Good luck on the first day of school!

Posted by Philissa at 7:26 AM

Best wishes to the city's 1.1 million students and 150,000 educators, who start a new year of classes today. It's sure to be a challenging year, what with the new reorganization, schools receiving letter grades for the first time, and the introduction of a science test for 4th graders. But judging from the many small voices I overheard begging for new school supplies at Barnes and Noble last night, kids are ready.

Of course, teachers have officially been at work since last week, and students at many of the school's charter schools have already started classes. The New York Times' back-to-school article yesterday provided a rundown of all of the DOE's recent initiatives; EdNotes calls it "another NY Times puff piece." In the article, Chancellor Klein said this is the year to judge his reforms, as they are now all in place. In her back-to-school letter to teachers, UFT President Randi Weingarten writes, "Although we don’t agree with everything the Department of Education is doing, we are doing our best to make it work for our kids."