Wish list coming true, part I

Posted by helen at 9:59 AM

Remember about a month ago, when we asked you for questions you'd like answered by the DOE?

Well, the wheels grind slowly, even in midsummer, but grind they do: This afternoon, we're speaking with Anna Commitante (head of Gifted +Talented for the Department) and OSEPO head Elizabeth Sciabarra. Watch the blog for a brief follow-up of that conversation, and deeper coverage in the next Insideschools alert.

Many thanks to our avid, intelligent, insightful readers for their participation and support.

It all depends on your point of view...

Posted by helen at 2:42 PM

An ebullient Chancellor Klein quoted ol' Blue Eyes this morning -- "it was a very good year"-- and lauded the praises of students at Bronx Lab High School (whose graduates he addressed) as well as the city's teachers. Celebrating "the boldest changes yet" in terms of school reform, he cautioned nay-sayers, "Don't call it experimentation. You never want to stop innovation -- it's what drives success."

What Klein sees as success, though, can appear otherwise to other eyes. For example, he said "g+t program [admissions] ran much more smoothly than ever before"-- an assertion with which we'd bet plenty of parents would differ. For middle school admissions, he prescribed a "do it earlier" timeframe and stronger communications, advice that would've been useful when so many parents seeking answers weren't able to reach DOE and OSEPO officials.

The Chancellor celebrated gains by ELL students, as well as test-score gains overall. The 43% grade 8 ELA proficiency, while "not a great number," still represents a gain over the 30% proficiency when Klein took charge of the city schools. Middle school "is our greatest challenge," he said, and suggested that the DOE might consider breaking large middle schools into smaller ones, similar to ongoing high-school reforms.

Lower numbers of Level 4 scores, especially in middle school, are a concern, says Klein, who faults NCLB guidelines for not rewarding (and thus motivating) progress beyond proficiency. Recognition aside, he didn't offer specific ideas on how to address or even understand lower achievement by high-performing students.

Asked about the 50- to 60-hour week many teachers invest in their jobs, Klein dismissed concerns about sustainability. "When people are part of the world of changing things for children, they don't view it as work." This may come as news to teachers, who work hard to meet and sometime surpass the expectations of their jobs. Surely, even the most idealistic deserve not to work steady 12- or 14-hour days.

Special education meeting tonight!

Posted by Lindsey at 10:48 AM

As families with special needs students continue to wait for their middle school placement letters, officials from the DOE are showing up at the monthly meeting of the citywide council on special education to discuss the delay.Both Ellen Newman, executive director for special education enrollment, and Sandy Ferguson, executive director for middle school enrollment, will be in attendance, and anyone is invited to sign-up at the door to speak.

Patricia Connelly, a member of the council, says she is "furious about this situation." Comments on an earlier blog post about the delay for special education students show that many of you are also infuriated. Tonight is your chance to tell the DOE!

The meeting is today at 6:30 p.m. at PS 721K: the Roy Campanella Occupational Training Center, 64 Avenue X in Brooklyn. Get there early to sign up to speak, and short and sweet is your best bet -- individual public comments will be held to 4 minutes or less.

For the full story on this latest placement debacle, see the article from this week's Insideschools alert.

G+T Update: Courier Service

Posted by helen at 8:21 AM

Parents citywide should have g+t kindergarten and first grade placement results no later than today, according to the DOE, which used couriers to hand-deliver letters across all five boros -- even in Staten Island, according to one commenter.

Apparently, the fallout from pre-K had big bureaucratic repercussions: "We identified issues that caused confusion with some pre-Kindergarten placements, so we ran additional checks on the gifted and talented placements -- especially the placements for siblings," said DOE press spokesman Andy Jacob.

The extra efforts were made to "ensure that parents receive clear and accurate information," according to Jacob. "We delivered the letters via courier because we wanted parents to get the letters when they expected them, and with sufficient time to accept or decline their offers." According to Elizabeth Green in the Sun, deliveries cost about $5 per envelope -- plenty pricey, but less than overnight-mail fees. (Parents can also expect duplicate letters via conventional post.)

Timing is crucial for schools as well: As these last days of school unfold, schools that will receive new students need to know who's coming, in order to plan their mix of classes.

If you expect a placement letter and don't have one by the end of the day today, telephone OSEPO's elementary placement office, at 212 374-4948. They're following up on undeliverables, which they estimate to be less than 1% of letters, but a quick hello can't hurt. (And if you have a chance, drop us a note, too - curious to see how many deliveries found their mark, and how many went awry.)

DOE Principal Survey II

Posted by helen at 6:27 PM

This past winter, the DOE surveyed the city's 1400 principals. And today, the results of the second principal survey were released, with steady improvements in many measures, including principal satisfaction with DOE support in attaining school goals, school support organizations, and DOE accountability measures. The 1000+ principals who responded (anonymously) also reported a slight decrease in satisfaction with professional development programs offered by the DOE's Department of Teaching and Learning.

The first survey likewise highlighted many strengths -- and identified shortcomings in certain critical areas, like OSEPO's placement of special-education and English Language Learner (ELL) students and OSEPO's response to admissions and placement issues (limited satisfaction, between 50%-53%). The current survey omits any OSEPO questions, making direct comparison from one survey to the next impossible.

The current survey is about a third shorter than the first, because principals objected to its length, according to DOE sources. Why decisions were made to omit certain subject areas, like OSEPO, and include others, related to school management and accountability, for example, isn't quite clear. But given the prominence of OSEPO in the admissions confusion of the past couple of weeks (and ongoing, for plenty of parents), it would have been great to hear from principals, the proverbial leaders in the 'trenches' of academe, just exactly how OSEPO is doing.

G+T Parents: Some Have News, Many Still Holding

Posted by helen at 4:19 PM

We've been hearing today from lots of parents who haven't yet had word on their child's g+t kindergarten and first-grade placement. The official word from the DOE is "this week" -- and as it's 'only' Wednesday, more waiting's in order. If we learn more about when news was mailed, we'll let you know -- but our bet is that the folks at OSEPO are plenty eager to get the news out. If you've gotten anything in the afternoon mail, let us know.

For families looking for seats in upper-elementary g+t programs, the application deadline is June 26th, with placements announced in mid-August. Details are also here on the DOE site, but go into the process with your eyes wide open: Comparatively few spots open up for upper-grade students, and competition can be fierce.

Still waiting for news on District 1, District 3, and middle-school snafus in District 15 and elsewhere. Hope for something of substance before too long...

Unscrambling the OSEPO Omelette

Posted by helen at 9:19 AM

After a long wait for news from the DOE, it seems that some parents are beginning to hear about pre-K appeals and kindergarten gifted and talented placement. Some are getting good news, others, not so much. But if OSEPO has moved into a more responsive mode, parents can hope that many of the past weeks' nagging questions just might be resolved.

Of course, some of the responses we've heard about raise yet more questions, like the comment from MaruG, who said that a polite, cooperative OSEPO rep gave her a mid-August placement date for g+t kindergarten, because her child's application had gone awry. (We're checking on this one.)

Think of this post as a wide net: If you've had word on admissions or appeals from the DOE or OSEPO, please let us know, especially if you have questions or if, as Bronx Shrink mentioned, information you've gotten verbally from OSEPO (by phone) doesn't square with written communications.

Appeals Update from DOE

Posted by helen at 1:22 PM

As plenty of parents can attest, talk has been swirling about pre-K and middle-school appeals, and second round applications for pre-K. Here's the latest:

Appeals for pre-K are due to the DOE by next Friday, June 13. These appeals are meant to address clerical/record-keeping issues, like address changes, name misspellings, etc. These are NOT for parents who wish to appeal their child's exclusion from pre-K.

If you feel your child was wrongly placed or simply excluded from your zoned school, write the DOE's OSEPO office at Tweed pronto, if you haven't already. There is no hard deadline for these letters, but their aim is to resolve all open queries before the round-two pre-K apps begin on June 23d.

To participate in the second round of pre-K admissions, get hold of an application from your borough OSEPO office. Parents seeking sibling priority seats should receive them by mail from the DOE. (Be good enough, readers, to let us know if and when the 2nd round applications arrive -- thanks.) The second round begins on June 23d; there is no deadline yet set for that process, although one will be decided soon (says the DOE) and posted here, of course, and on their site.

Caveat emptor, parents: If you elect to participate in round two and are granted a pre-K seat, you are obliged to accept that seat for your child. In other words, you can't hold on to a first-round placement in hopes of another, somehow better second placement. If your bid's in the ring, you have to accept the outcome. Fair's fair.

On middle schools, elementary schools in districts with appeals processes have, apparently, distributed appeals information. (Help us out again, here, readers: What's in your child's backpack?)

If your 5th-grader applied to a middle school in another district, contact the out-of-district school's guidance counselor for appeals particulars. If you're still unable to resolve your concerns, contact your borough OSEPO office -- be patient, be prepared for some phone tag, but be persistent, too. Remember, not all districts have formal appeals processes. (In this case, fair's not exactly fair.)

Parents in Brooklyn and elsewhere say some of their fifth-graders didn't get any place at all in middle school, or got placed at schools they didn't include on their applications. If this is true for your child, let us know -- getting a sense of the scope of the challenge is the first step.

Morning Report

Posted by helen at 8:38 AM

The Pre-K coverage in today's Times brings familiar tales of woe -- siblings bounced, in-zone kids displaced by out-of-zone applicants -- but some semi-encouraging news: it seems that OSEPO might reconsider its plan to standardize next year's kindergarten admissions. Other reports (and our own communication with the DOE) suggest that the DOE will be moving the middle school process earlier in the calendar year next year, to prevent bottlenecks and delays. While it's little salve for this year's slings and arrows, at least there's hope that a) they're listening and b) the process just may improve in its next iteration.

For readers waiting for answers to specific questions, we're still waiting, too. With luck, we'll have responses soon.

"Noise," but Not Much News

Posted by helen at 3:38 PM

A midday protest on the steps of Tweed organized by Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and City Council member Bill deBlasio drew a few dozen parents and DOE representatives David Cantor and Andy Jacob, who fielded questions but had few concrete answers to offer.

"The scale of the problem is misrepresented by the amount of noise," said Cantor, as parents of barraged him with questions. "Everything will be resolved within the next couple of days." That means a seat in a pre-K program, although not necessarily at the first-choice school, for siblings of already-enrolled students.

DeBlasio and others challenged the DOE's count of 200 families affected. "The issues this raises for parents are huge," he said, citing the thousands parents may have to pay for private pre-K, and the fact that many programs are already full for fall. Frustrated parents want to know what to tell their kids, and worry aloud about plans to centralize next year's kindergarten admissions process.

DOE reps promise that all legitimate sibling priority enrollments will be honored (though again, not necessarily at the first-choice school), and that all calls and emails to OSEPO will be returned (not what we're hearing). But the issue, while immediately pressing for hundreds of city families, has a much larger import.

"We know pre-K is an essential educational tool," says UFT president Randi Weingarten. "They've done with this what they did with high school enrollment, and with middle school enrollment -- they've taken all human judgment out of the equation. They dismiss the nature of neighborhoods, they dismiss the nature of human needs, for what a computer tells them to do. It's a computer, instead of common sense."

And for the record, even DOE staff aren't immune from the vagaries of the system: Cantor's 4-year-old will attend their local public-school kindergarten in the fall -- but, he said, "even my kid didn't get into pre-K" last year.

Pre-K Questions, No Answers (Yet)

Posted by helen at 5:00 PM

It's hard to imagine how much more time the DOE will require to review the pre-K applications that have caused so much turmoil. But as there's no official word there beyond 'we're working on it and will let parents know,' I don't have news of substance to report.

For those seeking political recourse, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum will hold a press conference at Tweed tomorrow, Wednesday, at 12:45pm; Council Member Bill DeBlasio of Brooklyn will speak around 1p. (We'll be there, too.)

Questions abound in regard to potentially unclaimed seats -- those offered to families who, for reasons of distance, convenience or sheer frustration with the DOE morass, will make other pre-K choices. Because the process was a citywide effort this year, schools don't have official wait lists, and there is no "trading up," as one poster had hoped, from a spot at a second- or third-choice school if a place at the first-choice school opens. If your child was offered a seat, you can accept or decline -- no wheeling-dealing.

Families of children who have not been offered a seat can participate in a second round of pre-K admissions, which opens (no typo) June 23d, just three days before school lets out for summer. Not all schools will have empty seats, but this is how the seats that aren't spoken for will be filled.

As of this writing, you have to go to an OSEPO borough office to get the paperwork and a directory of schools. Amazingly, the powers that be haven't yet published a deadline for second-round applications -- I'm working on it.