This past week, Yale Law professor Amy Chua's controversial essay on Chinese child rearing in the Wall Street Journal has received a ton of attention, much of it decidedly hostile and negative. Appropriately, the Times has uncovered a public school where some of Chua's work-first, play-never philosophies are being hammered out. more ›

Parents, make sure your "back to school" shopping list includes pepper spray. In a cover story perfectly timed for the first day of class tomorrow, the Daily News reports that a kindergartner was sodomized by a group of 6 and 7-year-olds in the bathroom of a Queens public school in June. more ›

For the second year in a row, children have been placed on waitlists for kindergarten placement. Over 112 public schools have waitlists, with over 2,000 children left without placement and parents worried their four- and five-year-olds will be sent to schools far from home. One parent told the NY Times, "I am trying to find out what I am supposed to do and what our options are, but I really feel helpless." more ›

A Queens tot toddled home alone, and though he made it back without incident, his mother thinks the school should pay. Michelle Baylor is taking the city and PS 147 principal Anne Cohen to court for unspecified damages, claiming she should never have dismissed the 4-year-old without first checking whether he had an escort. In October 2009 the boy's grandfather spotted him outside, after he'd walked the two blocks home from his kindergarten, reports the News. In the meantime, Baylor went to pick him up from school, where the principal "panicked" when asked why he wasn't there. Later the mom confronted Cohen, who complained the school was understaffed. "She started talking to me about budget cuts, and I just wasn't interested in hearing that," said the outraged parent. more ›

A few months ago, parents of kindergarten-bound children were upset at the Department of Education keeping them in limbo by putting the kids on waiting lists for placement. Now, the waiting lists have shrunk, thanks to families picking other programs or moving out, but the NY Times reports, "Still, 474 pupils across the city remain on waiting lists and will have to attend other nearby schools if spots do not open up, an outcome parents said was unacceptable." The DOE, which points out that the number represents 1% of the incoming class, believes the waiting lists will continue to decrease, but one former parent council member told the Times, "Their responsibility isn’t making progress; their responsibility is solving the problem. There are still many families biting their fingernails." And an Upper East Side mother, whose son is waitlisted at PS 290 on East 82nd, said to the Daily News, "I came very close to moving out of the city because of this situation. If they're looking to push their taxpayers out, they're doing a very good job." more ›

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In one corner, there's Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Klein. In the other, middle-class parents who have been told their children have been placed on wait lists for kindergarten placement. The NY Times describes it as a "mounting...middle-class vitriol against the school system." One parent shared a letter to the Dept. of Education—"You have unleashed the fury of parents throughout this city with your complete lack of preparedness"—while another recounted, "I got a call from Mayor Bloomberg’s campaign about yadda yadda yadda was I going to vote for him. As a parent who has a child with no place to go next year, no indication of where he’s going to go next year as a result of the mayor taking control of education, I said absolutely not... You would think that Bloomberg, who is a businessman, knows how to manage inventory like this. My kid isn’t just a bottle of vodka, but this is about inventory.” The Dept. of Education believes their approach to wait lists is fair and "will ensure that children have a placement offer by the end of June." more ›

Just before noon, a rally is being held outside the Manhattan DA's office, demanding for an investigation into the deaths of four-year-old Hayley Ng and three-year-old Diego Martinez. The two pre-schoolers were killed when an unoccupied van, left idling on East Broadway in Chinatown, jumped a curb and crash into them as their class was coming back from a field trip. The incident was deemed an accident, but the children's families are upset that the driver wasn't even issued a ticket and still has his license. Hayley's aunt told Streetsblog "We're hoping for the DA to set a precedent and prosecute this person or convene a grand jury." (WCBS 2 interviewed Hayley's mother who said, "No, I'm not all right! I'll never be all right! She's gone!") The rally is at One Hogan Place. more ›

Last month, a Queens kindergartener was handcuffed after a temper tantrum at PS 81, prompting his parents to threaten a lawsuit. Now a lawyer representing Dennis Rivera and his parents reveals they are filing a notice of claim against the city for $15 million. more ›