
Michael Elsen-Rooney
Reporter, Chalkbeat New York
Mike Elsen-Rooney writes about New York City public schools. Before joining Chalkbeat, he covered education for the New York Daily News, Columbia Journalism School’s Teacher Project and The Hechinger Report. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, USA Today, and The Boston Globe Magazine. Mike started his career as a high school Spanish teacher and afterschool program coordinator in the Washington DC area.
About 17% of New York City public high schoolers go to a school where boys outnumber girls by at least 2 to 1, or vice versa, a Chalkbeat analysis found.
The growing crisis has been clear for years to Tina Puccio, who runs the member assistance program at the United Federation of Teachers, which provides short-term counseling to educators.
Thursday’s notifications arrived three months earlier than they did last year, as part of a series of reforms under schools Chancellor David Banks meant to simplify the process and tighten access to some coveted selective schools.
The bill currently awaiting a hearing in the state assembly would grant school psychologists licenses to offer a limited range of education-related services outside school.
For some DC 37 workers, the pay bump represents at least a partial acknowledgment of their crucial work helping keep the city’s school system running during the pandemic, often at far lower wages than other school staffers, union officials said.
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.
Schools Chancellor David Banks has been raising the alarm about the recent spate of killings and shootings involving young people, calling it a “state of emergency” that requires more intervention.
Harbor Heights Middle School, which had just over 100 students before the pandemic, dropped to an enrollment of around 60 students this year.
Yeou-Jey Vasconcelos is leaving the famed performing arts school for an “opportunity to serve New York City students and families in a leadership capacity outside of the Department of Education,” she said.
New York City officials are launching a new effort to curb discrimination against the city’s oldest residents — by educating some of its youngest.
The wide-ranging conversation touched on the definition of diversity in a multiracial and multiethnic school system, and how to incorporate the views of parents when their opinions and platforms vary so widely.
Adams announced that he will delay the previously scheduled cut, giving a temporary reprieve to schools who lost students during the pandemic and are still struggling with the effects of last year’s cuts.
Chalkbeat spoke with Judah Firestone-Morrill, a 16-year-old junior at Bard who helped organize the rally, about the students’ goals, and why they believe youth voices should be at the center of the debate over school budgets.
CUNY reached a major milestone in the fall, when the city’s university system phased out the last of its non-credit-bearing remedial classes at its community colleges.
This year’s election cycle will be the second since a major rule change allowing all New York City public school parents to vote.
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.
Some New York City educators are seeing an uptick in student marijuana use that is spilling into the school day, and it’s starting at a younger age. Schools are scrambling to respond, especially when mental health issues are connected.
The move from the nation’s largest school system could have ripple effects as districts and schools across the country grapple with how to respond to the arrival of the new technology.
The initiative reaches roughly 1,500 students across 58 schools, with 23 separate courses.
A new working group launched by Council Member Lincoln Restler brings together student and staff representatives from nine schools in the area, along with police, school safety agents, and civic leaders to talk about how to make Downtown Brooklyn safer.
Families of students with disabilities have for years described an opaque and complex system that makes it difficult to obtain appropriate support for their kids.
Shifting the application timeline to align with the general kindergarten admissions process is the latest in a series of reforms to the contentious gifted and talented program.
At VOICE, the new arrivals profoundly reshaped the school almost overnight.
The Manhattan charter school had 17 of its 54 staff members out sick as of Tuesday. COVID, RSV, and the flu affected many staffers, officials from the Washington Heights school said.
At the American Museum of Natural History, student field trips have increased markedly this school year compared to last year, but are still only about half of what they were before the pandemic.
Leaders High School’s annual camping trip serves as a bonding experience and a chance for teens to get a taste of independence, especially after the past few years.
Overall, K-12 enrollment fell by about 15,000, or 1.8% this year — a significant drop but less than expected.
The city will spend roughly $4 billion over the next seven years to retrofit the school buildings so they no longer burn fossil fuels for heating.
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.
Some child care providers are closing or on the brink of insolvency because of delayed payments