Public Schools

Five things to watch out for as classes begin for the city’s more than 900,000 public school students.
This year’s budget includes an additional $5 million for opening public school pools for free lessons.
Teachers and parents raised concerns about the DESSA, a social-emotional learning tool that schools began using last year.
New York City’s free, popular summer program runs for children in grades K-8 across the five boroughs from July to August.
THE CITY hosted a session at Brooklyn’s Central Library about how to get appropriate mental health support for kids in NYC public schools.
The move came days after the Adams administration placed them in an elementary school gym, then faced protests.
While organizers make plans to provide showers and clothes to asylum-seekers, other New Yorkers demonstrated against their presence and what it would mean for their kids.
While NYC’s public libraries avoided deep budget cuts last week, most libraries in public schools lack a leader — and that hurts students, educators say.
Opponents — and even some of their endorsed candidates — say one well-organized group of parents is turning Community Education Councils into forums for right-wing animosity over issues like critical race theory and the treatment of LGBTQ+ youth.
Join THE CITY’s Open Newsroom session on Thursday, May 11, at 6 p.m. at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Library for a conversation on mental health resources in NYC public schools and how to get appropriate support for kids.
Only 53% of students, staffers, and parents filled out the NYC School Survey last year. Here’s how it works, and how the Department of Education uses the information.
GOT A TIP?
We’re here to listen. Email tips@thecity.nyc or visit our tips page for other ways to share.
It’s been 25 years since the Giuliani administration sold a beloved Puerto Rican-led East Village community center to an owner who’s still trying to outmaneuver both his creditors and neighborhood stakeholders.
The proposals, which include figuring out where to build new pools, aim to create a stronger lifeguard pipeline in New York City.
Grading was done centrally for over a decade to reduce score manipulation, but state policy is changing again.
More than 8,700 children in New York City are grieving a caregiver or parent who died of COVID. Here’s what they wish others knew.
Schools are uniquely positioned to identify and support grieving children, but families and school staff say the system isn’t equipped to serve them.
Education officials said it’s part of an attempt to tackle the mental health crisis gripping schools, but some teachers described the move as a “lackluster, inefficient way to really address social-emotional needs.”
The reasons for enrollment declines are complex, and appear to include the lure of new school construction on one hand, and the high cost of living on the other.
Staff jump in to provide education and many other essentials for an unexpected influx of some six dozen migrant youth.
Most kids labeled as having an “emotional disability” and shunted into public special education schools are Black or Latino, and low income — while wealthier families more often access a taxpayer-funded free private education.
Many policy choices lie ahead for the governor’s first full term.