For those with multiple kids, it can be easier to juggle meetings at different schools.

But just as remote learning exacerbated New York City’s gaping digital divide, these virtual meetings also leave out families with less tech access and those with language barriers. Faced with an array of teachers with different sign-up methods, joining the meetings can feel insurmountable to some.

Schools Chancellor David Banks has repeatedly said parent engagement is among his top priorities. But participation in parent-teacher conferences was down 40% last year compared with the most recent school year before the pandemic hit, according to city data.

One Manhattan middle school principal expressed deep frustration with the remote conferences. The school leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said attendance at the virtual sessions is significantly lower than the in-person conferences before the pandemic.

It’s especially difficult for the school’s growing number of migrant families to participate, as they often don’t have easy access to technology or reliable Wi-Fi at their shelters.

The school’s 10- to 15-minute student-led conferences, where kids show off their work and share plans for improvement, have been tricky to transition virtually.

“There’s something important about physically coming to the school, seeing where your child sits, seeing their work displayed on the bulletin board, and actually having a heart- to-heart conversation,” the principal said. “What we need more than ever is people back in the building and people being a part of the community.”

Education Department officials defended the virtual meetings, saying they “expanded opportunities” for families to meet with teachers.

“We support remote parent/teacher conferences to accommodate guardians who have disabilities and are more comfortable in a controlled environment, guardians who cannot take time away from work, guardians who are caregivers to additional children/family members,” said Education Department spokesperson Chyann Tull.

She added, “Parent/teacher conferences can also occur in person, upon request, at a mutually agreed upon time.”

Many parents, however, were not aware of that provision in the teachers union contract.

Amy Clow, the parent association president at Manhattan's P.S. 51, with her children.

Amy Clow, the parent association president at P.S. 51 in Hell’s Kitchen, echoed that in-person conferences helped build a sense of community.

“Maybe you’d see another family waiting,” she said, “we could actually talk to other parents and get to know them.”

Although she said the school’s teachers have tried to make the virtual conferences work, there are limits to the approach. A recent conference that was scheduled for 10 minutes wound up feeling more like five, given that her kids were at home interrupting her.

“Nothing’s as good as in person,” she said. “We learned that during COVID.”

Brooklyn mom Tamra Dixon also believes she got more out of the in-person meetings.

“By the time you exchange greetings — “Yeah, he’s great” — then they log off before you even get a chance to really talk,” said Dixon, whose fifth grader attends P.S. 282 in Park Slope. “It’s a little more difficult to do that when someone is sitting in front of you, so you have a better chance of getting all your questions answered in person.”

At her recent parent conference, all of her son’s teachers were together on the Zoom, each giving their assessments, which was “not bad,” Dixon said since that meant she didn’t have to log in to various Zooms. Still, one of the teachers kept her camera off and didn’t chime in, leaving the mom feeling confused.

Mike Robles, with his 8-year-old daughter, who attends P94M in Hell's Kitchen.

On the other hand, Manhattan dad Mike Robles said he appreciated the virtual conferences in part because they were set up with each teacher individually instead of conferencing with multiple teachers at once.

The feedback “feels a little bit more specific,” said Robles, whose daughter attends P94M, a school in District 75 that exclusively serves students with disabilities. “They’re not like five in a room [at] the same time.”

Ean Pimentel, a dad at P.S. 51, said the online setup was helpful since two of his children attend schools in different neighborhoods. Plus, he didn’t have to scramble for child care.

“You got to pay somebody to come watch the other kids, so [remote] is easier,” he said.

For Brendan Gillett, a teacher at International High School at Prospect Heights, which serves recently arrived immigrants, getting families to log on isn’t the biggest hurdle. The school makes a big effort to get families to come to the conferences. But the quality of the meetings are different than they were when they were in person, Gillett said.

“They feel shallower than in the past,” Gillett said. “It’s harder to go over documents. Parents will Zoom from their car or work or somewhere so they seem distracted, and generally, I just don’t think it’s as meaningful.”

Most elementary schools held parent-teacher conferences last week. Most middle schools hosted them on Thursday, and high schools have them on Nov. 16.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

‘We can do better’: NYC schools chief acknowledges flawed communication in response to flooding

2023-10-03T19:42:51+00:00

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New York City botched its communication to schools in response to last week’s record rainfall, Chancellor David Banks acknowledged on Tuesday. He vowed to conduct a review of what went wrong.

Hours after the school day began last Friday, Mayor Eric Adams and Banks said during a press conference about the storm that schools should shelter in place, which typically means that no one is allowed to enter or exit campuses. The Education Department issued the same directive soon after on social media.

But that order was never directly communicated to school principals, Chalkbeat reported on Monday. The communication breakdown created confusion about which procedures campus leaders should have been following in the middle of an emergency.

Banks issued a mea culpa during a Tuesday press conference when asked about the lack of communication.

“This incident does suggest to us that we needed to have a clearer level of communication all the way through,” he said, adding that schools ultimately kept children safe during the storm. “We can do better, and I think we will certainly be working to do better next time.”

The chancellor also suggested that the Education Department never intended to issue a typical shelter-in-place order in the first place. “What we’re trying to say to everybody was: ‘Stay where you are. Don’t send kids out to the streets.’”

A shelter-in-place order was the “closest thing our policies have for taking refuge in buildings,” but that approach is “ill-fitting to last week’s circumstances,” Banks said in a written statement after the press conference.

Ten school administrators told Chalkbeat that they did not enforce the shelter-in-place order largely because they weren’t aware it existed. The first official communication about it came in a 1:56 p.m. email that day to school leaders notifying them that the order had been lifted.

With many parents rushing to schools to pick up their children before the school day was over, enforcing a systemwide shelter-in-place order would have created “a level of chaos” because parents would not have been allowed to do so, Banks told reporters.

The Education Department is conducting a review of what happened “to identify policies and protocols that must be updated to account for increasingly frequent events like Friday’s rain or the air quality emergency this summer,” according to Banks’ statement.

A department spokesperson did not respond to questions about the timeline for completing that review or whether it will be made public.

The chancellor’s comments represented a departure from the Education Department’s position just a day earlier.

On Monday evening, a department spokesperson did not acknowledge any errors in communication and pointed to the mayor’s Friday press conference and subsequent social media posts as sufficient notice to schools about the shelter-in-place order.

Adams has faced intense criticism for not directly addressing the public about the storm until after some neighborhoods had already flooded, though he has largely avoided any acknowledgement that the city’s response was inadequate. Adams also deflected blame for the unclear communication to schools, implying that he hadn’t used the words “shelter in place” on Friday — even though he was the first official to publicly use the phrase. He also said that “the chancellor made a determination of what should be done.”

One Queens assistant principal said they were glad the chancellor acknowledged the miscommunication.

“I appreciate [Banks] taking the responsibility,” said the assistant principal, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The school leader said the city should resist the urge to make blanket directives during similar emergencies in the future, as some campuses experienced significant flooding and others were largely untouched.

“There’s no citywide guidance and directive that they should have made other than: ‘Be safe and please be in touch with your borough offices,’” the administrator said.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Here’s what NYC’s teacher workforce looks like as a new school year begins

2023-09-06T22:05:44+00:00

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New York City hasn’t seen the kinds of severe post-pandemic teacher shortages plaguing other parts of the country.

But the teaching force in the nation’s largest school system hasn’t emerged from the pandemic unscathed.

Last year, New York City public schools saw a higher rate of teacher attrition than any time in the last decade, and the pool of educators shrunk by roughly 2,000, mirroring the yearslong decline in student enrollment, according to Education Department data.

Hiring for certain hard-to-fill positions also remains a big challenge, with bilingual educators and high school special education teachers near the top of the list of shortage areas.

Efforts to diversify the disproportionately white teaching force continue making slow progress, with recent classes of new teachers that are far more representative of the city’s student body than the teaching force as a whole, which was 55% white in 2022, according to city data. The student body is just 16% white.

City officials say the teaching workforce is still in a strong position for now, and that both hiring and attrition are trending in better directions than last year, though numbers aren’t finalized until October.

“We should be thankful that we are in a better position than a lot of districts, including some large urban districts,” said First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg.

More help is also on the way. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday that New York state is investing $30 million in a teacher residency program that subsidizes the cost of master’s degrees and certification requirements for new teachers. The state will also award funds to districts that come up with promising plans to diversify their teaching forces.

But there are big challenges on the horizon as the city struggles to continue hiring bilingual educators to keep pace with a historic influx of English language learners and prepares to comply with a new state class size law that could ultimately force the city to increase its teaching force by an estimated 9,000.

Here’s a look at how the disruptions of the past few years have reshaped New York City’s teaching force, and some of the changes that lie ahead:

The teacher workforce has shrunk

In the years prior to the pandemic, and even during its height, the city’s teaching force stayed at a relatively stable number, usually hovering between 78,000 and 79,000, according to Education Department data shared earlier this summer.

But that number dropped below 76,000 last fall – the biggest reduction in recent years.

That’s not altogether surprising: The city’s K-12 enrollment has fallen by more than 120,000 over the past five years. Schools that lost enrollment faced budget cuts last year after the city began phasing out federal pandemic relief funds. And the percentage of unfilled teaching positions in city schools remains low, under 2% citywide in the 2021-2022 school year, with the highest vacancy rates at the poorest schools.

But it’s worth understanding the forces behind the drop.

The reduction was due to an unusually high rate of teachers leaving between fall 2021 and 2022, and a comparatively small hiring class last fall.

More than 8% of the city’s teachers left the Education Department between fall 2021 and fall 2022, the highest rate of attrition in at least the past decade.

Much of that higher-than-usual attrition likely came from an exodus of teachers who refused to comply with the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for school staff. But educators are also confronting mounting levels of burnout and stress.

United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew sounded the alarm this week, warning that New York City is not immune from the national teacher staffing challenges.

“For years, everybody said, ‘Well New York City would never deal with it.’ Well, we are,” Mulgrew said at a press conference Wednesday. “It was always, ‘People will come from all over the country to live in New York City and teach.’ Well, that’s no longer true, and this is a big problem.”

On top of the higher attrition, the Education Department hired fewer than 3,900 new teachers last fall – down from 4,500 in 2019. Officials have pointed to national trends including low percentages of teacher certification candidates completing their programs as part of the problem.

A spokesperson said the Education Department is anticipating 4,500 new teachers this year, but won’t have a final count on new hires or attrition until October.

Shortage areas persist

The overall numbers don’t tell the whole picture of teacher hiring in New York City.

Specific teaching roles have long been harder to fill – what education officials call “shortage areas.”

The number of candidates per open position fluctuates wildly depending on the specific teaching role. At one end, the position of early childhood educator got about 30 applicants for every hire last year. At the other, applications for the role of high school special education teacher fell hundreds short of the number of open positions.

Math and bilingual education are also among the areas for which the Education Department gets the fewest applicants per job.

The shortage areas can create staffing crunches for schools and even threaten to put schools out of compliance with laws governing staffing ratios for students with disabilities and English language learners.

The citywide teacher workforce numbers also mask significant differences between schools. In general, higher-poverty schools see more teachers leave every year and have more open positions at the start of each school year.

In the highest poverty schools, more than 1 in 6 who started at the school in fall 2021 had left by fall 2022, either to go to another New York City public school, or out of the system. In the wealthiest schools, by comparison, just 1 in 10 teachers left last year. The constant churn at high-poverty schools means less continuity for kids and higher proportions of inexperienced teachers at schools with the highest levels of need.

It also translates to more vacant positions at high-poverty schools when the year starts – forcing some schools to scramble to find substitutes or even ask teachers to cover courses outside of teaching license.

Challenges are on the horizon

Even as New York City seeks to regain some of its footing with teacher recruitment this year, there are big challenges ahead.

In the immediate term, an influx of roughly 21,000 asylum seeking students since last summer has increased the need for bilingual teachers, both in Spanish and other languages.

The Education Department made some small-scale efforts last year, including a program to bring in 25 teachers from the Dominican Republic that was soon mired in controversy. Currently, the city has roughly 1,700 bilingual teachers — and just half of the schools that enrolled asylum seekers last fall had a bilingual educator on staff, according to an analysis from the Independent Budget Office.

Schools Chancellor David Banks said in a press conference last week that the city has been in conversations with the teachers union and the state about ways to bring in more bilingual teachers, but he declined to share details.

Mulgrew said some teachers who speak multiple languages have certificates to work as bilingual teachers, but opt not to because the “state requires them to go back into a probationary status if they want to switch… we don’t feel that should be there any more.”

In the longer-term, city officials are already sounding the alarm about the teacher recruitment implications of the new state law capping class sizes across the city.

Education Department officials are estimating the law will eventually require the city to increase its teaching workforce by 9,000 members in order to shrink class sizes.

That means hiring significantly more teachers in the coming years, on top of the normal 4,000 to 5,000 the city has to hire every year to replace those who left. That’s sparked concerns among some experts that the quality of new teachers could fall, offsetting some of the educational benefits of the lower class sizes.

Education Department officials pointed to some homegrown efforts to expand the new teacher pipeline, including a program that allows paraprofessionals to get their teaching license, and vocational classes to help high school students prepare to become teachers.

But Weisberg said a big part of the pipeline problem is that “particularly in New York state, it’s really expensive to become a teacher.” A “big chunk” of would-be teachers can’t afford to get their credentials, he added.

The program Hochul announced Wednesday could help with that — and send additional teachers into the pipeline right as the city needs to up its hiring, Mulgrew argued. New York City was not among the first round of districts to receive the state grant money, but the city has an application in and expects to be approved, according to a union spokesperson.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Only 1 in 3 NYC schools are fully accessible to students with physical disabilities, report says

2023-08-23T10:00:00+00:00

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Fewer than one in three New York City public schools are fully accessible to students with physical disabilities, according to a report released Wednesday by Advocates for Children that calls on the city to ramp up funding for building upgrades.

With the city expected to release its initial five-year capital plan for schools in November, the group is pushing for $1.25 billion to more quickly address major gaps in building accessibility.

That funding, which would run from 2025 through 2029, would allow roughly half of the city’s schools to be fully accessible according to the report, addressing a longstanding problem that has drawn criticism from parents and federal prosecutors alike. The City Council is slated to approve the capital plan in June, though it is typically amended twice a year thereafter.

Officials have made some strides in recent years, in part due to pressure from advocates who successfully lobbied the city to devote $750 million to the effort in the current capital plan, which runs from 2020 through 2024.

The city is on track to boost the share of fully accessible programs from about one in five schools to one in three under the current capital program, according to the Advocates for Children analysis. (The figures do not include certain alternative schools, prekindergarten programs, or charter schools. Nor do they include satellite campuses, as schools may have more than one location.)

“That represents a huge amount of progress, which really shows that when you commit to making schools accessible, you can make a huge difference,” said Sarah Part, a policy analyst at Advocates for Children. “The current lack of accessibility isn’t inevitable.”

Inaccessible school buildings have long represented a barrier for students with physical disabilities, leaving children with few — or even zero — nearby school options. They can also limit students’ ability to take advantage of New York City’s extensive choice system, which allows children to apply for schools outside their home neighborhoods. Nearly 39% of schools have no accessible classrooms for students with mobility needs, according to the Advocates for Children report.

Abraham Weitzman, a rising junior at Columbia University who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, took the bus more than an hour each way to private school through eighth grade.

“This was while I lived across the street from an inaccessible elementary school,” Weitzman wrote in an email. “I didn’t get the chance to find community in my neighborhood.”

Weitzman eventually attended Bard High School Early College Queens, a fully accessible public school, though the process of navigating the high school admissions process was a challenge. The staff and students on many campuses were welcoming, but he quickly found the buildings weren’t as accommodating.

In one case, he visited a school he liked, only to find his wheelchair didn’t fit in the bathroom, leaving his mother to carry him into a stall.

Although he had a positive experience at Bard, access for students with physical disabilities across the public school system “is disgraceful,” Weitzman wrote. “We must put our efforts into making it better for future students.”

Obstacles for students remain despite building accessibility gains

Federal officials have also spotlighted dire accessibility problems.

In 2015, then-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara released findings from an investigation that found elementary school accessibility problems in New York City were so severe they amounted to a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Even though many of the city’s school buildings are more than 100 years old, Bharara found city officials failed to improve accessibility even when renovating older buildings.

Part said the city has taken accessibility improvements more seriously in recent years. But the scale of the problem — and the massive amount of funding required to fully address it — means even if the city heeds Advocates for Children’s call for more funding, about half of schools will still not be fully accessible by 2029, nearly four decades after the Americans with Disabilities Act passed.

Asked about their accessibility goals, city officials declined to say whether they hope to make all schools fully accessible, though they pointed to improvements over the past five years.

“This report acknowledges how far we have come, and the ongoing $750 million commitment in our current capital plan towards our shared goal of making school buildings more accessible,” Kevin Ortiz, a spokesperson for the School Construction Authority, said in a statement, referring to Advocates Children’s analysis.

City officials have made incremental gains, including improvements that render some buildings “partially accessible.” About 20% of the city’s school buildings meet that definition, which means some — but not all — classrooms and facilities can accommodate students with physical disabilities.

In recent years, the city began releasing more granular school-level reports that outline which areas students with physical disabilities can access. Advocates for Children also created a map alongside their report with school-level accessibility information.

Partially accessible buildings can still present significant obstacles. Manhattan mom Yuvania Espino sent her daughter Mia Simpson, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, to a partially accessible elementary school in East Harlem that specializes in serving students with disabilities.

But the front entrance was above a small set of stairs, which forced the family to stand by a separate accessible entrance, sometimes in the rain, as they waited for a staff member to unlock the door each day.

Mia took classes on the school’s first floor, but didn’t have access to certain classrooms or support on other levels, including a second-floor gym that helped students with sensory difficulties. Over time, many of her friends moved to classrooms on other floors, which distressed Mia and made her act out, Espino said.

Mia Simpson, left, poses for a photo with her little sister, Kira. Mia lacked access to certain classrooms during her time at a New York City public school, and wasn’t able to use the school’s front entrance.

“We don’t know to this day what an elevator would have done for Mia’s academic performance at that school,” Espinso said. The family ultimately decided to send Mia to an accessible private school, where her tuition is covered by the city.

Mia, now 14, is still affected by accessibility problems. She often has to miss performances and other events at her younger sister’s public school because the auditorium is on the second floor and there is no elevator.

“When enrolling your kids in school, no parents should have to think about accessing the building,” Espino said. “I’m thrilled that we’ve taken some baby steps, but we need to buckle up and take some giant leaps.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC must slash class sizes under a new law. The neediest schools stand to benefit least.

2023-08-17T10:00:00+00:00

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When Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a new law last year that would slash class sizes in New York City, praise came in from many quarters.

Teachers, along with their union, hailed the move as a victory that would improve classroom conditions and boost learning. Education activists said smaller class sizes would benefit the most vulnerable students. Lawmakers in Albany, who overwhelmingly passed the bill, rejoiced.

There are good reasons for this enthusiasm. Studies have found that students often learn more in smaller classes. Some research suggests that children from low-income families, who constitute a majority of New York City students, benefit the most. Plus, smaller classes are popular with parents and teachers alike.

But in recent months, some of the new law’s costs and tradeoffs have come into sharper focus. A Chalkbeat analysis shows that because the city’s highest-poverty schools already have smaller classes, they stand to benefit the least from the state’s class size cap. This aligns with recent reports from the New York City Department of Education, the city’s Independent Budget Office, and The Urban Institute.

Researchers who have studied class size say that these findings raise troubling equity concerns. The class size cap could mean that new resources will be funneled not to the schools that have the greatest needs or lowest test scores but to some of the city’s better-off schools.

The cap could exacerbate teacher shortages in high-poverty communities by creating a hiring spree that encourages more advantaged schools to poach teachers. And city officials, including Mayor Eric Adams, said they’ll be hard pressed to afford the class size mandate absent additional state money.

“Some of the less advantaged schools already have smaller class sizes — in that way, it’s not putting the additional money you have into the schools that probably need it the most,” said Susanna Loeb, a Stanford University researcher who has studied New York City schools.

Highest-needs schools already have smallest class sizes

The new cap dramatically reduces the number of students allowed in a single classroom.

Under the previous rules, classes were generally capped at 30 to 34 students, depending on the grade, with 25 students in kindergarten. Under the new law, classes may not exceed 20 students in kindergarten through third grade, 23 students for grades 4-8, and 25 students in high school. Physical education and classes involving “performing groups” are limited to 40 children.

But the reductions in class size will not be shared evenly once the law is fully implemented over five years.

At the city’s highest poverty schools, only 38% of classrooms are larger than the new caps allow, according to a Chalkbeat analysis of city data from last school year. By contrast, at low- to mid-poverty schools, 69% of classrooms are above the caps.

To bring schools into compliance with the law, which will take full effect in 2028, the city will need thousands of new teachers at an annual cost of $1.3 billion to $1.9 billion, according to projections from the Education Department and the city’s Independent Budget Office. That’s at least 4% of the department’s operating budget.

At overcrowded schools that need more classroom space to reduce class sizes, the School Construction Authority estimated the costs could run tens of billions of dollars.

But since the state has not earmarked new funding attached to the class size law, it remains unclear how the city will pay for it. Experts warn of difficult tradeoffs. Additional dollars spent reducing class sizes on lower-need campuses could instead be directed to the city’s highest-need schools — to, say, hire more tutors to combat pandemic learning loss or additional social workers to address student mental health challenges.

In Brooklyn’s District 16, which includes much of Bedford-Stuyvesant and where the vast majority of students come from low-income families, 36% of classrooms were above the new class size caps. That’s the second-lowest rate of the city’s 32 districts.

NeQuan McLean, the president of District 16’s local parent council, said he wasn’t aware that higher-need districts are less likely to benefit from the new law, noting there wasn’t much public debate of that issue when the law passed.

“I would definitely have a problem with resources being pulled from low-income districts to go to high-income districts when investments need to be made in underserved districts,” McLean said. “We can’t use the method of robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

He said additional investments in his district are sorely needed, from upgraded gyms and bathrooms, to additional wraparound services in schools to combat food insecurity. He also wants more on-campus health services and dental clinics, as students often miss school to go to those appointments.

There will be tradeoffs at lower-need schools, too, as school leaders may be required to direct more resources to staff smaller classes, potentially forcing cuts to other programs. City officials may also have to cap enrollment at some schools.

“Maybe principals have decided they want slightly larger class sizes [in exchange] for a math coach,” said Matthew Chingos, an Urban Institute researcher who recently published a report about the impact of the class size caps and serves on a city advisory group on the issue. “It may force some tradeoffs that people didn’t fully appreciate.”

Supporters point to advantages of small classes

The law’s backers contend that small classes are a basic necessity with broad benefits to students.

Jake Jacobs, a Bronx art teacher, said it is difficult to offer individual support when his classes exceed 30 students. “Those classes were nightmares because of it,” he said. Despite some of the tradeoffs of the law, “as a teacher I think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.”

As for concerns about equity, supporters point out that most students in New York City are from low-income families, so much of the class size cuts will still redound to their benefit.

“The law actually lowers class sizes for a higher number of high-need kids compared to lower-need kids,” said Christina Collins, the director of education policy at the United Federation of Teachers, which pushed for the new caps.

Collins and other supporters emphasize that the law also requires the Education Department to prioritize higher-need campuses first as the new caps phase in. (However, experts note this doesn’t address the key equity issue, since all schools regardless of poverty level will be required to meet the new class size limits within five years.)

Asked about concerns that the law would still require the city to funnel resources to schools with fewer high-need students, Collins pointed to education programs that give students access to the same resources regardless of family income, such prekindergarten or free meals.

Proponents also contend that there is funding available to cut class sizes, pointing to recent boosts in state education dollars that stem from a decades-old lawsuit that argued New York’s schools were not properly funded.

“The courts mandated that every kid get a sound, basic education. And their mandate cannot be achieved when kids are still in excessively large class sizes,” said state Sen. John Liu, who sponsored the class size legislation.

The city’s Education Department may use increases in state funding to reduce class sizes. But officials note the department has already committed the money to other priorities, including for the first time fully funding the city’s own school budget formula, which channels more resources to schools that enroll higher-need children.

Mayor Adams has warned that complying with the class size mandate will restrict city officials from spending education dollars as they see fit.

“Clearly we should use taxpayers’ dollars to focus on equity — not equality, equity,” Adams said at a press conference last September. “There are certain school districts that need more,” he added. “We’re taking away the chancellor’s ability to focus on where the problem is, and the governor made the decision to sign it.”

A spokesperson for Gov. Hochul did not respond to questions about the equity implications of the law.

Unintended consequences loom large

Hiring thousands of new teachers in New York City could prove a particular challenge, especially at a moment of rising teacher turnover. A hiring spree might force schools to bring on less skilled or less qualified educators, which could limit the gains from smaller classes.

In one study of New York City, Michael Gilraine, an economist at New York University, found that when schools reduced class size without having to hire a new teacher, there were large improvements in student test scores. But when they had to add a teacher to get class sizes down, the benefits from smaller classes were swamped by a decline in teacher quality.

“The results indicate that smaller class sizes do improve student achievement,” wrote Gilraine. “Policy makers and school administrators need to be mindful, however, that these gains can be offset by changes in teacher quality.”

Research in California has highlighted a similar tradeoff, though it suggests that the problem dissipates over the longer term.

Higher-need schools typically bear the brunt of teacher shortages. For instance, an older study in New York City found that better teachers were more likely to migrate from lower-performing schools to high-performing ones, a concern echoed in the city’s working group on class size reduction.

One leader of a Manhattan middle school, where most classes already met the new class size caps last school year, said he’s concerned that higher-performing schools in the district may poach quality educators.

“How many teachers from the lower-performing schools are going to go [to higher-performing schools] because they can get paid the same amount and have an easier life?” said the principal, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak frankly about the class size cap’s impact on their campus. “That’s my bigger worry honestly.”

New York City does not offer additional pay to teachers working in higher-needs schools to potentially counteract this effect.

“It’s hard to recruit teachers right now” and high-poverty schools typically have a harder time doing so, said Loeb, the Stanford professor. “Adding class size reduction may in fact escalate that.”

Collins, of the UFT, says there should be efforts to expand the pipeline of new teachers to meet rising demand.

For now, officials don’t have clear answers to these challenges and much remains uncertain about how the city will implement the new law. The Education Department has convened a task force that includes advocates and policy experts to gather input.

The law also includes a handful of exemptions to the class size mandate, including for schools that are overenrolled, would face significant economic hardship to comply, or or have insufficient teachers in subjects that are difficult to staff. The Education Department and the unions representing teachers and school administrators must all agree to those waivers. If they don’t, the decision falls to an arbitrator.

“It’s not clear how those decisions are going to be made — and school communities that wind up losing valuable dollars are going to be up in arms,” said Aaron Pallas, a professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College who has studied New York City schools.“I would like that process to be as open and transparent as possible.”

Regardless of the challenges, Liu, the state senator who championed the law, remains sanguine. “I don’t think anybody will say 10 years from now that, ‘Oh, this was the wrong thing to do,’” he said.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Matt Barnum is interim national editor, overseeing and contributing to Chalkbeat’s coverage of national education issues. Contact him at mbarnum@chalkbeat.org.

NYC disbands literacy coaches amid reading curriculum overhaul

2023-07-13T15:25:15+00:00

Hundreds of literacy coaches hired under a program to help improve literacy instruction need to find new roles, even as many elementary schools are working to adopt new reading programs.

The literacy coaches, originally part of the city’s Universal Literacy Program, must apply for other jobs, according to education department officials familiar with the city’s efforts and emails sent to coaches and school leaders obtained by Chalkbeat.

The move represents a shift in the way educators who teach reading are trained and supported at a key moment. Education officials are mandating that all elementary schools use one of three reading curriculums, beginning with 15 of the city’s 32 districts this September, with the rest to follow in 2024-25. In the past, school leaders had wide leeway to pick their own programs, with many choosing materials that city officials now say are inadequate.

To help get teachers up to speed on new curriculums, the city plans to use the three publishing companies to provide initial training and then create partnerships with outside professional learning organizations, officials said.

The city’s new literacy approach scraps the remaining elements of the Universal Literacy program, launched by former Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2016 to ensure that all third graders were reading proficiently by 2026. About half of third graders are meeting that benchmark, according to the most recent state tests. At its peak, the program sent about 500 literacy coaches to work with teachers in more than 600 schools, largely focusing on grades K-2.

Mayor Eric Adams has chipped away at the program, cutting the number of coaches this past school year to about 200 for grades K-5, with an estimated 60 coaches for middle and high schools. A separate Bloomberg-era program known as the Middle School Quality Initiative, which supported literacy efforts, is also coming to an end, two eduction department sources said.

Publishers of the three mandated curriculums have already begun training educators, said Nicole Brownstein, an education department spokesperson. The training includes various instructional routines and planning for their first unit.

During the school year, districts will be paired with an “external professional learning partner” to provide “shoulder-to-shoulder” training to educators, including monthly coaching, Brownstein said. Officials estimate the first phase of training will cost about $30-35 million for the initial group of schools.

The city had previously budgeted nearly $69 million annually over the next three years for the Universal Literacy Program, according to the Independent Budget Office.

“It’s been an expensive proposition to have centralized coaches,” said an education department official familiar with the city’s literacy efforts, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “But it’s bad timing.”

‘They won’t be there now’

Some observers contend that the impact of the Universal Literacy program has been modest and a reset could be beneficial, giving the city a chance to deploy a new suite of training options that are more consistent for teachers. But others said the coaches, who already have relationships with educators, are a valuable resource as schools work to navigate a new set of curriculum materials.

“They could have been the folks on the ground supporting the [new curriculum mandate],” the education department employee said. “They won’t be there now.”

The official expressed concern that schools will have less coaching support overall, including significantly fewer days of on-site support, even if the new training efforts are high-quality. They believe that ending the program could be an effort to cut costs.

Brownstein did not dispute that cost was a factor but also did not offer a detailed explanation of why the coaching program is ending. She emphasized that the coaches could apply for other roles that will support the city’s new reading curriculum mandate.

According to job descriptions sent to coaches, some of the new roles they’re encouraged to apply for involve helping struggling readers directly, rather than focusing on training other teachers. Another recommended job involves supporting superintendents’ offices, a role that department sources said would likely involve working with a much wider group of schools than the coaches currently support.

“This group is being offered roles in making the implementation of NYC Reads a success,” Brownstein said in a statement, referring to the curriculum mandate. “Ensuring every student grows as a strong and confident reader is priority one for this administration.”

Coaching program’s impact is mixed

Brian Blough, who served as principal of P.S. 161 in the Bronx, said his experience with the coaching program was uneven, but the program grew on him. The first coach he worked with didn’t seem to have much direction or training, making it difficult to deploy the coach effectively. But after the school received two new coaches last year, Blough found the program more useful.

“The coaches we got this year were effective and came with a real depth of knowledge about what they’re doing,” said Blough, who left P.S. 161 and will lead a charter school this fall. The coaches helped P.S. 161 teachers implement and interpret reading assessments and deploy a new program for phonics, which teaches the relationships between sounds and letters. On other campuses, coaches helped teachers learn to implement new curriculums and reading strategies.

Blough said he is disappointed that P.S. 161 won’t have access to coaches going forward. “They had purpose and direction in making the teachers successful. It’s unfortunate that now they’re trying to pull them.”

The city’s own evaluations of the program showed modest evidence of success. A 2022 progress report obtained by Chalkbeat through a public records request described the program’s impact as promising, according to assessment data, but also concluded that “the initiative had not yet achieved impact at scale before the onset of the pandemic.”

Most principals believed the coaches were helping their schools improve reading instruction, according to education department surveys, though some also said there were disconnects between what their schools needed and what the coaches could offer.

Susan Neuman, an early literacy expert at New York University and member of the education department’s advisory council, said little information has been shared with the council about how the city plans to train teachers on the new reading curriculums, making it difficult to assess whether those efforts will be more effective than the coaching program.

Still, Neuman said it could make sense to “start anew and bring in people who might all have the same basic training. I think that’s not a bad idea.”

But she emphasized that effective training requires building trust, something that coaches said they worked hard to build.

“If you don’t like that coach you’re going to resist what that coach might suggest,” she said. “These new people need to know that relationships really matter.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC updates 2023-24 school calendar, adding 4 more days off

2023-06-26T16:54:19+00:00

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After many educators complained about certain holidays missing from the 2023-24 school calendar, New York City’s education department is adding four additional days off, officials announced Monday.

The city also shared the calendars for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years — after families expressed outrage over calendar delays the past few years.

The extra days for the upcoming school year are:

Monday, April 1, for the day after Easter.
Monday, April 29, and Tuesday, April 30, for the last two days of Passover, which did not fully overlap with spring break this year. (This extends the weeklong break by another two school days.)
Monday, June 17, for Eid al-Adha. (The holiday begins on June 16.)

The changes mean that there will be 178 instructional days for students on the calendar, down from the original 182, though state law requires that school districts remain in session for at least 180 days or risk losing state funding. City education department spokesperson Nathaniel Styer said the city will not violate the 180-day rule because certain days devoted to teacher training will count toward the requirement.

State officials confirmed that up to four conference days, including staff orientation, curriculum development, and parent-teacher conferences, may count toward the 180-day requirement. But a state education department spokesperson said compliance with the mandate would depend on how the city reports the days to the state and couldn’t yet offer a definitive answer.

The long-delayed calendar, released earlier this month, touched off a wave of anger among educators and families of various religious groups. Because Easter and Passover are so far apart this year (since the Jewish holiday follows a lunar calendar), spring break became a scheduling conundrum.

The city initially had a day off for Good Friday but not Easter Monday, sparking some backlash. And though spring break coincided with the start of the eight-day holiday of Passover, it did not include the last two days, spurring a petition that garnered nearly 4,000 signatures. Some also expressed concern that the calendar left out Eid al-Adha, which families observe starting on Sunday but continues into the next day.

The calendar changes, announced on the second-to-last day of the school year, came hours after city officials held a celebration at City Hall to commemorate the passage of a state law that mandates Diwali as an official school holiday.

The holiday will not affect next year’s calendar because Diwali falls on Sunday, Nov. 12. (There is no set date for Diwali each year, as it is governed by the lunar calendar, but it falls in October or November.)

“For over two decades, the South Asian and Indo-Caribbean community has fought for this moment,” state Assembly member Jenifer Rajkumar said during the celebration at City Hall on Monday that included a smattering of state and local officials, including Mayor Eric Adams and schools Chancellor David Banks.

Diwali, known as the “festival of lights,” celebrates the triumph of good over evil and is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and some Buddhists.

Lawmakers initially proposed removing Anniversary Day, also known as Brooklyn-Queens Day, a holiday that celebrates the founding of the first Sunday school on Long Island. But some legislators objected to removing that holiday and pushed behind the scenes to keep it.

Rajkumar initially said that the city would not be able to meet the 180-day requirement without finding another holiday to leave off, though city officials say they will be able to add the new holiday without such a change.

The bill has not yet been signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul, but a spokesperson signaled the governor’s support of the holiday and said the legislation is under review.

Banks emphasized that the education department plans to use the new holiday as an opportunity to teach children about Diwali, offering schools sample lesson plans and suggested activities. According to calendars posted Monday, New York City schools will be closed for Diwali on Monday, Oct. 20 in 2025. They will also be closed Friday, Nov. 1 in 2026.

“It’s less about the fact that schools will be closed in recognition of Diwali — it’s more about the fact that minds will be open because of what we are going to teach them,” he said.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

New York wants to revamp how schools are evaluated. Here’s what could change for now.

2023-06-22T16:45:25+00:00

How does the state determine whether schools are doing well or if they are struggling and need extra support?

Before the pandemic, state officials relied on standardized tests and high school Regents exams to figure out how well students were doing, along with other factors, such as graduation rates. But the public health crisis paused state testing and affected school performance metrics in other ways.

Now, education department officials are seeking a new, temporary evaluation system for the next two school years, with the hopes of creating something more permanent for the 2025-26 school year.

If a school is found to be struggling, it is required to develop an improvement plan that must be approved by local and state officials. Schools that don’t make progress for five years could face state takeover or closure — but it’s a route that state officials rarely took even before developing the current accountability system, which is meant to be less punitive for schools.

In the short term, over the next two years, state officials want to exclude certain science and social studies exams, as well as measures for student growth and college and career readiness, when deciding which schools need improvement. These changes are necessary, officials say, because schools are still missing a trove of data, such as enough student participation in state tests, because of the pandemic.

Already, the conversation is sparking some controversy. Some groups focused on education reform believe the move represents a step backward just as schools need more help as they recover from the pandemic. Other observers believe the state’s proposed plan is reasonable.

Ultimately, the federal government must sign off on these proposed changes, since the state’s accountability system is required by federal law and is written into New York’s federally required Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, plan.

“They’re doing a decent job of balancing what’s of interest in the state and the federal ESSA requirements, and incorporating all the instability and uncertainty that came with the slowdown of testing during the pandemic,” said Aaron Pallas, a professor at Teachers College and an expert in testing.

But Education-Trust New York, an advocacy organization focused on equity issues, worried that several of the proposed changes could mean masking “bright spots and disparities,” according to their written public feedback to the state.

“I think these next two school years are incredibly important for kids coming out of the pandemic,” said Jeff Smink, the group’s deputy director, in an interview with Chalkbeat. “We have to both give them all the support they need but also hold them to high standards, and I just don’t feel like we’re doing that right now.”

What metrics would still be used?

Under the state’s proposal, schools will still be measured on English language proficiency (based on a state language exam for English learners), graduation rates, how well students are doing in core subjects based on Regents and state test scores, and chronic absenteeism. In New York City, chronic absenteeism has been a pressing issue, with 41% of students last school year absent for at least 10 school days.

What do state officials want to ditch (for now)?

The state wants to put a pause on measuring academic progress based on certain goals for student scores on state English and math tests.

State officials say they want to update these goals — first set in the 2017-18 school year — before they use them to determine whether schools are struggling.

The state’s proposed plan would also pause the use of “Measures of Interim Progress,” which more broadly measures whether schools are meeting goals for academics and other things, like their graduation rates.

For elementary and middle schools, officials want to pause how they’ve been measuring student growth, largely because of the lack of testing data. Typically, they calculated student growth using three years of testing data, but the pandemic caused big disruptions: For example, just one in five New York City children took state exams in the 2020-21 school year, when most children chose to learn from home.

For high schools, officials won’t consider college, career, and civic readiness metrics, which include advanced coursework or extra credentials in specialized jobs-based courses. That’s because the pandemic may have hampered students’ access to some of these programs or courses, officials said. They also worried that the pandemic’s impact on learning may have caused students to perform worse academically than they otherwise would have, such as on AP exams.

What will the state do with data, even if it’s not being used to evaluate schools?

State officials still plan to provide all of this data to schools for “informational purposes only” for the next two school years, they said.

Why do state officials want to exclude elementary school science exams and high school social studies assessments?

Science tests would be excluded because the state has changed who must take those exams. Traditionally, students in fourth and eighth grades take the state science test. However, only eighth graders took the test this school year, as the state prepares to offer the exam next year to fifth graders instead of fourth graders. That means they won’t be able to compare results equitably across elementary and middle schools that have different grade configurations.

Fifth graders will take the exam next spring. Asked why those scores won’t be taken into account for the 2024-25 school year, a spokesperson said that it allows districts to have “consistency and predictability” for now, as they attempt to rebuild the accountability system.

While calling it a “logical” move, Ed-Trust argued that excluding science tests “undermines the importance of science education” and worried schools will have less reason to focus on it. The organization suggested that the state should instead work with local districts to “ensure a smooth transition” to the new science assessments without entirely removing it as one way to measure student performance.

On the high school level, officials want to pause using social studies tests because of multiple exam cancellations in recent years. The state looks at cohorts of students, such as the graduating class of 2023, when considering how they performed on these tests, namely the Regents exams for Global History and Geography and U.S. History and Government.

But students who will graduate this year couldn’t take Regents exams in 2021, when they were in 10th grade, because of the pandemic. U.S. History and Government exams were also canceled last year, when these students were juniors, in the wake of a mass shooting in Buffalo, with the state education department claiming there was material on the exam that could “compound student trauma.”

State officials have emphasized that this plan “in no way diminishes” the importance of science or social studies instruction.

How will schools be labeled if they need support?

The lowest performing schools are known as schools in need of Comprehensive Support and Improvement, or CSI. But the state won’t list new CSI schools until the 2025-26 school year because they identified a group of such schools this year under a tweaked system, and that process only happens every three years, officials said.

A total of 139 New York City schools were identified this year as in need of some level of improvement, with 83% of them listed as CSI schools, according to state data.

However, New York will identify schools for Targeted Support and Intervention, or TSI, next year, which must happen annually per federal law. Those are schools that aren’t meeting goals set for specific student groups, such as by race, economic status, and those with disabilities.

In one recent — and perhaps confusing — change, schools that are meeting or exceeding their goals are no longer called “Schools in Good Standing” and instead are now labeled by the state as schools identified for Local Support and Improvement, or LSI.

What will happen for the 2025-26 school year?

State officials plan to revamp the accountability system for the 2025-26 school year after collecting feedback from the public. The new plan will also incorporate any changes to the state’s graduation requirements, which could come as soon as the end of this year. The education department is rethinking the role of Regents exams in graduation, among other considerations.

Pallas said that the plan for the 2025-26 school year and beyond would still have to meet federal ESSA requirements and earn the buy-in of school district leaders — meaning that it likely won’t be “a dramatic break from the past.”

“It’s gotta be something that feels progressive but also comfortable,” Pallas said.

Thomas Wilburn contributed.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City public schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

NYC schools go remote Thursday for staff training as wildfire smoke engulfs region

2023-06-07T22:12:02+00:00

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New York City educators will not be expected to report to their buildings in person on Thursday, as wildfire smoke from Canada engulfed the region in a thick haze leading to the worst air pollution on record.

They will instead participate virtually in staff training on what’s known on the school calendar as “Anniversary Day/Chancellor’s Conference Day,” according to a text message the teachers union sent to its members on Wednesday.

Students were already scheduled to be off from school.

“The DOE, with our encouragement, is making Chancellor’s Conference Day tomorrow fully remote for all staff,” the text message said. (The union sends texts to teachers to let them know about cancellations and snow days.)

New York City schools Chancellor David Banks confirmed the move at a press conference alongside Mayor Eric Adams Wednesday evening.

The air quality index hit 484 at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Adams said. It was believed to be the highest index level since the 1960s.

Anything above 300 is considered hazardous, officials said. The index tops out at 500.

Adams encouraged all New Yorkers to remain indoors, if possible, especially elderly and younger children.

The decision to switch to remote staff training came after pressure from educators, who launched a petition, and Rita Joseph, a former teacher and leader of City Council’s education committee. City officials signaled earlier on Wednesday afternoon to prepare for a remote pivot, telling staff to bring materials and laptops home with them.

Still, some schools operate programs for children in partnership with community organizations on staff development days. Whether Department of Youth and Community Services-funded programs such as COMPASS, Beacon, and Cornerstone open on Thursday is up to the program’s discretion, city officials said. If they’re running, all activities should be indoors. The programs should check with their school partners about whether the building will be open. If it’s closed, these programs may offer remote activities, if they elect to do so.

Gov. Kathy Hochul indicated on Wednesday that the smoke could continue for days and described the situation as an “emergency crisis.”

Officials said they would make a decision on Thursday about Friday’s school schedules.

“We’re taking it day-by-day,” Banks said.

Elementary and middle school students were already scheduled to be off from school on Friday for “Clerical Day.” Students attending standalone District 75 schools, which serve children with more complex disabilities, also have the day off.

But thousands of students attending high school are scheduled to report to buildings on Friday.

The wildfire smoke has already disrupted some school programming. On Wednesday, city officials canceled outdoor school activities, including athletic competitions, recess, and field trips — a decision that was announced on Twitter just before midnight on Tuesday. Banks also postponed a town hall meeting in the Bronx.

Health officials have warned that the polluted air poses greater risks to young people, the elderly, and those with pre-existing breathing issues, such as asthma. Nearly 1 in 10 public school students in grades K-8 have “active asthma,” according to the city’s health department, though the rates are higher among Black and Latino students and disproportionately affect children living in low-income neighborhoods.

The city’s health commissioner, Ashwin Vasan, said children may be susceptible to air pollution because their lungs are still developing. Officials urged residents to stay indoors.

“Right now, our health guidance to all New Yorkers is to limit outdoor activity as much as possible,” Vasan said. “For people who must be outdoors, a high quality mask like an N95, a KN95 or a KF94 is recommended.”

Vasan expressed concern for New Yorkers who were feeling rattled by the air pollution.

“If you feel anxious, if you feel worried, that’s totally understandable,” he said. He encouraged New Yorkers to call the 988 crisis hotline for help, if needed.

Amy Zimmer contributed.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC’s literacy mandate: Why one reading program is gaining the most traction

2023-05-31T10:00:00+00:00

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Under NYC’s aggressive literacy push announced earlier this month, officials are mandating all elementary schools use one of three reading curriculums.

One is proving to be far more popular than the others.

Thirteen of 15 local superintendents charged with selecting their districts’ reading curriculum in this first phase of the rollout picked Into Reading, a program published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

The education department vetted all three of the mandated reading programs, including Wit & Wisdom and EL Education, officials said. And all three received high marks from the independent curriculum reviewer EdReports.

So why is Into Reading far and away the most popular option among superintendents?

Curriculum experts and department insiders pointed to a series of interlocking factors that may have helped Into Reading elbow out the competition. The program is widely perceived as easier for teachers to implement, especially with little time remaining before deploying it in September. Plus, Into Reading has a Spanish version, which may appeal to superintendents who oversee many dual-language and bilingual programs.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt may have also benefited from a savvy marketing strategy, current and former department employees said. When the pandemic forced school buildings to shutter in March 2020, the company quickly made a slew of free digital materials available to the city’s public schools, including Into Reading and its Spanish counterpart.

“It was a huge help. We were able to make sure that schools had the digital resources they needed during remote learning and hybrid learning,” said a current education department employee familiar with the city’s literacy efforts who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Within two years, the education department had added Into Reading to its approved list of curriculum offerings. That meant if principals choose Into Reading, the cost was subsidized, though they were still free to use their own budgets to purchase other curriculums.

“Houghton Mifflin made a strategic decision during the pandemic and they hoped it would pay off,” the official said. “And it did.”

EL Education, one of the other programs included in the new mandate, was also on the approved list at the time. All three curriculums covered by the new curriculum mandate, including Wit & Wisdom, will be similarly subsidized.

A spokesperson for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt downplayed its decision to make materials free as a key driver of superintendents’ decisions to mandate their product. “There were already hundreds of schools across the city using HMH reading resources,” Bianca Olson, a company spokesperson, wrote in an email. “These partners have seen strong results and they want to continue that momentum in support of student achievement.”

A city education department spokesperson noted that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt was one of more than a dozen vendors that provided free digital resources during the pandemic. But officials have generally not collected or published comprehensive curriculum data over time, making it difficult to ascertain the full impact of the company’s strategy.

The education department also declined to say how much they are projected to spend on Houghton Mifflin Harcourt materials and training now that Into Reading is being widely mandated, saying they are still working on creating cost estimates.

Focus turns to ‘science of reading’

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s move to make its materials free came at an opportune moment. Before the pandemic struck, many schools were already in the process of reconsidering their reading curriculum choices, multiple curriculum experts said, pressured in part by a small army of literacy coaches dispatched to schools.

A growing movement backed by years of research, known as the “science of reading,” was persuading more school leaders to back away from “balanced literacy” — an approach that sought to foster a love of literature by allowing students ample time to independently read books of their choosing. It also sometimes included dubious methods, such as encouraging students to use pictures to guess at a word’s meaning instead of focusing on the letters and sounds themselves.

“Every school that I was in was in the midst of changing,” said Heidi Donohue, an early literacy expert at Teaching Matters, an organization that works with city schools to improve reading and math instruction. “They were really talking about, ‘Is the curriculum high-quality? Is it meeting the needs of our kids?’”

More recently, schools Chancellor David Banks has declared that balanced literacy is not an effective approach, often singling out a curriculum developed by Lucy Calkins at Columbia University’s Teachers College — one of the most popular reading curriculums in the city’s public schools. (Heinemann, the publisher of Calkins’ curriculum, is also a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.)

NYC Chancellor David Banks stands at a podium, with Mayor Eric Adams standing off to the left at Tweed Courthouse on June 27, 2022.

Some observers said they were not surprised that Into Reading has become a popular choice in New York City, since it is also widely used elsewhere. An Education Week survey found that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s reading offerings are among the five most popular early reading programs in the country, in large and small districts alike.

Others emphasized that its lessons may seem easier to unpack: Donohue noted that many lesson plans from the teachers manual can fit on two pages. Experts also said Into Reading has common DNA with curriculums that schools have used for years that are structured as anthology-style textbooks with passages written specifically to teach reading skills. (In education jargon, those programs are often referred to as “basals.”)

“A basal-type program is going to have much more structure in the teaching, in the lesson plan itself,” said Esther Friedman, who directed the city education department’s literacy efforts until 2020. Although Friedman said the other two programs also have detailed teacher guides, Into Reading may feel “a little bit more manageable.”

In Brooklyn’s District 16, which covers a large chunk of Bedford-Stuyvesant, teachers got a head start. About two years ago, nearly all of the district’s elementary schools adopted Into Reading, and the new superintendent, Brendan Mims, plans to keep the program in place.

Even though the district’s schools have already used Into Reading, Mims said there’s still room for improvement. “We haven’t hit that bar yet,” he said, in terms of implementing it as effectively as he thinks is possible. He’s hopeful that a more centralized approach to training will help. “Now, teachers and principals and district staff can work together to make sure that they’re getting what they need,” he said.

No curriculum checks every box

Into Reading has the potential to reshape reading instruction across hundreds of elementary school classrooms. That number could grow as more than half of superintendents aren’t implementing the curriculum mandate until September 2024.

Curriculum experts offered mixed feelings about the popularity of Into Reading. Nearly all said that it has many strong elements, including challenging readings, and a broad array of lessons that build vocabulary, spelling, and grammar skills.

But some also said in an effort to sell the curriculum to the widest array of districts, Into Reading is jam-packed with different strategies and resources, similar to other anthology-style programs. That will require teachers to be selective about which lessons to teach.

“Teachers really have to plan for this, and they have to understand that they’re not going to use all of the resources,” Merryl Casanova, a literacy coach who works with schools in the Bronx, previously told Chalkbeat.

Donohue, of Teaching Matters, said the program can be used effectively, but there are also elements of it that feel “watered down.” She said the texts and vocabulary tend to be slightly less challenging, and the other two curriculums include deeper student discussions and units with more sophisticated themes.

The other two programs “bring a higher quality of text and expectation for kids,” Donohue said. A New York University report also found that Into Reading materials are not culturally responsive, though Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has disputed that characterization and some educators told Chalkbeat the materials do speak to the diversity of New York City’s student body.

Other observers said that EL Education and Wit & Wisdom are somewhat more focused on exposing students to nonfiction in an effort to boost their background knowledge of topics they’re likely to encounter in the future, a strategy meant to boost students’ ability to understand texts about a wide range of subjects.

Still, experts emphasized that all three curriculums come with tradeoffs. And much of the success of the literacy mandate may rest on whether educators buy into the changes — which can be tricky given there was not a public input process. The quality of the training they receive is also critical to the program’s success.

“Really none of the three [curriculums] give a teacher all of the tools for teaching what needs to be taught,” Friedman said. “That has to come from the professional development.”

With just over three months until the next school year begins, there is limited time to fully prepare.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Enrollment at NYC’s transfer high schools tanked during the pandemic. Can it rebound?

2023-04-28T21:22:08+00:00

Alyssa Cartagena stopped attending school after giving birth a year ago. She had no babysitter, and going back felt insurmountable.

But a small alternative high school on Manhattan’s Upper West Side helped pull her back in. The program, Edward A. Reynolds West Side High School, boasts an on-site day care center operated by the education department. She enrolled her two-month old son, Shawn, dropping him off each day before heading to class.

“I was nervous, but I was also relaxed knowing I was so close to him, and I can stop by anytime,” said Cartagena, now 19. “It was easier for me to focus in class.”

She’s now on track to earn a high school diploma later this year.

The city has nearly 60 transfer schools like West Side that focus on the students who struggled to succeed at traditional high schools and are at risk of dropping out. They pride themselves on offering individual support, small classes, and a suite of wraparound services to push students to graduation.

But the city’s transfer schools are in a precarious position, as enrollment across the sector has plummeted. The number of students attending transfer high schools fell 22% over the past four years compared with a 5% decline at traditional high schools, a Chalkbeat analysis found. Steep dips in enrollment can put schools in danger of being closed or merged.

Already, the education department has put forward a contentious plan for West Side, which shrank from serving about 500 students six years ago to about 200 this year. The proposal calls for West Side to swap buildings with The Young Women’s Leadership School in East Harlem, which is outgrowing its campus.

Community members have blasted the proposal because it would leave West Side without an on-site child care center or health clinic. Some have also warned students may face threats to their physical safety if they cross neighborhood lines.

The education department has argued the move, along with a new Spanish dual-language program, could help attract new students to West Side. After the department delayed the proposal earlier this month, the city’s Panel for Educational Policy is scheduled for a Monday vote that will be closely watched.

The battle playing out at West Side only represents the most high-profile example of the transfer school enrollment crisis that has been simmering below the surface. About 70% of the city’s transfer schools now enroll fewer than 200 students, up from about 26% in 2017. A handful have slipped below 100.

The enrollment drops are likely due in part to more relaxed academic standards at traditional high schools during the pandemic, observers say. Some of the sector’s leaders believe it will bounce back as regular grading policies — and state graduation exams — fall back into place.

But dwindling enrollment raises questions about the sustainability of a network of schools that exclusively serve students who are at risk of dropping out, including those who have been tangled in the criminal justice system, face difficult family circumstances, or may be parents themselves. Since schools are funded largely based on enrollment, shrinking rosters can make it difficult to offer a wide range of classes and extracurricular activities.

Manhattan’s Edward A. Reynolds West Side High School is at the center of a contentious proposal to move the school into a smaller space.

Education department officials did not respond to questions for this story, including whether they are considering merging or closing transfer schools.

Some leaders across the sector believe that enrollment will rebound, but there is lingering concern that a broader wave of restructuring could be on the horizon.

“It might have to be the reality — I don’t know that you can run a school with 100 students,” said one transfer school principal who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

“We’ve been sort of warned, in a sense: Keep your numbers up or that’s something that could happen.”

Why is transfer school enrollment dropping precipitously?

Transfer school leaders trace the steep decline in enrollment to pandemic-era policies that made it easier for students to stay on track at traditional high schools.

When the pandemic forced campuses to shut down in 2020, schools eased their grading policies. And state officials temporarily paused the Regents exams, typically required for graduation. Students only had to pass their courses to graduate rather than sit for an additional state exam.

Students may have been able to pass classes they would have failed in a typical year, said Jai Nanda, executive director of Urban Dove, which operates two charter transfer schools, one in Brooklyn and one in the Bronx.

Traditional high schools had incentives to hang on to more of their students, since many of those campuses were also experiencing enrollment declines. Plus, families may simply have been more reluctant to switch schools during such a chaotic time, even if a student was struggling.

“[Students] chalked it up to being remote rather than their school not being a good fit for them,” Nanda said.

Transfer schools may also have lost students who became disconnected from school due to growing mental health and anxiety problems, or because they needed to work to support their families. Some may have moved out of the city with their families because of rising housing costs.

Small-by-design schools are more vulnerable to enrollment drops

Whatever the cause, declining enrollment has an outsized effect on transfer schools, which are typically smaller to begin with to offer more individualized support than a traditional campus.

Shawn Henry, a director of high school programming at Queens Community House, helps oversee the organization’s partnership with three transfer high schools. The group ensures every student is paired with a counselor, conducts home visits if a student doesn’t show up for three consecutive days, and helps coordinate paid internship opportunities.

“The ideal model is a smaller environment,” Henry said.

But that size makes it difficult to absorb big enrollment swings — though so far the schools have been insulated by an influx of federal relief money.

At Urban Dove, which has seen enrollment dip, the school has a heavy focus on sports, with all students expected to participate on athletic teams with coaches who work with them multiple hours each day. “A great deal of that program is beyond the traditional school budget,” Nanda said. Emergency pandemic aid kept the program afloat.

Still, other campuses are beginning to feel the pinch — and relief money is beginning to dry up. One transfer school principal, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said their school has already reduced staff positions. That has limited the number of electives they offer. And it forced them to cut the number of classrooms with a mix of students with disabilities and general education students; those classes are typically staffed by two teachers.

Those types of cuts can prompt a downward spiral, where fewer classes and programs makes the school less attractive to prospective students. At the same time, shrinking rosters make operating the schools even more expensive on a per-student basis, creating incentives for city officials to consolidate or close them.

“As you contract, it becomes harder to even grow,” the principal said.

Some transfer school leaders predict a rebound

Despite the serious headwinds facing transfer schools, some of the school’s leaders believe demand for the schools will return.

As schools return to normal grading policies and Regents exams are back in full swing, there may be an even larger contingent of students who struggle to graduate without moving to a transfer school.

Nanda, the leader of two charter transfer schools, said he is already seeing signs of an enrollment uptick. “You’re going to have a lot of kids coming into high school in the next couple years that won’t have the fundamental skill[s],” he said, though he noted that it remains to be seen how many will wind up at transfer schools.

Transfer school staff also noted that the schools could be an asset to serving the growing number of asylum-seeking students arriving in New York, as alternative schools specialize in reaching students with interrupted educations.

Emma Lazarus High School, a transfer program on the Lower East Side, has long focused on serving students who are still learning English and has seen its enrollment snap back relatively quickly thanks in part to an influx of new arrivals.

“The uptake in immigrants has definitely impacted our enrollment upward,” said Principal Melody Kellogg, who retired this month. Education officials previously indicated that they planned to place some new arrivals at transfer schools, but officials have provided few details about the program.

Still, Kellogg and other transfer leaders said it can be difficult for other transfer schools to serve newly arrived immigrants, arguing that even with a boost in funding, it is often not commensurate with the need to hire new staff. Finding qualified educators, especially mid-year, is a major challenge.

“It’s nice to have a little extra money, but it’s not going to be enough to support them fully,” Kellogg said.

More broadly, Natalie Lozada, who works with four transfer schools through East Side House Settlement, worries that a focus on enrollment declines could jeopardize programs that are doing solid work. “Are we saying that because these numbers are low that we should discard supports for these students?”

Still, like many of the sector’s boosters, she anticipates a rebound is coming.

“I believe in my heart, and based on my experience, and all my years of doing this work, that it’s circular. Their numbers are going to come back up again.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

As NYC teacher contract negotiations heat up, educators worry raises won’t match inflation

2023-04-24T21:24:26+00:00

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering public education in communities across America. Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools.

As New York City’s teachers union pushes for a contract, some educators took to the sidewalks during arrival on Monday to call attention to administrative tasks that distract from teaching.

“We were hired to nurture and educate children, not to feed a bureaucratic beast that can no longer ever be satisfied,” United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew said Monday morning, flanked by educators at P.S. 527 and M.S. 114 on the Upper East Side. “And that is why the teachers are here today.”

But one major issue received comparatively less attention during the event with the union chief: pay increases.

Educators across the city said they’re concerned that an upcoming deal won’t keep up with rising costs, even as teachers faced enormous responsibilities during the pandemic to quickly spin up remote schooling and are now working to catch students up from years of interrupted learning.

“We were called pandemic heroes, we were called essential,” said Martina Meijer, a Brooklyn elementary school teacher. “Love and thank-you cards cannot pay our bills. Our wages are not keeping up with inflation.”

Educators have good reason to worry that a contract will likely not match inflation, which has moderated somewhat in recent months but reached 6.5% last year. New York City unions historically participate in pattern bargaining, which means that once one union reaches a deal on wages, subsequent unions typically follow the same rough outline.

So far, none of the unions that have recently reached deals with the city have matched or exceeded the rate of inflation, which means workers effectively experience pay cuts. District Council 37 — which covers cafeteria workers, crossing guards, and childcare workers — accepted a $3,000 signing bonus and annual wage increases of 3% with a 3.25% increase in the final year of the contract (the agreement is retroactive to 2021). The Police Benevolent Association scored somewhat higher wage increases, topping out at 4%.

“The moment the DC37 contract came out, they set the pattern for wage increases. And those numbers are pretty dismal,” said Ilona Nanay, a literacy coach who is part of the UFT’s 500-member bargaining committee and a member of its executive board. “UFT members are now extremely worried that’s the pattern that’s been set.”

Mulgrew indicated that significant pay bumps would be difficult to achieve given the increases that have been established by other unions. “We have tried to break pattern bargaining in the past — we have not been successful,” he said Monday. “That’s as far as I want to go on that subject right now.”

Mayor Eric Adams has argued the city can’t afford to take on significant cost increases, pointing to uncertain economic headwinds and dwindling federal pandemic relief funding. A City Hall spokesperson declined to comment on the status of negotiations, or any of the city’s proposals, except to say officials hope to reach an agreement soon.

The UFT represents about 120,000 school staff, including 77,000 teachers who currently earn just over $61,000 at the bottom of the pay scale to nearly $129,000 at the top. The union also includes 25,000 paraprofessionals who typically work as classroom aides for students with disabilities and earn considerably less, with salaries that start just under $28,000 and top out shy of $45,000. The UFT’s current contract expired in September.

Many educators already struggle to afford to live in the communities where they teach, and some said they worry that anemic raises will make it even harder to attract and retain them. Mirroring patterns across the country, teacher turnover in New York City increased this past year to 8%, up from about 6% before the pandemic.

“The first few years are really difficult — it takes a while to become a really good teacher,” Olivia Swisher, a middle school art teacher at Sunset Park Prep who is part of the union’s bargaining committee and has been teaching for about five years. “If we don’t create a way for me to pay my bills, pay my rent, then I won’t be able to continue being a teacher and I desperately want to.”

Still, it’s unclear to what extent raises that don’t keep pace with inflation might influence the local labor market for teachers. Although the cost of living in the city is high, “salaries are already relatively high,” said Melissa Arnold Lyon, an assistant professor at the University at Albany who studies education-related political and policy issues. “They probably have more wiggle room than other places.”

Pocketbook vs. paperwork

The UFT’s focus on workplace rather than pocketbook issues may reflect that the union is boxed in on wages. Last month, for instance, union officials organized a “grade in” where teachers took to coffeeshops and other public areas to demonstrate how much time they devote to non-teaching responsibilities.

On Monday, teachers gathered outside their school buildings across the city to distribute flyers that detail survey results that suggest many teachers believe administrative tasks are interfering with student learning. The union is planning similar actions all week.

Teachers spread flyers about burdensome paperwork and administrative tasks outside of P.S. 527 and M.S. 114 on the Upper East Side.

Multiple educators said they agree that administrative tasks can take time away from teaching and learning and hoped the union could make some headway on those issues in a new contract. Some pointed to clunky attendance and special education data systems that are time-consuming to use, eating into time that could be used planning lessons.

Others pointed to assessments educators were required to fill out regarding their students’ social-emotional health, which certain schools have found useful but some educators said was a waste of time. (The city has since made them optional.)

“There are all of these diagnostics that superintendents put on principals that we have to do — we lose instructional time to those assessments,” said Swisher. “It’s burdensome, and we don’t do much with the data anyways.”

Union officials have been tight-lipped on exactly how they want to change the contract to reduce the time teachers spend on paperwork or other administrative tasks. “I’m not allowed to specifically talk about any of the demands,” Mulgrew told reporters. Members of the union’s 500-member negotiating team have also been required to sign non-disclosure agreements, multiple participants told Chalkbeat.

Secrecy around contract demands frustrate some members

The union’s reluctance to lay out its proposals publicly has frustrated some UFT members who believe that sharing specific demands would help galvanize support for a stronger contract from the public and make it easier to organize their colleagues.

Keeping the demands a secret “makes it really hard to mobilize folks because people want to know what they’re being mobilized for,” said Nanay, the bargaining committee member who is also part of the Movement of Rank and File Educators, or MORE, a progressive caucus within the union that is often critical of Mulgrew’s leadership.

Several teachers pointed to Los Angeles as a model of an activist approach, arguing that the union has been more public with its demands and was willing to walk off the job to pressure district officials. Union and district officials there recently reached an agreement to raise teachers’ wages by about 21% over three years.

Mulgrew defended the union’s strategy, arguing the UFT does not want to tip its hand. “If you tell the other side exactly everything that you want, it’s probably a good bet that they’re gonna use that against you in negotiations.”

Lyon, the University at Albany professor, also emphasized that the UFT can’t easily threaten or carry out a work stoppage because a teachers strike would violate New York’s Taylor Law, which imposes significant financial penalties for public sector unions that strike.

Still, frustration with the union’s leadership over wages could create political headaches for union leaders. When the last contract was approved in 2018, teachers raised similar concerns even though inflation was considerably lower.

The union’s leadership is facing other headwinds, too, including a controversial effort to move retirees to a privatized but federally funded Medicare Advantage plan. Mulgrew was re-elected last year by the smallest margin since he won his first full term in 2010, though his victory was still decisive.

“He’s maintained power pretty successfully, and has been able to continue his same leadership style, even in the face of resistance,” Lyon said. “But it will hinge on his ability to win the benefits that the majority of teachers want.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC bought 725K devices for remote learning. Now they’re trying to count them — and all school tech.

2023-02-16T21:30:24+00:00

When the COVID pandemic started about three years ago, New York City scrambled to get hundreds of thousands of students connected to the internet, buying iPads and Chromebook laptops, so students could learn from home.

The education department struggled for months to get enough devices for students and continued to purchase more. City officials ultimately bought 550,000 internet-enabled iPads, as well as 175,000 Chromebook laptops, costing roughly $360 million, according to the education department.

Now the education department has set out to find and track all of its technology, including the devices purchased during the pandemic. Although schools keep a record of devices, city watchdogs have criticized the education department for having no centralized system. The “Central Inventory Project” will log all technology at schools and central offices, including other kinds of tablets and laptops, desktop computers, printers and smartboards, according to a department spokesperson.

The department’s inventory project — which began last June and is expected to be completed this summer — is large. Twenty-six teams of five people each plan to visit all district and charter schools, as well as all central offices. So far, they’ve covered 660 schools and offices in 519 buildings.

A spokesperson declined to share takeaways from their inquiry so far, saying that they’re still collecting data from the inventory sweeps.

City officials are hoping to tally up how many devices are located in schools and central offices, as well as how many of those they’ve assigned to students for use at both school and home, according to a spokesperson.

Officials said they’re attempting to follow city, state, and federal guidelines for tracking devices. But they also appear to be addressing an issue raised years ago by former Comptroller Scott Stringer, who noted in multiple reports that there was no centralized system for tracking computer hardware.

A 2017 audit, for example, found that the department was missing more than 1,800 computers, laptops, and tablets. (At the time, the education department disputed the comptroller’s methodology and rejected most of Stringer’s recommendations, including his call for a systemwide inventory count.)

And a 2021 audit found that the education department had logged iPads for 5,000 students who were not also marked as having received those devices.

Some educators, who praised the scope of the project, said it is highlighting how difficult it can be to account for school devices, including computers purchased during the pandemic.

Eighth grade social studies teacher Nate Stripp, who is also the technology coordinator at Brooklyn’s M.S. 50, said their inventory process was straightforward and happened over a two-day period last month, when 10 technicians came in to count devices. In preparation for the visit, education department officials asked the school to remind students to bring in any school-issued devices they had at home. Officials also provided an estimate of how many devices they believe the school should have in hand.

There were some hiccups. In a majority of cases where iPads were missing during the inventory process, students had forgotten to bring them to school, Stripp said. There were several cases where students didn’t know where their devices were.

Stripp has come across students who were supposed to bring their remote-learning iPad to M.S. 50 from their old elementary school but claimed that they no longer have it in their possession — leading to a complicated scramble to figure out where the device is.

“I have enough technological competence to be able to run my own internal spreadsheets,” Stripp said. “But to really keep track of devices, we need a person who, at least part of their job, is paid to keep track of and maintain the technology inventory in the building.”

Officials hope to use this project to improve the process for when schools do a required annual device inventory, which is supposed to happen each spring, a spokesperson said.

Stripp said the centralized process last month was the first time he had seen such an effort in his five years at M.S. 50.

Some schools may do a better job than others of tracking their inventory, said a teacher at a Brooklyn high school, who went through the inventory process in December. For example, his school had a technology coordinator who kept a detailed spreadsheet of all their computers – but since she left, no one has taken over her responsibilities.

“It’s something that’s needed,” said the teacher, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the press. “There are definitely ways that things can go missing without accountability.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Applications to run for NYC’s Community Education Councils open for 2023

2023-01-09T23:16:18+00:00

Election season has begun for New York City’s Community Education Councils, the advisory bodies that represent the best chance for most public school parents to get directly involved in district and citywide education policy.

Each of the city’s 32 geographic districts has a 10-member elected parent council responsible for holding monthly public meetings, approving education department rezoning plans, passing resolutions, and working with district superintendents. There are also citywide councils representing high school students, multilingual learners, special education students, and kids with significant disabilities in specialized District 75 programs.

This year’s election will be the second since a major rule change that opened the voting to all city parents, instead of just a handful of parent leaders from each school.

Applications for council seats opened Monday, and parents have until Feb. 13 to submit their names. In order to run, parents must have a child currently enrolled in a city public school and an active New York City Schools Account (NYCSA). Parents can run for multiple councils, but only serve on one. Education department employees are not eligible to serve on councils while employed by the agency.

During the last CEC elections, held in 2021 before city schools had fully reopened, there were bitter debates over policies related to school admissions and accelerated programs. There were also wide disparities in voter turnout between districts. In Manhattan’s District 3, one of the city’s wealthiest, the top vote-getter received over 700 votes, while the top vote recipient in Brooklyn’s District 19, which has a similar number of students but twice the poverty rate, got only 39 votes.

While voter turnout was underwhelming in many districts, the number of candidates surged last election cycle, with nearly 1,800 parents throwing their hats in the ring, an increase of roughly 70% from the previous round of elections in 2019.

The education department will sponsor candidate forums from Feb. 27 to April 20. Voting takes place April 21 to May 9. Education department officials didn’t immediately say how voting will take place this year.

District 75 gets broader representation

Parents from the city’s specialized District 75 programs for students with significant disabilities have traditionally elected representatives to a citywide Community Education Council that’s separate from the geographic district councils.

That citywide council will continue. But now, for the first time, District 75 families can also elect a representative to sit on each of the 32 geographic districts’ councils, thanks to a change in state law.

Because Community Education Councils are controlled by state law, the rules governing the bodies are often tweaked when the law granting mayoral control over city schools comes up for renewal. That was the case again last year, during a particularly hard-fought battle to extend mayoral control.

District 75 programs are located throughout the city and often share spaces with traditional public schools. But some staffers have long contended that the specialized programs don’t get equal use of school space and facilities.

“For far too long, our students with special needs have been left out of the equation,” schools Chancellor David Banks said Monday, kicking off this year’s election season at the education department’s Lower Manhattan headquarters. “You can’t have a school system like this and leave any group on a sideline looking in.”

Agency warns against accepting endorsements

In a guide for aspiring council members, the education department warned candidates not to “solicit or accept endorsements from political parties and party officials, or from elected officials, including current Community or Citywide Education Council members.”

“We are very clear in our guidelines that you should not accept endorsements either from unions or organized groups. We don’t want anyone to have an upper hand or an advantage,” said Christina Melendez, the head of the education department’s Family and Community Empowerment office.

Some candidates told Chalkbeat in 2021 they received warnings from the education department about accepting endorsements after the advocacy group Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education as well as the Movement of Rank and File Educators, a caucus within the city teachers union, released lists of preferred candidates. It’s not immediately clear how the education department will enforce the endorsement rule for this year’s election.

Officials target voter turnout

Roughly 22,000 parents, or just 2% of those eligible, voted in the 2021 CEC elections.

Multiple factors may have contributed to the low turnout and disparities in voter interest, including limited in-person voting options because of ongoing COVID-19 restrictions and divides in technological access and know-how.

But Banks also pointed to broader problems with civic engagement that transcend just CEC elections.

“It doesn’t surprise me when folks don’t come out necessarily and vote in great numbers in CEC elections. We don’t come out in great numbers and vote for lots of elections, because we don’t see the direct connection to how it actually impacts our lives,” he said.

Kenita Lloyd, Banks’s deputy chancellor for family and community engagement, said the education department will be hosting workshops in multiple languages every day through the application period for candidates.

Banks added that he’s asked the district superintendents to make it a priority to spread the word about the upcoming elections.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

NYC school bus delays reach highest level in five years, City Council analysis shows

2022-11-22T00:03:57+00:00

School bus delays spiked this fall to levels higher than any point in the last five years, according to figures revealed during a City Council hearing Monday, representing a growing hardship for families who depend on yellow buses to ferry their children to school.

Last month alone, there were nearly 14,500 school bus delays, lasting 41 minutes on average. That’s up from about 10,600 delays averaging 37 minutes in October 2021.

Both the number — and duration — of delays last month were higher than during any other month over the last five school years, according to the City Council’s analysis, which is based on self-reported data from bus companies.

City officials emphasized that the self-reported nature of the statistics may make it unreliable and noted that the data shows heavy traffic represents a significant share of the increase in delays. But numerous advocates and elected officials said Monday that the bus system appears to be under greater strain.

“In 2018, the education committee held a hearing on [the Office of Pupil Transportation’s] failure to provide students with reliable school busing services,” Rita Joseph, the committee’s chairperson, said during an oversight hearing on school bus transportation. “The only thing that seems to have changed since that is that the problem has gotten worse.”

New York City’s school bus network is responsible for transporting roughly 150,000 students to school at a budgeted cost of $1.6 billion this year, according to the Independent Budget Office. But families have struggled for years with delayed buses, no-shows, or even getting a bus route assigned at all. Some of the city’s most vulnerable students — including 65,000 students with disabilities — are dependent on buses to transport them to programs that are often outside their immediate neighborhoods.

Late buses have wreaked havoc on Jalissa and her 6-year-old son, Deandre. The family moved to a Bronx domestic violence shelter last year, at least an hour and 15 minutes from Deandre’s elementary school in Jamaica, Queens. Last year, the bus was late so often that Jalissa was fired from her job at a food preparation and delivery company.

“My manager was really thoughtful and tried to be as lenient as he can,” she said. But “I got terminated because I was constantly late every single day” on account of the school bus delays. (Jalissa requested to be identified only by her first name to protect her privacy.)

The situation hasn’t improved this year. Despite help from Advocates for Children, a nonprofit group, Jalissa struggled to secure a bus at the beginning of the school year, even though the required paperwork was filed on time, according to her advocate. She took Deandre to school on public transportation, leaving their shelter at 6:30 a.m. for the hour and a half trip by subway and bus, trips she paid for out of pocket.

Even after Jalissa finally secured a bus roughly a month into the school year, it is almost always at least an hour late. That has left her in an impossible position, as she does not want to transfer her son to a new school. “I’m very serious about my child’s education,” she said. “I don’t want to change his school.”

At the same time, she worries about the impact of missed class and lengthy waits. Plus, the unpredictability of the bus schedule has made her reluctant to search for a new job. Frequent calls and complaints to the bus company and the education department’s Office of Pupil Transportation have not resolved the issue.

“He is still developing; he should not be a whole hour late,” she said. “Something has to change.”

At Monday’s City Council hearing education department officials said that bus driver shortages were partly to blame for disrupted service, even as officials in the previous administration insisted it wasn’t an issue. At the beginning of the school year, the system was short about 500 drivers, said Glenn Risbrook, the education department’s senior executive director of student transportation. In some cases, that forced drivers to run two routes, one after the other.

“It is often our highest needs students who are on these routes that end up without permanent drivers and thus are put in these situations,” Risbrook said. He added that the shortage has dropped to 313 drivers and the city is working with bus companies “to get qualified drivers on the roads as quickly as possible.”

But officials also acknowledged that getting drivers back on the job may be a challenge after thousands of them were furloughed in the wake of school building closures.

“They were laid off, in a worldwide pandemic, with no wages, no pension contributions, and, above all else, no health care,” said Kevin Moran, the education department’s chief school operations officer. “And so when we talk about the driver shortage and trying to bring people back into the system, we have a fair bit of work to do to re-establish trust.”

In the meantime, city officials said they are paying for rideshare services to help fill in the gaps and also pointed to a long-delayed GPS tracking system that is supposed to eventually give parents real-time information about the location of buses, help the education department create better routes, and more comprehensively track delays. (The education department is piloting the GPS system in District 26 in Queens but a spokesperson did not provide a specific timeline for rolling it out citywide.)

Advocates said the rideshare solution is imperfect because it is not always explicitly offered to families and requires a caregiver to ride with their child, often disrupting work routines.

“It doesn’t really work for all families and it doesn’t resolve the actual bus issue,” said Janyll Canals, the director of the Robin Hood Project at Advocates for Children and who testified at Monday’s City Council hearing. “Multiple families that I’ve worked with don’t know it’s an option until they come to us.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Eric Adams touts NYC’s literacy efforts in school year kickoff

2022-09-08T18:33:34+00:00

On his inaugural first day of school since taking office, Mayor Eric Adams and his schools chief David Banks made no secret of their top priority: improving literacy instruction in a system where the majority of third through eighth graders are not considered proficient readers.

They pointed to new efforts requiring that elementary schools use reading curriculums rooted in phonics and highlighted plans to ramp up screening for reading challenges including dyslexia.

“You’re going to see a dramatic change over the next several years in reading scores and our approach to the teaching of reading,” Banks said Thursday morning.

The backdrop of their joint appearance was the Bronx’s P.S. 161, one of two pilot schools that will offer intensive literacy instruction and which Banks said will serve as a “beacon and a blueprint” for other schools the city plans to launch for struggling readers.

Lastassia Hargrove will be watching closely to see how her youngest son Carter Miller, a third grader at P.S. 161, benefits from the program.

She spotted Carter’s reading challenges early on, worried that he wasn’t interested in books, and he didn’t remember details from those she repeatedly read aloud to him. Hargrove said she struggled to get her son connected to services and that he’s missed benchmarks.

On Carter’s first day of third grade, Adams put his arms around him and his mother and vowed to prevent students like him from slipping through the cracks.

“There are so many like him that have been left behind,” Adams told reporters assembled in the auditorium of P.S. 161. “You are going to be the symbol of this program — this young, bright man.”

Achieving big literacy gains will undoubtedly prove challenging, as schools typically have wide latitude to pick what curriculums they use, and the process of adapting to new materials requires time and support.

Some school leaders feel uncertain about how the city plans to support them, as the administration is reducing the number of literacy coaches while expanding the number of grade levels the remaining coaches will serve. On top of that, the vast majority of schools are facing budget cuts.

Shael Polakow-Suransky, the education department’s chief academic officer during the Bloomberg administration and current president of the Bank Street College of Education, praised Banks’ focus on “investing in a research based literacy strategy.” But he also noted that districts that made curriculum changes have sometimes still struggled to move the needle.

“Selecting the right curriculum is never a silver bullet,” he wrote. “Success in improving literacy outcomes depends on capacity building that strengthens the instructional culture of the school and supports growth in teacher’s skills through regular reflection with peers and coaches.”

Disruptions stemming from the pandemic may also complicate the city’s plans. It’s unclear how students are faring academically or how far off track they might be. City officials have refused to provide assessment data from last year, and the state has not yet shared standardized test results for the city’s third through eighth graders.

But there are already some concerning indicators. Math and reading scores for 9-year-olds from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, whose test is known as “the nation’s report card,” plummeted. (NAEP scores for New York City students are expected in October.)

Chancellor David Banks welcomes students at P.S. 161 in the Bronx on the first day of school.

Some of the city’s efforts are starting relatively small: Although the mayor and chancellor touted the pilot program to improve literacy instruction at P.S. 161 and Manhattan’s P.S. 125, they are each serving just over 30 students in the first year, Banks said. Some observers also expressed concern about launching schools geared toward students with dyslexia or other reading challenges, arguing that all schools should be able to reach those students.

At P.S. 161, the pilot will include a second and third grade classroom staffed by teachers who have received intensive training to reach struggling readers, according to the Literacy Academy Collective, an organization founded by a handful of parents whose children were not getting the reading support they needed in the city’s public schools.

Banks acknowledged the parents’ role in building the program on Thursday, a moment that they said was the culmination of years of advocacy.

“For three and a half years, we’ve been saying this has to change,” said Emily Hellstrom, one of the organization’s parent co-founders. Watching the chancellor explain that “we have to teach our children to read and this is the way to do it — it’s indescribable.”

For her part, Hargrove is excited that her son will be part of the literacy pilot. She hopes that by the end of the year, Carter will be able to confidently translate the thoughts swirling in his head into written sentences.

“I think it’s gonna be a great program,” she said.

NYC schools to move 1,000 central, borough staffers to district offices

2022-09-02T21:56:30+00:00

New York City’s education department will move 1,000 central and borough-level staff to district offices, Chancellor David Banks announced on Friday.

Staffers will be pulled from central leadership, First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg’s office, early childhood education, and from borough offices “to more effectively support schools in coordination with district superintendents,” according to a news release about the restructuring.

Borough offices — which a spokesperson said will no longer exist after the administration’s shake-up — each have traditionally served multiple districts. They’re staffed with people who are supposed to help schools with things such as assessments and screening, planning lessons, and analyzing student data.

Officials did not share what most of these 1,000 staffers currently do, or how exactly their jobs will change once they move into their new roles.

Staff will be moved to superintendents’ offices “to be used in direct support of schools,” said spokesperson Nathaniel Styer, who said that the change removes a bureaucratic layer in providing schools with direct support. For example, Styer said, social workers will be working with schools in “maximizing social-emotional support” for students.

About 100 of them are social workers from the early childhood division who, once moved to district offices, will focus on “high-need communities,” such as students who are living in temporary housing, officials said. City officials had promised last year to equip each school with at least one full-time social worker or access to a school-based mental health clinic; Styer said Friday that they’ve achieved that goal.

“As we continue the work to reimagine the education we provide, it is critical that our central and borough staff are moving closer to the communities, schools, students, and teachers they serve,” Banks said in a statement. “Our Superintendents are accountable for partnering with families and schools to meet the needs of their communities and improve the school experience of our students, and these personnel are being reassigned to support those efforts.”

The move represents Banks’ second shakeup of the education department’s bureaucracy and leadership. He first eliminated the nine executive superintendents appointed by his predecessor, Richard Carranza, and required district superintendents to reapply for their jobs. That process met with some backlash.

Friday’s announcement appeared in line with early priorities set by Banks. In his first official agenda-setting speech, Banks said he wanted to give superintendents more staff and resources and signaled that he was considering cuts at borough offices.

The city teachers union applauded the move.

“Any time we move resources closer to the schools, it is a win for our students and our school communities,” said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, in a statement.

The principals union did not immediately respond for comment.

Some central office staffers are already questioning what the move will achieve. One central office employee within the city’s early childhood division — an area where some of these 1,000 staffers will be moved from — said there’s still no clarity about what this plan will mean for her office.

“I have no words for their inability to create a clear plan,” said the staffer, who requested anonymity because she was not authorized to speak with the press. “It’s not clear what actually is happening.”

One example of what the reorganization will look like on the ground: This staffer was informed Friday that all of the city’s 185 early childhood instructional coordinators, who work directly with 3K and prekindergarten providers, will be excessed — which Styer confirmed, adding that there will be available jobs for each person. “Excessing” means the employee would lose their current job, but would continue earning a city paycheck while they reapply to jobs within the system.

Those workers will be encouraged to apply for new instructional coach positions as part of this reorganization, the staffer said — but she has yet to receive any more details.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Gov. Hochul says she supports bill to cap NYC school class sizes

2022-08-25T17:11:31+00:00

Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Thursday that she supports sweeping legislation that would establish more aggressive class size limits in New York City’s public schools, the strongest comments she’s made since the bill was overwhelmingly passed by the legislature last month.

“I’m looking closely at it. I’m inclined to be supportive,” Hochul said on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show, adding she spoke yesterday with Mayor Eric Adams and expected a resolution in the coming days. “I just have to work out a few more details with the mayor.”

The Adams administration has opposed the bill, warning that the legislation would cost hundreds of millions of dollars a year to implement and could detract from other funding priorities. Hochul suggested that funding was a sticking point and is considering “chapter amendments” that would allow the legislation to go into effect now but with changes that would be taken up by the legislature next year.

“There might be something about a funding source or a responsibility that’s, you know, on the shoulders of the state right now — and I have to make sure I’m protecting the state taxpayers as well,” Hochul said. “So there are some loose ends, but philosophically it’s something I’m supporting.”

State lawmakers passed the bill in early June with just six voting no across both chambers. But Hochul has yet to take action, drawing pressure from advocates and the city’s teachers union to sign it into law. The legislation would significantly shrink the maximum number of students allowed in each classroom, which for most grade levels is currently set between 30 and 34 students (the limit for kindergarten is 25).

By 2027, the legislation would cap classes at 20 students in kindergarten through third grade, 23 students for grades 4-8, and 25 students for high school classes. Physical education and classes for “performing groups” must be limited to 40 students.

Proponents of the bill argue that stricter class size limits are popular among educators and parents. They point to research that suggests smaller classes boost student test scores and can also lead to high attendance and greater classroom engagement.

“The governor should sign the bill now since the school year is about to start, and as is since the bill was passed nearly unanimously by both chambers of the legislature,” state Sen. John Liu, the legislation’s main sponsor, said in a statement. Asked about the governor’s suggestion that the bill be tweaked, a spokesperson for Liu wrote in an email that “the legislature can easily override a veto and therefore would not be inclined to accept the governor’s request for a chapter amendment.”

Michael Mulgrew, head of the city’s teachers union, wrote in a statement that “the parents, teachers and students of New York City want this legislation signed and signed as soon as possible.”

The bill has drawn criticism from City Hall and some budget watchdogs who argue that it is an expensive mandate; city officials have estimated the annual price tag for grades K-5 alone would be $500 million.

At the same time, the Adams administration is reducing most school budgets, which some educators say will have the effect of raising class sizes on some campuses this fall.

“While this administration strongly supports lower class sizes, unless there is guaranteed funding attached to those mandates, we will see cuts elsewhere in the system that would harm our most vulnerable students in our highest need communities,” Amaris Cockfield, an Adams spokesperson, said in a statement.

There are also unresolved questions about how the bill would function in practice. The cap could reduce the number of available seats at some of the city’s most coveted schools or require construction of new classrooms even as enrollment has fallen significantly in recent years. It’s also unclear if the policy would benefit the highest-need students the most, as it could require big investments at schools with fewer low-income students.

“Much of the effort will be expended on other students less likely to be helped by the reduction,” Andrew S. Rein, the president of the Citizens Budget Commission, wrote in a letter to Hochul urging her to veto the bill. “There also will be unintended consequences as resources to reduce class sizes are shifted from other programs, which may well be more beneficial.”

The bill says that class size reductions “shall prioritize schools serving populations with higher poverty levels” though it does not define what that means. The legislation also lays out some exemptions to the mandates, including “space,” “over-enrolled students,” “license area shortages” and “severe economic distress.”

In an interview last month, Liu said the precise definitions of those carve-outs should be hashed out between the district and union officials, which must collectively approve any exemptions according to the bill.

“This language is trying to foresee problem situations where meeting the class size mandate would be extremely difficult,” he said. “We’re not trying to create impossible situations here.”

Reema Amin contributed to this story.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC schools lays out plan to enroll hundreds of asylum-seeking students

2022-08-19T21:51:56+00:00

As New York City sees a surge of new immigrants seeking asylum from Central and South American countries, officials announced Friday that they will provide extra enrollment help to hundreds of new students expected to attend city schools.

City officials estimate that about 6,000 such immigrants have entered the city’s shelter system over the past three months, which the administration has blamed, in part, on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sending migrants on buses to New York.

At least 1,000 new students are expected to enroll in district schools, including preschool-aged children. However, that figure is “fluid” and will continue to change, said education department spokesperson Nathaniel Styer.

Many of these students may need extra support, such as legally mandated services for children learning English as a new language.

“Our public schools are prepared to welcome families seeking asylum with open arms,” said Chancellor David Banks in a statement. “We are working alongside our agency partners to set students up for success by addressing their academic, emotional and social needs, and ensuring there is no disruption to their education.”

As part of a city plan dubbed “Project Open Arms,” shelters will host “pop-up” enrollment offices, where education department staff will help new families sign their children up for school. Staff will also accompany families to Family Welcome Centers, which are city offices where people can enroll their kids and get more information about school.

Staff will give out backpacks and school supplies and connect new asylum-seekers with the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Clinics for medical care, officials said. The city also plans to work with community-based organizations that work with immigrant families so that they can provide families with “critical resources and services.”

Enrollment officials are placing students in schools with open seats that are near their shelters, and considering a family’s preferred choice of language instruction, according to the department. Children who are learning English are entitled to traditional English as a new language instruction, meaning their classes are in English but they’re supposed to get extra support and translation help during and outside of class. They can also choose bilingual programs or dual language instruction, but most city schools lack such programming, according to program data from last school year.

So far, students are concentrated in Districts 2 and 3 in Manhattan, District 10 in the Bronx, District 14 in Brooklyn, and Districts 24 and 30 in Queens, officials said. These new students range across ages and grades, said Yesenia Escalante, an education department enrollment counselor.

Students who enroll after the traditional admissions process has concluded tend to have higher needs, such as this influx of asylum seekers. In the past, late-arriving students have been sent to lower performing schools, raising questions about where these new immigrant students will be enrolled and whether they will be adequately served.

Enrollment has declined across the city, meaning there could be enough seats available across many different types of schools.

In Manhattan’s District 2, officials have been speaking with families at shelters, then connecting them to individual schools, said Kelly McGuire, superintendent for the district.

“Our schools have pulled together some of their office staff, they have folks who are enrolling students directly at the school site, and that’s kind of the critical piece in terms of evaluating who the students are, what their language needs are, their students with disabilities, making sure that they are getting connected with the services that they need,” McGuire said.

Kamar Samuels, superintendent of District 3, noted that they’re working with organizations and schools’ staff to ensure students “are feeling welcome.”

“We’re working with CBOs, we’re working with school staff to just make sure that we tap into all of the resources that we have regarding language and making sure that we have access to those languages,” Samuels said.

The new wave of students comes as schools across the city are seeing budget cuts due to projected declining enrollment, though a legal fight could eventually overturn those cuts. Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg said that schools seeing an influx of new students, particularly those with extra needs, will be able to request more funding, such as to hire more staff — a process, he added, that’s not unique to this school year.

“You might need to immediately post and hire for an additional guidance counselor, or an additional (English as a new language) teacher, and if you need to do that, you’ll talk to your budget director, you talk to your superintendent, and you’ll get it posted very quickly,” Weisberg said of principals. “It won’t be, ‘Oh, gosh, you’re gonna have to wait a few months,’ and then do it then, because you need it right now.”

Advocates lauded the city’s effort to work across various agencies to address immigrant students’ needs.

However, they worried about historic barriers to adequate schooling for new immigrants, which have been the subject of a longstanding state-issued corrective action plan. For example, the city has for years failed to provide legally required services to all bilingual students with disabilities, in part due to a shortage of trained bilingual educators.

“We know there aren’t enough bilingual programs in the city for all of the English language learners that qualify for them,” said Rita Rodriguez-Engberg, director of the Immigrant Students Rights Project at Advocates for Children New York. “We also know schools don’t always inform families of their right to elect bilingual programs.”

Additionally, city officials should ensure that school workers and those at Family Welcome Centers are trained on the legal rights of immigrants, especially those who are undocumented, said Vanessa Luna, co-founder of ImmSchools, which trains schools on supporting immigrant families.

Rodriguez-Engberg and other advocates worried that there won’t be enough bilingual social workers to help these students, who may be experiencing varying degrees of trauma after fleeing their home countries and relatives or friends. City officials said they plan to evaluate every student’s social-emotional needs using screeners that the district launched last school year.

“We want kids to be in schools that can support them – schools that create a sense of safety for the child and for the family,” said Alejandra Vázquez Baur, an education policy expert who focuses on immigrant students for think tank Next 100. “That is critical for the child’s educational opportunities and also the child’s well being in the school.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

NYC education panel approves school funding formula after last month’s rejection

2022-05-19T01:26:50+00:00

Following a stunning rejection last month, New York City’s education panel approved Wednesday the city’s school funding formula for next year, as Schools Chancellor David Banks promised to create a group that will review the 15-year-old formula.

The commitment from the city followed concerns from some panel members and public school advocates who want the current funding formula to provide more support for additional groups of high-needs students, such as students living in temporary housing.

The panel voted 12-1, with an additional abstention, to approve the formula, known as Fair Student Funding. The 15th member, a Staten Island borough appointee, quit last month. Chancellor David Banks said he, too, supports a more equitable formula, calling it a “horrible and ridiculous” situation that he inherited from previous administrations. He said he would put in writing his commitment on a working group.

But Banks, who called last month’s vote “deeply disappointing,” said schools could not afford a delay in getting their budgets if the formula was rejected again. Receiving a delayed budget could hamper hiring decisions, making it tougher to plan out classes for next year — an issue schools faced over the past two school years as the pandemic wore on, officials said.

“Passing it tonight does not mean that this is a chancellor who doesn’t give a damn — quite the opposite,” Banks said. “I have to keep the system moving.”

Officials had planned to get budgets to schools this month before the panel’s rejection in April. After Wednesday’s approval, it was not immediately clear when schools would receive their budgets.

Each year, department officials ask the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP), composed mostly of mayoral appointees, to reapprove the funding formula. The formula accounts for $10 billion in funding and 65% of school budgets. It is structured to send more money to schools that are struggling academically, as well as those with higher shares of students with disabilities and English language learners.

But after hearing from public speakers last month who opposed the current formula, six panel members, who were not appointed by the mayor, shared their own concerns. Some pressed city officials about why the previous administration never released a report created by a 2019 task force that was charged with reviewing the funding formula.

Even then, the formula likely would have been approved at last month’s meeting. But Mayor Eric Adams, who appoints nine of the panel’s 15 members, had failed to replace an appointee who was forced to resign in March, and another of his appointees was absent. As a result, five panel members appointed by borough presidents abstained from voting on the formula after raising concerns, and a sixth elected representative voted against approval — leaving the city one short of the necessary votes.

Hours before Wednesday’s meeting, City Hall officials announced the appointment of Kyle Kimball to fill the final mayorally appointed seat which became available after the panel member was forced to resign over anti-gay remarks. Kimball is a former Bloomberg and de Blasio administration official who oversaw the New York City Economic Development Corporation. He is now vice president of government relations for Con Edison.

It’s possible that a future working group could look at what the 2019 task force came up with. A draft report from the task force called for adding weights to the formula for more student groups, such as children who are homeless, living in poverty and in foster care, as well as increasing weight for high schools to match those that have specialized academic portfolios — a matter related to how the formula sends money to some higher performing schools, which tend to enroll fewer Black and Hispanic students. The report did not specify what the weights should be.

On Wednesday, Banks said he would have First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg oversee the creation of the new working group and put that commitment in writing. He also said before the vote that revamping the formula would take time, and that another rejection of the formula “would bring the system to a grinding halt.”

Still, roughly two dozen people — mostly parent leaders — asked the panel to again reject the formula because it was not equitable.

“This is not new,” said Isha Taylor, a member of the parent council in Bronx’s District 10. “We appreciate the new [department of education] administration for creating a space for us parents to be a part of this process, but we really ask you, take a hard look and hold your team accountable for making these decisions.”

Some speakers asked the city to create a commission that would be independent of the education department so that it would feel free to analyze and pick apart the formula. Panel member Kaliris Salas-Ramirez, who is an appointee of Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, said she voted to approve because the panel received a commitment from the chancellor to review the formula. Still, Salas-Ramirez wants a commission with experts who can conduct a financial analysis of the formula.

Tom Sheppard, the lone elected member of the panel who voted no, said he was torn over how to vote but couldn’t ignore what he heard from the community. He, like Salas-Ramirez, said he wants a commission with financial analysts.

“That said, please don’t take my no vote to mean that I am uninterested in fixing this — I am very much interested in fixing this,” he said.

Christina Veiga contributed.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Adams makes his case for mayoral control of NYC schools to Albany — from City Hall

2022-05-10T00:14:08+00:00

This piece is a collaboration between Chalkbeat and THE CITY.

With fewer than a dozen working days left until the legislative session concludes in Albany early next month, Mayor Eric Adams is making his pitch asking lawmakers to extend his control over New York City schools before it expires at the end of June.

But he’s doing it from afar, after scrapping a planned trip to Albany. Privately, some fellow Democrats have griped over Adams’ absence in the halls of the state Capitol as he seeks a four-year extension of mayoral control, according to people familiar with the internal discussions.

Now, he’s promising to visit state legislators “in the next few weeks” to plead the case on why his administration should continue to oversee the city’s school system.

Adams had to cancel a rally planned for last week to drum up support for what’s the first-term mayor is calling “mayoral accountability” after a flight cancellation following a campaign-funded jaunt in Los Angeles, and weather criticism that he’s getting distracted as his administration tries to secure a key win.

He held that rescheduled rally on the steps of City Hall Monday morning, with schools Chancellor David Banks.

“The chancellor and I have laid out a bold new vision for our children and for the families that attend our public school system,” Adams said. “This is the first time in history where we have two men who grew up in the public school system with two different experiences — one dealing with a learning disability, another dealing with the Gifted and Talented program.”

Lawmakers will likely extend mayoral control, but may not give Adams exactly what he’s asking for. They are discussing some tweaks, including a one-year extension, a way for families to get involved in key decisions or coupling mayoral control with a study of its accomplishments in the two decades since its been implemented — something the principals union has been seeking.

“The likely outcome will be a system in which the mayor still has control, and therefore, we can hold him accountable for school success or failure, but a system that also provides a meaningful mechanism to bolster parental input,” said Queens Democratic Sen. John Liu, who chairs the Senate’s committee on New York City education. “That is the main issue — that parents feel they have no way to engage, that their suggestions and complaints aren’t even heard.”

‘Stability and Surety’

Well into the third school year defined by a pandemic that interrupted learning and thrust educators and kids into new forms of schooling, Adams argued that extending mayoral control is needed to provide some consistency.

“After two years of trauma to our students, uncertainty cannot be part of the curriculum. It needs to be stability and the surety that these young people are going to know what is going to happen in the upcoming school year,” the mayor said at Monday’s rally.

To be sure, the Adams administration faces multiple challenges over his next four years in office with the nation’s largest school system. Schools and educators are continuing to bounce back mentally and academically from the pandemic. While the education department has so far refused to disclose data from its own assessments of student learning gaps, national test scores released in July 2021 showed that the typical student was behind in reading and math, with steeper drops among Black, Latino and Native American students, as well as children in low-income schools.

Chronic absenteeism — when students miss more 10% or more school days — reached its highest levels this school year since at least 2000, according to education department data.

Enrollment has dropped by 6.4% since the 2019-2020 school year, when the pandemic started. Further dips in enrollment could push Adams to make controversial decisions on closing schools, though the mayor said recently that he’s not currently considering closures.

Adams did not share much insight into what his administration plans to do with an additional four years of mayoral control. Instead, he pointed to what he considered successes under past mayors: the creation of universal pre-K under former mayor Bill de Blasio and rising graduation rates. (Graduation rates have risen across the nation since the early 2000s for mixed reasons until the pandemic hit, and in New York, changes at the state level have helped boost those figures.)

Asked for specifics about what types of policies or items City Hall would pursue if granted mayoral control, spokesperson Fabien Levy reiterated Adams’ talking points about previous administration’s achievements, ideas that he said “are at risk without mayoral accountability.”

Education department spokesperson Nathaniel Styer pointed to an address in March by Banks, where the chancellor discussed his vision for expanding virtual learning options, changing how the system teaches students to read, giving principals more autonomy, and providing more exciting programs for students, such as career and technical education.

So far, the Adams administration has announced an expansion of the Gifted and Talented program (the opposite of what de Blasio wanted to do), broader summer programming and jobs for youth and a slew of decisions over COVID safety, such as providing more at-home test kits and lifting the mask mandate for K-12 schools.

What could changes to mayoral control look like?

Mayoral control of schools became part of state law in 2002 but has never been permanent, offering Albany officials a chance to exert some power over the state’s biggest metropolis. It forces mayors to make the trek north and plead for an extension, sometimes involving political bartering.

It’s been extended every few years with a sunset date. Mayoral control was last extended in 2019 under Blasio.

But even though it’s been continuously extended, it hasn’t always been easy.

De Blasio nearly lost the power when Black and Latino lawmakers in 2019 said that the then-mayor was unresponsive to their questions over mayoral control, prompting the mayor to make a last-minute trip to the state Capitol. In 2017, the deal to extend mayoral control was tied to an increase in the number of charter schools, a concession to Republicans who controlled the State Senate.

Although Democrats now control both chambers, lawmakers and political observers believe mayoral control will be extended, in part because there’s not enough political will or time to find a replacement for the system before the June 30 expiration, or to revert to the former system of 32 community boards.

But the governance system may not receive the four-year extension that Gov. Kathy Hochul and Adams have called for, covering Adams’ entire first term in office.

Liu said that it doesn’t appear likely that Adams will get a straight four-year extension.

According to Albany sources there doesn’t appear to be enough support among lawmakers to secure that win for Adams. Instead, lawmakers are still discussing how to forge a path forward, said State Rep. Michael Benedetto, a Bronx Democrat who chairs the chamber’s education committee.

“Right now we’re kind of in flux and we’re still searching for ideas,” said Benedetto, a former teacher.

An extension could be coupled with adding more members or watering down the mayor’s power over the 15-person Panel for Educational Policy, or PEP, a mostly mayorally appointed board that votes on major school policies and contracts.

A mayoral rubber stamp no more?

The mayor’s power primarily operates in two ways: He chooses the city’s schools chancellor, and he appoints a majority, or nine, members to the PEP. Borough presidents choose an additional five, and the city’s 32 parent councils elect a representative — a change that came about as part of the concession in extending mayoral control in 2019.

While this board has often been seen as a mayoral rubber stamp, Adams’ failure to choose all nine of his appointees has resulted in the rejection of two of his administration’s recent proposals. In a vote last month, the panel rejected the city’s school funding formula over concerns that it’s not equitable enough, raising concerns that schools would get late budgets for next year.

One of Adams’ choices for the board was forced to resign after the New York Daily News revealed her anti-gay writings. The administration has not yet replaced that seat.

Asked Monday why the Legislature should trust him with mayoral control since he’s failed in his duty to appoint all nine members, Adams said he wants to “get it right.”

“We have to get it right because when you lay a foundation, you don’t have to come back and revisit it all the time,” Adams said, adding that he expects the school chancellor to make an announcement about a new appointee in the coming days.

Many lawmakers, parent advocates and the city’s teachers union are interested in giving families more say in the system through the PEP. To achieve that, Liu said he’s heard several proposals, including adding more members to the PEP who would be elected by local parent councils or giving the mayor one appointment shy of a majority of the board. That would require the mayor to solicit the support of at least one non-mayoral appointee to get his proposals passed.

Liu has also heard proposals to give PEP members fixed terms so that they cannot be removed for any reason from the board. The teachers union has called for one-year terms.

Currently, the mayor and borough presidents can remove their appointees at any time, and must provide written public notice explaining the reasons for removal at least 10 days in advance. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Staten Island borough president at the time famously removed PEP members in 2004 after some opposed Bloomberg’s plan on how to promote third graders.

Some of those proposals seem like possibilities to State Rep. Jo Anne Simon, a Brooklyn Democrat who sits on the Assembly’s education committee, who said she would also support more PEP members who represent specific types of high needs students, such as those with disabilities and those who are homeless, as well as an audit of mayoral control’s impact on student learning over the past 20 years.

Since Adams has only been mayor for four months, a three-year extension would be better suited, said Benedetto, giving the mayor enough time to implement reforms but also allowing the Legislature to be a check.

“When we elect a mayor of the city of New York and we give them this power, we must be vigilant and continually look to see if they’re doing the right thing and how that plays out over a number of years,” Benedetto added.

“I don’t know if he will get everything he wants,” he said of Adams’ four-year extension. “People are usually optimistic on such matters but their optimism sometimes doesn’t come to be. So, will he get it? That remains to be seen.”

THE CITY’s Katie Honan contributed.

In surprising setback to Mayor Adams, education panel rejects NYC school funding formula

2022-04-28T04:13:45+00:00

The city’s Panel for Educational Policy voted Wednesday night against the routine approval of New York City’s school funding formula, raising significant concerns about school budgets for next academic year.

The panel’s rejection, stemming from longstanding concerns that the funding formula is outdated and inequitable, was a stunning setback for Mayor Eric Adams. With nine slots for mayoral appointees, the 15-member panel has generally operated as a rubber stamp for past mayors, but Wednesday night’s vote is the second rejection of administration policy in two months.

A vacant mayoral appointee position on the board may have played a decisive role in Adams’ failing to capture the eight total votes he needed to reauthorize the funding formula. Seven of Adams’ appointees voted yes, the five appointees from each borough president abstained, and the panel’s elected parent member voted no. A 14th panel member was absent. And Adams has yet to replace one of his own appointees to the board who was forced to resign last month after her anti-gay writing came to light.

City officials warned that the PEP’s failure to approve the funding formula could delay funding to schools as they plan for next year, and schools Chancellor David Banks characterized the situation as “deeply troubling.” The board could vote on the formula again next month, but any revisions would need to be posted 15 days ahead of its next meeting, which is May 18.

“This is deeply problematic but the vote has been cast,” Banks said, minutes after he urged the panel members to approve the proposal. “This vote essentially is going to throw some of our schools into a lot of trouble.”

Wednesday night’s vote was one that happens annually. Education department officials asked panel members to re-approve the city’s Fair Student Funding formula, a 15-year-old city blueprint designed to send more money to schools with larger shares of students with disabilities, those learning English as a new language, and academic struggles.

But the discussion took a turn when public comment opened up. NeQuan McLean, president of District 16’s Community Education Council, told panel members that he was on a 2019 city task force that had spent nine months coming up with changes to the formula, which has been long criticized for lacking weights for other student groups, such as those living in temporary housing, and sending more money to selective schools that tend to enroll lower shares of Black and Hispanic students. But the task force’s final report, McLean said, was never released by former Mayor Bill de Blasio.

McLean and other speakers urged the panel to vote no and instead work on improving the formula. Some panel members shared his concern. Even if the panel voted to reapprove the formula, they would still “disenfranchise” students who don’t receive extra weight, such as those who are homeless or in foster care, said Tom Sheppard, the panel’s parent council-elected representative.

“Will there be some disruption? Absolutely. In the long-term, will we address the needs of our students? Absolutely,” Sheppard said.

Others supported the idea of approving the formula, then spending time revamping it. Gregory Faulkner, a mayoral appointee, said he encouraged the panel to vote yes, then “come back and really dig in and do the work to really make this formula more equitable.”

Lindsey Oates, the education department’s chief financial officer, said that voting “no” could result in a delay of getting money to schools by mid-May, as officials did pre-pandemic, and could leave administrators to scramble. Oates said a big part of the budget process is “staffing for your school and programming your school,” including figuring out what programming a school can offer and making hiring decisions.

In 2020, the city released budgets to schools in July, Oates said, which resulted in a “major scramble” ahead of the fall.

When the department distributes late budgets, schools have had to to delay important decisions, such as hiring, to the summer, when school leadership teams are not meeting regularly, Oates said.

Nathaniel Styer, an education department spokesperson, said the city is committed to a “full review” of the funding formula. “But that review, for the sake of our students, cannot be rushed in a matter of weeks or months,” he wrote. “We are expecting the panel to come back to this issue in order to prepare for the upcoming school year.”

The vote immediately drew concern from some observers, including Dia Bryant, the executive director of Education Trust-New York, an advocacy group.

“School level leaders have an autonomy in NYC that’s unknown in almost any other district, and this will impact their ability to plan for the summer and the upcoming school year,” wrote Bryant, who is also a former city education department official. “These votes seem to be the result of people feeling unheard and a general misalignment between the needs of parents and families and actions being taken.”

The city’s Panel for Educational Policy is structured to give the mayor control of education department policymaking. But Wednesday’s vote was the second time since Adams took office that the board voted down one of the administration’s proposals. At last month’s meeting, an $82 million contract to provide schools with temporary staffing failed 6-5, with two mayoral appointees declining to support the contract. (They approved this contract on Wednesday night following more discussion about it with education officials.)

The PEP has occasionally bucked previous mayors’ wishes, though it is extremely rare. Under de Blasio, Adam’s predecessor, the panel voted against a small number of controversial proposals, including a pair of school closures and a contract that allowed for 4-year-olds to be tested to qualify for gifted programs.

Wednesday night’s vote is the latest in a growing list of missteps in Adams’ management of the PEP.

Adams did not immediately make appointments to the PEP when he took office in January, which meant that the regular meeting did not occur that month, a possible violation of state law. Then, City Hall refused to publicly clarify who had been appointed, even after the PEP began taking votes on policy issues.

Once the mayor’s full slate of nine members was formally announced last month, the Daily News revealed that one of them, Rev. Kathlyn Barrett-Layne, had written that being gay is a sin and equated it with pedophilia. Adams swiftly forced her to resign, though he has not yet named a replacement, a process that is expected to take weeks longer, a City Hall spokesperson said.

Those setbacks come at a particularly delicate moment as the mayor is seeking an extension of his control of the city’s school system. The state legislature has the final authority to grant Adams an extension of mayoral control, which expires at the end of June.

Who is David Banks? The top NYC schools chancellor candidate already has Eric Adams’ ear.

2021-11-05T16:50:04+00:00

When David Banks was tapped with a group of local leaders to advise the mayor on how to reopen schools in the fall of 2020, he asked nearly two dozen principals for ideas.

A former principal himself, Banks laid out their concerns in a detailed memo about staffing and the need for timely information about safety rules. He grew frustrated when, three months later, Mayor Bill de Blasio twice delayed the start of the school year, citing some of the same problems that many principals had seen coming.

“There are no easy answers...but the failure here has been a failure to anticipate the obvious,” Banks told the Wall Street Journal at the time. Some task force members said the memo reflected deep relationships with principals and an understanding of the urgent questions school leaders were asking across the city.

Now, as the pandemic disrupts a third school year in the nation’s largest school district, Banks could soon be directly responsible for the system rather than offering advice from the sidelines: He is considered to be at the top of New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams’ list for schools chancellor.

Adams has time to weigh his options before taking office on Jan. 1, and he could keep current Chancellor Meisha Porter in her role, though many observers expect him to appoint a new schools chief of his own. One thing is clear: As a key education advisor to Adams, Banks already is shaping the mayor-elect’s education agenda.

Banks, who declined to be interviewed for this story, is a natural choice to help Adams hone that agenda. He has a long track record as an educator, becoming the principal of a new Bronx school nearly a quarter century ago.

He helped launch the Eagle Academy, a group of public schools that boasts six campuses that almost exclusively serve boys of color, part of an effort to boost graduation rates and improve life outcomes for students who are often poorly served by the public education system. Banks now runs the foundation that helps provide training and support for those schools, such as college counseling, mentoring programs, and funding longer school days.

“He’s intensely, intensely passionate about this work, he’s deeply knowledgeable, and he’s also pragmatic,” said Mark Dunetz, president of New Visions for Public Schools, an organization that supports a network of district and charter schools. Banks is “the type of leader that I think a system as complex and large as ours needs.”

Banks, 59, has navigated shifting winds in education policy throughout his career. His profile rose during the Bloomberg administration, which was aggressively pursuing an education reform agenda — one that was gaining traction across the country — that called for closing low-performing public schools and opening new ones like Eagle Academy, and promoting the rapid growth of charter schools. Eagle Academy and Banks have won praise from some of the architects of that reform movement, including former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former schools Chancellor Joel Klein.

Banks also has advanced ideas that have traction in progressive circles. None of his schools are charters, which have fallen out of favor among many Democrats, and he has advocated for the need to innovate within the strictures of union contracts. He was an early champion of infusing schools with culturally responsive curriculum and practices that celebrate Black and brown people, an idea that the New York City school system is now embracing.

“They were intentional about developing a positive self image in young people,” said Shael Polakow-Suransky, who was a senior education official in the Bloomberg administration and got to know Banks when they were both principals in the Bronx.

“They were way ahead of their time in terms of working on anti-racist approaches to education and doing it in a real, thoughtful, and sustained way.”

Eric Adams prepares to speak after voting at P.S. 81 in June.

Perhaps most importantly, Banks has a deep relationship with Adams, according to people who know him, and his family is intertwined in Adams’ world. Banks’ partner, Sheena Wright, a nonprofit executive who leads the United Way of New York City, is co-chairing Adams’ transition team. Banks’ brother, a former senior police official, is advising Adams on public safety issues, the Daily News reported. And Adams has been a booster of Eagle Academy, appearing in a recent documentary about the schools.

“I think there’s chemistry there that allows that relationship to flourish,” said Dennis Walcott, a former schools chancellor under Bloomberg and current president of the Queens Public Library. Walcott pointed to their common backgrounds: Adams and Banks, who are both Black, grew up in working-class neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn and attended the city’s public schools.

He added: “Their DNA has been shaped on the values of the boroughs, the value of working class communities, and the value of education and what it has meant for each of them.”

Working-class roots in Queens

The son of a police officer and a secretary, Banks credits his parents with keeping him and his two brothers out of trouble and setting them up for success. When their Crown Heights block saw an uptick in crime during the 1970s, including burglaries in their building, and gang members trying to recruit other boys in the neighborhood, his parents moved the family to Southeast Queens, according to Banks’ 2014 book, “Soar: How Boys Learn, Succeed, and Develop Character.”

In their new neighborhood, Banks’ parents were determined to keep their children under their supervision and tried to make staying home as appealing as possible, buying pool and ping-pong tables and ensuring sleepovers happened at their house.

“They both sacrificed a lot of their own socializing, a lot of cocktails and card games and evenings out, for our benefit,” Banks wrote. “Moving to that block in Queens may have saved our lives.”

Banks enjoyed school growing up and had an early interest in teaching, though he decided to pursue a legal career. But within two years of graduating law school in 1993, he had enrolled in night classes and completed enough credits to be a school administrator. He became the assistant principal at P.S. 191 in Crown Heights.

Two years later, in his mid-30s, Banks would be given the chance to start a school from scratch. He wasn’t the most experienced candidate for the job, but his ambition and charisma impressed Richard Kahan, who at the time ran Urban Assembly, a nonprofit organization that was developing its first school and which now supports 23 schools across the city.

“He didn’t have anything like the experience or the track record of the others,” Kahan said, but “he was exactly the compelling person we wanted to hire.”

As the leader of the Bronx School for Law, Government, and Justice, Banks was excited by chances to promote hands-on learning. When a cigarette billboard went up across the street the school’s leaders designed a unit about it: studying the effects of nicotine in science class, estimating the distance from the school to the ad in math class, and researching tobacco laws in social studies class.

The school launched a letter-writing campaign to local elected officials, an effort encouraged by Porter, who then worked at the school and was mentored by Banks. City officials ultimately invited some of the students to a ceremony signing a law that banned cigarette advertisements close to schools. The ad on the billboard came down.

“That to me is what education is all about,” Banks wrote in his book, describing the episode as “the most successful month, educationally speaking, that I ever had.”

Building a network

Seven years later, Banks would get another shot at building a school from the ground up, a project that would mark the beginning of the Eagle Academy schools.

A civic group, One Hundred Black Men, was alarmed by a report that suggested a majority of the state’s prison population came from just seven New York City neighborhoods, including the South Bronx. The group, which counted Banks and his father as members, believed opening a school specifically for young men of color could help reverse those outcomes and improve their odds of graduating high school and going to college.

In 2004, with the support of then-Senator Hillary Clinton, the organization convinced the Bloomberg administration to greenlight the Eagle Academy for Young Men in the Bronx, according to Banks’ book. Banks would be its founding principal.

Jamal Trotman leaves his government class at Eagle Academy for Young Men II in Brooklyn in 2016.

The Eagle Academy was part of a movement under Bloomberg aimed at giving families in under-resourced communities a wider array of schools from which to choose.

The Bloomberg administration closed many low-performing large high schools, replacing them with smaller ones that could offer a more personalized education. And they helped turbocharge the proliferation of charter schools, which are publicly funded but generally free of union contracts that include strict tenure, seniority, and work rules.

Banks has long been friendly to the sector, according to charter leaders, but he has also argued for the importance of running schools under the auspices of the school district. None of the Eagle Academy schools are charters.

“We did not want to open as a charter,” Banks told the Buffalo News in 2014. “We wanted it to be a public school and show that you could have an innovative school in a traditional public system.”

The Eagle Academy schools have embraced strategies to reach boys of color who have traditionally not been well-served by the city’s public schools, including extended school days to keep students engaged and out of trouble after regular hours. The schools also run mentoring programs and cultivate relationships with business leaders to serve as role models and expose students to career possibilities they may not have considered.

Banks has prized parent engagement, something multiple observers said could give him credibility in school communities if he became chancellor. To encourage attendance at PTA meetings, Banks held them on Saturdays every other month, two-hour long events that included meals, information about the school, and also seminars on topics like job hunting, according to his book.

At one point, Walcott, the former chancellor, was invited to attend one of those Saturday meetings in the Bronx and was blown away by the attendance. “That place was jam packed,” Walcott said.

The schools have also prized strict rules and high expectations, Banks has written, and has deployed practices such as strict uniform policies that are reminiscent of charter networks such as Success Academy or KIPP.

“We talk about how dressing in the style inspired by prison clothing — no belt, sagging the pants — sends a message about how you see your own future,” Banks wrote. “Like it or not, the world takes them more seriously.”

Students are also sorted into “houses” named after prominent figures of color, such as Roberto Clemente, W.E.B. Du Bois, or Malcom X, partly as a way to build camaraderie. But if an Eagle Academy student failed to turn in homework assignments, for example, they could lose points for their house, a fact that would be displayed for the rest of the school to see, Banks wrote in his book. (An Eagle spokesperson did not say if that practice is still used, and not all Eagle schools use the same approaches.)

Since 2004, the Eagle Academy network has grown to include six schools serving students in grades 6-12 — one in each of New York City’s five boroughs and one in Newark, New Jersey. Under the de Blasio administration, which has generally resisted large-scale school closures and openings, opportunities for growth have been limited. The newest Eagle Academy opened on Staten Island in 2014.

The schools have been popular with some parents, including Tanesha Grant, whose 14-year-old son Mandell attends Eagle Academy for Young Men of Harlem. Grant said she was impressed by the school’s commitment to weaving Black culture and history in the curriculum; her son was recently learning about Langston Hughes. As a single mother, she appreciates that many of the teachers are men of color. And she also likes that her son doesn’t have to pass through metal detectors on his way inside.

“I appreciate that Eagle Academy doesn’t paint Black people and Black culture as always struggling,” said Grant. As a parent advocate, Grant has previously fought for culturally responsive materials in a wider set of schools, but at Eagle Academy, they are already woven in.

Still, there are some signs that success has been uneven. Three of the five New York City schools are considered among the lowest performing in the state due to low achievement and growth scores at their middle schools, based on data from the 2017-2018 school year. And some of its schools have posted higher-than-average rates of chronic absenteeism. (State testing, and the state’s accountability system, have been disrupted by the pandemic so there have been no adjustments to schools’ accountability status in recent years.)

But the schools have generally posted graduation rates that are higher than the city average. In 2019, the Eagle Academy schools in Brooklyn and Queens posted graduation rates of about 90%, far higher than the city’s average that year of 77%. The network’s Bronx outpost had a lower graduation rate, at 71%.

Aaron Pallas, a professor at Teachers College who has studied school performance, said the test scores are just one data point and may not reflect the overall quality of the schools. “One can’t ignore test scores,” he said. But “there is a particular orientation to helping young men of color develop and that’s not necessarily going to be reflected in the test scores.”

From 6 to 1,600 schools?

It remains to be seen whether Banks’ could quickly move from supporting a small network of six public schools to supervising the largest school system in the nation, with responsibility for 1,600 schools and nearly 150,000 employees.

Over the last 20 years, the city’s schools chancellors have had widely varying backgrounds. Some have had little education policy experience but had high-level government management positions, including Joel Klein, a lawyer who ran the antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice and served as chancellor under Bloomberg.

More recently, de Blasio has selected leaders who have either had experience running big city school systems (Richard Carranza) or spent years rising up the ranks of New York’s education bureaucracy (Carmen Fariña and Meisha Porter).

Banks does not fall neatly into any of those categories; he has not supervised a large bureaucracy nor has he worked inside the system for long. The Eagle Academy Foundation, which Banks runs, aims to scale the Eagle model and support educators’ efforts around the country to reach students of color. (Its website says it has worked with 1,000 school leaders in 65 cities; an Eagle Academy spokesperson did not provide more details about the foundation’s work.)

“He would bring some knowledge of how the system works from the perspective of a school developer, but it seems like a potentially large step up in terms of the size and scale of running the city’s schools relative to what he’s been doing up until now,” Pallas said. “That’s not to say he can’t rise to the challenge, and no chancellor does it alone.”

Whoever takes the reins of the city’s school system will face enormous challenges, as the pandemic has interrupted student learning across three separate school years, with many students experiencing gaps in instruction and emotional trauma.

But there is also opportunity: The city is flush with nearly $7 billion in relief funding for education with more funding likely to come from the state. Adams has only revealed broad strokes of a schools agenda, perhaps allowing his schools chief to play a big role shaping it.

Banks sketched out some ideas of his own in the Daily News, including making better use of digital learning tools to give students access to experiences and educators outside their classrooms, investing in culturally responsive history curriculum, and moving away from an “overreliance” on standardized tests.

“We must not fall into the trap of doing more of the same,” he wrote. “We have never had a better opportunity, nor a more pressing need, to reimagine our school system.”

Summer school bus service expands for homeless students and those with disabilities — but don’t count on a bus ride home

2021-06-23T22:02:27+00:00

New York City officials are expanding summer school yellow bus service for homeless students and those with disabilities, but still have no plans to provide busing home at the end of the day.

The city’s summer school program, known as “Summer Rising” — which is open to all students for the first time — includes an academic portion for the first part of the day followed by afternoon enrichment, such as field trips and other camp-like activities.

For weeks, advocates have demanded that city officials provide round-trip yellow bus service at the day’s end to students who typically receive it during the school year. Without it, they argue that some of the city’s most vulnerable students, including those with disabilities who use wheelchairs or homeless students who live far from public transportation, would be shut out of a significant chunk of the summer enrichment program.

The afternoon enrichment wraps up at 4 p.m. for middle school students and 6 p.m. for elementary students. (The structure of the high school program varies.) The program is set to launch early next month.

City officials initially declined to provide yellow bus service to many homeless students and those with disabilities who typically receive it during the school year. And even for students who were eligible, officials said they would only be able to provide round-trip service for the academic part of the day, which creates a barrier for families that can’t arrange transportation at the end of the afternoon enrichment portion.

After pressure from advocates, the education department recently agreed to expand bus transportation — but again, only for the academic portion. Under the new rules, all students with disabilities and those in temporary housing who typically receive yellow bus service during the school year will be eligible for it this summer. About 50,000 students with disabilities and 5,000 homeless students typically receive busing during the school year; it’s unclear how many of them will participate in the summer program.

Students who stay for the full day can request a MetroCard for the trip home, including one for a caregiver to accompany them, education department officials said.

Advocates welcomed the rule change, but said the department’s decision not to provide bus service at the end of the full day violates state and federal laws that guarantee equal access to activities for students with disabilities and those in temporary housing.

“We are encouraged that the [education department] expanded the number of students who are eligible for bus service for the instructional part of the day,” said Randi Levine, policy director at Advocates for Children, which has raised concerns about the busing policies. But “if you’re forcing students with disabilities or students who live in shelter to leave hours before their peers, you’re not running an inclusive program.”

Levine said that if the city can’t offer bus service at the end of the day, they should pay for a car service.

Sarah Casasnovas, an education department spokesperson, said the city is planning to provide transportation options in addition to MetroCards for students with disabilities and those in temporary housing at the end of the full-day program. She did not indicate whether that would include a car service, saying that details would be provided “soon” even as the program is set to launch in less than two weeks.

Officials indicated that they could not provide bus service at the end of the school day due to “operational constraints and safety considerations” but did not offer any additional details about what that meant. They also did not answer questions about whether the bus policy violates the law. Asked how city officials were communicating the change to parents, they pointed to changes to the education department’s website, suggesting parents may not be directly informed of the new transportation option for the academic portion of the day.

Busing isn’t the only possible barrier for students to attend summer school. Some families and advocates have raised concerns about whether there will be enough specialized staff on hand to meet the needs of some students with disabilities. And the enrollment process for the summer program has also sparked confusion, as some families have been turned away from specific summer school sites or placed on waitlists.

Asked on Wednesday about the waitlist issue, which Chalkbeat first reported earlier this month, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he needed to gather more details about what is happening.

“I want to know more about that,” de Blasio said. “We wanted this to be something unlike anything you’ve seen before, and it’s going to be the permanent model going forward. Of course, we want kids with disabilities to be able to participate.”

What’s it like to serve on a CEC? A member explains the council’s role and why parents should care.

2021-05-07T20:03:23+00:00

This post is in collaboration with THE CITY’s civic newsroom.

Voting is underway for New York City’s 36 parent-led Community Education Councils, or CECs, and for the first time, all parents of children in education department-run schools can cast a ballot in the elections.

Jon Grabelle Herrmann, who is ending his two-year term on District 1’s CEC serving Manhattan’s Lower East Side and East Village, described CECs as “a little corner of democracy where you can have a voice.”

The vast majority of public school parents have probably paid little attention to their district’s 11-member CECs, committees that are largely advisory except for their power to shape school zone boundaries. More recently, many CECs — such as Herrmann’s — have spearheaded efforts to pursue districtwide school integration plans.

The change in the voting eligibility — from three parent association leaders at each school to all parents and legal guardians with children in district schools — follows Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 2019 bid to the state legislature to extend mayoral control over the city school system. In exchange for three more years, the state demanded additional avenues for parent involvement.

Families now get one vote per child, and each vote allows you to choose up to three seats on the council in your child’s district. (Pre-K families in standalone education department-run programs that are not part of a larger elementary school cannot vote.)

Additionally, there are citywide councils representing high schoolers, students learning English as a new language, students with disabilities, and District 75, which serves students with the most complex disabilities.

Families can vote online using their NYC Schools account or in-person at the sites linked here through May 11.

Over 12,000 parents had cast votes as of Thursday, education officials said.

Chalkbeat talked with Herrmann, a parent to a fourth grader and an eighth grader, about his experience on a CEC.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What does one do on a CEC?

There’s no real power other than you can disapprove zoning proposed by the Department of Education, DOE, though in District 1, there is no zoning. [Note: Districts 1, 7, and 23 have no school zones.]

But it’s a platform if you use it that way. We can take a stand on things.

We passed a resolution that called for raising revenues from wealthier New Yorkers to prevent school budget cuts. Especially if other CECs pass resolutions, it can create a drumbeat.

At least in our district, the superintendent attends every meeting. Elected officials or their representatives attend. So, it’s a small audience, but an important one. It’s a way for them to hear about the issues in our district.

Outgoing CEC member Jon Grabelle Hermann with his family.

What you think is the most important impact your CEC has had?

It’s fundamentally a community organizing platform. We’ve been helping to make connections between parents, students, and local organizations.

During the pandemic, we checked in on where laptops were getting distributed. We weren’t in charge of that, but we were holding people accountable. We did a turkey giveaway for the holidays. This week Naomi Peña [District 1’s CEC president] held an event focused on what to do if you’re looking to get an IEP [Individualized Education Program] for your child. None of that is required.

Why does it matter who serves on it?

It’s a layer of democracy. To the extent that members use their platform, it’s an extra set of eyes that represent the views of parents. And it’s a way for parents to be informed on issues that are hard to wrap your head around at the school level.

If you feel powerless because the whole system is under mayoral control, and there are no longer school boards, here’s a little corner of democracy where you can have a voice.

It’s also good, from a structural standpoint, that you can’t have more than one member from each school. You can meet people from other schools — that’s a bubble we don’t usually break.

Why does it matter that voting is different this year?

The benefit of the old system was that PTA leaders were pretty informed. To the extent that it’s now open to everyone, that’s great because it involves more people.

But the DOE is using this form of democracy to get people to use the NYC Schools Account system. It can be so hard to use that it defeats the purpose.

Not only do you have to have your kids’ student ID, you also have to have an authorization code that refers to something you got in the mail. It doesn’t say anywhere, ‘P.S. If you don’t know what we’re talking about, call your parent coordinator.’ But I did, and she told me that the account was under my wife’s name.

I know people can go in-person to vote, but we’re still in a pandemic. People might be reluctant.

So, the results will definitely reflect votes from a group with easy tech access, and I don’t know how it will affect the composition of the CECs.

Carranza to step down mid-pandemic after 3 years at helm of New York City schools

2021-02-26T17:26:13+00:00

New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza is leaving his post on March 15, a sudden departure in the midst of a public health crisis that has meant a tumultuous, draining year for the city’s roughly 960,000 students and their families — as well as the chancellor himself.

Meisha Ross Porter, the executive superintendent of the Bronx, will replace Carranza and become the first Black woman to lead the nation’s largest school system, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Friday.

Porter will take over a fraying school system, with many students having lost out on critical instructional time and facing mounting mental health needs. On top of that, many schools have seen significant enrollment drops, with the overall student population dropping 4% from the previous year, and as a result, many principals might start next year in serious debt.

Families and educators on both sides of the reopening debate — those who wished this year was fully remote and those who want their children back in classrooms five days a week — are frustrated with Carranza and de Blasio, and have blasted them for not having a clearer plan for September. But under the city’s system of mayoral control, de Blasio ultimately calls the shots, and his handling of the reopening saga has played a role in an exodus of education department insiders who said their expertise was shunned by City Hall.

Integration advocates have also repeatedly fingered de Blasio as the roadblock to more transformative school diversity efforts — something that may have played a role in Carranza’s sudden departure.

After losing 11 friends and relatives to the coronavirus, Carranza said he was leaving so he could grieve and focus on self-care, and he does not know what his next steps will be.

“I need time to grieve, and this city, this school system, deserves a chancellor who 100% is taking up the helm and leading the charge to bringing everybody back in September,” Carranza told reporters. “I’m proud and incredibly honored that I had the opportunity to do that to this point. At some point you have to heal your own heart if you can share your heart with others, and that’s what this is about.”

Porter, a New York City public school graduate, started out as a youth organizer in the Bronx’s Highbridge neighborhood and has worked for the education department for 20 years, serving as a teacher, principal, and superintendent in the Bronx. In 2018, Carranza appointed her to fill the new role of executive superintendent in the Bronx, overseeing the borough’s 361 schools.

“I am ready to hit the ground running and lead New York City schools to a full recovery,” Porter said in a statement.

Meisha Ross Porter, a 20-year veteran of the education department, will take over the nation’s largest school system.

Carranza took the reins three years ago, after leading Houston schools. He stepped into a contentious battle over integration in New York City, which is one of the most segregated systems in the country, by bluntly questioning the city’s admissions policies.

He was more outspoken than the mayor on wanting to overhaul the admissions system, and that may have played a role in the chancellor’s move. Carranza reportedly drafted a resignation letter after a recent disagreement with the mayor about the Gifted and Talented test for 4-year-olds, according to the New York Times. Black and Latino students are dramatically underrepresented in gifted enrollment, and the education department warned that administering the exams this year would only exacerbate disparities. (Ultimately, the mayor’s plan was upended by a surprise vote of the citywide Panel for Educational Policy, which narrowly rejected a contract to continue administering the test.)

De Blasio, speaking Friday on WNYC, denied that the decision was related to the gifted controversy. When asked if his departure was connected to disagreements with de Blasio, Carranza said he needed time “to take care of me.”

Along with the mayor, Carranza’s leadership has been criticized since the coronavirus pandemic forced school buildings to abruptly close in March 2020. Many educators faulted the mayor and chancellor for keeping buildings open too long in the spring and stifling information about possible cases among communities when school staff had to report to buildings as they prepared to transition to remote learning.

They’ve faced an uphill battle to regain educators’ trust. Following a chaotic summer of planning and major last-minute shifts — including two delayed starts to the school year and a reversal on the amount of live teaching for children on their remote days — the union representing principals and other school administrators issued a vote of no confidence in the chancellor and the mayor.

The return to in-person learning was also applauded by many as a serious feat considering the many logistical and labor roadblocks — ones that many other major school systems never overcame.

Yet many advocates criticized Carranza and de Blasio for missing the big picture for this year: while they focused time and money on reopening school buildings, roughly 70% of families ultimately chose to stay home full-time and participate in remote-only instruction. Many educators said the education department did not do enough to improve virtual instruction.

Other problems that have plagued the chancellor and mayor this year include a lack of devices for remote learning, questions about whether school buildings are properly ventilated, and whether the city’s Situation Room rapid response team is equipped to handle the weekly COVID-19 testing at schools.

Teachers union president Michael Mulgrew took a shot at the mayor, hinting that the chancellor’s hands may have been tied during the push to reopen schools.

“Richard Carranza was a real partner in our efforts to open school safely,” Mulgrew said in a statement. “Too often he had to fight behind the scenes to keep the needs of students, staff and their families ahead of politics.”

The timing of Carranza’s departure didn’t surprise some observers, as de Blasio’s second and final term will conclude at the end of the year, and many of the leading candidates to replace him have already said they plan to select a new chancellor to lead the education department.

Despite the complexity of school reopening and the difficulty of transitioning to a new chancellor in the middle of a crisis, it is clear much of the decision making is being run through City Hall, said Josh Starr, a former schools superintendent in Connecticut and Maryland and CEO of PDK International.

“The mayor’s clearly calling all the shots, and given that the mayor is on his way out, you’re going to have a new mayor and new chancellor,” he said. “It’s a political cycle.”

Carranza was the mayor’s second choice to run the school system after de Blasio’s first pick, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho of Miami-Dade County, backed out on live television. The mayor made it clear he wanted a caretaker chancellor who would continue the policies put in place under former chancellor Carmen Fariña. She had spent more than 50 years in the education department and her tenure was marked largely by undoing the legacy of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

One of Carranza’s first big moves was to shake up the education department bureaucracy by appointing new executive superintendents. He also pushed for implicit bias training for educators, earning him the appreciation of educators who rallied publicly in his defense, in the face of backlash in right-wing media and from some educators who said the sessions were hostile or uncomfortable.

His tenure began with hope for many parent advocates, who accused the education department of shutting them out of decisions affecting their local districts. He appointed Hydra Mendoza, a former colleague from Carranza’s time in San Francisco, as deputy chancellor to work with local advocates. Parents said they finally felt they could partner with the education department to address families’ concerns. But that relationship has steadily soured not long after Mendoza stepped down, following a string of other top-level departures that accelerated over the past year.

Despite reinstating the Chief Academic Officer position, educators have said that change has been slow to reach the classroom under Carranza’s leadership. His vision for improving instruction and supporting struggling schools has remained foggy. After the mayor ended his controversial and expensive turn-around program known as Renewal, there hasn’t been a clear strategy put in its place.

Richard Carranza climbed the steps of Tweed Courthouse, the education department headquarters, on his first day as chancellor.

His impact on school integration is limited to mainly advocacy for change — an important shift in rhetoric under a mayor who previously refused to even say the word “segregation,” but one that ultimately led to few, if any, top-down reforms. Some community driven efforts, however, have gotten off the ground. One of the most notable is in Brooklyn’s District 15, which overhauled middle school admissions policies.

Many integration advocates saw the pandemic as an opportunity to more aggressively pursue changes in the city’s admissions systems, which are blamed for helping to drive segregation. Ultimately the city only pursued one-year changes that are likely to have a limited impact on the demographics of who attends school together.

The most high profile integration push under the mayor and chancellor, to overhaul how students are admitted to the city’s elite specialized high schools, arguably backfired by galvanizing opposition from local parent volunteer councils all the way up to new citywide organizations who have fiercely fought school diversity efforts.

Several high level education officials have departed since last summer, including second-in-command Cheryl Watson-Harris, the mayor’s senior education advisor Brandon Cardet-Hernandez, and senior department official Ursulina Ramirez. Miranda Barbot, Carranza’s press secretary, recently announced her departure.

Porter, who was praised by many educators she’s worked with, drew some criticism in 2019, when the schools watchdog received a complaint that she had enlisted subordinates to fundraise and organize a party to celebrate her promotion. The office later dropped its investigation.

Alex Zimmerman contributed reporting.

Rating teachers in a pandemic? NYC officials are crafting plans to conduct evaluations.

2021-02-09T20:55:05+00:00

New York City officials are figuring out how to evaluate educators this school year, even as typical performance measures have been upended by the pandemic.

After New York became the epicenter of the country’s coronavirus outbreak last year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order in June pausing a state law that mandates school and district leaders formally assess teachers and principals each year.

Despite ongoing disruptions to classroom learning, the governor has not yet issued a similar order this school year, though a Cuomo spokesperson said the governor is still considering it. The state’s education department said they plan to ask the governor to put the evaluation law on hold, but have not yet done so.

In the meantime, New York City’s education department, in consultation with union officials, is drafting a revised evaluation plan to account for the pandemic. City officials did not release any specifics regarding their plans, saying that they were not yet final and will require state approval.

The evaluations offer a formal opportunity for administrators to provide feedback with the goal of improving teaching. That could be especially important this year as educators have had to adapt to unfamiliar platforms and methods of engaging students. These assessments also play a role in whether or not to grant teachers tenure and may also be used as grounds to fire educators. (In practice, very few teachers are denied tenure or terminated due to poor ratings.)

But implementing a revised evaluation system in the remaining four months of the school year could be tricky to pull off, and is already generating pushback from some educators and advocates. They point to the challenge of implementing the two key measures in a teacher’s rating — student assessments and in-person classroom observations — which have both been disrupted.

“Given the situation that we’ve found ourselves in over the past year, the unevenness of the experience of both educators and students makes it very difficult to employ the traditional instruments to evaluate educators,” said Paula White, executive director of the teacher advocacy group Educators for Excellence. “It’s very dicey.”

Traditional classroom observations were not crafted with virtual instruction in mind, and most educators are teaching remotely. The evaluations often pay close attention to the level of meaningful interaction and discussion among students, who may not be working as closely in socially distanced or remote classrooms, and the city has not communicated clear standards about what quality remote teaching should look like.

Complicating matters, many teachers have seen their classroom assignments shift this year, whether they’ve gotten new students or had to switch from in-person to remote, as high schools are fully virtual and middle schools buildings are reopening at the end of this month after being closed for three months.

Collecting student assessment data, the other main ingredient in teacher evaluations, is also a challenge. Some schools use state test scores, such as reading and math tests given in grades 3-8, which the state is seeking to cancel, or the Regents high school exit exams, a round of which have already been canceled. Schools may choose from a list of alternative assessments in lieu of those exams, but administering those tests remotely could prove difficult and the results could be unreliable, especially if a significant slice of students don’t take them.

Still, spinning up virtual evaluation systems in the pandemic is not without precedent. In Newark, for instance, district and union officials hammered out a framework for conducting virtual observations, which could include assessments of how effectively teachers are using online “breakout rooms” to target instruction or using screen-sharing to display high-quality work.

In New York City, union officials have also participated in negotiations over the evaluation process, though they have emphasized that deploying a revised system at this point in the school year is not ideal.

“We are being held to the state law for teacher evaluation even though we are already halfway through the school year and our members have so much else on their plates,” officials at the United Federation of Teachers wrote to school-based chapter leaders this month. “The UFT’s goal in its talks with the DOE was to make sure the evaluation plan reflected the unique circumstances and challenges facing teachers this school year.”

A city education department official said “timelines will be adjusted accordingly” to make sure there is enough time for evaluations to be conducted.

Regardless of the formal evaluation system, many school administrators have been providing informal feedback to teachers.

“Evaluations are just part of what’s going on in a school — that’s something that should have been happening,” said Matt Brownstein, an assistant principal at P.S. 330 in Queens.

Still, he worries about whether formal teacher assessments could be fair this school year. Administrators often look for signs of engagement by watching whether students are tracking their teachers, for instance, or based on informal conversations with students in the class. That is difficult to pull off remotely — and in person, a teacher might struggle with engagement if there are just one or two students in the room.

“We can get information by looking at practice, and we can get information by looking at assessments,” Brownstein said. “But to use it to judge teachers in the traditional way is unfair.”

NYC school buildings can stay open even if coronavirus positivity rate tops 9%, Cuomo says

2021-01-04T23:35:51+00:00

The state will not force New York City school buildings to shut down if the citywide coronavirus positivity rate exceeds 9%.

Reversing a state policy established over the summer, school buildings can now stay open so long as coronavirus testing shows there is less virus present in schools than in the surrounding community, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.

“If their schools are below the level of positivity in the community then they can keep the schools open,” Cuomo said. “It is up to the local school district to make that decision.”

Cuomo’s announcement means there is no longer a single threshold for shutting down school buildings citywide, which puts the onus on Mayor Bill de Blasio to decide whether to stick to his current strategy of shutting down individual school buildings and classrooms when cases pop up or consider another citywide shutdown.

The governor’s decision to scrap the state’s closure threshold comes as the city’s coronavirus positivity rate has increased in recent weeks, though it has not yet reached the state’s original 9% threshold. State data put the city’s positivity rate over a seven-day average at 6.24%, though city data put the number at 9%. (City and state officials use different methodologies to calculate the city’s positivity rate but, the state figure is what would have determined whether school buildings would shutter.)

De Blasio briefly closed school buildings in November when the city’s positivity rate reached 3% and has since only reopened preschool programs, elementary schools, and schools serving students with complex disabilities.

Michael Mulgrew, head of the city’s teachers union, has generally supported de Blasio’s approach to school reopening that focuses on building-level closures, despite alarm among some of his members about rising infection rates. But in a shift, he is now urging officials to shut down school buildings if the city’s positivity rate crosses 9%, according to the state’s figures.

“Using that state measure, if the community infection rate in the city hits 9%, the safe thing to do is to close the schools, even if the in-school rate is lower,” Mulgrew said in a statement Monday afternoon. “Safety comes first.”

Cuomo’s decision to withdraw the state’s 9% closure threshold will also allow him to sidestep a potentially difficult fight with Mulgrew, which could force de Blasio to bear the brunt of yet another controversial decision about whether to keep school buildings open.

Benjamin Linas, an epidemiologist at Boston University, said it may be possible to keep school buildings open safely even as the citywide positivity rate reaches 9% or beyond.

“There has been some transmission in schools across the country, but not a lot, even in places that have very high COVID” infection rates, Linas said.

Still, he added: “I think you have to be honest that we’re learning as we go and we could be wrong. That’s why it’s smart not to carve this in stone and [be] ready to move as the data change.”

City officials have touted relatively low infection rates in school communities as evidence that school buildings are generally safe; the city’s protocol calls for randomly testing 20% of students and staff in school buildings each week. Since buildings reopened in December, the city conducted about 100,000 tests in schools, with 0.68% coming back positive, de Blasio said.

State officials provided few details about how school districts should determine whether infection rates in schools are larger than the surrounding community, which could lead to building shutdowns, at least in theory.

However it’s unlikely the positivity rate in schools, as determined by random testing, would eclipse the citywide rate. The citywide rate includes many people who are symptomatic and more likely to have the coronavirus while the random testing is likely only picking up asymptomatic cases, as students and staff are instructed to stay home if they’re sick and may seek testing elsewhere.

The latest round of uncertainty about whether the mayor should consider citywide closures will not affect most students, as all middle and high schools are fully remote and many other families have opted out of in-person learning. Some advocates and educators have argued the city has not invested enough in improving remote instruction.

De Blasio has suggested that rolling out vaccines to educators could hasten the return of in-person instruction and said Monday that teachers should receive vaccines as soon as this month. But state officials ultimately determine when teachers will be eligible for vaccines, and the city’s efforts to use the shots it already has have been sluggish.

“New York City is pushing to have school staff included in vaccine distribution this month, and has set-up a gold standard to keep our schools safe,” Miranda Barbot, an education department spokesperson, said in a statement. “We’ll continue to closely monitor metrics, including in-school testing.”

Will your NYC school offer 5 days a week of in-person classes? For many principals, space and staff hurdles persist

2020-12-10T01:19:11+00:00

East Harlem mom Rosa Diaz was elated to learn that her 4-year-old son would be able to go to school in person five days a week.

For months, he has been attending in-person classes at P.S. 171 just a couple days a week, and his less-structured remote days seemed to set back his ability to recognize letters of the alphabet.

And since Diaz and her husband work outside the home during the pandemic, it has been difficult to ensure their babysitter was logging the boy into his remote sessions. So when the opportunity arose for daily in-person learning, “I was like, ‘Yay, excellent, he needs it,” Diaz said.

But even as city officials press school leaders to offer five days a week of in-person instruction, many students will likely remain stuck with a mix of in-person and remote learning, which can be hard on students and working families. That’s because some schools remain pressed for space and enough teachers to staff two different learning environments at once — all while principals must juggle a complicated mix of scheduling variables.

The push for more in-person instruction comes as New York City reopens school buildings for students in grades pre-K through five, as well as those in District 75, serving children with more complex disabilities. Schools were shuttered citywide last month after the city’s coronavirus positivity rate reached 3%.

When announcing that these schools would reopen, Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed that “most” campuses opening this week will eventually offer five days a week of in-person learning, though he made that declaration before principals were formally surveyed about whether it would be logistically feasible at their individual schools.

Rosa Diaz’s three children wait for the bus to P.S. 171.

So far, 161 elementary schools, or roughly 15%, are offering at least some of their students five days a week of in-person instruction. Department officials said they expect that number to climb as schools get a clearer picture this week of how many students will actually return to classrooms.

“We will be able to deliver,” de Blasio said Wednesday after being pressed on the relatively small number of schools offering daily instruction in person. “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

Parents who have been offered more days of in-person instruction said they’re thrilled for the return to a more normal schedule instead of the hybrid model, in which students were on campus one to three days a week in most cases and learning remotely the rest of the time. The change won’t affect most families, though, as the vast majority have opted instead for fully remote learning, and there are no plans to allow them to switch back to in-person instruction before a vaccine is widely available.

For principals, pulling off a shift in scheduling in the middle of the school year is a complex task, especially as it could require reassigning students to different classroom teachers. School leaders may not have enough staff or space to offer more in-person teaching, or they may face resistance from educators who don’t want to return to buildings for daily instruction due to the citywide rise in coronavirus cases.

Different students at the same school might receive varying amounts of in-person instruction, depending on those constraints. Diaz’s 9-year-old daughter, for instance, who attends the same school as her son and has also struggled with remote learning, was not offered five days a week of in-person instruction. (Their older son is in middle school, which, along with high schools, are not yet open for in-person instruction citywide.)

That has left some parents disappointed and some principals fielding questions from families who thought their schools would be able to shift more quickly.

“Initially the expectation was out there that most schools would be able to do this, which I think left principals in the inevitable position to be the bearer of the news that in a particular school it wouldn’t work out,” said Mark Cannizzaro, head of the union that represents school administrators. He added that superintendents have begun checking in with principals and asking for explanations if their school indicated that they couldn’t offer five days a week of in-person classes.

But many schools have been able to pivot, finding creative ways to spin up five days a week of in-person classes. At P.S. 145 in Manhattan, principal Natalia Russo quickly sussed out where they could put slightly larger classes to accommodate more students in the building at once.

“We looked at the shared spaces and the gym and the cafeteria were two spaces that we decided we could use to best fit the classes that had the largest enrollment,” she said, noting that fewer than 40% of the school’s students have opted for in-person learning. Over about 72 hours, teachers moved desks, cubbies, and books to make those spaces feel like classrooms and reassured parents that open windows would offer plenty of ventilation.

“It was so clear and transparent, and just thoughtful,” said Sasha Stashwick, whose 5-year-old son is enrolled at the school and is now attending in person every day. “It was a pretty joyous scene at drop-off.”

Other schools are still weighing all of the variables to determine if five-day-a-week instruction is feasible. Schools have been instructed to switch students to remote learning if they don’t show up in person this week without an excuse, which means principals may not yet have a full count of how many students they’ll need to accommodate in person and whether they’ll have the staff for expanded in-person learning. Meanwhile, some students are returning to in-person classes after the city offered one window in November to switch from fully remote learning.

Janet Huger, principal of the East New York Elementary School of Excellence in Brooklyn, said she’s still assessing whether she can offer more in-person days at her school — or even if most parents want it. About 65% of the families at her school have opted for fully remote learning.

“A lot of parents were a little skeptical of the five days because they weren’t sure about the health risks,” partly because students would spend significantly more time in the building, Huger said. (City officials have also ramped up random testing in schools and will now bar most students from buildings if they don’t consent to it.)

Huger said she is also looking into whether five days a week of in-person classes would require assigning students to different classroom teachers, which she fears could be disruptive.

“Now you’re going to give a child a new environment again?” she said. “That’s what we’re trying to avoid.”

NYC gave families one more chance to choose in-person learning. Few did.

2020-11-20T21:15:26+00:00

After Mayor Bill de Blasio gave parents just one more chance to opt for in-person classes for the rest of the school year, only about 35,000 additional students are set to return, which will leave school buildings emptier than officials had hoped.

In total, about 335,000 students will be eligible to return to classes in person, or roughly a third of the city’s nearly 1 million district school students. It’s not clear when that will happen: The city’s public school buildings were shuttered Thursday due to a rise in coronavirus cases, and a reopening date has not been set.

The figures are a major blow to Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has forcefully argued that opening school buildings is essential, especially for low-income parents of color who make up the vast majority of enrollment. But roughly half of Black and Hispanic families have kept their children learning from home full-time and are significantly less likely to say that they plan to return to school buildings compared with their white peers, who appear to be returning to school buildings at the highest rates, according to city data.

“I wanted to open schools because kids needed it. Families needed it. I believe we could do it safely,” de Blasio said in a radio interview Friday morning before the data was released. “We did do it safely.”

It’s possible that the number of students learning in person will fall since parents can opt for fully remote learning at any time. Some families may be wary of returning to classrooms as the city struggles with another wave of the pandemic, even as experts have indicated the schools are relatively safe and have reported relatively few coronavirus cases. Officials did not immediately say whether they would give families another chance to choose in-person learning later in the year, given the latest round of building closures.

The numbers also underscore that the fate of this school year will hinge on the quality of remote teaching, which has received considerably less attention and resources than the logistics of safely reopening physical buildings and the distribution of technology. Even under the mayor’s hybrid model, most students are learning from home on any given school day. Meanwhile, the city has not developed a clear strategy for improving remote learning, according to educators, experts, and union leaders.

City officials are still scrambling to make sure students are able to connect with their teachers virtually. At a City Council hearing Friday, education department officials said that they have ordered about 100,000 internet-enabled iPads for students who still don’t have them, but they won’t arrive for another four to five weeks due to supply issues. And students who live in shelters have also struggled with lack of Wi-Fi and problems connecting with the city’s internet-enabled devices.

There is some good news for the students who decide to return to school buildings. Due to lower-than-expected numbers of students opting for in-person learning, officials said students could spend more time in their classrooms than originally anticipated. Most students in the hybrid model have been attending school one to three days a week, due to social-distancing guidelines, and learning from home on the other days.

“We will be working with schools to increase the number of days blended learning students are in buildings,” education department spokesperson Katie O’Hanlon said in a statement, “and we’re excited for these students to join their peers when we reopen.”

De Blasio pushed to reopen school buildings. Only about a quarter of students showed up for in-person instruction.

2020-10-26T18:07:08+00:00

Only 280,000 students attended in-person classes in the first month of school, Mayor Bill de Blasio revealed Monday, far fewer than the city previously suggested.

The number translates to a little more than a quarter of students showing up to school buildings, based on last year’s enrollment of about 1 million students. Last week, education department officials had claimed that 46% of students were returning to school buildings. The latest numbers show that about 180,000 fewer students actually did.

The difference could be explained by a number of factors. Students could be learning exclusively from home in far larger numbers than they’ve reported to the education department.

The education department and the mayor have long misrepresented the numbers of online versus hybrid learners. The city has only asked parents to answer surveys if they want to opt their children into remote-only instruction and seemed to assume that parents who didn’t answer affirmatively wanted to return to school buildings.

Enrollment could also have dropped, with students leaving the system for charters offering more live instruction online, or private and parochial schools that are offering more days of in-person instruction. Others may have opted for homeschool, left the city, or dropped out altogether. The city has still not released total enrollment numbers for this school year, but other large cities have seen significant dips.

It’s also possible that many students haven’t had any interaction with their schools. Officials did not immediately say how many students had failed to engage with their schools even a single time.

De Blasio acknowledged that the in-person learning number was “a work in progress,” and that he wanted to see more students coming to buildings.

“A lot more kids could be attending in person,” he said, “and we want to make sure that their families know and they know the school is safe.”

But under a new policy, families will only have one opportunity — from Nov. 2 through Nov. 15 — to switch from fully remote learning to the hybrid model where students attend school in person one to three days a week in most cases. Previously, families could switch to in-person learning periodically throughout the school year.

Meanwhile, daily attendance sank to 85.3% so far this year, compared to daily attendance around 92% before the coronavirus pandemic.

“That’s not a bad number, but we want that number to go up,” de Blasio said.

The attendance figures provide an important first glimpse into the academic fallout of being at the world’s epicenter of the health crisis. The mayor had not only argued that the quality of in-person learning can’t be matched through remote instruction, he also diverted significant time and money towards reopening school buildings.

The city’s data shows that in-person students were having a tougher time showing up that those who are full remote, with only 82.9% of students are showing up for in-person classes each day, and just under 85.5% of students are logging in to virtual classes.

The city’s attendance figures come with some caveats. Schools appear to be using differing criteria to determine whether a student is “present” for online learning and the education department has emphasized “flexibility,” given that some students may struggle to log in at certain times because of their parent’s schedules or because they lack access to computers or the internet. Education department officials also suggested as late as last week that schools are still figuring out exactly how to tabulate who is present and who is absent.

“We have an entirely new system for recording and tracking attendance that some schools are still adjusting to and corrections need to be made on a daily basis,” education department spokeswoman Miranda Barbot told Chalkbeat on Friday.

School shutdowns in NYC coronavirus hotspots could go on for weeks, but nearby restaurants and bars remain open

2020-10-19T22:24:00+00:00

Just days after New York City reopened all its school buildings, 124 public schools in coronavirus hot spots were ordered shut for at least 14 days. Those two weeks are now almost up, but it remains unclear whether officials will green light their reopening.

Mayor Bill de Blasio signaled that the closures, which affect schools in certain parts of Brooklyn and Queens, are likely to extend beyond this week. But the decision ultimately rests with Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has not publicly offered a timeline or criteria for loosening restrictions and has often overruled or contradicted the mayor.

“It looks like another week or two of work, overall,” de Blasio told reporters Monday referring to the restrictions, including school closures. He also suggested some areas, particularly central Queens, could see restrictions lifted first and “it is possible that we could see some action later on this week.” (The shutdown orders also impact charter and private schools. City officials have not said how many of those schools are affected.)

De Blasio has been one of the nation’s biggest proponents of reopening schools, and New York is a national test case for reopening a large urban school system, in large part because of low infection rates across the city.

Even as the city’s schools have reopened over the past month, there is little evidence so far that they are causing new infections. Just 28 of over 16,000 tests administered in schools have come back positive since Oct. 9, a positivity rate of 0.17%, according to new statistics released Monday. (The seven-day average citywide positivity rate is 1.6%, de Blasio said, though some virus clusters are posting rates that are two or three times higher, state data show.)

The low positivity rate on campuses has amplified frustration over the school closures among many parents and public health experts. Bars, restaurants, and houses of worship have been allowed to stay open in the city’s virus hotspots with some additional restrictions while schools have been completely shut down. (At the same time, some ultra-Orthodox yeshivas have defied public health orders and remained open.)

“Prioritizing outdoor dining over schools doesn’t make sense,” said Uché Blackstock, an urgent care physician who has treated coronavirus patients and has two children in city public schools. Schools “have the societal value — we should be working toward keeping them open.”

The city’s hotspots are defined by color-coded zones: red, orange and yellow, with all schools in red and orange zones completely shuttered. Bars and restaurants may continue outdoor dining in orange zones and may offer takeout in red zones. Houses of worship are allowed to continue indoor gatherings with a cap of 25 people in orange zones and 10 in the more-restrictive red zones.

Public health experts said there isn’t clear evidence that neighborhood-level restrictions will have a significant impact on the virus, especially as people travel between neighborhoods frequently and many teachers and students travel outside their neighborhoods to go to school.

“I understand where they’re coming from — what there’s really no will for right now is a general closure,” said Benjamin Linas, an epidemiologist at Boston University. “But it’s not clear it’s going to be effective as a public health strategy.”

Bill Neidhardt, a City Hall spokesperson, defended New York City’s decision to propose restrictions at the neighborhood level, including schools, and noted that the city’s teachers union supports the approach. About 7% of the city’s roughly 1,600 district schools are closed.

“It’s the most conservative, cautious approach that brings significant reduction of activity in the cluster zones,” he wrote in an email, “despite that we have not seen significant COVID spread in schools.”

Still, many parents remain upset by the closures and point out that it’s not clear when their children, now learning remotely full-time, will be allowed to return to school buildings or how those decisions will be made.

Jessica Dowshen, a parent at P.S. 139 in Brooklyn, said her third grade son has experienced only one day of in-person classes since school buildings reopened because the school is at the edge of an orange zone and was forced to shut down two weeks ago.

“He misses human interaction because it’s just not the same in a Zoom session,” Dowshen said.

Steven Mazie, whose seventh grade daughter attends M.S. 839 in Brooklyn, which is also in an orange zone, said the switch back to remote learning was smooth but that he remains frustrated about the mayor and governor’s approach. He pointed out that the boundaries include many schools that have largely been virus free.

“It just feels like we’re bouncing around between the mayor’s and the governor’s competing or sometimes overlapping orders,” Mazie said. There’s a “lack of sense and rationality behind it.”

These 169 NYC school sites will be closed on Thursday for at least 2 weeks

2020-10-08T01:20:01+00:00

An additional 33 New York City public schools are affected by closures starting Thursday, due to coronavirus upticks in the surrounding neighborhoods, the education department announced Wednesday night.

In total, 124 city-run schools are impacted, following a previous wave of shutdowns that started this week. The campuses will remain closed for at least two weeks.

Schools that were shuttered on Tuesday will remain closed, according to the education department, despite conflicting directives from the state.

Students at the affected schools will transition to learning fully online.

The campuses span more than 20 ZIP codes and include much of Brooklyn and parts of Queens. As some schools are spread across multiple sites, including many pre-K programs and those for students with disabilities, a total of 169 city-run sites are closed. Some schools might have one site that may open and another that must be shuttered.

Another 308 public school sites will be required to conduct weekly testing of students and staff because they are in areas bordering the coronavirus hot spots.

News of the latest shutdowns came after Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a tangle of last-minute restrictions prompted by a rise in coronavirus cases. On Monday, the governor approved school closures across entire ZIP codes, only to release another set of maps, outlining restrictions and school closures in areas experiencing increases in coronavirus infections. But the state maps did not neatly match the city’s.

Sixteen schools that are part of the city’s list of closures were not in the state’s restricted areas. Still, those schools will remain closed.

The closures come as a blow to students, educators, and families who began returning to classrooms just two weeks ago, when New York City, home to the country’s largest school system, became the first major district to reopen classrooms for in-person learning. To account for social distancing, students attend classes about one to three times a week and learn from home the rest of the time.

On Tuesday, about 200 private schools and 100 city-contracted child care and pre-K programs were ordered to close. The education department did not say how many more such schools and programs are required to shut down as of Thursday.

Below is a list of the schools that will be closed for at least two weeks.

School	DBN	Address	ZIP code	Zone Color
P.S. 198 Brooklyn	22K198	4105 FARRAGUT ROAD	11210	Yellow
P.S. 277 Gerritsen Beach	22K277	2529 GERRITSEN AVENUE	11229	Yellow
P.S. 201 The Discovery School for Inquiry and Research	25Q201	65-11 155 STREET	11367	Yellow
Ezra Jack Keats Pre-K Center at 83-30 Kew Gardens Road	28Q335	80-30 Kew Gardens Road	11415	Yellow
Brooklyn School of Inquiry	20K686	50 AVENUE P	11204	Yellow
The Academy of Talented Scholars	20K682	50 AVENUE P	11204	Yellow
P.S. 97 The Highlawn	21K097	1855 STILLWELL AVENUE	11223	Yellow
Pathways to Graduation	79Q950	67 09 KISSENA BOULEVARD	11367	Yellow
Pathways to Graduation	79Q950	50 AVENUE X	11223	Yellow
P370K @ PB70	75K370	50 AVENUE P	11204	Yellow
P721K @ JOHN DEWEY HS	75K721	50 AVENUE X	11223	Yellow
P721K @ ROY CAMPANELLA OTC	75K721	64 AVENUE X	11223	Yellow
John Dewey High School	21K540	50 AVENUE X	11223	Yellow
I.S. 096 Seth Low	21K096	99 AVENUE P	11204	Yellow
I.S. 228 David A. Boody	21K228	228 AVENUE S	11223	Yellow
P.S. 105 The Bay School	27Q105	420 BEACH 51 STREET	11691	Yellow
P.S. 179 Kensington	20K179	202 AVENUE C	11218	Red
District 20 Pre-K Center at 1668 46th Street	20K768	1668 46 Street	11204	Red
P.S. 209 Margaret Mead	21K209	2609 EAST 7 STREET	11235	Red
P.S. K134	22K134	4001 18 AVENUE	11218	Red
P.S. 207 Elizabeth G. Leary	22K207	4011 FILLMORE AVENUE	11234	Red
P.S. 222 Katherine R. Snyder	22K222	3301 QUENTIN ROAD	11234	Red
J.H.S. 157 Stephen A. Halsey	28Q157	63-55 102ND STREET	11374	Red
P.S. 175 The Lynn Gross Discovery School	28Q175	64-35 102 STREET	11374	Red
P.S. 196 Grand Central Parkway	28Q196	71-25 113 STREET	11375	Red
P.S. 196 Grand Central Parkway	28Q196	112-15 71 ROAD	11375	Red
P.S. 206 The Horace Harding School	28Q206	61-02 98 STREET	11374	Red
P.S. 220 Edward Mandel	28Q220	62-10 108 STREET	11375	Red
The Academy for Excellence through the Arts	28Q303	108-55 69 Avenue	11375	Red
The SEEALL Academy	20K180	5601 16 AVENUE	11204	Red
P.S. 192 - The Magnet School for Math and Science Inquiry	20K192	4715 18 AVENUE	11204	Red
P.S. 099 Isaac Asimov	21K099	1120 EAST 10 STREET	11230	Red
P.S. 226 Alfred De B. Mason	21K226	6006 23 AVENUE	11204	Red
P.S. 238 Anne Sullivan	21K238	1633 EAST 8 STREET	11223	Red
P.S. 164 Queens Valley	25Q164	138-01 77 AVENUE	11367	Red
P.S. 131 Brooklyn	15K131	4305 FT HAMILTON PARKWAY	11219	Red
P.S. 048 Mapleton	20K048	6015 18 AVENUE	11204	Red
P.S. 164 Caesar Rodney	20K164	4211 14 AVENUE	11219	Red
P.S. 153 Homecrest	21K153	1970 HOMECREST AVENUE	11229	Red
P.S. 199 Frederick Wachtel	21K199	1100 ELM AVENUE	11230	Red
P.S. 215 Morris H. Weiss	21K215	415 AVENUE S	11223	Red
P.S. 216 Arturo Toscanini	21K216	350 AVENUE X	11223	Red
P.S. 193 Gil Hodges	22K193	2515 AVENUE L	11210	Red
P.S. 197 - The Kings Highway Academy	22K197	1599 EAST 22 STREET	11210	Red
District 20 Pre-K Center at 1423 62nd Street	20K768	1423 62nd Street	11219	Red
Brooklyn's Daily Discovery Pre-K Center at 2202 60th Street	21K840	2202 60 Street	11204	Red
Brooklyn's Daily Discovery Pre-K Center at 385 Avenue W	21K840	385 Avenue W	11223	Red
Brooklyn's Daily Discovery Pre-K Center at 10 Bouck Court	21K840	10 Bouck Court	11223	Red
The Joan Snow Pre-K Center at 1340 East 29th Street	22K853	1340 East 29 Street	11210	Red
P.S. 121 Nelson A. Rockefeller	21K121	5301 20 AVENUE	11204	Red
P.S. 105 The Blythebourne	20K105	1031 59 STREET	11219	Red
P.S. 160 William T. Sampson	20K160	5105 Fort Hamilton Parkway	11219	Red
P.S. 255 Barbara Reing School	22K255	1866 EAST 17 STREET	11229	Red
Coop Tech	79M645	8-21 BAY 25 STREET	11691	Red
ReStart Academy	79M973	1830 Coney Island Avenue	11230	Red
Pathways to Graduation	79Q950	8-21 BAY 25 STREET	11691	Red
Pathways to Graduation	79Q950	1600 AVENUE L	11230	Red
P036K @ P192K	75K036	4715 18 AVENUE	11204	Red
P077K @ P164K	75K077	4211 14 AVENUE	11219	Red
P231K @ P180K	75K231	5601 16 AVENUE	11204	Red
P231K @ P215K	75K231	415 AVENUE S	11223	Red
P231K @ P238K	75K231	1633 EAST 8 STREET	11223	Red
P811K @ EDWARD R. MURROW HS	75K811	1600 AVENUE L	11230	Red
P256Q @ P253Q	75Q256	1307 CENTRAL AVENUE	11691	Red
Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School	20K505	5800 20 AVENUE	11204	Red
Edward R. Murrow High School	21K525	1600 AVENUE L	11230	Red
James Madison High School	22K425	3787 BEDFORD AVENUE	11229	Red
North Queens Community High School	25Q792	141-25 77TH ROAD	11367	Red
Frederick Douglass Academy VI High School	27Q260	8-21 BAY 25 STREET	11691	Red
Queens High School for Information, Research, and Technology	27Q302	8-21 BAY 25 STREET	11691	Red
J.H.S. 223 The Montauk	20K223	4200 16 AVENUE	11204	Red
J.H.S. 234 Arthur W. Cunningham	22K234	1875 EAST 17 STREET	11229	Red
Andries Hudde	22K240	2500 NOSTRAND AVENUE	11210	Red
I. S. 381	22K381	2500 NOSTRAND AVENUE	11210	Red
M.S. 053 Brian Piccolo	27Q053	10-45 NAMEOKE STREET	11691	Red
Knowledge and Power Preparatory Academy VI	27Q282	8-21 BAY 25 STREET	11691	Red
Village Academy	27Q319	10-45 NAMEOKE STREET	11691	Red
Urban Assembly School for Leadership and Empowerment	20K609	4200 16 AVENUE	11204	Red
Academy of Medical Technology: A College Board School	27Q309	8-21 BAY 25 STREET	11691	Red
P.S. 197 The Ocean School	27Q197	825 HICKSVILLE ROAD	11691	Red
P.S. 253	27Q253	1307 CENTRAL AVENUE	11691	Red
Wave Preparatory Elementary School	27Q362	535 BRIAR PLACE	11691	Red
District 20 Pre-K Center at 550 59th Street	20K768	550 59 Street	11220	Orange
District 20 Pre-K Center at 1258 65th Street	20K768	1258 65 Street	11219	Orange
Brooklyn's Daily Discovery Pre-K Center at 1215 Avenue X	21K840	1215 Avenue X	11235	Orange
The Joan Snow Pre-K Center at 1139 Coney Island Avenue	22K853	1139 Coney Island Avenue	11230	Orange
BKLYN COLL ACAD (BRIDGES TO K)-K	75K077	350 CONEY ISLAND AVENUE	11218	Orange
P811K @ I014K	75K811	2424 BATCHELDER STREET	11235	Orange
P811K @ CONNIE LEKAS SCHOOL	75K811	2525 HARING STREET	11235	Orange
P.S. 024	15K024	427 38 STREET	11232	Orange
P.S. 094 The Henry Longfellow	15K094	5010 6 AVENUE	11220	Orange
P.S. 130 The Parkside	15K130	70 OCEAN PARKWAY	11218	Orange
P.S. 130 The Parkside	15K130	713 CATON AVENUE	11218	Orange
P.S. 169 Sunset Park	15K169	4305 7 AVENUE	11232	Orange
P.S. 230 Doris L. Cohen	15K230	1 ALBEMARLE ROAD	11218	Orange
M.S. 839	15K839	713 CATON AVENUE	11218	Orange
The School of Creativity and Innovation	15K896	736 48TH STREET	11220	Orange
J.H.S. 062 Ditmas	20K062	700 CORTELYOU ROAD	11218	Orange
P.S. 69 Vincent D. Grippo School	20K069	6302 9TH AVENUE	11220	Orange
J.H.S. 220 John J. Pershing	20K220	4812 9TH AVENUE	11220	Orange
P.S. 100 The Coney Island School	21K100	2951 WEST 3 STREET	11224	Orange
P.S. K225 - The Eileen E. Zaglin	21K225	1075 OCEAN VIEW AVENUE	11235	Orange
I.S. 303 Herbert S. Eisenberg	21K303	501 WEST AVENUE	11224	Orange
Rachel Carson High School for Coastal Studies	21K344	501 WEST AVENUE	11224	Orange
Abraham Lincoln High School	21K410	2800 OCEAN PARKWAY	11235	Orange
William E. Grady Career and Technical Education High School	21K620	25 BRIGHTON 4TH ROAD	11235	Orange
J.H.S. 014 Shell Bank	22K014	2424 BATCHELDER STREET	11235	Orange
P.S. 139 Alexine A. Fenty	22K139	330 RUGBY ROAD	11226	Orange
P.S. 203 Floyd Bennett School	22K203	5101 AVENUE M	11234	Orange
P.S. 254 Dag Hammarskjold	22K254	1801 AVENUE Y	11235	Orange
Origins High School	22K611	3000 AVENUE X	11235	Orange
Professional Pathways High School	22K630	3000 AVENUE X	11235	Orange
P.S. 889	22K889	21 HINCKLEY PLACE	11218	Orange
M.S. 890	22K890	21 HINCKLEY PLACE	11218	Orange
High School for Arts and Business	24Q550	105-25 HORACE HARDING EXPY N	11368	Orange
Robert F. Kennedy Community High School	25Q670	75-40 PARSONS BOULEVARD	11366	Orange
P.S. 139 Rego Park	28Q139	93-06 63 DRIVE	11374	Orange
J.H.S. 190 Russell Sage	28Q190	68-17 AUSTIN STREET	11375	Orange
Forest Hills High School	28Q440	67-01 110 STREET	11375	Orange
P053K @ ABRAHAM LINCOLN HS	75K053	2800 OCEAN PARKWAY	11235	Orange
K053 @ K130	75K053	713 CATON AVENUE	11218	Orange
P370K @ P100K	75K370	2951 WEST 3 STREET	11224	Orange
P370K @ THE JIM THORPE SCHOOL	75K370	3000 WEST 1 STREET	11224	Orange
P370K @ WILLIAM GRADY HS	75K370	25 BRIGHTON 4TH ROAD	11235	Orange
P771K @ I303K	75K771	501 WEST AVENUE	11224	Orange
k771 @ k014	75K771	2424 BATCHELDER STREET	11235	Orange
P771K @ P225K	75K771	1075 OCEAN VIEW AVENUE	11235	Orange
P177Q @ P139Q	75Q177	93-06 63 DRIVE	11374	Orange
P177Q @ J190Q	75Q177	68-17 AUSTIN STREET	11375	Orange
P721Q @ JOHN F KENNEDY JR SCHOOL	75Q721	57-12 94 STREET	11373	Orange
P.S. 095 The Gravesend	21K095	345 VAN SICKLEN STREET	11223	Orange
P.S. 219 Paul Klapper	25Q219	144-39 GRAVETT ROAD	11367	Orange
The Queens College School for Math, Science and Technology	25Q499	148-20 REEVES AVENUE	11367	Orange
P.S. 205 Clarion	20K205	6701 20 AVENUE	11204	Orange
P.S. 177 The Marlboro	21K177	346 AVENUE P	11204	Orange
P.S. 119 Amersfort	22K119	3829 AVENUE K	11210	Orange
School of Science & Technology	22K152	725 EAST 23 STREET	11210	Orange
P.S. 194 Raoul Wallenberg	22K194	3117 AVENUE W	11229	Orange
P.S. 217 Colonel David Marcus School	22K217	1100 NEWKIRK AVENUE	11230	Orange
P.S. K315	22K315	725 EAST 23 STREET	11210	Orange
P.S. 361 East Flatbush Early Childhood School	22K361	1957 NOSTRAND AVENUE	11210	Orange
P.S. 165 Edith K. Bergtraum	25Q165	70-35 150 STREET	11367	Orange
P.S. 104 The Bays Water	27Q104	26-01 MOTT AVENUE	11691	Orange
Lighthouse Elementary School	27Q106	180 BEACH 35 STREET	11691	Orange
District 20 Pre-K Center at 2165 71st Street	20K768	2165 71st Street	11204	Orange
The Joan Snow Pre-K Center at 3610 Glenwood Road	22K853	3610 Glenwood Road	11210	Orange
P.S. 206 Joseph F Lamb	22K206	2200 GRAVESEND NECK ROAD	11229	Orange
P.S. 099 Kew Gardens	28Q099	82-37 KEW GARDENS ROAD	11415	Orange
P.S. 176 Ovington	20K176	1225 69 STREET	11219	Orange
P.S. 247 Brooklyn	20K247	7000 21 AVENUE	11204	Orange
The School For Future Leaders	20K310	942 62ND STREET	11219	Orange
ReStart Academy	79M973	120-55 QUEENS BOULEVARD	11415	Orange
Pathways to Graduation	79Q950	15-44 Hassock Street	11691	Orange
Pathways to Graduation	79Q950	2800 OCEAN PARKWAY	11235	Orange
P077K @ BROOKLYN COLLEGE CAMPUS	75K077	2900 BEDFORD AVENUE	11210	Orange
P256Q @ P043Q	75Q256	160 BEACH 29 STREET	11691	Orange
P255Q @ TOWNSEND HARRIS H.S.	75Q255	149-11 MELBOURNE AVENUE	11367	Orange
P993Q @ P499Q	75Q993	148-20 REEVES AVENUE	11367	Orange
West Brooklyn Community High School	15K529	1053 41ST STREET	11219	Orange
Midwood High School	22K405	2839 BEDFORD AVENUE	11210	Orange
Brooklyn College Academy	22K555	2900 BEDFORD AVENUE	11210	Orange
Brooklyn College Academy	22K555	350 CONEY ISLAND AVENUE	11218	Orange
John Bowne High School	25Q425	63-25 MAIN STREET	11367	Orange
Townsend Harris High School	25Q525	149-11 MELBOURNE AVENUE	11367	Orange
The Christa McAuliffe School\I.S. 187	20K187	1171 65 STREET	11219	Orange
J.H.S. 227 Edward B. Shallow	20K227	6500 16 AVENUE	11204	Orange
J.H.S. 278 Marine Park	22K278	1925 STUART STREET	11229	Orange
P.S. 043	27Q043	160 BEACH 29 STREET	11691	Orange
P.S. 253	21K253	601 OCEANVIEW AVENUE	11235	Orange

NYC school closures in coronavirus hotspots

Source: NYC Department of Education

As NYC sprints to reopen schools, several senior education officials have headed for the exit

2020-09-28T19:05:31+00:00

As New York City scrambles to reopen school buildings for hundreds of thousands of students this week, a handful of top officials charged with making that happen have left the education department in quick succession.

Three of those officials — Chief Operating Officer Ursulina Ramirez, Deputy Chancellor Karin Goldmark, and senior advisor Alison Hirsh — have announced in the past three weeks their plans to leave. All three have been involved in the city’s efforts to reopen schools, which has been delayed twice in the past month. Following the drumbeat of departures, and a swirl of rumors, the education department’s press secretary took the unusual step Friday of publicly denying that schools Chancellor Richard Carranza also planned to step down.

Goldmark, who has emphasized that her leave will be temporary, and Ramirez have been important players in carrying out the education department’s reopening strategy, focused on a wide portfolio of issues ranging from jump-starting the city’s school bus infrastructure to figuring out how to create enough space for socially distanced classes.

Deputy Chancellor Karin Goldmark

The back-to-back exits come at a precarious moment for the education department, which is scheduled to reopen school buildings to students in elementary, middle, and high schools this week. The reopening effort was further complicated on Sunday when the principals union indicated they have no confidence in the mayor and chancellor’s plans and demanded the state seize control of the city’s schools.

“We need real leadership and certainty in these times,” said Paula White, the executive director of the advocacy group Educators for Excellence in New York and a former education official in New Jersey. “When you have this level of churn at the top it just adds further chaos at this crucial moment.”

Some insiders and observers said broader frustration with the mayor’s mishandling of the reopening process has played a role in the exodus of senior education department officials, three of whom previously worked directly with de Blasio.

An official familiar with the recent slate of departures said de Blasio’s handling of school reopening was a factor. Much of the reopening effort has been run through City Hall, and top education department officials have felt minimized in key decisions. The mayor has also ignored advice from his own advisory group of experts who were asked to offer input on how to reopen schools. When concerns bubble up about issues such as inadequate staffing, which had been a cause of concern for weeks and ultimately contributed a last-minute delay to the school year, the mayor has been dismissive, the official said.

“There are roadblocks in City Hall and it’s difficult to make decisions and just articulate what some of the challenges are without being called bureaucrats,” said the official, who is not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity. “People are really demoralized.”

Still, it is not uncommon for New York City officials to be prime candidates for a range of in-demand education jobs, given their experience managing the nation’s largest school system. And the desire to begin lining up other jobs has intensified since de Blasio is term-limited and his successor will be elected next year, with a new mayor likely replacing many senior education officials.

The latest round of departures began in June, with two senior officials leaving to run other school systems. Cheryl Watson-Harris, the department’s second-in-command, became the superintendent of a Georgia school district. She was replaced by Donald Conyers, a nearly 40-year veteran of the department.

Human resources chief Tomás Hana decamped for the top job at a school district in Pennsylvania, and the position was filled on an interim basis by Vicki Bernstein. That role may take outsized importance, as the education department scrambles to hire thousands of teachers in response to a staffing crisis, created in part by an agreement with the city’s teachers union, and which contributed to the delayed start to the school year.

Former First Deputy Chancellor Cheryl Watson-Harris

In September, Ramirez, the chief operating officer, left for a nonprofit job that has yet to be announced after working at the education department for almost seven years. Hirsh, who had worked at the education department for only three months after departing City Hall in June, also resigned this month. Ramirez and Hirsh, who both previously worked for de Blasio, will not be replaced, officials said.

And this week, Goldmark, a top education department deputy who previously worked at City Hall for six years, announced she would take a leave of absence to “do everything possible to ensure a Democratic victory” in the presidential election by working on the Biden campaign. An education department spokesperson, Miranda Barbot, said in a statement that Goldmark “has not formally been placed on leave” and did not elaborate on when the leave would begin or whether anyone would take over her role while she’s gone.

“We have incredibly strong leaders with dedicated teams at all levels of the [education department] who are focused on our common goal of a safe and successful school reopening,” Barbot wrote. “We have tremendous confidence in our staff as we begin this school year.”

Former Chief Operating Officer Ursulina Ramirez

Some said the string of departures was unlikely to cause immediate damage to the city’s reopening efforts, as a bureaucracy as large as the education department has plenty of managers who can fill in.

“We generally have a deep enough pool of people to do what we need to do,” said Mark Cannizarro, head of the union that represents school administrators. “Time will only tell whether or not things could have been done any differently or better with them remaining here.”

Even if it’s unclear whether their departures will have an immediate effect on day-to-day operations, it could create political problems. The mayor has alienated many parents and educators in recent months, despite many experts saying New York City is in a good position to reopen from a public health perspective and offering some in-person learning has potentially significant educational upsides.

The revolving door of senior staff could feed the perception that de Blasio’s plans are insufficient and provide fodder for critics, said Josh Starr, a former New York City schools official and current head of PDK International, an association for educators.

“There is a symbolic effect and you can’t deny that,” Starr said. “It continues to deteriorate the credibility in the overall administration.”

More NYC teachers can work remotely, including those with vulnerable family members

2020-09-26T00:34:59+00:00

In a reversal of education department policy, New York City educators will now be allowed to work remotely if they are teaching students who are learning from home, according to a new agreement reached Friday between the city and the teachers union.

The deal also gives priority for remote positions to educators living with family members who are at higher risk for coronavirus complications. That had been a major concern among some teachers who worried about transmitting the coronavirus to vulnerable relatives.

The agreement attempts to address a staffing crunch by allowing schools to skirt some of the very rules established in a previous deal with the teachers union. But it also brings a whole new set of complications.

Announced Friday night, the seven pages of requirements outline yet more changes for school leaders and families to navigate at the last minute. Students at every grade level will be allowed to return to school buildings next week, leaving principals with little time to make needed adaptations.

And there could be more changes in store: The agreement refers to yet another round of work guidance that is “forthcoming.” That guidance is expected to outline certain work duties that can be performed online for teachers who have in-person responsibilities.

Also included in the agreement: parent-teacher conferences will be conducted online, unless an in-person meeting is requested.

All teachers — except the roughly 23% percent of those with medical accommodations — have been reporting to their school buildings since Sept. 8. On Monday, most students started the first full week of instruction from home, and at least 46% of students have so far opted to learn from home full-time.

Many families whose children signed up for remote learning were surprised to see teachers, often in masks, delivering remote instruction from classrooms.

Teachers argued it made little sense to report to buildings to teach students learning online. “These common-sense policies will help keep our school communities safe while enabling you to do your work,” teachers union president Michael Mulgrew wrote to members on Friday.

The education department will extend the work-from-home preference, which kicks in Oct. 5, “first to those who reside with someone on the CDC medical accommodation list,” said Danielle Filson, a spokesperson for the education department, in a statement after this story was published. “This will help to reduce the number of occupants in school buildings, minimize congestion on public transportation, and give principals the ability to make decisions that best fit their school communities.”

Principals have some leeway and can require up to 20% of teachers with remote assignments to come into school buildings “with reasonable advance notice.” The agreement doesn’t say how much notice is enough.

Schools are also now allowed to adopt schedules and teacher assignments that don’t fit neatly into the union’s previous agreement. That deal was nearly impossible for many schools to follow.

Some schools, for instance, are planning to have students learn on virtual platforms even when they’re in school buildings or are asking educators to teach a mix of in-person and remote students during different periods of the day. The original agreement between the city and union discouraged this, demanding separate teachers for those who are physically in school and those who are learning from home. Now, principals could have more flexibility.

But the process for getting work-arounds approved could prove time-consuming if there is disagreement between the principal and teachers. The steps for doing so are laid out in a 12-page memo, and requires at least 55% of union members to vote in favor. If union members and administrators cannot come to an agreement, they can ask their superintendent and the school’s district union representative to help find a resolution.

The deal does not allow for much flexibility around one hot button issue: live-streaming classes. It bars principals from requiring teachers to broadcast their classes to a mix of students who are in person and remote, something Mulgrew and schools Chancellor Richard Carranza have insisted would lead to subpar teaching. But teachers can choose to livestream classes.

While some of the changes may be well-received, the agreement adds another hurdle if schools have to reassign teachers after they’ve already met their students. The school year started Sept. 16 and students in all grades will be allowed to attend in-person classes by Oct. 1. Principals may be forced to scramble once again to re-work their schedules to accommodate new waves of teachers who are eligible to work from home.

Mark Cannizzaro, president of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, the union that represents principals, was furious that the education department did not brief school leaders on the agreement, with many learning details from teachers at their schools Friday evening.

“To do this at the 11th hour is unacceptable,” he said. “Unfortunately, we’re getting all too used to that.”

He added that principals urgently need guidance about how decisions will be made regarding expanded accommodations to work from home due to family members’ medical issues. “If they can’t make those accommodations and someone has a real need, the principal is in a real difficult spot,” Cannizzaro said. He noted that it is still unclear whether there will be enough teachers on hand for in-person classes next week.

Such accommodations will only be considered at schools that need to fill more full-remote teaching positions, according to the agreement.

School kicked off more than a week ago, and the latest move follows weeks of scheduling conundrums, a staffing shortage, and two delays for reopening buildings in the nation’s largest school district.

One principal in Queens, who asked that his name not be used because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said the late agreement makes his job “1,000 times harder.” He said he was relying on teachers working with remote students to help with student arrival and dismissal, which now involves temperature checks and health screenings.

Teachers with remote students also made up half of his “building response team,” a group of staffers coordinating the school’s virus response protocols, such as ensuring safe morning entry. With fewer educators on campus, he’s concerned it will take longer for students to make their way inside, cutting into their instructional time.

By 7:30 p.m. Friday night, three teachers had emailed him asking to work from home, he said.

“I am ready to quit,” he said.

Marilyn Ramirez, a chapter leader and bilingual special education teacher at High School for Media Communications in Washington Heights, said Friday her colleagues’ group chat was “going off” with happy texts about the new agreement — especially the ability to work from home if students are also at home. Overall, she thought the agreement was an indication that city officials were “listening now.”

“I just wish that we — we, meaning the DOE — would have thought about this from the beginning, like maybe gotten teachers and principals involved in the planning, and then that way all of these concerns could have been addressed a couple of months ago,” Ramirez said.

Amid coronavirus upheaval, NYC considered overhauling how 164 schools are supervised. Now officials are backing off.

2020-07-21T22:40:22+00:00

After backlash from principals and nonprofit leaders, the city’s education department has backed off a plan that would have overhauled the way roughly one-third of public high schools are supervised.

At issue are 164 schools in the city’s “Affinity” network, which include schools that exclusively serve new immigrants, deploy alternate assessments in lieu of state exit exams, or have a career focus. City officials were considering a plan to break up the network, reassign the superintendents who oversee it, and disband the central office that provides logistical support and training for Affinity schools.

The education department has decided to leave the network largely intact after parents, school leaders, and partner organizations expressed alarm over the plan, which would have changed the schools’ supervision structure just as they’re scrambling to reopen their doors after buildings were shut in March due to the coronavirus.

The Affinity schools will be supervised by the same set of superintendents, a major sticking point among those opposed to the reorganization.

“Your voices mattered — and they were heard!” wrote the Affinity office’s executive director, Carolyne Quintana, in a memo sent to members of the network and obtained by Chalkbeat. Schools “may continue to do important and challenging work with the guidance of superintendents they know and trust.”

However, the citywide office that had provided support for Affinity schools will be closed and the schools will be reassigned to an existing network of borough-based support offices. Quintana’s memo indicated those staff members may be allowed to move to the borough offices and keep working with the same schools, though it’s unclear if that will happen in every case.

Each Affinity school is supported by nonprofit or university partners, such as New Visions, Outward Bound, Urban Assembly, and CUNY, giving groups of schools the ability to collaborate on curriculum and teacher training, and to share best practices — relationships that will go unchanged for now.

“We’re grateful that our structure was largely preserved,” said Kristin Kearns-Jordan, the CEO of Urban Assembly, which partners with 21 Affinity schools, many of which have career-oriented themes, such as criminal justice or emergency management. “We are hopeful that [the city] will maintain our contracts,” given the city’s bleak financial picture and uncertainty about whether the federal government will fill the gap, she added.

It’s not entirely clear what the education department hopes to accomplish by dissolving the Affinity support office, whose staff helps schools with budgeting, human resources, special education compliance, and more.

Nathaniel Styer, an education department spokesperson, previously suggested that changes could be a cost-saving measure, but did not answer questions about how much money dissolving Affinity’s support office will save, whether any staff will be laid off, or when the changes will formally take place.

“We are answering the call of our valued Affinity school leaders and partner organizations for consistent supervision and support as they provide students with a high-quality education during the critical academic school year ahead,” Styer wrote in an email.

The Affinity network is a vestige of a support system that was conceived under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg; schools were given the option of joining one of dozens of support networks, some of which were affiliated with nonprofits and universities.

But under Mayor Bill de Blasio, those networks were dissolved and local superintendents were given new authority to directly supervise schools. The Affinity network escaped elimination during that reorganization, retaining a separate network of support with their own superintendents, partly thanks to pushback from politically connected nonprofit leaders.

One Affinity school principal, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the department made the right decision to avoid disbanding the network.

“It’s a win-win,” the principal said. “The DOE gets to say that Affinity has been abolished and no longer exists, but we get to stay with the people who have been helping us in this crisis, which is our superintendent’s team.”

NYC may overhaul how one-third of its high schools are supervised, upsetting some principals

2020-06-26T22:05:50+00:00

More than a third of New York City’s high schools might lose their superintendents and be scattered to new supervisors across the system under a possible restructuring plan, Chalkbeat has learned.

The proposal is already generating backlash among the 164 schools in the city’s “Affinity” network, which include schools that exclusively serve new immigrants, deploy alternate assessments in lieu of state exit exams, or have a career focus.

Many of their principals rely on partnerships and collaborations with like-minded schools even as they’re scattered across the city. The schools are supported by deep relationships with nonprofit or university partners, such as New Visions, Outward Bound, Urban Assembly and CUNY, giving the schools the ability to collaborate on curriculum, teacher training, and share best practices.

But unlike most of the city’s schools, which are overseen by geographically-based superintendents, Affinity schools are supervised by a separate set of centralized superintendents and have their own citywide support office, which provides help with school budgets, hiring, and training opportunities.

Now, city officials have quietly been discussing breaking up the network, reassigning the superintendents, and disbanding its central support office, according to a draft of a letter from Affinity principals that was obtained by Chalkbeat.

“We are deeply concerned that the substance and timing of this reorganization will be deeply damaging to our schools and the students and families we serve,” the principals wrote, noting that many of their schools post higher-than-average graduation rates. “The relationships that have been built between superintendents, partners, and coaches who support us are crucial and have allowed our schools to work together within the superintendencies to improve teaching and learning.”

Multiple people connected to the Affinity schools, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there had been little discussion about the possible changes or why they were being considered, with some wondering whether it was an attempt to save money.

Many expressed worry that shifting the schools’ supervision comes at a precarious moment, as schools grapple with resuming in-person instruction this fall and face massive staffing and logistical challenges.

Education department officials did not dispute that changes were in the works, and hinted that there might be budget considerations.

“No decisions have been made and we will be transparent with school communities with up-to-date information as soon as it is made available,” Nathaniel Styer, a department spokesperson, wrote in an email. “With our extraordinarily difficult budget environment, everything is on the table while our goal is to minimize the impact on student learning.”

Longer term, some observers said a shakeup could make it challenging for schools within the network to collaborate and ultimately make good on their missions.

“It’s going to be much more difficult for them to continue a network of like schools,” said Norm Fruchter, a consultant at NYU’s Metro Center who has written about the Affinity network. “If they now are reporting to a local superintendent, how are they going to manage to reach out and work with other schools in their network?”

There are also longstanding power dynamics at play. Under the Bloomberg administration, schools were given the option of joining one of dozens of support networks, some of which were affiliated with nonprofits and universities. But under schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña, those networks were dissolved and local superintendents were given new authority to directly supervise schools.

But there was one important exception: The Affinity schools were allowed to retain a separate network of support with their own superintendents after some politically-connected nonprofit leaders exerted pressure. That may give hope to some that the current reorganization could be blocked.

“In some ways, that was the crux of the debates around the dissolution of the [network structure] and the tradeoff of a geographically-based system and one that was based on a substantive connection between schools,” said Aaron Pallas, a professor at Teachers College. “Carmen decided she wanted something that was as close to geographically-based as possible.”

Some parents said they have started to get wind of a possible shakeup and are worried that it will weaken the schools. Kemala Karmen, whose 10th grade daughter attends a high school that uses alternative assessments in lieu of state exit exams, said she is nervous about possible changes.

The Affinity network “allows for professional communities to develop, and that directly affects my children,” she said. “Why would you take away what’s working for these schools?”

Here’s what reopening NYC schools could look like this fall, according to a memo from Carranza

2020-06-10T03:28:21+00:00

New York City schools Chancellor Richard Carranza on Tuesday hinted at what restarting schools could look like in the fall: personal protective gear, trauma-informed approaches to teaching, a hybrid of in-person and remote learning, and phased-in start dates.

That is according to an email sent to principals and other school leaders, which was shared with Chalkbeat.

The public health landscape in September remains uncertain, the letter emphasized, meaning that many crucial logistical questions still don’t have answers.

“We can’t predict what will be true in September, but as of now we are anticipating that social distancing will remain in effect,” the chancellor wrote.

The city will provide schools an additional $10 million to pay teachers and principals to work during the summer on their reopening plans, according to an education department spokeswoman. There were no additional details about where the money is coming from as the education department faces drastic cuts next fiscal year — with individual school budgets taking the brunt of the cuts.

The chancellor’s letter does not offer a date for reopening school buildings for the city’s 1.1 million students, though Carranza noted that the city is “wholeheartedly” moving toward reopening in September. In response to the coronavirus pandemic, students have been learning remotely since March 23.

When campuses do open, Carranza signaled that students’ schedules are likely to be upended, with the possibility that not all students will return on the same date. The chancellor also signaled that “split schedules” could be coming, in which students travel to school intermittently and participate in remote learning on alternate days. The city’s teachers union has also suggested that as a possibility.

Buildings will likely need to limit the movement of students and educators inside, outside, and within the building, the chancellor said. The education department will also need to figure out how to safely operate school buses and school food operations while adhering to social distancing guidelines. (The letter does not address public transportation, which many staff and students use to get to and from school, though the transit authority is ultimately controlled by the state.)

Carranza says schools must consider several factors for reopening: health and safety, social-emotional and mental health, blended learning options, staggered opening dates and split schedules, limiting movement in buildings, more cleaning, busing, and meals — all while planning for a September opening date.

New York City and some 700 other districts in the state can only reopen with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s blessing, the governor has said. Districts must submit detailed reopening plans to the state in July for approval. Cuomo will ultimately decide when and how schools can begin to open up, though it’s unclear when exactly he’ll act.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has launched a 45-member panel to advise him on how to reopen school buildings. Carranza said the education department will consult parents, students, and staff on its reopening plans.

Read Carranza’s full letter here.

Carranza’s top deputy expected to land superintendent job in Georgia

2020-06-05T01:28:25+00:00

New York City’s second in command in the education department is expected to head to Georgia to lead the DeKalb County school district, just outside of Atlanta.

Cheryl Watson-Harris, who currently serves as first deputy chancellor, was named the sole finalist for superintendent, the DeKalb district announced Thursday. She is expected to be appointed on July 1, pending a 14-day waiting period that is mandated by Georgia law. During that time, she’ll meet with the public in virtual meetings.

In an email she sent to some colleagues, which was obtained by Chalkbeat, Watson-Harris said she was “delighted about this opportunity” and that she knows “this is my next calling.”

“I hope this is not goodbye, but a so long and the opportunity to do great things for children in a new space,” she wrote.

It’s not guaranteed that she’ll be appointed. Just weeks ago, it looked like the position would go to former New York City Chancellor Rudy Crew, who currently leads Medgar Evers College. But the school board, expressing concerns about his age and past allegations against him, backtracked and declined to offer him a contract.

In New York City, the education department acknowledged last week that Watson-Harris had been job hunting since December, after it became public that she had applied for a superintendent position in Florida.

She is set to leave the country’s largest school system just as it faces some of its greatest challenges, amid the coronavirus pandemic and resulting budget squeeze. Those difficulties coincide with widespread civil unrest in the wake of the death of George Floyd, a black Minnesota man who died under the knee of a white police officer.

DeKalb’s announcement of her selection credits Watson-Harris with devising the city’s new school support system under schools Chancellor Richard Carranza, which includes supervising nine newly created executive superintendent positions and managing the department’s somewhat opaque efforts to improve schools. Those reforms have garnered criticism from some who say they have added bureaucracy, been poorly defined, and do not include clear metrics for improving schools.

Carranza, who appointed Watson-Harris as his right-hand in 2018, called her looming departure “bittersweet.”

“We are so grateful for all Cheryl has contributed to advancing equity and excellence for New York City’s 1.1 million public school students,” he wrote. “We wish her the best in this incredible new endeavor and know the students of DeKalb County would be lucky to have Cheryl as their leader.”

Watson-Harris rose quickly through the ranks of the city’s education department, serving in two different stints here that were broken up by time spent as a principal and senior education official in Boston. Upon her return in 2015, she was responsible for just one of the city’s school-support centers in Brooklyn and went on to supervise all seven of them. At one point, she had been rumored to be under consideration to become chancellor.

DeKalb County serves about 100,000 students, fewer than Watson-Harris oversaw in Brooklyn, the role she held prior to joining the education department’s central offices. Most of those enrolled are students of color: almost 64% are black, about 17% are Hispanic, 11% are white, and just over 6% are Asian.

DeKalb school board Chair Marshall Orson touted Watson-Harris’ experience and “her commitment to equity for all students.”

“Cheryl Watson-Harris is part of the next generation of outstanding leaders in public education,” he said. “She fits the criteria desired by the DeKalb community.”

Carranza’s No. 2 at the education department is job hunting outside NYC

2020-05-28T20:28:33+00:00

The chancellor’s right-hand at the New York City education department is looking for a new gig.

Cheryl Watson-Harris was briefly one of more than 20 candidates vying to become superintendent of Sarasota County schools, which enrolls about 44,000 students on the west coast of Florida, according to a copy of her application that had been posted on the district’s website.

But she withdrew from the running Thursday afternoon, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported. A spokesperson for the New York City education department said Watson-Harris “is pursuing other opportunities, a process we understand to have begun in December.”

Florida has unusually broad public records laws, while New York City’s education department is notoriously difficult to pry documents from. Her resume, cover letter, and letters of recommendation had been posted online, alongside the other candidates.

Hours after receiving questions from Chalkbeat about her application, Watson-Harris withdrew from consideration, according to John Reichert, a consultant with the Florida School Boards Association who is helping to lead the superintendent search.

“That was just a personal choice,” Watson-Harris told the Herald-Tribune.

Watson-Harris currently serves as second-in-command of the country’s largest school system and led New York City’s transition to remote learning after the coronavirus outbreak, according to her May 17 cover letter. Chancellor Richard Carranza tapped her for a newly created first deputy chancellor position shortly after he took the reins in 2018. Watson-Harris has been responsible for overseeing the chancellor’s new approach to supporting and supervising schools.

Watson-Harris set her sights elsewhere as the city’s education department is facing enormous uncertainty brought on by the coronavirus, along with a looming budget crisis that will likely be felt for years to come. With school buildings shuttered for at least a third of the academic year, it is unclear when students will be able to return. Watson-Harris has been a key player in the department’s response to the outbreak.

In a statement provided through the education department before removing herself from the running in Sarasota, Watson-Harris said it was time to weigh her options.

“I’ve learned so much in my time here. As my daughter graduates high school and my son looks to begin high school in the fall, and as I evaluate personal and family obligations, this is a time for my family to make difficult decisions for our future,” she said. “If I were to accept a job elsewhere, I would do everything to make sure our 1.1 million NYC school children and my colleagues have the support they need for a successful transition.”

She did not respond to a Chalkbeat request for comment after withdrawing her interest in the Florida position.

Her application for the Florida job signals that a reshuffling at the education department might be on the horizon. In New York City, the mayor controls the school system, and Mayor Bill de Blasio is wrapping up his final term. In the short history of mayoral control, each new city leader has shaken up the leadership at Tweed, the education department’s central offices. That means many senior officials may be looking now for their next steps.

Aaron Pallas, department chair of education policy and analysis at Teachers College at Columbia University, said it’s likely that Watson-Harris is simply looking to take on her own leadership role.

“My sense is that she’s still well respected, that she’s managed the responsibilities that she’s had effectively. The [department of education] is sprawling, and complicated, and hard to manage — and there’s certainly not a perception that things are falling apart,” Pallas said.

But, he added, there’s no specific initiative identified with Watson-Harris “that people are clearly happy about.”

Her rise through the New York City ranks has been swift, moving quickly from being responsible for just one of the city’s school-support centers in Brooklyn, to supervising all seven. She had been rumored to be in the running to become chancellor after former schools chief Carmen Fariña retired.

In a recommendation letter for the Sarasota position, Carranza praised Watson-Harris for her ability to implement systems that keep individual students and schools in mind.

“She believes that change is possible, within our control, and a moral imperative,” he wrote. “These internal beliefs undergird everything she does.”

Watson-Harris described herself as “an equity-warrior, impactful leader, and champion for children” in her cover letter. She pointed to her management of nine executive superintendents, and a reorganization of how superintendents and borough-level school support offices work with each other as key accomplishments. Spearheaded by Carranza, those changes have raised eyebrows among some critics who say they have been expensive and the benefits of additional superintendents are unclear.

Although Carranza — and Watson-Harris — have embraced “advance equity now” as a mantra, there have been few dramatic policy changes under their leadership. The mayor, who sets the department’s agenda, has largely been content to stick with ideas he rolled out during his first term.

Watson-Harris has largely avoided controversy while in New York City — but not completely. Questions were raised about how her two children ended up in coveted schools after moving to the city in the summer of 2015. The city’s competitive application process typically makes it difficult for transfer students to snag seats at sought-after campuses. In a lawsuit filed by three white women claiming reverse discrimination by the education department, a former top official charged that she was leap-frogged by Watson-Harris for the first deputy chancellor position, even though Watson-Harris lacked the required license.

“The children in New York City — 70% of whom are black and brown children — get to see senior level administrators that look like them,” Carranza said when asked about the lawsuit. “And they happen to be extremely well-qualified individuals who at any moment could get tapped to lead their own school system anywhere across this country.”

DeVos guidance could shift $38 million in federal relief from NYC’s public schools to private ones, advocates say

2020-05-20T00:15:45+00:00

As states decide whether to follow controversial federal guidance that would send additional pandemic-related support to private schools, one advocacy group says the new recommendation could cost city public schools millions of dollars.

The Education Law Center, which is funded in part by national and state teachers unions, says the federal guidance would “significantly diminish the resources available to public school districts” to strengthen remote learning, and is asking the state to reject the guidance, David Sciarra, the center’s executive director, wrote Tuesday in a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Just over $1 billion in federal pandemic relief is set aside for schools in New York state — including $717 million for New York City schools, with some portion going toward services for private school students, such as tutoring and after-school programming. If the state follows Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s guidance on how districts should direct money to support private schools, New York City’s public schools could lose an estimated $38 million, according to the Education Law Center, which used state data to calculate the amount.

At issue are federal CARES Act dollars, which are supposed to help schools deal with costs linked to the pandemic, such as buying laptops for students so they can learn from home. Federal officials decided on how much money each district would get largely based on the Title I formula, which sends extra dollars to districts with many low-income students.

With businesses closed, New York State expected a massive revenue shortfall when it developed its budget in March. Instead of using the federal dollars to bolster state money for school districts, Cuomo and lawmakers cut state dollars in a way that effectively canceled out CARES Act funds. That approach left the biggest financial burden on school districts with high-shares of low-income students.

In normal times, school districts use Title I funds to support services for low-income private school students. On April 30, DeVos issued guidance that said private schools should receive CARES Act services based on the school’s total enrollment, not just based on the number of low-income students it serves. That means that private schools, many of which are also suffering financially, would receive a larger than anticipated share of the federal relief dollars because they generally enroll a smaller share of low-income students, compared to public schools.

The U.S. Department of Education has defended its guidance, saying that it follows the law’s intent of helping both public and private schools. The Education Law Center disagrees, as do many other public school advocates. The center points out that the CARES Act calls for funding to be distributed “in the same manner” as Title I dollars.

“The Secretary seeks to accomplish her objective by instructing public schools to not only set aside funds for low income private school students, but also students in every income bracket, including the most wealthy,” Sciarra wrote. “By allowing even the wealthiest students in the most expensive private schools to receive services paid for with CARES Act funds, New York would divert millions that could be used by [school districts] to meet the critical needs of low income students.”

Private schools have to opt in to receive such services and it’s not clear how many, or which ones, will do so.

New York officials have not yet said whether they’ll follow DeVos’s guidance. Freeman Klopott, a spokesperson for the governor, said the state education department will decide how districts should allocate CARES Act dollars. The state education department, however, is still finalizing the application that districts must fill out to receive their portion of the federal relief money, a spokesperson said Tuesday. Information about how districts should account for private schools will be released when the application is complete, the spokesperson said, though it’s not known when that will be.

Some states have already made decisions. Kentucky and Tennessee, for example, will follow the federal guidance, while Indiana has told districts to ignore it and prioritize funding for schools serving a large number of students from low-income families.

The New York City education department did not respond for comment, though spokesperson Katie O’Hanlon recently told Chalkbeat that the department had “initial concerns about its impact given an already difficult financial landscape.”

A recent analysis found that private school enrollment is much higher in the wealthiest parts of the city.

New York City private schools would receive an estimated $88 million in CARES Act relief if the district distributed resources based on the number of low-income students, the Education Law Center projects. That would rise to $126 million if the state decides to adopt DeVos’s guidance, according to the center.

That estimated loss to city schools is relatively tiny — the education department’s current budget is $34 billion — but it would come as the city is already clamoring for more dollars amid a budget crisis where the state has effectively nullified the federal aid. The mayor has proposed nearly $830 million in cuts for schools through next fiscal year as city officials work to finalize a new budget, and cuts from the state are expected this month if more federal dollars don’t come through. New York City schools Chancellor Richard Carranza has said the department is “at the bone” and can’t find additional savings, though some have been pushing the department to slash pricey contracts and central office employee salaries.

Sciarra, of the Education Law Center, believes districts could individually decide whether to follow DeVos’s guidance, but his organization prefers states make the final call.

“We would rather [that] than have districts deal with this on their own because it might be difficult for districts to decide individually not to follow guidance by the U.S. Secretary of Education,” Sciarra said in an interview. “They may be worried about that — they may feel they don’t have the authority to do that.”

These 267 NYC schools were honored as ‘Recognition Schools’ for their academic performance

2020-04-23T20:21:21+00:00

New York City is home to 267 of the state’s highest-performing schools, according to state accountability measures.

These so-called “Recognition Schools,” which state officials announced on Thursday, must have shown high academic achievement and substantial progress over the 2018-2019 school year. Of those in New York City, 35 are charters, and the rest are district schools.

In Manhattan’s District 2, one of the most affluent school districts in New York City, with about half of its students from low-income homes, 41 schools made the list — the highest of any other city district. By contrast, the Bronx’s District 9 and Brooklyn districts 14, 16, 18, and 32, where from 70% to 92% of students come from low-income families, each had one school on the list.

This is the second year that school progress is being measured under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, which has given states more freedom to decide which schools are performing well and which ones are struggling.

“These are exemplary public schools that demonstrate that all students can achieve at high levels with the right supports and resources,” Board of Regents Chancellor Betty A. Rosa said in a statement.

To be considered top-performing, schools must already be in “good standing” with the state, meaning they cannot have been identified recently as needing improvement. Under the state’s accountability framework, schools are rated from Level 1, the lowest, to Level 4, the highest, on several different measures. Elementary and middle schools must earn a Level 4 on academic performance and progress for all students, while high schools must earn 4s for their academic performance and graduation rate.

Schools cannot earn the lowest score on any other indicator: progress on state tests; chronic absenteeism; English proficiency among students learning English as a new language; and college, career, and civic readiness for high schools.

Schools cannot have any subgroups of students, such as English language learners, that were identified last school year as needing extra support.

And at least 95% of students at these “Recognition Schools” must have taken a state reading or math exam, in accordance with the federal law.

Schools can appear on the list year after year. Last year, 277 city schools were recognized. Of those, 147 were recognized again, while 130 didn’t make this year’s list, according to a Chalkbeat analysis. This year, 120 schools were recognized for the first time under the new accountability framework.

This year, a total 582 schools across the state made the list.

See which New York City schools made this year’s list below.

Gabrielle LaMarr LeMee contributed reporting.

Searchable database created by Gabrielle LaMarr LeMee

Memo ordering NYC schools to keep coronavirus cases quiet is under investigation

2020-04-15T02:10:30+00:00

This story was originally published on April 14, 2020 by THE CITY.

The Special Commissioner for Investigations for city schools is probing the Department of Education’s bid to squelch coronavirus infection information in the chaotic days before schools were closed.

The investigation comes in response to a report by THE CITY revealing an internal memo advising school officials to not report cases of teachers or staff who tested positive for COVID-19 or were likely infected to the city health department.

Following the story, Councilmember Robert Holden (D-Queens) asked Special Commissioner for Investigations Anastasia Coleman to look into the origin of the memo — and whether it contributed to the spread of the virus within schools before Mayor Bill de Blasio reluctantly announced on March 15 that schools would be shuttered.

Councilmember Robert Holden (D-Queens) Photo: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY

In an interview Tuesday with THE CITY, Holden said he believes the March 10 memo was intended to help cover up the scope of the spread of the virus within the city public education system to justify keeping schools open amid an avalanche of pressure.

“A lot of teachers were calling us and saying, ‘Why aren’t the schools closed? We have some staff who are infected,’” Holden recalled.

“This is the DOE’s M.O., this is how they operate. They were trying to cover up. They were saying to us, they want to cover this up, we don’t want to cause mass hysteria,” he said.

🔗A Wave of Deaths

On March 30, SCI investigator Hector Rivera notified Holden, “I am assigned and investigating the allegations of negligence by the Department of Education, regarding the COVID-19 cases in the city schools.”

On Tuesday, Regina Gluzmanova, an SCI spokesperson, declined to discuss the investigation, stating, “SCI is in receipt of the Council Member’s letter and will not comment any further on an open investigation.”

The Department of Education confirmed this week that 50 public school staff, including 21 teachers, have died of COVID-19 illness since the pandemic hit the city.

As pressure mounted last month to shut the schools, de Blasio resisted the call, saying he feared the closure would hurt families who need their children to be in school while they’re working.

On March 4, THE CITY reported on a teacher who’d returned from a coronavirus hotspot in Italy and was displaying symptoms of the virus but couldn’t get tested. Days later de Blasio agreed that teachers, first responders and city health care workers with likely symptoms and travel histories should get tested.

At the time, the United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew criticized school officials for dragging their feet on testing teachers. As the days passed, Catholic schools closed, and one private school after another followed suit.

Then on March 10, with public schools still open, DOE management sent staff an internal memo advising them on how to handle the growing crisis. The memo specified that the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which was tracking the spread, should not be contacted.

“At the moment, there is no reason for any school to call DOHMH to report potential or confirmed cases,” the memo states. “DOHMH is receiving information…about positive test results strictly from laboratories. We can support our colleagues at DOHMH by keeping their phones clear to speak with laboratories.”

🔗‘An Abundance of Caution’

Confronted about this at a news conference, Chancellor Richard Carranza defended the memo, stating, “With increasing numbers of people coming out, what we don’t want to do is inundate the Department of Health with these cases.”

Five days later, de Blasio announced the shutdown.

Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza with Mayor Bill de Blasio Photo: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY

“Look at how many staff have died,” Holden told THE CITY Tuesday. “Leaving these classrooms open for that many days was dangerous.”

On Tuesday, Miranda Barbot, a spokesperson for Carranza, said: “When school buildings were open, we received confirmations directly from the State Health Department, and our guidance ensured the city’s Department of Health’s lines remained open for New Yorkers.

“We immediately notified communities when there was a confirmed case by the State Health Department, which happened once, and out of an abundance of caution we closed six other sites that had self-reported cases.”

De Blasio, Cuomo remain at odds over decision to keep schools closed for rest of school year

2020-04-12T16:50:55+00:00

Mayor Bill de Blasio doubled down Sunday on New York City’s decision to close its school buildings for the rest of the year, a day after the governor implied it was not de Blasio’s decision to make.

“Keeping schools closed will protect New Yorkers. Period,” de Blasio said at a Sunday morning press conference. He added that he and Chancellor Richard Carranza “are confident in the decision that we made,” given that the city is the epicenter of the country’s coronavirus epidemic.

De Blasio’s attempt to project finality comes after a day of mixed messages that frustrated New Yorkers. But clarity did not win the day: About an hour later, Gov. Andrew Cuomo refused to back down from his stance that the city’s schools may actually reopen this year.

“We’re not going to reopen any school until it is safe from a public health point of view,” Cuomo said. “Am I prepared to say what we will be doing in June? No.”

The conflicting comments from city and state leaders will likely stoke confusion in the nation’s largest school system, which educates over 1 million students, even as a closure for the rest of the academic year remains the most likely outcome. The school year is scheduled to end on June 26.

The back-and-forth began Saturday morning, when the mayor announced the city’s school buildings would shut down for the rest of the academic year — a call he said was made after consulting with aides, public health experts, and union officials. Just hours later, Cuomo said that was just “the mayor’s opinion.”

The governor acknowledged Sunday that de Blasio’s stance is “not unreasonable,” but said the decision to keep school buildings closed should be made in concert with neighboring states and counties.

“We have to have a coordinated approach on the reactivation, if you will. Schools, business, workforce, transportation — it all has to be coordinated,” Cuomo said, adding that decisions should be made with officials from New Jersey, Connecticut, and surrounding New York counties.

The disagreement over school closures is far from the first time the mayor and governor — both Democrats — have publicly clashed over a major public policy decision.

Statewide, Cuomo has ordered schools to be closed until at least April 29. Schools that want to be closed beyond that must get special permission from the state, according to the order.

De Blasio brushed aside concerns about his authority to close schools on Sunday. “To me, this is not about legal or jurisdictional questions, this is a moral question,” he said.

He also acknowledged that the city only notified the state of its decision on Saturday morning — suggesting there had not been close coordination with the governor before the city made the announcement.

Still, de Blasio implied he was uninterested in squabbling publicly with the governor. The mayor praised Cuomo’s leadership and said the two have been in close communication throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

“I respect the governor. I think the governor has done a very good job during this crisis,” de Blasio said.

Former NYC education official charged with sex crimes lied about prior job trouble, probe finds

2020-02-24T23:40:07+00:00

David Hay, the former deputy chief of staff to Chancellor Richard Carranza who is now facing child enticement and child pornography charges, lied on official city questionnaires about being pushed out of a previous job, a city investigation revealed Monday.

As a result of the city probe into Hay’s hiring, Special Commissioner of Investigation Anastasia Coleman is recommending five policy changes to how the education department vets job candidates. Those recommendations include requiring the department’s Office of Personnel Investigations to contact every candidate’s previous employer from at least the five years before their application, regardless of how they answer questionnaires about their past work.

The investigation found that Hay never acknowledged on official city paperwork that he was asked to resign from a previous job in Wisconsin over concerns about his principal’s license and improper spending — an omission that can lead to criminal charges, the report said. SCI has sent their findings to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr.

Coleman’s investigation did not expose any evidence of inappropriate sexual conduct in his previous jobs, her report said. In a news release, Coleman said her office’s investigation revealed “areas in need of improvement” when it comes to the education department’s vetting process for “high-level titles and sensitive positions.”

Hay held central office positions in New York City and did not teach.

Hay, 39, was charged last month in Wisconsin with attempting to lure a teenage boy — who was actually an undercover police officer — to a hotel and with possessing child pornography. He has pleaded not guilty. Hay was fired Dec. 30, the day after his arrest in Wisconsin, according to the SCI investigation.

Questions soon arose over how Hay was screened before he was hired. He joined New York City’s education department as a “confidential strategy planner” in 2016 and was later promoted. He was required to go through two background checks — one with the education department, and one with the city’s Department of Investigation, or the DOI. The education department review, which includes a fingerprint check, was completed. But the vetting process with the DOI remains incomplete because the agency says it is facing a massive backlog of cases to review.

Coleman’s office launched an investigation into how Hay was vetted, interviewing two Wisconsin superintendents for whom Hay had worked. Both said they had not heard of Hay demonstrating any “sexually inappropriate conduct.” However, investigators discovered Hay was forced to resign from one Wisconsin school district in 2011 because he had failed to update his principal’s license and was found to have improperly used a school credit card, in part for personal expenses such as lunch and gas, Coleman’s report said.

Investigators found that Hay was facing a hearing in 2011 over being fired as principal of a school in Wisconsin’s Kettle Moraine district following the allegations about his license and improper spending, confirming a January report in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel newspaper. According to documents and SCI interviews, Hay submitted his resignation before the hearing and reached an agreement with district leaders that says the school system asked for his resignation. The agreement also bars the district from sharing any information with future employers except for his salary and dates of employment.

Years later, as part of his 2016 background check in New York City, Hay was required to answer questions about his past employment, including an online questionnaire with the education department. When he was promoted a year later, he filled out another questionnaire with the Department of Investigation and a second online questionnaire for education officials. Investigators found that he had made “more than a dozen false statements” by answering “no” to questions designed to catch red flags about work history, such as, “Have you ever been asked to resign from employment?” Hay also answered “no” to similar questions on surveys tied to teaching licenses in Wisconsin, the report said.

Katherine Rodi, the education department’s executive director of employee relations, told investigators that Hay should have answered “yes” to at least one of the questions about his past employment.

Coleman’s report noted that the city’s education department never contacted the Kettle Moraine district, but because of his agreement with district leaders, they wouldn’t have been permitted to reveal that information anyway. And since Hay’s employment with Kettle Moraine was more than five years before he applied for a job in New York City, city officials would not have contacted the district unless he answered the questionnaires truthfully or if they got a tip from “another source,” Coleman wrote.

Hay went on to work at Tomah Area School District, another Wisconsin district, where an official did contact Kettle Moraine but said she received “limited” information and was told Hay did nothing “illegal or immoral” in his time there.

“Mr. Hay passed a criminal background check, was immediately fired when he was arrested, and SCI found no wrongdoing on behalf of the City,” Miranda Barbot, a New York City education department spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement. “We followed all protocols and procedures and will adopt SCI’s recommendations to ensure our hiring processes are as thorough as possible.”

Lawmakers press Carranza on special education and school safety, as chancellor pleads for more state funding

2020-02-11T23:58:00+00:00

Testifying before state lawmakers Tuesday, New York City schools Chancellor Richard Carranza was peppered with questions about special education, school safety, and integration efforts. When asked about expanding services or giving more to individual city schools, his responses typically boiled down to one thing: more state funding.

“This is another reason why $1.1 billion owed to children of New York City makes it difficult to scale toward the needs of students,” Carranza said in response to a question about the school system’s piloting of a dyslexia screening tool at two Brooklyn schools.

That $1.1 billion figure is how much city officials say is owed to New York City under a 12-year-old state formula, known as Foundation Aid, that sends extra dollars to high-needs districts. That funding has never been given to districts at the levels initially promised, state education officials, lawmakers, and advocates have long contended. (However, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said there is no longer a legal obligation for the state to provide Foundation Aid at those levels, and his administration has pointed to annual funding increases for the city.)

In his budget proposal for next fiscal year, which starts in April, Cuomo has proposed about $11.5 billion for New York City schools — close to 2% more than what the city got from the state last year. State funding currently represents 36% of the education department’s budget, with the remainder coming from city and federal sources.

Still, Cuomo’s proposal would leave a $136 million gap in what city officials project they’ll need from the state next fiscal year, according to testimony Monday and Tuesday from both Mayor Bill de Blasio and Carranza. That figure is tantamount to what it costs to employ 400 social workers or guidance counselors, they said.

As Cuomo’s budget proposal gets debated, lawmakers will hash out their own draft. Then, negotiations — done largely behind closed doors — will produce a final budget, which must be approved by April 1 and is effective through March 31, 2021.

But the conversation on Tuesday about New York City’s education system often veered from the topic of budgeting. Here are a few highlights from Carranza’s testimony.

Special education

Several lawmakers questioned Carranza about the district’s struggle to meet special education needs, including on the buckling impartial hearing process, through which families can lodge complaints about whether their children’s mandated services are being delivered.

Brooklyn Democratic Sen. Andrew Gournardes noted the roughly 10,200 unresolved complaints that families have filed. Nearly 70% are past the legal deadline for a resolution. That backlog is now the subject of a class-action lawsuit.

“It raises the question of how urgently the department is taking this issue,” Gournardes said.

Carranza said the city is “on a track to clear that backlog by the end of the school year.” An education department spokesperson later clarified that he was not referring to the entire backlog of delayed cases, only those that the education department has already agreed to settle, but have still not been processed, and were filed last school year or before that.

He also said the city is working “hand in glove” with Albany on the state-issued compliance assurance plan, which details a broad range of problems with the city’s special education system.

“I can assure you, sir, that this is a priority for us, that we are in the weeds really undoing and redoing [the system] to serve the community,” Carranza told Gournardes.

Both Carranza and a couple of lawmakers highlighted the city’s struggles to open enough pre-K seats for students with disabilities: Nearly 2,000 such students could go without a seat this spring. Part of the reason is stagnant state financing for private pre-K providers, which educate the majority of preschool students with disabilities who require specialized classrooms.

Without a higher reimbursement rate from the state for such providers — known as 4410 schools — Carranza said they could be forced to “close their doors because they simply can’t pay the bills.”

“It’s a perfect storm: 4410 schools closing with more students being identified for needing support,” Carranza said. The city has opened 1,000 seats for students with disabilities in public pre-K programs in the past two years but has not made up for lost seats elsewhere in the system.

Assemblymember Helene E. Weinstein, another Brooklyn Democrat, asked why the city is still fighting Carter Cases, which allow parents of children with special needs to be reimbursed for certain private school placements, after the mayor promised in his first term that the city would fight parents less over them. Spending for Carter Cases has grown from $222 in 2013 to $540 million this fiscal year.

Carranza said, ideally, all children with special needs could be served in public schools. But “in the meantime, as we work to make that a reality,” the school system must resolve parent pleas to send their children to school elsewhere. The de Blasio administration has made it easier for families to get tuition reimbursements.

“The north star would be that parents would not have to see the need of going outside of the school system — the DOE — to get the services they need for their students,” Carranza said, referring to the city education department.

School safety

Carranza was asked repeatedly about what he’s doing to address concerns over school safety from school leaders, parents, and students, and whether the system is embracing the right discipline efforts.

The chancellor faced criticism in recent weeks after he left a heated Queens town hall where parents raised concerns about school safety issues, including sexual assault. Carranza sparred with politicians on Twitter over why he left and emphasized that school officials were working directly with parents to address concerns. He later apologized for how the matter was handled and offered to meet with the parents.

In the summer of 2019, the mayor announced a range of new discipline reforms, including curbing lengthy suspensions and limiting student arrests for low-level offenses. Last month, the principals union said the reforms have led to more unruly schools, and administrators have struggled to embrace the changes.

“I understand that the administration would like to focus on intervention and restorative justice, and that’s OK, but it’s not OK when you have parents and teachers and administrators around the city saying they don’t feel safe,” said Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis, a Staten Island Republican.

Carranza said he didn’t agree that “all parents, all students, all administrators” feel unsafe. The school system works with the police department when, for example, students are accused of serious crimes. Restorative justice practices, which attempt to get to “the root” of a problem, are reserved for less serious offenses, Carranza said.

“But a student that is mouthy, a student that is disrespectful, a student that isn’t paying attention — when you suspend that kind of a student, you’re treating a symptom,” Carranza said.

Integration

In one testy exchange, Queens Democratic Sen. John Liu asked Carranza, “Do you think you might have some issues in the Asian-American community?”

Carranza has faced backlash from some Asian-American New Yorkers over various policy decisions — most notably, for his support of getting rid of the admissions test for specialized high schools in order to diversify those schools. Since a majority of admissions offers go to Asian students – 51% last school year — some Asian-American families believe scrapping the test would elbow their children out. Some feel Carranza and the mayor haven’t done enough to understand their concerns and have called for Carranza’s firing.

Carranza pushed back and said he’s “working hard to bridge the divide” with Asian-American families, and that he would welcome Liu’s help. Liu, who oversees the Senate’s New York City education committee, said he’s offered help “many times, but you’ve never taken me up on it.”

Later, Manhattan Sen. Robert Jackson, a Democrat, said he thought Carranza is an inclusive leader, and encouraged the chancellor to “hang in there,” and “listen to what people have to say.”

Carranza doubled down on his support for repealing Hecht-Calandra, the part of state education law that governs the specialized high school admissions test. Repealing that law would effectively allow the city to set admissions policies for its three largest specialized high schools.

“Get out of the school board business,” Carranza told the room of lawmakers. “You have bigger fish to fry.”

Liu, who doesn’t support the plan to repeal the law altogether, questioned why the city couldn’t change policies at its five other specialized high schools not named in Hecht-Calandra. Carranza said it wasn’t clear the law allows them to do so, and that those schools don’t want to be a “bifurcated” system of schools with and without the test.