It's bad enough that teachers have to inculcate The Future according to the whims of state bureaucrats while dodging acid and waiting for the mayoral axe to fall on their school. Can't a pedagogue pad around the classroom in Crocs and a Black Flag t-shirt in peace? The principal of an East Village elementary school was fed up with the slovenly appearance of his staff, and instituted a dress code banning spaghetti straps, flip-flops, gym clothes and—gasp—jeans. "We want to transform this school to make it a more professional learning environment," Marlon Hosang, principal of P.S. 64, tells DNAinfo. No word on whether teachers are still allowed to trade their sandwiches for Dunkaroos. more ›

Three men and one woman were arrested during yesterday's spirited protests against the tuition hikes that were passed by the CUNY Board of Trustees. According to the NYPD, those arrested faced varying charges of reckless endangerment, harassment, and disorderly conduct outside a Baruch College building, where hundreds of protesters had gathered as the meeting itself became closed to the public. "Money does affect me," a CUNY sophomore tells Baruch's newspaper, the Ticker. "I have two jobs…Tuition is hard for me, I pay it by month and every dollar counts." more ›

After aligning themselves with the Occupy Wall Street movement, the United Federation of Teaches believes the NYPD has put their offices under constant surveillance. "I'll put it this way," UFT President Michael Mulgrew tells NY1, "We are a very safe building at this point in time since we seem to have all our exits and entrances are all being watched." more ›

Mayor Bloomberg kept saying that he wanted to make it harder for teachers to get tenure without good test scores, and he wasn't kidding. This year just 58 percent of the teachers up for the coveted job security provided by tenure got it. Last year 89 percent of those eligible got tenure. At the same time, however, fewer teachers were outright rejected for tenure than last year with only 2.9 percent getting a no compared to 3.3 percent last year. The rest of the teachers have at least another year to shape up or ship out. more ›

In the wake of the additional budget cuts and teacher layoffs announced on Friday, the city's unions are warming up for Thursday's rally on Wall Street by protesting House Speaker John Boehner's remarks tonight at the Economic Club of New York. Boehner, who is in town after stumping upstate for congressional candidate Jane Corwin earlier today, is expected to speak on "creating a better environment for private-sector job growth," which to the unions is code for "trying to cut funding for the regulations designed to prevent another collapse." more ›

Mayor Bloomberg has no qualms spending buckets of dough get his way—third term, anyone?—but that doesn't mean he has a clue how his current million-dollar ad buy is doing. That's buy was just a drop in the ocean of his massive wealth after all! more ›

What is a plutocrat to do with his fortune when his city is in debt, his third term seen as illegitimate, and his ratings are their lowest in eight years? Shut up and get to work Spend $1 million vanity ads trying to save face! Our billionaire mayor bought $1 million worth of TV ads with images of him talking to construction workers, hanging out with kids and arguing that his "solution is built on our core values." Mayor Bloomberg, he's just like us, only fabulously wealthy. Watch and learn: more ›

The good news is the city's Education Department said that a majority of staffers removed to the city's infamous Rubber Rooms last June are out. The bad, or at least questionable news, is that a "majority" of those are back in the classrooms. Under an agreement between the city and the teachers' union, all 744 teachers in the rubber rooms had to have their cases resolved by the end of 2010. Now 38% of the teachers have been removed from the city's payroll, and the rest are teaching again. more ›

Recently, Bloomberg has been pushing for an end to the "last in, first out" policy when it comes to firing teachers, saying teachers should be let go based on merit, not seniority. And while some teachers agree, the UFT doesn't. In a 30-second, $1 million new commercial, the union criticizes Bloomberg for mincing words about who gets laid off rather than trying to stop layoffs altogether. Also, there are snowglobes: more ›

Sorry, commenters, but all the "Bloomturd" and "Bloomtard" nicknames are getting a bit played out. Thankfully, UFT President Michael Mulgrew has suggested a new nickname for the Hizzoner: "Mayor Hosni Murbarak." Here's how that one came about. more ›

Over the weekend, Mayor Bloomberg said that if Albany's budget called for massive cuts to education, the city would have had to lay off almost every teacher hired within the last five years. Meaning around 20,000 teachers in a 75,000 work force. But even though Cuomo's budget calls for an elimination of an annual cash subsidy to the city through a state program, Bloomberg says the city will have to find another option to save school money. "We just cannot go and fire 25% of our teachers, even if the economics say you should," Bloomberg conceded. "We'll have to find another way to mitigate the pain." But he's not quite off the hook for his hyperbolic statements. more ›

The United Federation of Teachers attempt to keep teacher test results away from the public is not going so well. Yesterday a judge ruled that New York City can absolutely disclose the names of public school teachers along with their grades. Just don't expect to see that info anytime soon since, naturally, the UFT is appealing. more ›

The UFT has not been a fan of releasing the Education Department's teacher ratings to the public, and now we have an idea why. According to the test, teacher Pamela Flanagan got a zero as an English instructor. However, she actually teaches Math and Science at Tompkins Square Middle School, and rating based on the test scores of 30 students rate her as an "average" math teacher, even though eight of those students were never in her class. UFT President Michael Mulgrew said, "We have broken tests being put into an unreliable formula." And an expensive one; the assessments cost the city $5.5 million. more ›

The DOE added 14 more public schools to the list of schools it plans to close by the end of the year, bringing the total number of closures up to 26. The schools all seem to have below-average graduation rates, but NY1 notes that almost all of them have seen poverty rates and number of homeless students increase recently. Public hearings on the closures begin in January, and UFT President Michael Mulgrew reluctantly said, "At least they're answering questions this time and going to the schools to try to figure things out ahead of time." Progress! more ›

When Cathie Black was first introduced to the city, one of the most obvious signs of her lack of city school knowledge was that her own children attended a private boarding school in Connecticut. But when asked whether she would put her kids in a public school today, she favored honesty instead of the obligatory pro-public schools soundbite, saying, "I don't know what we would be doing. I would love to look at all of the schools. It's about choice for parents." How lovely it would be if everyone had the option to spend $30,000 a year on high school. more ›

A lot of people have been complaining about new Schools Chancellor Cathie Black and her lack of experience in education, but now a school board member is actually trying to do something about it. Mayor Bloomberg plans to submit a waiver request to the New York State Department of Education because Black has no education experience, and Panel for Educational Policy member Patrick Sullivan is asking the state DOE to deny Bloomberg's requests. He wrote that her appointment was "simple cronyism," and believes the panel should review her case. Civil Rights lawyer Norman Siegel said, “Today we begin a people's campaign to say no, no to the waiver for Cathleen Black." more ›

After Mayor Bloomberg warned that the city's dire budget situation might force 4,400 teachers to be laid off, he announced today that he would move to block teachers' and principals raises in order to save some of the jobs. However, United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew said the mayor doesn't have that power, "He does not have the power to unilaterally decide on the teachers’ contract, and we have reached no agreement on his proposal to freeze teacher pay." more ›

In the battle between legislators and teachers' unions over federal Race to the Top funding, hedge funds' executives are becoming powerful proponents of charter school reform. A new proposal for federal school funding would require the Assembly to pass legislation that would raise the cap on charter schools, and many managers have contributed millions in funds to lobby for the bill. “A lot of hedge fund and finance people in New York had decided state politics was too dirty and focused on their philanthropy.” said Eagle Capital Management partner Boykin Curry, “I think there’s an awakening now that we can be a force in Albany, but we’ve got to play a tougher game than before.” more ›

The United Federation of Teachers head Mike Mulgrew has a cute nickname for Chancellor Joel Klein: "Chancellor Numbnuts." He earned the nickname after allegedly saying "nutty" things while addressing delegates in D.C. on Wednesday. Mulgrew "tore the house down" when he used the nickname at the UFT annual convention, where he announced that Assemblyman Jonathan Bing is "dead to the union" because of his support of the "last hired, last fired" provision. Mulgrew has also allegedly called Gov. Chris Christie a "butterball" who would "explode or implode." So how can we get "Picklepuss" to catch on? more ›

While in Washington D.C. yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg said the city will start to use students' test scores when evaluating teacher tenure. The NY Times called the proposal one "that has been bitterly opposed by the teachers’ union and criticized as putting too much weight on standardized exams." more ›

Mayor Bloomberg's announcement that he would reduce the number of parking permits for civil servants by 20% has annoyed yet another group. Joining police officers, fire fighters, and other emergency workers are teachers. more ›