NYC special education referrals plunge 57% from pre-pandemic levels
From Chalkbeat: Significantly fewer students were referred for special education evaluations last year, dropping 57% since the year before the pandemic started, raising concerns that thousands of students have not been identified for services they may need. During the 2020-2021 school year, 9,457 students were referred for evaluations to determine if they need more intensive […]
With 1.9% enrollment drop, NYC schools have lost 64,000 students since pandemic started
From Chalkbeat: Enrollment in the nation’s largest school system has dropped roughly 1.9% this school year, according to preliminary figures released Friday by the education department. Roughly 938,000 students are enrolled in New York City’s public schools, down from about 955,000 last school year, when the system saw a significant decline related to the coronavirus […]
NYC will receive 231,000 pediatric COVID vaccine doses next week. How will shots get in-arms?
From Chalkbeat: New York City parents and caregivers are likely days away from making appointments to get COVID vaccines for their children ages 5 to 11 — but city officials have yet to reveal what role, if any, schools will play in vaccine distribution. While the education department hosted clinics in nearly 800 schools this […]
The Master’s Degrees that give the biggest salary boost—up to 87% more money
From Chalkbeat: In September 2020, the National Student Clearinghouse estimated that while enrollment in undergraduate programs for associate’s and bachelor’s degrees fell by 9.7% compared to 2019, enrollment in master’s programs increased 6%. Most recent tallies for the Spring 2021 term found that while undergraduate enrollment has decreased by 4.9% since 2020, graduate enrollment has […]
NYC students heading back to school got form letters instead of MetroCards to ride transit
From Chalkbeat: Julie Lam, 16, had to crawl under a turnstile to catch the subway on her second day of school this week. Lam relies on a school-issued MetroCard to commute to and from Manhattan’s Baruch College Campus High School. But, on the first day of classes, instead of a pre-loaded card to ride city […]
NYC teachers union calls for weekly covid testing for some students as first school closes with at least 16 positive staff cases
From Chalkbeat: New York City’s teachers union called on Mayor Bill de Blasio to ramp up the frequency of random coronavirus testing in schools for students under 12, just one day after the city’s first school closure of the year due to widespread virus transmission among staff. The city should test 10% of students under […]
If there’s a COVID case at your NYC school, who has to quarantine?
From Chalkbeat: COVID is already interrupting learning for students in New York City-run schools and city-funded preschools, with 67 classroom closures underway by the second day of the new school year. Another 126 classrooms were partially closed, according to city data, since those have a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated students. That is a tiny […]
This NYC counselor is helping students work through COVID-era trauma
From Chalkbeak: After Randy Bowen lost three family members to COVID-19, he knew he needed to prioritize the activities that center him, such as meditating and riding his bike, so that he could show up for his students at Community Health Academy of the Heights. Bowen, a school counselor of 14 years and a certified […]
