Amidst charges of sexually abusive teachers, depressing teacher evaluations and high student arrest numbers, the Department of Education finally had some good news to report yesterday. After years of decline, the number of black and Latino students accepted into the city's top specialized high schools went up 14 percent this year! more ›

Sending your teenage terror to one of the city's top public math and science high schools doesn't necessarily mean much when it comes to later standardized test scores, according to a new paper from economists at MIT and Duke. But that doesn't mean that the schools, which they refer to as "exam-schools," don't have value. Oh, they do. Trust us. more ›

"Touching students and whispering in their ear are acceptable practices to maintain order in the library," Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Manuel Mendez ruled yesterday. And with that former Stuyvesant High School librarian Christopher Asch was vindicated after years of being stigmatized as a pervert. In 2009 the openly gay Asch had been sent to the rubber room after a student claimed he had inappropriately touched him. more ›

In 1995 the Department of Education (then the Board of Education) started a program called the Specialized High Schools Institute with the goal of getting more black and Hispanic students into the city's top-tier specialized high schools (i.e. Stuyvesant, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech). But it isn't quite working out the way it was expected to. more ›

Last week, former Stuyvesant student Alexis Marie Wint posted a video to YouTube of four current students—all white—poorly performing a rap song rife with racist and misogynistic lyrics, some that appeared to be directed at a black fellow student. CBS has confirmed that "the Department of Education has started a disciplinary proceeding that could result in suspensions," in addition to sending the Anti-Defamation League to the school to teach three, six-hour sessions. more ›

Here's a video showing a group of white teenage boys singing a vulgar, misogynistic rap song that includes plenty of n-words. So what else is new? Well, these kids reportedly attend the prestigious Stuyvesant High School, and it seems the song is not only their own creation, but it allegedly targets a black classmate with such lines as: more ›

Pier 25 in the Hudson River Park has had a long history. For years the pier off North Moore Street was home to everything from a run-down mini-golf course to a children's playground to a double-decker seating area at the end where students from neighboring Stuyvesant would go to *cough* *cough* get some "fresh air." After 9/11 the pier was temporarily closed when it was used to help clear debris from the attack and it was closed again in 2005 for a refurbishment. It finally reopened to the public in November and now it seems more history is on the way! The park has decided to give South Street Seaport and its bevy of historical boats a run for its money. more ›

The court proceedings for Eric Bellucci, the 30-year-old Staten Islander accused of killing both of his parents and fleeing to Israel, are going to take longer than expected. Yesterday the Stuyvesant and Williams graduate was to appear in court for an eight-count indictment but "refused to be fingerprinted and when transported to the Supreme Court for arraignment refused to leave the holding cells," Daniel Donovan, district attorney for Staten Island, told the News. His arraignment is now postponed until after a psychological evaluation and his next court date is scheduled for late January. more ›

To be filed under "Kids These Days": Instead of "Most Likely to Succeed" or even "Most Popular," Stuyvesant High School seniors created a display of classmates under headings such as "Biddies," "Hotties" and "I'd Tap That." The Post reports that the seniors were "encouraged to create displays listing classmates they considered the sexiest" by the administration, which has let students post an annual "crush list" for over ten years. But did they finally go too far? more ›

Just as the city announced it would close three failing schools, it turns out nine city high schools made a list of top public schools in the country. U.S. News & World Report ranked Stuyvesant as #23 on its Top 100 high schools list; other NYC mentions were H.S. of American Studies (29), Dual Languages & Asian Studies (31), Staten Island Tech (32), Bronx Science (33), Baccalaureate School of Global Education in LIC (38), Queens H.S. of Science (48), Brooklyn Tech (67) and Townsend Haris H.S. (71). As for the failing schools, NY1 reports that JHS 40 in Manhattan will be phased over over two years, PS 90 in the Bronx will be replaced by two new schools, and PS 225 will be split into elementary and middle schools. Other schools may be up for closing or phasing out in future weeks. more ›

What ever happened to itching powder in the jock strap? NY Mag is reporting that two sophomore J.V. football players became violently ill after drinking Gatorade spiked with copper sulfate, a chemical fungicide. One of the kids started coughing up blood and had to be taken to the hospital! Police arrested one suspect, a sophomore, and charged him with reckless endangerment. Happily, both of the sickened players recovered in time for the big homecoming game three days later. In September, a 13-year-old student at the Talented and Gifted School for Young Scholars was arrested after spiking his teacher's water with calcium hydroxide, sending her to the hospital. And in June, students at the Brooklyn School for Global Studies were arrested when their laxative-spiked cake sickened teachers. Isn't it high time for an After School Special on this? Oh, ABC stopped making After School Specials. Which explains a lot about today's poison-prone youth. more ›

One of the Stuyvesant High School students seriously injured in last Saturday's Vermont van crash has returned home to New York. Junior Lucia Hsiao, a member of the girls' junior varsity track team, had suffered serious neck injuries but was able to "gingerly walk" to her room on her own. The Staten Island resident is wearing a halo around her head and will require a lot of rehab, but her dad said, "It could have been worse. She's done with the first step of recovery." more ›

As the Stuyvesant community remains concerned over the health of two students and a coach who were seriously injured after a track team van crash, it now seems that the trip was not authorized by the school. more ›

Today, Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Klein released the "first-ever" public school progress reports with letter grades. The reports are meant to give educators and parents a snapshot of how well schools are doing and empower them to keep improving. Mayor Bloomberg said, "With these Progress Reports, parents no longer have to navigate a maze of statistics to determine how their child's school is doing and how it compares to others. And our educators now... more ›