Police and the family members of a missing Virginia man are searching for him after he last made contact with a roommate on December 30. Ian Burnet, a 22-year-old engineering student, traveled to New York City to stay with two friends at their Hamilton Heights apartment on December 26. He sent a text message to his parents on December 28, and sent a text message to his roommate on December 30th before his disappearance that afternoon. more ›

A Queens high school teacher was arrested today for allegedly having sex with her 16-year-old student earlier this year. According to the Nassau County police, Tara Driscoll, 33, drove the boy to the Capri Motel in Lynbrook and "engaged in sexual relations with the victim." more ›

A Staten Island science teacher at an all-girls school has been accused of having inappropriate sexual conduct with a 16-year-old student. Danielle Johnsen, 29, surrendered to police yesterday; she is accused of having three hot-and-heavy sessions with the sophomore... which only came to light after other students read about the alleged trysts on the teen's Tumblr. more ›

Are public schools secretly trying out a new form of corporal punishment? Or is it really just bad luck that, in separate incidents in Queens and Brooklyn this week, two young students severed their fingertips in doors at school? And that both schools initially lost the tips, ensuring that they couldn't be reattached? more ›

A Queens fifth grader is more than a bit upset at his public school after the tip of his finger was ripped off by a swinging metal cafeteria door...and school officials couldn't find the missing bit. Ten-year-old Esau Gulley told the News that the incident happened on Monday at Public School 140 in Jamaica. "There was blood everywhere. I looked at it, and the top was gone," he said. more ›

A Bronx student who was arrested and imprisoned for 40 hours by the NYPD for a crime his friend had confessed to doing is filing a $1 million lawsuit against the city. Bryan Dale, 19, says he had to spend 20 months in courtrooms trying to clear his name for breaking a car windshield with a rock, while his friend was never prosecuted despite his admission. "The NYPD and district attorney basically decided to pretend the confession by the guilty party didn't exist. It really defies common sense," said Neil Wollerstein, Dale's attorney. more ›

The NYPD has a zero-tolerance policy toward students, and hasn't hesitated to cart kids out of school in handcuffs for such offenses as doodling on their desks. But one Queens mother thinks the NYPD went too far when they dragged her 7-year-old son out of his special-ed class in handcuffs. The Daily News reports that Joseph Anderson, a first-grader at P.S. 153 in Maspeth, had been wetting himself throughout the morning on April 13th, and then became upset when he was dyeing Easter eggs and "the color on the egg he was painting didn't look the way he wanted." Yes, it's a sad story. more ›

A group has submitted a proposal for a charter high school for pregnant girls and teen parents in Brooklyn—or, as the Post calls it, a "school of hard knocked." According to its prospectus (PDF), New Directions Charter High School will "a place where they have the opportunity to resume and complete their high school Education" and "will provide an environment that is non-judgemental, encourages academic growth and excellence, develops self-confidence and worth, and promotes critical thinking skills that will open the door for positive life choices." more ›

We're going to go ahead and assume that quite a few criminals get their ideas about pulling crimes from movies. But what was the last movie you saw where kidnapping a rich kid for ransom works? Their parents are always in with the FBI, or some other secret gang, and the bad guys are never quietly sent the money like they are asked. But apparently, one gang in Queens hadn't caught up on Rush Hour. more ›

A sad story got a happy ending yesterday as homeless high schooler Rosa Bracero finally got her diploma from the High School for Civil Rights. Bracero missed an English Regents exam when her family was evicted on the test day, and the shelter told her she would be denied shelter if she left. The state refused to validate the makeup exam, since regulations forbid makeup exams to discourage cheating. But news of Bracero's plight helped change that policy, and she graduated yesterday after scoring an 84 on the English Regents exam. If you feel like hearing about even more uplifting stories, the Daily News has stories of four more inspiring students. more ›

Now that the MTA has agreed not to phase out the Student MetroCard program that allows over 500,000 students to ride to school and back for free, there are many sighs of relief from students and their parents. A student at St. Joseph High School told WCBS 2, "My mom won't have to give me $4.50 every day to go to school. That saves me hundreds of dollars a year." more ›

"It was gross. I did not want to do it," Randy Estevez, a 14-year-old eighth-grader at In-Tech Academy in the South Bronx, tells the Daily News. Estevez is referring to his detention punishment last fall, when he and another student were allegedly assigned janitorial duties on two days, with tasks including cleaning up feces. Now the Department of Education is investigating the school, but In-Tech's principal is all like whatever: "Someone's on a mission. This is so untrue," says Principal Rose Fairweather-Clunie. more ›

Over 2,400 students are planning to walk out of their classes at noon today to protest the end of the free student MetroCard. The MTA has proposed cutting the free transportation, which costs $214 million, to help close a huge budget gap, but students argue they'll be hurting. One told WCBS 2, "I live really far from school. I would have to pay all the time to get to school," while another argued, "I live in Queens and go to school in Brooklyn. I can't pay to go to school every day." more ›

When Brownsville mom Ivory Williams was summoned to her son's school last week, she found the 9-year-old boy handcuffed, crying, and having an asthma attack. The Department of Education says the student, Jaheim Williams, was restrained after a cafeteria fight because he posed a threat to others, and that he was handcuffed for just twenty minutes. But Jaheim's mother claims that when administrators finally acknowledged that Jaheim needed medical attention, officers from the 73rd precinct brought him to the hospital—with the cuffs still on. more ›

A Queens woman is suing the city after her 12-year-old daughter was allegedly forced into a locker room and sexually assaulted by seven male classmates. The suit claims the victim had been knocked to the ground in Pathways College Preparatory School in Hollis, Queens, and then dragged into a locker room by 12- and 13-year-old boys, where they allegedly rubbed their crotches in her face. The girl's lawyer told the Daily News, "It was like bedlam in that gym that day." more ›

The Daily News reports that an honor student was slashed when he was leaving the Henry Street School For International Studies for a field trip yesterday: "Pascasio Rodriguez, 15, was sliced from his left cheek to his neck when ambushed by at least two thugs," and his mother said, "They confused him for the wrong guy He's never been in trouble before. He's a good kid." Rodriguez, other students and faculty were headed to the subway for a taping of BET's 106th and Park, a trip for students with at least "a 90 grade point average." Rodriguez is in stable condition at Bellevue, and his brother said, "I feel like he was surrounded by friends and no one did anything. The teachers didn't help. No one did." 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 ›

[UPDATE BELOW] High school students in Washington Heights and Elmhurst were stabbed in unrelated incidents this morning, according to authorities. A 15-year-old is expected to survive after getting stabbed with a steak knife 16 times in his back and arm in his Upper Manhattan school, while a Queens 17-year-old was cut inside Newtown High School in a separate violent confrontation. more ›

Parents are planning a city hall “bake-in” in protest of new regulations that ban homemade treats from their kids' school bake sales. The city's rationale is that brownies and cookies made from scratch carry an uncountable calorie load, whereas Doritos, packaged cookies and other food items on a list of permissible items, disclose their nutritional content. "We don't really want to be told what to buy, especially when it's junk food from Kellogg's," one mom told the Daily News. more ›

The imminent closure of two lower Manhattan Catholic schools has gentle Christians seeing red. “Pray for our Schools” and “Save My School” said the signs wielded by students, parents and faculty at a protest rally yesterday. Some admitted that the shut-downs—decided by NY’s Archdiocese, as a result of dropping Catholic school enrollment city-wide—were pushing the limits of their faith. “I’m attempting to be a Christian, but right now I want to kill," said Stephanie Pinto, a trustee and former student of St. James School, established in 1854. more ›

The Department of Education mailed out thousands of inaccurate letters to parents informing them that their children attend schools that are failing. The botched mailing—which was sent to parents of students at 16 schools citywide including Brooklyn's esteemed Edward R. Murrow High School—stated that under federal law, students had the right to transfer to a better school. more ›

Instead of cutting free student MetroCards and reducing subway and bus service, angry commuters say the MTA should stop giving retirees, employees, and their families free rides. According to Metro, nearly 50,000 MTA NYC Transit workers received a free ride this year, as well as 15,000 retired MTA workers—a policy that Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Queens) calls "irresponsible." "They're cutting the W, which is a lifeline, while at the same time giving out perks like this." more ›

The Daily News reports that, after studying about the Holocaust, nine black and Latino students at High School for Law Advocacy and Community Justice are raising money for a European tour of death camps and other WWII spots. One sophomore told the News she used to laugh at Hasidic Jews on the subway, but no more: "I learned about the Holocaust and I know what they went through... I never made fun of Jews again." Their teacher added, "Our students are inner-city minorities... For them to see the oppression of other groups, especially a white group, it is an eye-opener for them." They still need to raise $17,000 by March 15. more ›

The percentage of black students at New York City's best high schools has fallen over the past seven years, since the Mayor took control of public schools. Fewer black students attend seven of the eight public high schools that require entrance exams for admittance, while the number of African American students has stayed the same or fallen at 10 of the 12 schools where more than 90 percent of students graduate with Regents diplomas. more ›

The Department of Education wants to monetize high school athletics by creating a television network just for city school sports. Officials might sell the broadcasting rights for the Public Schools Athletic League and use the sponsorship money to add new school sports like table tennis and flag rugby, according to the Post. Supporters say similar deals have proven profitable elsewhere in the country and have given student-athletes greater exposure, benefited schools, and allowed parents and alums who can't attend games to stay involved. But what's going to happen when high school athletes—like college athletes—start asking for their share of the money? more ›

If Gov. Paterson's proposed budget is approved, New York after-school programs could face $11 million in cuts. According to the Advance, funding for the "Advantage After School Program" would be reduced to $17 million, potentially closing 79 sites—more than a quarter of program's locations—when contracts expire this year. Opponents of the plan say the cuts would leave 10,500 New York students without a place to go when they get out of school, 6,500 of them in the city. The cuts would also mean that about 1,000 people who work in afterschool programs would lose their jobs. Paterson has said he will need to make difficult cuts to close a budget gap estimated at $8.2 billion. more ›

This story's as sad as it is stupid: The state is refusing to validate a makeup English Regents exam taken by a Brooklyn High School senior, because she missed taking the test on the day her family was evicted. Last week Rosa Bracero, a student at Brooklyn's High School for Civil Rights, was stuck at a shelter when the test was administered. Though she insisted she needed to leave to take the 1:15 p.m. exam in order to earn her diploma, staffers at the city's family intake shelter told her they'd be denied shelter if the teen left. Given the choice between sleeping on the streets in January and taking a test, Bracero opted for survival. more ›

City officials often tout their far-reaching efforts to make school lunches healthier for students. They even called in Rachael Ray for help. But according to a Daily News investigation, school meals remain as unhealthy and as remarkably disgusting-sounding as they've always been. more ›

A telltale hickey has made things sticky for the coach of a girls volleyball team at Poly Prep Country Day School, a fancy private school in Dyker Heights. Coach Lisa Guttilla, 37, has been charged with misdemeanor sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of child, an unidentified 14-year-old girl on her team. Their affair was discovered after the girl's mother demanded to know the origins of a hickey on her neck, and the girl confessed. Guttilla, a part time employee at Poly Prep whose photo we're still trying to find, "engaged in sexual conduct" with the girl on at least three occasions, police sources tell the Post. more ›

An 8-year-old was arrested yesterday after he tried to show a classmate a loaded gun he carried into a Long Island school. A third-grade teacher overheard the student bragging about the weapon and confiscated a semiautomatic handgun from the adolescent's desk, according to cops. more ›