In the past weeks several stories about the notorious ammonium hydroxide-treated beef product, also known as "pink slime," went viral after news got out that the stuff was used for years by National School Lunch Program. Fast food joints like Taco Bell and Burger King may have stopped using it, but it was still good enough for America's schools! And now, one extremely brave food writer has sacrificed his body in the name of journalism. 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 ›

It isn't just teachers getting arrested in our schools. According to new data released by the NYPD [PDF], an average of five students were arrested every day in the city's school system last fall, and nine more were issued summonses. Things look especially bleak for black students who, despite comprising only 29 percent of the student population made up 60 percent of the arrests (add in Latino students and the number climbs to 90 percent). The news led Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, to again point out that "If the Bloomberg administration is truly serious about helping young men of color succeed, then they must address these disparities and focus more attention on educating children—not arresting them." 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 ›

A Bronx elementary school teacher is suing the city after the school's principal allegedly became enamored with her, rubbing up against her, winking at her and hugging her. According to the lawsuit obtained by the Post, Kristin Erat, Grant Avenue Elementary School's principal since 2009, kept a photo of Barbara Woods in her desk, and once "told Woods that [she] cannot stop thinking about" her. When Woods informed Erat that she was straight, Erat became "upset, surprised, and disappointed." more ›

At Monday night's GOP presidential debate, Newt Gingrich defended his plan to put poor children with poor "work habit" to work as janitors in their schools, using New York City's decadent custodians as an example of excess. "New York City pays their janitors an absurd amount of money because of the union. You could take one janitor and hire 30-some kids," Gingrich said. "That's ridiculous," Robert Troeller, president of Local 891, a union for the city's school custodian engineers says. Maybe, but at least kids are too tiny to organize! more ›

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 ›

Apparently someone is not a fan of giving federal stimulus money to boutique hotels. A reader tells us they were walking their dog early this morning when they noticed the giant banner, reading "$15,000,000 OUR DEBT," and notes, "Seems pretty crappy that they'd be spending money on luxury hotels in Williamsburg while our schools go to hell." Maybe, but by the time President Gingrich takes office, the kids can always get jobs as adorable bellhops. more ›

According to new data released by the NYPD [pdf], an average of one student is arrested every day in the city's school system, and three others are issued summonses. During summer school from July through September, four students each day are arrested, and 94% of those arrested are black or Latino, and 83% are male. "The data raise concerns about black students being disproportionately arrested in the city's schools," Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the NYCLU says in a release. "If the Bloomberg administration is truly serious about closing the achievement gap, then they must address this disparity and focus more attention on educating children—not arresting them.” 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 ›

As anyone who has seen the documentary Dangerous Minds knows, teaching is pretty difficult. But a few simple guidelines will make getting tenure easier: don't tell your students about your sexual exploits, brandishing a box cutter isn't a good idea, and cut back on the compulsive hugging. The Daily News looks into the more than 20 DOE employees who were disciplined over the last 24 months and they make our 6th grade English teacher's habit of shaving her eyebrows seem normal. 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 ›

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 ›

Still doubtful that bedbugs are taking over New York City? Try these numbers on for size: In the 2008-9 school year there were 542 confirmed cases of the pests in New York City public schools. In the 2009-10 school year there were 1,019 confirmed cases. And this year? This year there were 3,590 confirmed cases. Maybe Schools Chancellor Walcott really does need to start implementing bedbug days? Or at least outfitting teachers with those bedbug fart detectors? 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 ›

Yesterday, U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that New York City public schools can prohibit religious worship services from its premises. The New York Law Journal reports, "Ruling for the fourth time in a decade on a lawsuit brought by a Christian church in the Bronx, the majority concluded that the rule does not constitute viewpoint discrimination under the First Amendment because it 'does not exclude expressions of religious points of view or of religious devotion, but excludes for valid non-discriminatory reasons only a type of activity—the conduct of worship services.'" more ›

If Connecticut is the land of steady habits, and California is the land of milk and honey, then New York is certainly the land of the (big) apple: apples are our state fruit, apple muffins are our state muffin, and everyone here is really rooting for Fiona Apple to make another record. But according to Crain's, there's an apple conspiracy afoot, and it involves one of Glenn Beck's arch-enemies: China! more ›

Every school administrator knows that if you turn your back on these kids for one second you'll have a "Kick Me" sign plastered on your back and a thumbtack waiting on your chair. That's perhaps why the principal at the SEEALL Academy in Brooklyn may face an investigation for using school funds to purchase a $490 hidden camera pencil sharpener. An Education Department spokesperson tells the Daily News the special commissioner for investigation has been asked to look into the spying, but investigators won't have to dig too deep to figure out where the principal got the idea to buy the camera. The there was a link to it on the Education Department's website portal. more ›

Former Schools Chancellor Joel Klein may be making millions at News Corp. now, but he's still annoyed by NYC's byzantine process to fire teachers. He told the Sunday Times of London, "Five to 10 percent [of educators] are not remotely capable. It's easier to prosecute a capital-punishment case in the US than terminate an incompetent teacher." And of the United Federation of Teachers, he said, "The union is going to protect incompetent workers -- that is their job." more ›

Mayor Bloomberg has had a tough month: he's received non-stop criticism over the city's poor handling of the first huge snowstorm of the winter. It's gotten so stressful for the Mayor, his neuroses have been running wild through City Hall, and he's even started breaking out his panic sweaters. But finally, he's getting some loving from one non-voting segment of his constituents: children. “Every single kid in New York loves Bloomberg today,” said mom Jodi Nagel. more ›

You might not realize it because of all the incredible innovations and inventions that are bursting from the city on a regular basis, but NYC has a bit of an inferiority complex when it comes to the sciences and engineering. Oh sure, we know everything when it comes to fashion, media and finance, but we're lacking those basic, nerdy fundamentals that could take us to the next level. Thankfully, Mayor Bloomberg and his administration have finally turned their attentions to this problem, by trying to woo academic institutions to build a top-tier applied-science facility here. more ›

There's a certain type of bitter nerd who takes extreme pleasure in proving that they are smarter than their teachers. Based on an article today where they lace into a principal with terrible grammar, we take it that the Daily News was one of those nerds. Not that they don't have a point however: Principal Andrew Buck of the Middle School for Art and Philosophy wrote an incoherent, rambling mess of an email to staff, defending his policy of not providing textbooks. But, who the hell expects coherency from an art and philosophy manager! more ›

Last year school bake sales were out, and new healthy alternatives were brought in via vending machines. While there's a battle to actually give schools a cut of the proceeds going on in the background, the NY Post reports on the #1 selling items—like Sensible Foods roasted edamame, cinnamon pita chips and Kashi's Cherry Dark Chocolate granola bar. At the top of the list: a fresh pineapple spear on a push-up stick. Over 700 vending machines are now in place at middle and high schools around the city, selling only low-fat, low-sodium, whole grain snacks. Of course, after the bell rings they go home and eat spaghetti tacos. more ›

Reacting to a drop in test scores this school year, angry parents decided that bullhorns were a necessity at an education panel last night. “Where is the accountability?," asked one parent whose son's scores had dropped. “Do your work for our children" said another. The ruckus was enough to make Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and the members Panel for Educational Policy walk out of their own meeting. DOE spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz told the Times, "Their shouting and screaming proved too disruptive for the panel to continue meeting, and rather than be heard, these individuals sabotaged their chance to speak and derailed important public business." more ›

For a while, it seemed like things were improving in the city's public school system. Test scores were up and the disparity in performance between white kids and minorities was small. But the 2010 test scores smashed that dream, showing a 25% drop in passing rates from last year, and a gaping divide in performance between the city's white and Asian students and black and Hispanic students. Michael J. Petrilli of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, told the Times, "On achievement, the story in New York City is of some modest progress, but not the miracle that the mayor and the chancellor would like to claim." more ›

In another reminder that money and hoity-tiotyness will always triumph over spirit, fairness, equity and merit, the NY Times reports that the public playing fields on Randall's Island are being overwhelmingly used by private schools and institutions, leaving public schools way in the outskirts. more ›

The DOE has been faced with an ever-worsening budget crisis this year, one that has already forced them to cut busing for 7th and 8th graders and free school lunches, and may ultimately result in thousands of teacher layoffs. Even with Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's announcement that all schools would take an average 4% cut, the Post notes that the number of employees in the school system earning $150,000 or more surged by 25 percent this year. And a Daily News investigative report this past weekend found out that groups of teachers from Brooklyn high schools were going on all-expense paid retreats in the midst of this crisis. more ›