Michelle Medintz spent at least $5,000 in 2022 alone, largely on books. She created a 'cozy corner' in her classroom with shelves filled with books, cushions on the floor, and stuffed animals. 'That doesn't make me a better teacher than my colleagues,' Medintz said.
The district promised to spend its money on 'neighborhood schools.' Now, the district is preparing to close five elementary schools, displace one and break neighborhoods apart through rezoning.
"Everybody knew something wasn't right with her. She would flirt with all the boys on the football team, she would favor them. She would be rude to all the girls."
While events such as "Mother's Day Crafts," "Daddy and Daughter Dances," and "Grandparents' Breakfasts" are often planned with good intentions, they can unintentionally leave some children feeling invisible and serve as another painful reminder that their lives have changed forever.
The district and the teachers' union are submitting a plan to add five more days to the current school year to offset the strike. The last day of school would no longer be on June 3, it would now be on June 10. Mission Local also adds that high school finals week and graduation would be unaffected.
New York City K-12 students with perfect attendance are on track this year to be in school for 1,102 hours. That's about 20 fewer days than the national average, per the study, of about 1,231 hours in school each year.
Over the past few weeks leading up to the teachers strike, Superintendent Maria Su repeatedly told the press and labor negotiators that dipping into the district's over $400 million reserves was, simply, "not an option." But projected spending shows that the district will significantly spend its reserves to pay for its labor agreements, potentially depleting its "restricted funding" by 2028.
As Bronx social studies teacher Seth Gilman sipped his coffee and prepared to log on for a day of virtual teaching, he was met with an error message. At first, he worried it would be a repeat of a disastrous pivot to remote learning during a 2024 snowstorm. "Oh no, not again," he thought to himself. But within about 20 minutes, his school had resolved the issue and he logged in to Google Classroom, the platform schools use to share schedules and Zoom links.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends eight to ten hours of nightly sleep for teenagers. Most get less than seven. There's robust evidence linking nighttime media use to poor sleep. For many teens, nighttime scrolling fills the hours meant for rest. Our work and others' show that more than 70 percent of adolescents say they check their phones after going to bed, and many wake up in the night to respond to notifications.
The offices "will ensure parents have a direct way to raise concerns, get help, and find solutions faster," Education Minister Paul Calandra said in a message to TDSB families last November.
We are a white, well-off (not extremely wealthy, but doing fine) family living in a mid- to lower-income neighborhood in a major coastal city. Our first grader goes to a Title I public school and a well-known, national non-profit (we'll call it "the ABC program") runs the school care. Our youngest will start kindergarten this fall. I grew up in a wealthy suburb with very minimal diversity of any kind, and I really appreciate that my children are growing up in a more diverse environment.
At the same time, children's development and families' needs do not end when the bell rings or when they enter kindergarten; continuous afterschool programming from early childhood through adolescence is critical. To fully realize the goals of universal childcaresupport working families, advance educational equity, and strengthen the economyNew York City must extend this vision to K12 students and make universal afterschool programming a core part of the solution.
This idea was based on the parallel between the pluck and elan that are characteristic of both the early-college students I worked with and that of America's hardest-working founding father. Five years after I wrote the book, I had the opportunity to revisit the field for a revised edition, making it appropriate to ask, after Thomas Jefferson's song in the second act of Hamilton, "What'd I Miss": How has early college/dual enrollment changed over the past half decade?
If you haven't already, I think it might be worth talking to the teacher to ask how nap time works and if it's "optional"-that is, are there kids that aren't napping during nap time and are allowed to play? If there is a group that's doing activities instead of napping, you can inquire about keeping Rachel up during nap time, and see if that helps.
This is the worst crisis OUSD has ever faced. Period. We don't even know what's possible yet. We never did the work to see what are our options. These are big questions. And I don't have any of the answers. And I have issue with that.
What many reception teachers say they did not sign up for was spending large chunks of the school day managing toileting, feeding and basic self-care because growing numbers of children are arriving without those skills in place. New data points to a widening gap in England and Wales between what parents believe school ready means and what classrooms are actually experiencing
Whenever I made my initial rounds at a school, a quick peek at its technological resources was often a reliable predictor of its ability to meet students' broad needs. The differences in the quality and volume of computing labs at a school like Lincoln Park High School on Chicago's wealthy north side, where the local population is 75% white, versus Raby High School, located in economically distressed East Garfield Park which is 83% Black, were stark.
On a chilly day before Christmas, Teresa Rivas helped a tween boy pick out a new winter coat. "Get the bigger one, the one with the waterproof layer, mijo," she said, before helping him pull it onto his string-bean frame. Rivas provides guidance counseling at Owen Goodnight Middle School in San Marcos, Texas. She talks with students about their goals and helps if they're struggling in class. She's also a trained navigator placed there by a nonprofit called Communities in Schools.
A new Bronx charter school is opening with a 50-week calendar and 7 am-7 pm hours, designed to better align with working parents' schedules. School: Strive Charter School (public charter), Bronx - grades K-4 Address: 604 E. 139th St. Hours: 7 am-7 pm Weekday schedule: Drop-off 7-9 a.m. + pick-up 4:30-7 p.m. (both flexible) Extras: Optional weekend programming + planned 50-week calendar Meals: Free breakfast, lunch, and dinner on open days
Teachers have almost no authority over student behaviors or academic grading, and are given little, if any, respect from administrators, parents or even students. Instead, students have all the authority but no responsibility for their success. Students do (or don't do) whatever they wish, while empty-handed teachers are left to take the blame. Teachers no longer have the ultimate tool of flunking students.
