When the Biggest Student Mental Health Advocates Are the Students
With the number of adolescents struggling with mental health rising, student-led clubs have come to provide support amid a dearth of resources. Last October, to commemorate Mental Health Awareness Week, a group of students at Sacopee Valley High School in Hiram, Maine, created the annual Hope Board. Shaped like an enormous tulip and displayed in […]
As NYC’s literacy mandate expands citywide, some school communities are pushing back
Twelve-year-old Carlo Murray perched on his tiptoes to reach the microphone as he addressed education officials last month. He then unleashed a withering critique of his school’s reading curriculum. “I love to read all sorts of books,” Carlo told the city’s Panel for Educational Policy, a group that approves contracts and other school policies. But […]
NYC to open 9 new schools this fall. Here’s what to know.
Nine new schools will open this fall in New York City, aiming to provide families with more choices on where they enroll their children, schools Chancellor David Banks said Thursday. The new schools will offer a mix of elementary, middle, and high school programs across three of the city’s boroughs. They include a Brooklyn outpost of […]
LISTEN: Students speak out about special education
Check out this podcast episode of P.S. Weekly as they dive into New York City’s notoriously complex special education system, which serves 1 in 5 students — or more than 200,000 children. Students with disabilities have the right to customized support — listed on individualized education programs, or IEPs, or 504 plans — that spell […]
NYC 5th graders receive middle school offers, as city considers changes to admissions process
Amanda Rinzel, a parent and educator who lives in Brooklyn, spent her spare moments on Wednesday nervously refreshing her MySchools account, waiting for the news of where her fifth grade son would attend middle school in the fall. It was the family’s second time going through the middle school admissions process, but in some ways, […]
After technical snafu, NYC says staggered school start times may be necessary for remote snow days
After technical glitches prevented many families from logging in for remote learning during a snowstorm last month, officials on Wednesday presented a temporary fix: staggered start times. The Education Department no longer cancels classes during inclement weather in part due to a growing number of school holidays and a state mandate to provide 180 days […]
Match day: High school offers bring excitement and anxiety to NYC’s eighth graders
For years, Anthony Block De Jesus, an eighth grader at the School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Brooklyn, has been dreaming of a career on Broadway. He’s hopeful that he’s on his way: He learned on Thursday he’d been admitted to the vocal performance program at LaGuardia High School of Music & Art […]
NYC schools bring back chicken dumplings, French toast sticks, burritos after outcry
Facing mounting criticism over cuts to popular school lunch items, New York City officials are reversing course. School cafeterias will once again feature French toast sticks, bean and cheese burritos, and chicken dumplings, an Education Department spokesperson confirmed Wednesday. Those items should reappear later this month or in early April. Officials eliminated the popular foods […]
