Last week, I wrote about The Surprising Integration Skeptics of NYC (It’s Not Who You Think). As one mom on the Lower East Side advised, “Integration activists need to touch base with people they are trying to help” when it comes to proposed school rezoning and mergers. This week, we’re headed uptown for a hearing… Continue reading All We Hear Is Radio Ga-Ga: Is Anyone Really Listening When It Comes To NYC Schools?
On Monday, September 23, the Community Education Council of Brooklyn’s School District #16 (Bedford-Stuyvesant) voted to ask New York City to get rid of all Gifted & Talented programs as advised by the Student Diversity Advisory Group (SDAG). There was the by now familiar rhetoric of how District #16’s schools are not racially or socio-economically… Continue reading Follow the Money and See Where It Goes: NYC Schools Edition.
On Monday, March 3, 2019, the Board of Trustees for the State University of New York approved 13 new charter school applications. However, only 7 of those will be allowed to open, due to the charter cap. Among them is a new middle school for Manhattan’s District 3 (Upper West Side and parts of Harlem)… Continue reading How Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth It Is To Have Ungrateful NYC Families!
Shirley Jackson’s 1948 short story, The Lottery, is considered a classic of slow-building horror. A small town holds a lottery every year to decide which citizen will be ritually stoned in order to insure a good harvest. Everyone goes uncomplainingly along in the name of tradition, and, despite a few scattered grumbles, nobody outright says… Continue reading The Lottery: A NYC Schools Horror Story (With Apologies to Shirley Jackson)
KIPP, the highly-regarded charter school network with 209 schools across the country serving 90,000 students, announced today the appointment of Richard Buery as Chief of Policy and Public Affairs. KIPP Chief Executive Richard Barth told the Wall Street Journal that Buery “will be responsible for advocating for federal and state policies that make it easier… Continue reading Richard Buery, formerly De Blasio’s Deputy, Moves to KIPP
At 3:09 AM on the morning of November 9th I woke up to take a bathroom break. Outside my open bathroom window there was dead silence, the kind of silence you do not hear in my Harlem neighborhood. I knew then that Donald J. Trump was our newly-elected president of the United States. I am in complete… Continue reading The Trump Hurricane: A Harlem Mom Reflects on Her Community’s Loss
At a town hall meeting in Dyker Heights two weeks ago, NYC Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña “expressed dismay,” according to the Bensonhurst Bean, that some traditional district schools are “not welcoming ESL students and instead telling them to go to another school.” It’s gratifying to hear the Chancellor approach this issue with honesty and compassion. So… Continue reading NYC Schools, Says Chancellor Fariña, Are “Not Welcoming ESL Students”: How to Tame the “Wild West?”
Here I am again, tip-tapping away in a corridor of KIPP Infinity Elementary Charter School (KIES) in Harlem, throwing up peace signs and greetings to students and staff alike. I know it’s been awhile since I’ve blogged and, to tell you the truth, I’ve missed it. Let’s go back to the beginning, my first blog,… Continue reading Learning With My Son At A NYC Charter School with Zest, Grit, and Determination
Here I am again in the corner of a hallway at KIPP Infinity Charter School in Harlem, tip-tapping away. As I look into the eyes of the children passing by, throwing up the peace sign to me and each other, I get flushed because their innocence is being passed over by forces that threaten us.… Continue reading I Just Saw “Birth of a Nation” and Realized We Are Still Fighting to Be Free
