[UPDATE BELOW] A NYC Department of Education Employee has been arrested and charged with sex abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. 35-year-old Hany Abdalla works as a teacher's aide at Upper West Side elementary school P.S. 84 (The Lillian Weber School for the Arts). A police spokesman tells City Room Abdalla allegedly "touched a female child 8 years old in inappropriate areas and also had her touch him in inappropriate areas." more ›

With a rash of Department of Education employees being arrested for inappropriate behavior—the Department's special commissioner of investigation has received 248 complaints of sex abuse in 2012, up 35 percent over the same period last year—parents keep asking why teachers with questionable history are still getting to work in classrooms. A series of reports released thanks to a Freedom of Information request now provides one partial-answer: Unions. more ›

An assistant principal of a Bronx elementary school was arrested earlier today for two counts of sexual abuse. 59-year-old Joseph Ponzo, who has worked at PS 106 in Parkchester since 2008, allegedly fondled two students, ages 10 and 11, on their chests and over their shirts, on March 27. more ›

"Pink slime" is getting the pink slip at New York's public schools, just as Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer wanted. The meat product (the industry calls it "lean finely textured beef" and uses it as filler in ground beef) has been much in the news lately, with everyone from Safeway to McDonalds and Taco Bell responding to public pressure and saying they're getting rid of the soylent pink. So back to dog food it goes! more ›

Last month, in the midst of a spate of school employees being accused of sexual misconduct, Department of Education Chancellor Dennis Walcott promised a thorough review of school employees to make sure nobody with bad history was still working with kids. Well, that review happened and now eight school employees are in hot water. more ›

A Bronx principal was removed from her job yesterday after the Department of Education released a 113-page report that identified testing fraud and transcript tampering. According to the Times, Lynn Passarella created an environment at the Theater Arts Production Company School (Tapco) where only three percent of the grades were failing. Overall the school reacted to the change with "relief," except for those who will miss the lawless days. "It was so easy to cut class," a ninth grader lamented. more ›

Another day, another New York City teacher arrested for inappropriate behavior with their students. Yesterday a Manhattan ROTC instructor at a Hell's Kitchen high school was arrested on charges he inappropriately touched a 14-year-old girl on school grounds earlier this month. Darryl Lynch, 55, was charged with forcible touching, acting in a manner to injure a child and sexual abuse. more ›

After a flood of alleged sexual abuse in New York City Public Schools (see here, here and here) Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott is working fast to try and control the damage. Earlier this week he promised parents at P.S. 87 that he would be reviewing screening procedures for school employees and today he is sending out a letter to parents announcing just that. more ›

Upper West Side parents are not taking the news that there may have been a pedophile working at the highly-regarded P.S. 87 well. After fuming all weekend over the arrest of teacher's aide Gregory Atkins, 56, nearly 500 parents took to the school yesterday to assail Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott over the mess. "Are our kids safe here?" one father reportedly demanded to know. When told they were he retorted, "How do you know?" more ›

"These aren't marginally bad schools or non-performing schools," Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday regarding the list of schools the Department of Education wants to shut down or truncate this year. "They just don't do the job, this is no question they're not doing the job." In a two-part process the city released a list of 19 schools that are facing execution at the end of the school year—including one Manhattan school with a violent rep that included an assault on a pregnant woman—as well as six schools that may have their middle school grades removed. "This is about student performance, student outcome, making sure we improve our schools and making sure students are college ready and career ready," schools chancellor Dennis Walcott assured parents today. more ›

If there's one thing that teaches children a lesson when they misbehave in class, it's keeping them at home from school. And the ones that need to learn this lesson the most? Kindergartners. According to data [Excel] compiled by the Post, PS 212 in Brooklyn suspended wee ones 13 times last school year, followed by 12 at PS 13 in Staten Island and 10 in PS 115 in Brooklyn. While we're unaware of the specific reasons as to why they were suspended, one source inside the classroom tells us, "I like to play with the ambulance. It goes WEEEOOOWWEEEOOO." more ›

Last week we learned that students in city schools would be taught about sexual intercourse and its implications as the DOE set one semester of required cirriculum for sixth or seventh graders and students in their first two years of high school. Thankfully, parents who prefer to keep their children ignorant of the crucial details surrounding humanity's most primal and consequential activities have prevailed: some of the course work has been cut. Specifically, the "risk cards" that were to be used by middle schoolers to explain different types of sex acts and their health implications. Thankfully, a dusty VHS copy of Showgirls is willing to fill in the gaps. more ›

Because firing people on a Friday leaves less chance for an "incident," 672 city school employees were let go yesterday in the single largest layoff since Mayor Bloomberg took office. All were school aides, parent coordinators, or family workers that acted as liaisons between teachers and the families of students, and were fired due to tightened budgets. According to the Times, the workers "are among the city's lowest paid," with school aides making $14 an hour and parent coordinators working for a $35,000 salary, or what it costs to wallpaper one of the mayor's dining rooms. more ›

At PS 51 in the North Bronx, students have been learning their ABCs and their TCEs. No, TCE isn't a newfangled standardized test—it's the potentially carcinogenic chemical trichloroethylene! There was already an "emotional meeting" between PS 51's parents and Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott last Thursday, where Walcott apologized for the city sitting on the information for months, and pledged to relocate students to St. Martin of Tours, a Catholic school two miles away. But Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. drafted a letter calling for Walcott to "Release copies of all environmental testing, reports and data from both P.S. 51 and the new facility at St. Martin of Tours." more ›

Students across the city will soon be giggling over condom application demonstrations in the classroom, now that the city is requiring public middle and high schoolers to take sex-ed classes covering more aspects of the birds and the bees. more ›

We knew that Mayor Bloomberg's city budget was going to be painful, but we didn't realize it would lead to a fight between reporters at City Hall. Witnesses tell the Daily News that two reporters, WABC 7's Dave Evans and blogger Rafael Martinez Alequin, got into a heated exchange while listening to Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott, with Evans saying, "Don’t touch me. Don’t touch me like that again, or I’ll flatten you," and Alequin replying, "f---ing f-----t." Uh-oh. more ›

A former contractor with the Department of Education was arrested today on charges that he stole $3.6 million dollars from the city through contractor kickbacks, giving new Chancellor Dennis Walcott his first big scandal to deal with (even if the contractor was fired in 2008). Computer consultant Willard Lanham is accused of using his ill gotten gains to buy $600,000 worth of luxury cars (including a Corvette, Porsche and Cadillac Escalade) as well as to build three houses on a Long Island property, where he managed to have the street named after his wife Laura. more ›

Did you think that just because former Schools Chancellor Cathie Black had been unceremoniously canned (and replaced with the anti-Black Dennis Walcott), the story was over? Ha! New York City parents aren't going to let their rare victory over Mayor Bloomberg slide away that easy. In fact, a group of parents calling themselves the New York City Parents Union have filed a Notice of Claim to sue Michael Bloomberg (not the city) for $100 million dollars over the screwup. That's nearly $1 million for each day Cathie Black worked! more ›

Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott, in the midst of shoring up as much support as possible, has come out in support of single-sex public education. Yesterday Walcott told the New York Post "I'm a big believer in single-sex schools. I want to expand those options. I think people should have that choice." more ›

Though he hasn't officially taken over the spot of Schools Chancellor (and might need a waiver from the state Education Department before he does) soon-to-be Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott continues to speak to parents and politicians about his plans. Though all he really has to do for approval is not be Cathie Black. Walcott said at Downtown Brooklyn's Church of the Open Door. "My style is different from Cathie's, just like Cathie's style was different from Joel's... What I want to dedicate the next 2½ years to is making sure that parents are fully engaged in the lives of their children." But he's gotta get through this lawsuit first! more ›

Now that the city has shaken off the stink surrounding Cathie Black's appointment as Schools Chancellor, new Chancellor Dennis Walcott is in the spotlight. And though he has the necessary experience, some aren't getting their hopes up. "I haven't seen a sign that there would be any changes," Kim Sweet of Advocates for Children told the Daily News. "Although it seems he will be making more of an effort to reach out to parents and communities, I hope that he'll actually listen." more ›

In an adorable photo opportunity yesterday morning, new Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott walked his grandson Justin to school, PS 36 in St. Albans, Queens. Walcott, who also attended PS 36 when he was a boy, told reporters, "I don't want him to be late on my first day." Of course, parents and teachers said they couldn't recall seeing Grandpa Dennis there before, but that's okay, with one dad telling City Room, "It makes me feel good because we’ll probably get some more money for the school." The good times ended because then Walcott had a four-hour meeting with an irritated City Council! more ›

[Update below] Cathie Black, fresh off her dismal 17 percent popularity numbers, is reportedly stepping down as Schools Chancellor. Mayor Bloomberg is going to be giving a press conference announcing the change at 11:30 a.m.. For the time being she will be replaced by Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott, NY1 is reporting. To quote Maggie Haberman's Twitter: "Cathie Black is Bloomberg's Harriet Miers." more ›