Horace Mann, the elite private school located in the Bronx, prides itself on its approach to diversity—but a recent assembly where students were asked to participate in a poetry exercise resulted in some students using racial slurs and sexist comments, a second assembly to discuss what happened and possibly most embarrassing, a NY Times article about the debacle. more ›

Today, the NY Times looks at an issue crippling the city: The ruinous amount of homework assigned by private schools like Dalton, Trinity and Horace Mann, "Armed with neuroscience, self-analysis and common sense, some of New York City’s most competitive high schools, famed for their Marine-like mentality when it comes to homework, have begun to lighten the load for fear of crushing their teenage charges." more ›

Private schools have long offered admissions to the young siblings of students—but the NY Times reports that's no longer the case at some schools, for reasons including increasing diversity and making more money. To illustrate the story, the Times offers a glimpse at one elite private school's insane kindergarten admissions process: more ›

The judge in the sentencing of a 28-year-old prep school teacher who pled guilty to possessing over 9,000 images of child pornography called him a "monster," and scoffed at his requests for a sentence without jail time because he never acted on his urges. "You were a monster, it's just that you were successful in hiding it," Judge Kevin Duffy said. "You didn't take it out on a little child. Those people are totally despicable, but at least they're more honest than you." John Thomas, who has taught at Horace Mann and was slated to teach at Bank Street School this fall, was arrested last August after authorities traced a stream of graphic videos to his home. "I'm not a monster, I'm not a predator…I would never physically abuse a child," Thomas said. He was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison, the Daily News reports. more ›

We're not sure that learning to read at age four gives you that much of an advantage over a child who learned to read at age six, but many parents agree that it's never to early to love to read. However, parents who send their kids to the city's private schools are being told that learning to read too young can be "stultifying," and many schools are choosing to delay formalized reading instruction until the first grade. Someone get the Tiger Mom on these hippie principals! more ›

Looking for a reason to wear a condom? A rubber company we'd never heard of, Sir Richard's, has been posting a darn good one around town: the cost of a private education in New York. Because with the economy the way it is, what better incentive to slip one on than the thought of having to spend $35k-per-year to educate a tot not even conceived yet? Public school? more ›

Because of a few U.S. Supreme Court decisions, parents of special-needs children can ask that the DOE pay for private school if public school options aren't adequate. Last year, the city's department spent $116 million reimbursing parents, mainly in the wealthier areas of Manhattan and Brooklyn. However, many parents never tried sending their kids to public school before squeezing the DOE for their pennies. Michael Best, general counsel at the DOE, told the Wall Street Journal, "No one begrudges parents the right to send their children to private school. But this system was not intended as a way for private school parents to get the taxpayers to fund their children's tuition." Well, how do you think they stay rich? more ›

A 28-year-old who has taught at Horace Mann and Friends Seminary and is currently a counselor at the 92nd Street Y was arrested yesterday on charges related to child pornography possession. Federal prosecutors say they found 43 CDs with "illicit images and videos of children engaged in sex acts" in John Thomas's Harlem apartment. more ›

A state judge has again ordered Mayor Bloomberg to follow the city's land use review procedure and hold public hearing about his controversial plan to construct new sports fields on Randalls Island and rent them to 20 private schools. Under the Mayor's plan, private schools like Buckley, Chapin and Dalton would pay $45 million for exclusive access to a part of the new athletic facilities during peak after-school hours — a move that critics contend would turn public land into private land. more ›

The new Bravo reality show NYC Prep has been ridiculed in many places, but it's mostly bringing shame to the schools where the students/reality show's players attend. In a NY Times Styles section article, parents are uttering things like, “Absolute garbage,” and "Like a bad ‘Dynasty’ episode," about the show that features spoiled teens (including ones who are amazed that teachers wants students "to, like, study during Christmas break") at private schools Nightingale-Bamford School, Dwight School, Birch Wathen Lenox School and the Ross School (in East Hampton) and public school (GASP!) Stuyvesant High School. Administrators are aghast while some parents are upset seeing the show's teens "spend most of their time scheming, partying, eating in expensive restaurants and shopping for $2,000 skirts." But the best quote is from the author of a private school guide, who says, "The schools on this show are all at the bottom"—top schools being Dalton, Brearley, and Collegiate—"There would never be a Brearley girl on this show." Thank goodness for snobbery! more ›

Life imitates Gossip Girl tonight as the teens from six of the city's most elite private schools join together for a prom in the Waldorf's Starlight Roof (the Waldorf ballroom is where public high school Stuyvesant's prom will be this Friday -- ground floor for the plebes!). more ›

There's a lesson that parents should learn before signing contracts for a private school: always read the fine print. The NY Times tells the story of a Soho couple (David and Michele Bender) whose daughter won a coveted, if pricey--$26,000/year--spot in the kindergarten program at the West Village's Little Red School House (pictured). more ›

continues to embarrass the book publishing industry. Writer Margaret Jones, who told her publisher she was a half-white, half-Native American raised by a black foster family in South Central L.A. and former Bloods gang member, was exposed as Margaret Seltzer, white private school graduate from Sherman Oaks, California. more ›

A mother is upset that last week her five-year-old son was allegedly handcuffed to a chair after throwing a temper tantrum in his Queens kindergarten class. The incident occurred last week at PS 81 and Jasmina Vasquez said her son Dennis Rivera was terrified. Rivera, who is quite large for a five-year-old at 68 pounds, reportedly was having a fit and knocking things off desks, when a school safety agent cuffed his hands behind him while seated in a chair. more ›

Cathedral High School has a top reputation as an all-girls high school of the Archdiocese of New York. However, this past week has been rough: Teachers from Cathedral, as well as from nine other Catholic high schools, had a sickout. Plus, a former teacher admitted to assaulting students. more ›

Norman Siegel, former NYCLU director, is taking the city to court today on behalf of Harlem residents opposed to the city’s plan for sports fields on Randall's Island. The city is building 63 new fields on the island in addition to the 36 fields already there; the construction is being partially financed by a consortium of private schools who will be given exclusive access to most of the fields between 3pm and 6pm on weekdays. more ›

Gross! A former assistant principal at I.S. 72 in Staten Island is accused of asking a 12-year-old student for massages - and then trying to buy her and her mother's silence with promises of private school payment! Lawrence Siegel was put in a district office job - not his usual gig at Rocco Laurie Intermediate School - while the Department of Education investigated him after a DOE parent support coordinator, per the Staten Island Advance,... more ›

The Trinity School, a private school on the Upper West Side that charges annual tuition of $30,000 a year, is prepared to cash in on the rise in property values by opting out of the Mitchell-Lama housing program. That program was designed to reserve housing for middle-class tenants in New York through government subsidized loans and tax breaks. The disparity in below-market rents required by Mitchell-Lama and the value of the building that houses the... more ›

The Supreme Court essentially upheld an Appeals Court ruling that said New York City must pay the private education of disabled students. The twist is that the students and their parents don't even need to try to see if the public school programs are adequate for them. more ›

Six years ago, the prospects for downtown Manhattan seemed uniformly bleak. A persistent fire that burned for months amidst the wreckage of the World Trade Center filled the air with an acrid smell that was a constant reminder of 9/11. Restaurants and shops shuttered for lack of business. And many firms considered moving across the river, fearing that every tower in the financial district had a virtual target painted on its facade. The New York Times has an article today, however, that not only has the area below Chambers St. recovered to 2001 levels, the neighborhoods of downtown Manhattan are thriving like they haven't in decades, if not centuries. more ›

This is a crazy story. Two Harlem teens were detained as truants because two cops didn't believe that they were going to their private school on the Upper West Side. The Post reports that Latrice Jenkins and a classmate were taken to a truancy center in Riverdale because cops thought they should be going to Alfred Smith High School, a public school in the Bronx. And what's worse, the kids were on their way to taking a final exam! more ›

Last year around this time, the Observer pitted Williamsburg hipsters and Park Slope yuppies against each other. This year, the Observer tackles the yearning some native New Yorkers have for when NYC was bad (sorta like Michael Jackson video Bad!). Summer of Sam, Needle Park, Ford telling the city to drop dead, all of it seems better than it is now. Here's what some people told the Observer:

- “I was flashed all the time—that’s how a true private all-girl kid learned about the male anatomy,” wrote Liz Alderman, 32, a television producer and former Brearley lass, in an e-mail. more ›

The city's Franchise and Concession Review Committee is scheduled to vote this coming week on whether or not to approve a proposal to have twenty Manhattan private schools pay for part of the renovation of Randall's Island athletic fields in return for exclusive use of a majority of the fields. The plan, which is separate from the controversial water park, calls for schools such as Dalton and Spence to pay the city $52 million dollars over twenty years. The city would kick in an additional $18 million for the fields, and $53 million for island infrastructure. In return for the payment the schools would get exclusive 3-6 p.m. use of at least two-thirds of the 63 playing fields. more ›

We thought of one thing after reading the NY Times article about 92nd Street Y nursery school students' drivers clogging up the streets outside the school: Home schooling. Actually, we also thought "congestion tax," but reading about chauffeured SUVs for tiny children would drive most anyone crazy. more ›

EVENT: Housing works is opening their new store in Brooklyn today. With great events and thrifty finds and a way to support the HIV-positive homeless community, it's nice to see the store is expanding. more ›

A horrifying tragedy in Brooklyn: Sadier Jean Noel, who had jumped in front of a train on Monday as her 9 year old son's dead body was found in her apartment, admitted that "demons overtook her" and that she killed her son. Sadier Jean Noel said that son Knil was brooding about his birthday celebration from the day before - the family went to Junior's but Knil was upset an invited friend wasn't able to come. Noel told police that she reacted by smothering him with a pillow. more ›

This week, New York focuses on moolah in a number of ways: The difficulties when friends make different amounts of money, five spending diaries of different New Yorkers, a story on a security guard who earns $10/hour, and more. But the real time-sucking feature is the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Cost-of-Living Calculator. more ›

The NY Times examines the growing trend of holding back children a year before kindergarten. Some parents feel an extra year of pre-school has many benefits, as their kids are more confident and have more skills under their belt - not to mention their kids won't be the littlest or youngest in the class anymore. The practice helps with getting children into private schools (implication: private schools rather deal with more mature kindergarteners) and with sort of gaming the NYC pubilc school's rules. From the article:

Unlike many suburban districts, the New York City public schools are generally strict in placing children who turn 5 by Dec. 31 in kindergarten that year, and not the following year. Kindergarten is not mandatory, but children who are old enough for first grade will be placed in first grade. That rigidity has angered some parents, who maintain that in this day and age, kindergarten is no place for a 4-year-old. more ›

-- Whoops! 330 students were incorrectly made to repeat the fifth grade. more ›

Last month, a young woman was killed by thieves in her boyfriend's Flatbush apartment, and it turned out her boyfriend was a pot dealer, making police wonder if the boyfriend had been the true target. The victim, Tiesha Sargeant, had grown up in Flatbush, went to a Manhattan private school on scholarship, graduated from Wesleyan, and worked at Conde Nast and most recently at CSFB, making her the pride of her family. Her father, Henry, spoke out about the murder to the Daily News, saying he believes that boyfriend Keeve Huggins has not been telling the truth. Sargeant is upset because Huggins was "vague" about the details of the day and Huggins' wavering on taking a plygraph test (the boyfriend had initially agreed to take a test and then backed out; his lawyer now says he will). The Sargeant family also refuses to let Huggins know where Tiesha is buried. Henry Sargeant expressed his family's sorrow:Her mother will never get over that he was dealing drugs out of a home he shared with our daughter. But [Tiesha] loved him, that was clear, and ironically seemed to feel safe with him. She always showed empathy for people who were on the so-called fringes of society. There was something good about her in that way, but it could have been her own undoing. She was the epitome of our life's work as parents, our gem, our yardstick for what we hoped would be the success of our family here. And now we are waiting for them to find who killed her.It's heartbreaking as is the the alleged account of what happened - that the robbers broke into the bedroom, threw Tiesha Sargeant and a sheet over Huggins, and then shot Sargeant. more ›