Michael Elsen-Rooney

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.

Four years after New York City overhauled its summer program to blend academics and recreation, lawmakers want to know if it’s working.

New York City, like other districts across the country, is grappling with a yearslong enrollment decline and a growing number of tiny schools.

The letters helped spur a dramatic spike in CUNY applications, which multiplied nearly fivefold last fall compared to the year before.

The way students are sorted in the city’s notoriously ruthless admissions process tends to hurt those from low-income backgrounds, children with disabilities, and others.

The pushback from the influential teachers union raises questions about the long-term prospects of the math curriculum’s success.

It wouldn’t be Banks’ first foray into authorship: He previously wrote a book about his experience founding Eagle Academy, a network of public schools focused on Black and Latino boys.

Student trips are up 36% since New York City switched to OMNY cards. Here are some key figures to help understand the new program.

The abrupt change means Deputy Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos will take over the nation’s largest school system later this month.

The schedule lists roughly 40 meetings and events over a span of eight months covering more than 150 work days.

BusPatrol, run by the former chief of staff to New York City Deputy Mayor Phil Banks, was one of two companies chosen to pilot school bus cameras.