First Week

Posted by helen at 7:00 PM

It's been a full week since Philissa passed along the coordination of the InsideSchools blog -- and like so many other weeks in the world of New York City public education, there's been no shortage of news to report and ponder. But it wouldn't be right to close up shop for the week without a proper thanks to Philissa, whose hard work and astonishing dedication served as the blog's (virtual and actual) foundation. Salut!

As we move forward, we'll continue to hear from familiar voices, like Liz Willen, who'll be writing about high schools, and Jennifer Freeman, who'll be covering Community Education Councils. We'll also welcome a new writer from the nycstudents blog, as our previous contributor, Seth Pearce, heads up to Harvard, and hope to add additional voices to the mix.

It's an honor and a challenge to be part of this thoughtful, provocative community. Thanks to all for their thoughts, inspirations, frustrations and wee-hours obsessions -- for the willingness to take that leap of faith, and connect.

Where is your 5th grader going to middle school?

Posted by Philissa at 9:10 PM

One final note before I sign off: even though OSEPO pulled an all-nighter earlier this week trying to nail down the scope of the pre-K admissions problems, it is still planning to mail out long-delayed middle school placement letters right about now. Here's a space for parents of 5th graders to discuss the results of that process.

G&T folks, you'll get your placement thread next week. Good luck to all!

From an Insideschools graduate: Goodbye and good luck

Posted by Philissa at 1:00 PM

In a week filled with budget cut showdowns, botched pre-K admissions letters, and anticipation of middle school and G&T placement decisions, I'm pretty sure I'm just about the last thing on your minds. But that won't stop me from trying to insert myself there.

At the end of May last year, the Insideschools blog was still just an idea. A year later, its archive contains more than 525 posts(!) ranging from meeting coverage to analysis of articles and reports to help understanding the DOE's confusing policy changes. In my three years at Insideschools, I've enjoyed nothing more than writing this blog and interacting with the parents, teachers, policy wonks, and school officials who read it.

Today is my last day at Insideschools. After today, I'll be reading this blog, but I won't be contributing to it. I'm confident that I'm leaving the blog in more-than-capable hands — Helen Zelon, who has contributed coverage of the budget cuts already, will post regularly through the summer, and you'll soon see some other new names; let Insideschools know if you'd like to be one of them — but still, I will miss it.

When I see you around the city and the Internet, say hello. And until then, know that I am rooting for you all in this crazy, mixed-up school system.

Crane collapse at the site of new East Side MS

Posted by Philissa at 10:50 AM

Today's tragic crane collapse on the Upper East Side, the latest in a series of construction accidents in city that's experiencing a building boom, took place at the site of the new East Side Middle School, where developers tore down an old public school building to make way for a new condominium building that will also house a public school. The Times is reporting that the cab of a crane fell as many as 20 stories to the ground this morning, killing at least one person.

Groundbreaking for the new ESMS, a popular school currently located on York Avenue between 77th and 78th streets, happened last September. (View photos of the event.) The new, 34-story building, which will house an expanded ESMS as well as 118 condo units, was slated to be completed in 2011; it's not clear how this accident will affect the timeline but I think we can hope that construction there and elsewhere in the city should not happen until we can be guaranteed it's happening safely.

Here's a distraction: Share your kids' favorite books

Posted by Philissa at 10:00 AM

Earlier this week, Helen posted about "Chancellor Klein's no good, very bad morning." One commenter immediately noted the allusion to the classic children's book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day," by Judith Viorst, saying that she reads the book to her own son Alexander when he's feeling grumpy. Recently, the Times' City Room blog ran a long post about the best kids' books that use New York City as a backdrop, such as "Eloise," "Harriet the Spy," and "The Cricket in Times Square." Readers weighed in with their own suggestions and sent me, at least, running to the library.

As we all work on our summer reading lists, help fellow Insideschools Blog readers out: What books do your kids most enjoy?

Post your pre-K solutions here

Posted by Philissa at 8:00 AM

Some of the soon-to-be pre-K parents commenting on this blog are working through their anger and frustration about the admissions problems by generating possible solutions for them. If the DOE aims to make things right for the families it shortchanged — and I believe that is the DOE's intention — officials will likely need to think creatively. Perhaps they can use Bronx_Shrink's proposal for inspiration:

I think there may be one way in which a fraction of the wrongfully rejected parents can be appeased. The city offers child care vouchers to low income families. If they are unable to correct this and place kids properly, according to priority, perhaps some families can be offered vouchers to be used in private day cares. Before the tomatoes start flying, I know this will not be the answer for most parents as they carefully chose schools that match their educational values. However, it might be good compensation for some other families to get them through another year of childcare costs.

Do you have a better plan? Post yours. Pie-in-the-sky ideas are welcome, but practical solutions are even more welcome.

$200 million — or $12 million, or something in between — to be cut centrally, maybe

Posted by Philissa at 7:00 AM

Earlier this week, Leonie Haimson commented on a post about the budget showdown that "no one believes that $200 million is going to be cut centrally." During this challenging week, I've really tried to give the DOE the benefit of the doubt, but all the evidence certainly does point that way. As Haimson noted over at the NYC Public School Parents blog, the budget the chancellor presented to the City Council on Tuesday reflected a $12 million central cut that will be achieved in large part by putting in place a hiring freeze at the DOE; it also reflected serious inconsistencies and underbudgeting that advocates have been noting since the budget was released several weeks ago.

After Council members and advocates demanded a closer accounting, the chancellor released a more detailed list of how he plans to free up the $200 million. Elizabeth Green at the Sun wrote yesterday that the list says the DOE plans to reduce the number of staff positions by 187 (which strikes me as unlikely to be achieved in one year through attrition), defer the introduction of a new social studies curriculum (testing related to a new science curriculum was also put off earlier this year), and stop paying for some of schools' computer repair costs. Nearly 15 percent of the central cuts could affect schools directly, Green reported. And now today, the Post notes that "nearly half" of the proposed central cuts were achieved by lowering cost estimates for various products and services — probably by finding someone who can do what's needed for even lower than the lowest bid, which can't be good for actually getting the job done well.

My head is spinning. The only way I can see sense being made of the whole situation is if the mayor frees up enough money to eliminate budget cuts for the DOE and its schools.

Pre-K fix in the works at the DOE: details here

Posted by Philissa at 12:17 PM

I just heard from Andy Jacob at the DOE, who said he had explained many details about the nature of the pre-K admissions problems to reporters at the Times and the Post but that those details hadn't made it into print. The Daily News had a hint of the details, but I didn't see that article earlier this morning -- there, Jacob described problems with sibling verification that may have led some parents not to have received acceptance letters when they should have.

What happened, Jacob told me, was that the DOE's computers compared data for the older sibling claimed on the application with the data parents entered on the application. If the address in the attendance system for the older child didn't match the address as it was entered from the application, the system treated the applicant as a non-sibling. But in some cases, Jacob said, the address-matching excluded children erroneously, sometimes because of a minor difference in the way the addresses were formulated (with a typo in the DOE's attendance system, for example) and sometimes because families have moved since entering the school system.

Currently, OSEPO staff are finishing up looking at every single one of the applications of families who indicated they had a sibling already enrolled, Jacob said. He told me he anticipates that the number of families affected will be a "small minority" of the 9,000 families who indicated that they had a sibling in their school of choice, though the number will be "more than 4 or 5." After the scope of the problem is clear, the DOE will decide how to handle the cases, he said, and families will be notified then if there was a mistake in the way their application was treated. "There are some cases where the problem was on our end. ... When we hear about problems, we solve them," he told me.

Jacob said there may also be families who believe they were erroneously denied a seat who actually completed the application incorrectly, perhaps by listing the school in which the sibling is already enrolled as something other than their first choice. (Sibling priority only works for your first-choice school.)

Jacob advised me that the very best thing parents who believe the address-matching issue may be the root of their rejection should hold tight while the DOE decides how to solve the problem. I know that will be hard to do, but I have faith that the DOE is committed to addressing the issues, even though it might not know yet exactly how to. If you just can't wait, Jacob said the best number to call at OSEPO is 212-374-4948. That's also the number you should call if you have other issues or if you still haven't received a letter -- though we have heard from one father who just received a letter this morning.

As always, we'll keep you posted as we learn more, and please let us know what's happening on your end.

DOE: We will "solve the problems" with as many as 9K pre-K applications

Posted by Philissa at 8:55 AM

Finally, today, the pre-K debacle has made it into the papers — where we learn that the DOE believes all the problems are parents' fault. DOE spokesman Andy Jacob told the Times that the problems appear to have affected only families with siblings already enrolled in a school with a pre-K program. That means, of course, that the problems may be widespread, because those families make up 45 percent of the 20,000 families who applied for pre-K seats.

Jacob told the Times that DOE officials believe the data entry done in Pennsylvania is not the culprit, but that blame more likely rests with parents who made a "simple mistake" when filling out the form. To the Post, he said that "most complaints involved parents who wrongly believed they qualified for priority placement or whose application data contained errors."

Some good news: Jacob told the Times, "We will find a way to solve the problems that do exist." How magnanimous: They may not respect you or believe you're capable of filling out a form, but at least they'll make right when you screw up.

Please let us know when you start getting resolution to your problems — we hope it's soon!

Hebrew-language charter proposal on its way to DOE, state

Posted by Philissa at 7:06 AM

I had sort of thought that the folks who last autumn were talking about bringing a Hebrew-language charter school to New York City would have been dissuaded by the controversy surrounding the Khalil Gibran International Academy, but apparently they were not. Next week, representatives of the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life plans to submit an application to the DOE and the state Board of Regents to open a charter school as early as 2009, according to a report in the Jewish Daily Forward.

The proposal will be modeled after Ben Gamla Charter in Florida, which ran into some trouble early in this school year because its Hebrew language curriculum contained religious references. Considering that doing damage control for Khalil Gibran proved costly and embarrassing for the DOE and that the controversy continues to this day, it should be interesting to see what kind of reception the Hebrew school's advocates receive.

DOE investigating pre-K problems as parents worry

Posted by Philissa at 11:13 AM

The DOE hasn't commented on the scope of problems with pre-K admissions letters -- no matter that one Insideschools blog reader hypothesized that the problems are "HUGE" -- but officials are saying they are investigating every complaint they receive. So if you believe your child was mistakenly denied a seat in a pre-K program, contact OSEPO, the central enrollment office, at 212-374-2363.

What's not clear to me is whether any families have been offered seats at the Brooklyn schools that seem to have been affected. If they have, will the DOE be able to reverse erroneous rejections? Or will all of the seats that should have gone to in-zone siblings already be filled?

Central cuts to include universal G&T testing, quality reviews

Posted by Philissa at 8:37 AM

Last week, at the same time Chancellor Klein started his "classic divide and conquer" campaign to cut the budgets of high-performing schools, he also announced that he would be cutting $200 million from the DOE's central budget. We're starting to get a picture now of what programs and services will go the way of the $200 million. Helen reported that top schools will not receive annual quality reviews and that dozens of jobs will be cut centrally.

Today, we learn that the DOE is jettisoning its plan to screen all kindergarteners for "giftedness" this coming year. The plan has drawn mixed reception since it was announced last year as part of the standardization of G&T admission: anti-testing advocates opposed it as an expansion of the DOE's already swollen testing program, while others, including some parents who commented on this blog while waiting for their G&T letters, saw it as a way to increase equity by finding gifted kids whose parents might not know to ask for testing.

What else do we know the DOE plans to cut from its central administration? Is the chancellor right that individual schools won't suffer more because of the cuts there?

Pre-K letters out; problems apparent already

Posted by Philissa at 9:32 AM

In keeping with its grand tradition of finding a long weekend during which to mail important letters to parents, the DOE let loose Pre-K admissions decisions at the end of last week. Already, the Insideschools forum is abuzz with discussion of the process. A couple of disappointed parents lament not getting into their top-choice programs or into any program at all.

Other parents describe what we can only hope are problems with the admissions process, the management of which was outsourced to an out-of-state provider. A couple of parents describe receiving rejection letters even though they live in the zone of a school with a large Pre-K program — and who have older children already enrolled in that school! (This year's new rules, finalized midway through the application process, give siblings preference for admission over all other applicants.) Either there are far, far more zoned siblings applying for Pre-K than anyone could ever have imagined, or else the DOE has some cleaning up to do.

If you applied for Pre-K for the fall, we welcome more information about your letter — and we hope your news was good!

Update: A DOE spokesman wrote to me to clarify concerns about the admissions process being outsourced. Parents mailed their applications to Pennsylvania for data entry, he wrote, but the actual applicant-to-program matches were made in-house at OSEPO.

DOE's changing admissions schedules prove costly, not just annoying

Posted by Philissa at 10:31 AM

Parents have always known they are taking a risk when they put down a deposit at a private school while waiting to hear whether they've been accepted at their preferred public schools. But I didn't know until recently that they can be risking as much as a year's tuition — which can total as much as $20,000 or more. A story in the Times today describes a family who has been paying all year for a seat at the Little Red Schoolhouse that their daughter doesn't occupy, because she got into a citywide gifted program in June. By the time they notified Little Red, they had passed the deadline to pull out without having to pay the full year's tuition. Today on Urban Baby, users are vilifying the family for waiting so long to let LREI know, but earlier this week, readers there were worrying about the same thing happening to them.

Whether private schools would actually plan around the public school schedule if the DOE had a regular schedule is up for speculation, but a spokeswoman for an independent schools organization made a great point when she said in the Times, "Unfortunately, it’s impossible to collaborate on the timing with the public schools when the dates change every year." Of course, the DOE's changing schedules are problematic for lots of families, not just those considering private school.

I do question how familiar Susan Dominus, the story's author, is with the public schools in the Bloomberg-Klein era. She writes, "It would have been nice, from [the parents'] point of view, if Little Red, which ultimately forgave about $6,000 of the $26,000 tuition, ran itself a little bit less like a competitive business; but it would also have helped if New York’s public school system reliably ran itself more like one." Has she not heard that schools are businesses and their principals are all CEOs?

Wealthiest schools —and parents?— hurting under Klein's new budget plan

Posted by Philissa at 11:21 AM

As Helen noted yesterday, Chancellor Klein seems to have come up with a formula for reallocating school budgets that penalizes large, successful schools — and that's the story the papers ran with today. Klein appears to have come up with the gambit to rile up middle-class families — and voters — to support his bid to have the state loosen restrictions placed on school funding by the new Contract for Excellence requirement, which was in turn prompted in part by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. That suit, of course, aimed to equalize funding among schools by giving more money to lower-performing schools with a high proportion of needy students. Klein's plan does seem to move toward equalization — but by taking away from schools that are less needy. And he plans to heighten class tensions in the process. Thanks, Chancellor Klein!

UPDATE: A reader notes: "There is a rally this afternoon to protest the budget cuts in front of the location where Chancellor Klein is meeting with principals to announce these cuts: The HS of Fashion Industries at 225 W. 24th Street in Manhattan between 7th and 8th Ave at 5 p.m." I can't be there, but can someone else who is going fill us in on what happens?

No longer illicit, construction persists on Randall's Island

Posted by Philissa at 9:25 AM

So after a State Supreme Court judge voided the city's deal to give 20 private schools exclusive rights to the playing fields at Randalls Island, you'd think the city would stop work on the project, right? You'd be wrong. Work has continued unabated for the last four months, and now Curbed reports that the project has "taken a sharp left turn into Bizarro World": Yesterday, the same judge who voided the deal said the continued construction was just fine.

The bottom line may be that it won't be legal for the city to take the $45 million promised by the private schools to pay for the playing fields. So as parent advocates and neighborhood activists wanted, the private schools won't get exclusive use of the fields — but at the same time, someone else will have to foot the bill. And as we know, there's not exactly millions of dollars sitting around right now earmarked for the benefit of public school children. I'm sure there are plenty of readers who understand the situation better than I do — what should we expect to see when the first playing fields open, perhaps as early as this fall?

Taking testing into their own hands in the Bronx

Posted by Philissa at 11:56 AM

Most of the 8th graders at IS 318 in the Bronx boycotted a practice social studies test last week, the Daily News reports. They complain that they've been taking tests all year, many of which are simply practice or diagnostic tests ostensibly designed to prepare them for the real thing, instead of spending time learning from their teachers. Their social studies teacher has been removed from the classroom and may lose his job over the affair, even though he and students say he never told them to hand in anti-testing petitions along with their blank tests.

From the answers the students gave to the Daily News reporter, it sounds like they've had quality instruction in civics and social studies at IS 318. I'd wager that their tests wouldn't reflect their nuanced understanding of capitalism, authoritarianism, and children's (lack of) rights:

"We've had a whole bunch of these diagnostic tests all year," Tatiana Nelson, 13, one of the protest leaders, said Tuesday outside the school. "They don't even count toward our grades. The school system's just treating us like test dummies for the companies that make the exams." ...

"They're saying Mr. Avella made us do this," said Johnny Cruz, 15, another boycott leader. "They don't think we have brains of our own, like we're robots. We students wanted to make this statement. The school is oppressing us too much with all these tests." ...

"Now they've taken away the teacher we love only a few weeks before our real state exam for social studies," Tatiana Nelson said. "How does that help us?"

Could good budget news be on the horizon?

Posted by Philissa at 8:23 AM

Today's Sun has a comprehensive overview of where the city's school budgets now stand — and it's possible, writes Elizabeth Green, that one reason principals didn't receive their school budgets last week as scheduled is that the mayor plans to restore some funding to schools. That's the hope, at least, of principals and school advocates who want to see an upside to a delay that follows a year of financial uncertainty. Advocates have been relentless in pressuring the mayor and chancellor to restore school funding, planning rallies in every borough, airing TV and radio ads, and getting local Community Education Councils to pass resolutions opposing the cuts.

And all but just a few City Council members signed a resolution opposing the budget cuts; the Council must approve the proposed budget before it is adopted. This morning, the council's education and finance committees are discussing the city's capital school budget. Next week, the council takes on the operating budget. By then, and as early as this afternoon, we should see the mayor or the chancellor address the financial picture the schools are facing. I predict they've gotten the message that it won't be acceptable for them to tell principals and parents again that budget cuts will have "no impact whatsoever."

New seats, fewer out-of-district kids to relieve District 2 overcrowding

Posted by Philissa at 12:08 PM

NYC Public School Parents is hosting a copy of the DOE's much-anticipated "Blueprint for District 2 Enrollment and Capacity." At a recent meeting about overcrowding in District 2, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said the fact that such a document was on its way was one "sign of progress" in reducing overcrowding in the district's schools — but I wonder whether he still feels that way, having read what the DOE proposes in the preliminary planning document.

"We know that an appropriate plan for District 2's elementary schools will require not only new construction but also enrollment adjustments and efficient use of current facilities," DOE officials write. Contrasted with district residents' thoughtful identification of existing space that could be used for schools, the proposal is thin on ideas for new construction, describing only the plan, announced recently, to convert part of one Greenwich Village building into a 600-student elementary school and one other new idea for construction, in Kips Bay. (Two elementary schools are already planned to open in Lower Manhattan in 2010, and a middle school expansion project is also underway on the Upper East Side.)

While the DOE says it is planning to add nearly 3,000 new seats in elementary and middle schools in District 2, it also asks for two unpopular commitments from District 2 officials and schools. First, it calls for a reduction in out-of-district enrollment in some of Manhattan's most popular schools, a reduction that is already underway thanks to the DOE's own "proactive oversight" of admissions and one that is sure to undermine schools' efforts to maintain diversity in some of the wealthiest zip codes in the city. The DOE also calls for a rezoning of the entire district to account for new schools and resolve some current sticky issues, such as the zone-sharing between PS 3 and PS 41 in Greenwich Village and the lack of a zoned school for children in the old PS 151 zone on the Upper East Side. And it suggests that 5th graders at overcrowded elementary schools in Lower Manhattan be bused to buildings more than a mile away, an option that is sure to please parents who secured apartments with the neighborhood schools in mind.

The letter is packed with tidbits about what families in District 2 (and beyond) might expect as the DOE continues to centralize admissions procedures. It's definitely worth a look. And if you're in District 2, you can respond to your local community board, the Manhattan Borough President's office, or by taking an online survey about school overcrowding. And if you're in other parts of the city — perhaps you're in South Brooklyn, where anti-overcrowding momentum appears to be mounting — you might start thinking now about what the DOE can, and should not, do to relieve overcrowding in your area.

Good thing the DOE has tons of extra money

Posted by Philissa at 9:56 AM

Can you imagine what a $52 million capital improvement could do for the increasingly overcrowded Beach Channel High School? Keep imagining -- the $52 million is going to soundproof the building against the noise from nearby JFK airport.