If NYC Mayor Won’t Engage With Communities, We Bring the Community Engagement To Him! Parents Speak Out On Gifted & Talented ‘Reimagining’
achievement gap · admissions · Educational Equity · Gifted & Talented · NYC Kindergarten · NYC Parent Voices · NYC School Admissions · Parents Helping Parents

If NYC Mayor Won’t Engage With Communities, We Bring the Community Engagement To Him! Parents Speak Out On Gifted & Talented ‘Reimagining’

Alina AdamsLeave a comment

In February 2021, when describing the new Gifted & Talented programs he was planning for the 2022-2023 school year, New York City Mayor De Blasio promised: “We will spend the next year engaging communities around what kind of programming they would like to see that is more inclusive, enriching, and truly supports the needs of… Continue reading If NYC Mayor Won’t Engage With Communities, We Bring the Community Engagement To Him! Parents Speak Out On Gifted & Talented ‘Reimagining’

You Don’t Have to Reinvent the Wheel, You Just Have to Learn to be a Great Driver: A Teacher’s Graduation Advice To Students
arts in schools · NYC high school · NYC Teacher · NYC Teacher Voices · Outstanding NYC Teachers

You Don’t Have to Reinvent the Wheel, You Just Have to Learn to be a Great Driver: A Teacher’s Graduation Advice To Students

Joseph LentoLeave a comment

(This is a guest post by Joseph S. Lento, a licensed Teacher of Orchestral Music and School District Administration. In 2014, President Obama named him a National Teacher of Arts and Humanities. Joseph also has commendations from Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. In 1999, he was named NYC Public Schools Bronx County… Continue reading You Don’t Have to Reinvent the Wheel, You Just Have to Learn to be a Great Driver: A Teacher’s Graduation Advice To Students

What Mayor Eric Adams Might Mean For NYC Schools
literacy · NYC Election · NYC Schools · School Choice · school diversity

What Mayor Eric Adams Might Mean For NYC Schools

Alina AdamsLeave a comment

As soon as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his $635 million dollar Academic Recovery Plan, focusing on early literacy, increasing digital access, college and career counseling, bolstering special education programs, building a new universal curriculum and expanding emotional support, supporters and detractors leapt in with follow-up questions. This isn’t surprising as, like… Continue reading What Mayor Eric Adams Might Mean For NYC Schools

Educational Reparations: Black Children Deserve the Same Chance to Succeed as Their White Peers (Part #2)
Accountability · achievement gap · Educational Equity · student voices

Educational Reparations: Black Children Deserve the Same Chance to Succeed as Their White Peers (Part #2)

Gregory WickhamLeave a comment

Last month, I wrote about a few of my recommendations regarding educational reparations for Black Americans. The potential reparations commissions that could be created by H.R. 40 in Congress and Assembly Bill A2619A in the New York State Legislature, if passed, should make sure to keep in mind that reparations need to be comprehensive in… Continue reading Educational Reparations: Black Children Deserve the Same Chance to Succeed as Their White Peers (Part #2)

NYC Teacher Speaks Out: Equity For ALL? (Part 3 of 3)
DOE Fails · NYC Teacher · NYC Teacher Voices · preK · School Budget · Teacher Voices · Teaching in NYC · UFT

NYC Teacher Speaks Out: Equity For ALL? (Part 3 of 3)

Chloe PashmanLeave a comment

Part #1 Part #2 For decades, Community Based Organization preschools in NYC have been the main source of “PreK For All” seats for the city’s children, and are now single-handedly making the “3K” expansion that the mayor brags about a reality.  Most of the children and families served in CBOs are the most underprivileged in… Continue reading NYC Teacher Speaks Out: Equity For ALL? (Part 3 of 3)

NYC Teacher Speaks Out: “Essential” Workers? (Part 2 of 3)
DOE Fails · NYC Teacher · NYC Teacher Voices · preK · School Budget · Teacher Voices · Teaching in NYC · UFT

NYC Teacher Speaks Out: “Essential” Workers? (Part 2 of 3)

Chloe PashmanLeave a comment

Part One Most Community Based Organization preschool staff, like myself, worked in person, throughout the past year, when many in the NYC education field “went remote.”  I am the leader of a CBO pre-k in the Bronx that has served the community for over 70 years. Recently, the mayor and city council didn’t think school… Continue reading NYC Teacher Speaks Out: “Essential” Workers? (Part 2 of 3)

NYC Teacher Speaks out: City Still Falls Short on CBO Pre-K Pay Parity Promises (Part 1 of 3)
DOE Fails · NYC Schools · NYC Teacher · NYC Teacher Voices · preK · School Budget · Teacher Voices · Teaching in NYC · UFT

NYC Teacher Speaks out: City Still Falls Short on CBO Pre-K Pay Parity Promises (Part 1 of 3)

Chloe PashmanLeave a comment

“NO 3K Without Equal Pay!” This is a slogan that was written several years back on a sign that has been gathering dust in an office closet at the Bronx Community Based Organization (CBO) preschool in a NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA) development where I work. Guess it may be time to take it out again,… Continue reading NYC Teacher Speaks out: City Still Falls Short on CBO Pre-K Pay Parity Promises (Part 1 of 3)

Independence Day: How Covid Spurred NYC Families To Explore All Their School Options
Educational Equity · homeschooling · Hybrid Learning · NYC Schools · NYC Schools Reopening · online learning

Independence Day: How Covid Spurred NYC Families To Explore All Their School Options

Alina AdamsLeave a comment

“How’s homeschooling going?” I am asked regularly by those who know I allowed my middle child to leave Stuyvesant High School this past November, two months into his Junior year. (I was actually stopped on the street by a woman who pointed at me and told her kid, “That’s the mom who let her son… Continue reading Independence Day: How Covid Spurred NYC Families To Explore All Their School Options

George Clooney Loves School Choice: Now We Can, Too!
Blog · NYC School Admissions · School Choice

George Clooney Loves School Choice: Now We Can, Too!

Alina AdamsLeave a comment

Movie stars love school choice. Even (especially?) when they don’t realize they’re exercising it. For instance, Good Will Hunting himself, Matt Damon, narrated a documentary about how charters are “draining funds from our public schools” and why everyone should attend their zoned option in order to keep that from happening. While sending his own daughters… Continue reading George Clooney Loves School Choice: Now We Can, Too!

Educational Reparations: Black Children Deserve the Same Chance to Succeed as Their White Peers (Part #1)
Blog · Educational Equity · student voices

Educational Reparations: Black Children Deserve the Same Chance to Succeed as Their White Peers (Part #1)

Gregory WickhamLeave a comment

H.R. 40 in Congress and Assembly Bill A2619A in the New York State Legislature, if passed, would establish commissions to investigate and develop a program of reparations to remedy the lasting effects of the enslavement and oppression of Black people in America and New York, respectively. Although neither of these bills have been passed yet… Continue reading Educational Reparations: Black Children Deserve the Same Chance to Succeed as Their White Peers (Part #1)