Following the release of Mayor Bloomberg's hit list of 19 schools that "just don't do the job," it behooves the ones who survived to shape up or face the impending municipal axe. Or, cut back on reporting things that would get you there. Parents and former employees of the Lower East Side's Marta Valle High School are claiming Principal Mimi Fortunato is attempting to play down the number of violent altercations and lax attendance policy to avoid closure. "See how I get a drink?" one truant student told a Post reporter outside the school. "If there was discipline, I'd be in class." 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 ›

Brace yourselves: sex ed arrives at the city's middle and high schools next year, and it. Will. Be. SEXY. According to the Post, high school students will note the cost of condoms and "research a route from a school to a clinic that provides birth control and STD tests." Middle schoolers will use "risk cards" to sort activities likes mutual masturbation and oral sex. "I didn't know how much detail they would get," one SoHo mother says, quaintly assuming that students don't already think and talk about sex all the time. 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 ›

A Bronx elementary school teacher has been arrested and charged with sexual abuse of a boy. According to NY1, 35-year-old Tulsie Singh was suspended without pay in January and finally fired for his job at PS 306 in April. Sources claim that Department of Education officials have known about Singh's actions for "years," and he was suspended from work "more than once as a result." Singh reportedly began molesting the boy, then eight-years-old, in his classroom in 2004, and "the abuse continued until March 2007." more ›

We're short on evidence, but a hunch tells us that middle school students aren't their sharpest during the days leading up till the last day of school on the 27th. This hasn't stopped a few parents of graduating 8th-graders from complaining that their children aren't learning anything, despite it legally being summer when listening to anyone over the age of 15 is 100% optional. "It's a system-wide problem," one Queens parent tells the Daily News, presumably referring to the innate human desire to be released from the fluorescent-lit bondage that they will endure long into adulthood. more ›

In the wake of a state panel recommending against granting a waiver to allow Cathie Black to become NYC Schools Chancellor, the NY Times reports that Mayor Bloomberg's administration tried—in secret— to seek a compromise with the state: "State officials proposed that City Hall consider the second appointment to settle concerns about Ms. Black’s lack of experience in education, these people said Wednesday. But talks fell apart by Tuesday, and that afternoon David M. Steiner, the education commissioner, hardened the state’s position by saying publicly that he was disinclined to approve Ms. Black unless she had an official with education experience to help her run the system." more ›

After surprising many by announcing Hearst publishing chairwoman Cathie Black was his pick to be the next Schools Chancellor, Mayor Bloomberg has been hearing lots of complaints from critics who pointed to her lack of experience in the education arena (hell, she and her kids went to private schools) to run the nation's largest school system. Today, the mayor fired back on John Gambling's radio show, "It just goes to show they have no understanding whatsoever of what the job is...This is a management job, John. It's 135,000 employeess, it's $23 billion of the public's money and 1.1. million kids that we have to get services to. We have a phenomenally competent team of education professionals that have been built up over the years. The real problem is how do you take all this money and all these people and all the needs and get them all together. And Cathie Black has all the experience necessary." more ›

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, who is stepping down to take on a job at News Corp. (essentially switching billionaire bosses, going from reporting to Mayor Bloomberg to reporting to Rupert Murodch), defended his record and also insisted that he was leaving on his own terms, telling New York, "I had decided when I signed up for this thing that I would do it for two terms. At the end of those terms, I'd be in my mid-60s and would want another challenge.... [It was] Totally my decision. I talked to the mayor about it before the reelection. I went to him about three or four months ago and said I thought we were ready." more ›

Yesterday, longstanding Schools Chancellor Joel Klein abruptly resigned to join the team at News Corp. as a senior adviser. “I want to thank Mayor Bloomberg for giving me the best job of my life and for being there every step of the way in the effort to improve education for our students," he said during a press conference yesterday. "I am thrilled that the Mayor has selected Cathie Black, a distinguished leader, to move this work forward." But as Manhattan BP Scott Stringer put it, "Google's going to be kept very busy today. Who is she? And why was she picked to be New York City schools chancellor?" more ›

We received several tips this afternoon that an email has been circulating around some public schools that says beads have been banned. Students are allegedly no longer allowed to wear them because gangs are using them as identifiers. Below is an email one parent at PS 334 on the Upper West Side got: more ›

In time for the fall season, bedbugs are at New York City's department stores (checking out the new fashions) and schools (hitting the books, natch)!! Apparently Bloomingdale's had at least one bedbug on premises—the store says it was removed, it's not widespread and bedbug dogs have been checking out the store—and we just received a memo (see picture above) that Macy's sent to its employees! more ›

The Department of Education is just saying "no" to sexting! And cyberbullying, for that matter. According to the Daily News, public school kids will be banned from the controversial means of communication, even when they're off school grounds. Under the proposed rules, kids will face 90 day suspensions if they're caught in the act. Bayside High School PTA President David Solano said that they need to take control, because "it comes down to the fact that these kids are just lawless." However, the NYCLU's Donna Lieberman supports kids' right to sext, and believes these new rules could end up punishing kids for "harmless love notes." more ›

Besides being Thursday, today is Brooklyn-Queens Day, which is also known as Anniversary Day, and NYC public school children have the day off (that's why you may see more kids than usual). The day originally celebrated the founding of the first Sunday School on Long Island. Really. more ›

City Council education chairman Robert Jackson was enraged over news that students were getting partial credit for wrong answers on the state math exams. The exams determine which students may advance to the next grade level, and many are worried students receiving partial credit would advance without the proper math skills to succeed. Jackson summed it up to the Post: "Two plus two equals four, not five. You have to get it right. If you are an engineer and you understand the process for determining the size of a building but you get it wrong, that building's going to be in trouble." more ›

Thanks to some tweaking from city officials, this year nearly all of the city's public schools will be eligible for Title 1 federal funding. To receive funding, 60% of students needed to be eligible for free or reduced lunches at the school. Now, just 40% would need to meet that criteria, including perennially highly rated Stuyvesant High School. more ›

At a meeting with New York City students who are angry about the MTA's cost-cutting plan to abolish student MetroCards, MTA chair Jay Walder said he will postpone his agency's vote on the controversial measure. "We'd like to have as much time as possible for discussions with the state and city and hopefully find a way through this difficult situation," Walder said. According to the Post, he added that he hopes "students can make a decision about what school they would like to attend without them worrying about how they will get there." more ›

An Upper East Side building houses two seemingly segregated elementary schools: one for mostly black and Latino kids, one for mostly white and Asian kids. Since 1959 it's been home to P.S. 198 (aka Straus), a school that serves local children—24 percent are black and 47 percent are Latino. But go in the front door and you'll find yourself in the reportedly "serene" hallways of the Lower Laboratory School (P.S. 77), a gifted and talented program where 69 percent of the student body is white or Asian. The old sign for Straus hangs out front, but kids from that school enter through the back door. more ›

Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli thinks he's found a hidden pocket of funds that may help solve city schools' financial woes—problem is the money's locked away tight where no one can get to it. An audit revealed $615 million reserved for school employees to get accrued sick and leave time when they leave their jobs that, through some sort of mix-up, can't be accessed. more ›

A judge has ruled that public school teachers cannot wear political buttons in the classroom—despite the pleas of educators who say it's their constitutional right. Gotham Gazette reports a Manhattan judge upheld a ban on political buttons, backing existing regulations mandating that "while on duty or in contact with students, all school personnel should maintain a posture of complete neutrality with respect to all candidates." Some teachers claim the ruling violates their right to free speech, and argue that older students are mature enough to understand that a "button is not part of the curriculum," or an endorsement from the school itself. Though he ruled against buttons, the judge allowed teachers to share political materials in areas closed to students. more ›

Albany lawmakers missed the 4:30 deadline today to agree on a plan that would allow more charter schools in New York, hurting the state's chances to win up to $700 million in federal education funds, the Post reports. "It's dead in the state Assembly," said pro-charter Assemblyman Michael Benjamin (D-Bronx). more ›

Mayor Bloomberg has been a vocal supporter of charter schools, but he says a new bill that would double the number of charter schools allowed in the state is "a wolf in sheep's clothing." Though the new legislation would increase the number of charter schools permitted in New York from 200 to 400, it would also add restrictions that would require greater openness from charter schools, bar for-profit corporations from opening them, and give public school parents the power to stop charters from moving into public school buildings — restrictions the Mayor claims would halt their expansion. more ›

Veterans of Teach For America — a program that assigns recent college grads to teach in some of the country's worst schools — are less likely to vote, give to charities, or participate in civic groups than program drop-outs and those who were accepted by Teach For America but declined to take part, according to the a new study. The Times reports that the low rates of civic involvement might stem from exhaustion and burnout, as well as disillusionment with the group's approach to improving the educational disparities. more ›

On Wednesday, the city announced that four struggling public schools would be closed. Now the city says four more are slated to be shut down—including Jamaica High School in Queens. Enrollment at Jamaica High School has been falling. Jamaica High tells the Daily News it's shocked, since it improved its graduation rate by 10 points. But that's enough, since its grad rate has stayed below 50% for years. The News notes, "Jamaica was named the best secondary school in America in 1985 by the U.S. Department of Education. Among its students were columnist Art Buchwald, director Francis Ford Coppolla, '50s doo-wop group The Cleftones and much-reviled Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley." more ›

Budget cuts, which mean fewer teachers, are driving up class sizes. The Daily News reports, based on a Class Size Matters study, "The average elementary school class ballooned by about 4% to more than 23 students. Middle and high school classes grew by 1% to 2% to almost 27 students." Further, "average kindergarten class sizes jumped to 21.7 from 20.7 students this year... The number of schools that have an average of 25 or more students in kindergarten classes grew by almost 30% to 58 schools, mostly in the Bronx and Brooklyn." (The NY Times says Manhattan's kindergarten enrollment was highest at 9%.) The DOE says, "We have managed to avoid massive increases in class size," but the UFT says, "It's gross mismanagement." more ›

The Department of Education sent public school children home with letters asking parents for consent to give the students the H1N1 vaccine. While the CDC confirmed that 11 children died of swine flu last week, it remains to be seen whether parents will opt for the vaccine. One told WCBS 2, "I've decided not to give my kids the vaccine because it's just too new I just feel it's not a lot of research, so I don't know what the side effects are." more ›

Today, the 1.1 million students in NYC's public school system return to class, making it the unofficial "Parents Liberation Day." Indeed, parents told NY1, "I'm excited because my son, you know, the summer was basically recreation all day long and it's just time for him to get back into that groove of his education," and "I'm happy. So happy to get them out of the house." Of course, one looming issue—besides tests, tests and more tests that may not even help the kids prepare for college—is swine flu, though the city says its ready to combat that. Gotham Schools is liveblogging Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's five-borough school tour: At PS 111 in Long Island City—where Mayor Bloomberg, UFT President Michael Mulgrew, and principals union president Ernest Logan are also on hand—students "seem 'stunned and clearly irritated' by the gaggle of 20-odd reporters and photographers outside the door." more ›

It's official—Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and Mayor Bloomberg have fixed the public schools! Why, how else could 84% of the city's 1,058 elementary and middle schools receive A's on the DOE's annual performance report card, with only 3% winding up with marks of C or below. In fact, all of the schools that received F’s last year and remained open received A’s or B’s this year. Sounding like a teacher who had "accidentally" left the answer key during the final exam and now had to justify the stark improvement from the 61% of schools that got A's and B's when the system began only two years ago, Klein said yesterday, “We want to make clear that that means that they met their progress targets. Not by any stretch of the imagination that those schools don’t have a lot of improvement ahead of them...You can be assured we will raise the bar next year.” The grades schools receive are determined on how much student test results improve in a given year and have been criticized for their heavy reliance on standardized test scores. more ›