Alex Zimmerman
Reporter, Chalkbeat New York
Alex Zimmerman joined the Chalkbeat team in 2016. Before that, he was a staff writer at the Pittsburgh City Paper and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, Village Voice, Vice and Atlas Obscura. Alex can be reached at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.
“It is unconscionable that the city has yet to fully close the gaps for immigrants with disabilities,” one advocate said.
NYC is beefing up career programs in education, technology, business, and health care. Officials are also offering hundreds of paid, three-year apprenticeships.
Both the state Senate and Assembly called to remove Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal to allow New York City to open more than 100 new charter schools.
The move is a victory for advocates who have pushed to reduced police presence in schools, but it won mixed reactions from educators and union officials.
The gap in services is particularly acute in the Bronx, where more than two-thirds of children did not receive all of the therapies they could have.
Success Academy, Uncommon Schools, KIPP, and Achievement First all shrank. Still, Gov. Kathy Hochul has pushed to raise the NYC charter cap.
Concerns about school safety and possible shootings prompted the decision to lock school doors. Whether the policy will be effective remains a big question mark.
Lucy Calkins wrote a popular reading curriculum used in hundreds of NYC elementary schools that encourages independent reading. But the model has come under fire from schools chancellor David Banks.
Lawsuit on behalf of NYC students with disabilities who lost services during the pandemic goes ahead
The case will head back to federal court after an appeals court ruled the case had been incorrectly dismissed.
Students from nearly every demographic group saw higher rates, though some gaps among groups widened.
The proposal could face opposition in a Democratic-controlled legislature.
But some experts worry that teachers will unfairly bump up familiar students’ scores.
Adams promised a telehealth program for all New York City high school students struggling with mental health. But officials offered few details on how it will work.
Addressing student mental health is a growing concern, as many students experienced trauma during the pandemic. Banks hasn’t yet unveiled a detailed plan for tackling the issue.
NYC has used hundreds of millions worth of federal relief funding for programs with recurring costs, including pre-K and hiring more nurses and social workers.
David Banks vowed to ‘raise the issue’ with the health department.
Fruchter died on Jan. 4 after being struck by a car near his Brooklyn home in late December. He was an activist, school leader, and academic involved in many of the most pivotal social and educational battles of the past half century.
CUNY launched a high-dosage tutoring program that pairs hundreds of aspiring educators with first and second graders who are struggling to read.
58% of NYC charter schools shrank during COVID, even as the sector grew overall. Two of the city’s major charter networks — Success Academy and Uncommon Schools — saw student enrollment shrink last year.
Most New York City high schools don’t have papers, and there are wide disparities in newspaper access across the city by race, geography, and poverty status.
In October alone, there were nearly 14,500 school bus delays, lasting 41 minutes on average.
“For some students, going back to a building for a full day just didn’t feel like it was for them anymore,” the school’s principal said.
Suspensions have fallen 64% over the past decade, though troubling racial disparities remain.
The proposals would require either new funding or significant cuts to some campuses, both of which would likely face political hurdles.
Schools Chancellor David Banks blamed problems with payments on the previous administration.
Many of the students are asylum seekers who have arrived recently from South American countries.
Of the city’s 478 middle schools, 59 will select at least some portion of next year’s incoming sixth graders based on their fourth grade marks. That’s down from 196 before the pandemic.
The schedule obtained by Chalkbeat reveals who had the chancellor’s ear as he began navigating his first job running a school system.
Chancellor Banks said students who work “really hard” should have priority access compared with “the child you have to throw water on their face to get them to go to school every day.”