Leadership & Management
UFT President Michael Mulgrew blasted the city’s implementation of NYC Reads, citing excessive assessments and burdens on teachers.
Simone Hawkins, the Education Department's deputy chancellor for early childhood, will leave in September as the city prepares to launch Mayor Zohran Mamdani's new free childcare program for 2-year-olds.
Many future teachers are not receiving evidence-based literacy training. The New York State Education Department wants to require programs to teach the science of reading.
Wildfire smoke prompted NYC officials to move summer school activities indoors and reschedule field trips.
Out of the hundreds of press releases Mamdani sent out since his term began, just 11 relate to K-12 education.
Educators, families, and advocates say the state has offered few details about new graduation requirements. With the Regents era winding down, many worry schools won't have enough time to prepare.
One advocate said the state’s new framework included “a hell of a lot of buzzwords, but not a lot of detail on what it would look like in the classroom.”
As concerns mount about screen time, the state teachers union is urging schools to prohibit 1-to-1 devices through second grade and restrict AI chatbots for students under 16.
A separate agreement would offer teachers additional pay when classes exceed legal limits.
Modernizing the city’s school bus routing system has been delayed for years. Officials say new software is finally coming this fall.
Six of 11 members of Samuels’ cabinet are staying in roles they assumed in the previous administration.
Two more senior Education Department officials are leaving as Samuels tees up his first major cabinet appoints.
Aviles-Ramos started a new job this week as a senior advisor at HMH, a curriculum company that does tens of millions of dollars of business with NYC’s public schools.
Cristina Meléndez, the deputy chancellor of family engagement, is leaving her post. NYC education insiders are waiting to see if it’s part of a broader leadership shift.
NYC needs 6,000 teachers and billions in funding to meet class size caps. NYC chancellor Kamar Samuels and state Education Commissioner Betty Rosa expressed concerns.
Dinowitz’s first oversight hearing will focus on mayoral control of NYC schools, which Zohran Mamdani criticized during the campaign but recently embraced.
Zohran Mamdani is the first mayor who will not immediately have control over the city’s school board, which votes on major contracts, policy changes, and school closures.
Hochul proposed a four-year extension of mayoral control, which would give Mayor Zohran Mamdani control of the city’s schools for his entire first term.
Liss helped build the city’s Universal Pre-K program. She talked to Chalkbeat about the lessons of that rollout and her plans to make child care available to all.
Samuels has steadily worked his way up in the Education Department over 20 years, earning a reputation as a leader who seeks consensus on tough issues including school integration and mergers.