Byron Said:

wich shcool hurry and pick!

We Answered:

washington

Kristen Said:

Which of these books sounds the best?

We Answered:

any of those except rip van winkle.

i would go with cannery row
or prince and the pauper.

your teacher would like those best

Willie Said:

Closing of NYC PUblic Schools?

We Answered:

I am a NYC public school teacher at the elementary level. My children go to NYC public schools, though none of the ones in question. I have no affiliation whatsoever with any of the above schools.

I have a few concerns about this plan:

1) Klein and Bloomberg have a plan to replace large comprehensive, high schools with smaller, more specialized schools. While I basically applaud this idea, it has been carried out in a ham fisted manner. They have not put enough small schools into place for the number of kids they have displaced by closing the schools that they have already closed.

2) The schools they initially closed in the past few years may or may not have been irretrievably awful, but by closing them without sufficient replacements, they have shunted those kids (many of whom are low performing students - the hardest to teach kids) off onto the other comprehensive schools, making THEM dysfunctional. Many of the schools they now aim to close (like Christopher Columbus High) were performing fairly well, till they got overwhelmed with the displaced kids from other closed schools. The DOE did not give them any support for all these new low performing students! And now, THESE schools are suffering the consequences of Klein's (and, by extension Bloomberg's) actions. (And I can't imagine that there will by much more help for other comprehensive schools that will take the extra kids caused by the closing of these schools, what with the current budget cuts in education. I have no faith whatsoever in this program of so called "turn around schools". That's just a way of putting the entire onus on teachers to turn the schools around with no help from the DOE!

3) While large comprehensive schools may not be good for everyone, and while the DOE has created some interesting new, smaller schools recently, there really is a place for well run, comprehensive high schools. Some kids really want to go to a big school, with all the activities that kind of school provides - sports teams, theater, orchestra, etc, etc. And there are certain special services that can only be provided by larger schools - Robeson had a program for teenaged mothers, the only one in the Borough of Brooklyn. That's the kind of program that might be essential to help a teen who is floundering to complete a high school education.

4) Bloomberg and Klein TRIED to close these very same schools this past year and were prevented from doing so by a judge! So how come the same list of schools is now in the news again, slated for closure???? What gives?