Boro Presidents: Parent Panels Need Better Elections
Four of the city's five borough presidents are calling on state lawmakers to force the city Department of Education to reform its Education Council elections, following widespread confusion during this...
View ArticlePTA Treasurer Admits Guilt and Will Pay Back What She Stole
Providence Hogan, the former PTA treasurer at Public School 29 John M. Harrigan in Cobble Hill, Brookyn, pleaded guilty to three counts of grand larceny in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn on Tuesday...
View ArticleSuggestion to Tweed Officials: Move Out
The big news on Tuesday came from an episode at Baruch College on Monday afternoon, where students attempting to protest a tuition increase during a meeting of the City University Board of Trustees...
View ArticleStruggling Teachers to Be Scored by Independent Observers
The key element in the agreement reached between the New York City teachers’ union and the city's Education Department last Thursday was given a closer look, as The New York Times and Gotham Schools...
View ArticlePay to the Order of Public School X ...
At Public School 6 Lillie D. Blake on the Upper East Side, the parents association posted an urgent and direct call for donations on the school's Web site. "For the first time in years, the PTA is 'in...
View ArticleConflicts Arise When Parents Are Asked to Close School Money Gap
Following years of budget cuts to education, New York City families are being asked to contribute more money to public schools. Kyle Spencer, a freelance education reporter and New York Times...
View ArticleShrinking School Budgets Have Parents Filling the Gaps
WNYC's Beth FertigNo surprise: kids are expensive. But in an age of multibillion-dollar school budgets, why does sending a child to public school cost so much?Parents who are responding to a SchoolBook...
View ArticleSome PTAs Are Raising $1 Million or More
At a time of severe education budget cuts, some schools in New York City have thrived, thanks to the hard work of PTAs that are raising in the neighborhood of $1 million a year. As Kyle Spencer wrote...
View ArticleParents Pay for School Staff, With Little Oversight
At some schools, parent associations pay for part-time music teachers. At others, they pay for lunchroom aides, or library workers who are considered consultants. It's an open secret that parent...
View ArticleA Parent Warns: A Focus on Fund-Raising Lets the Government Off the Hook
Out of the 1,700 or so schools in the New York City public school system, there are now a handful with PTA budgets that have reached or are bulging toward the $1 million mark. To put that $1 million...
View ArticleA Garden? Chess? PTAs Face Choices About How to Spend Parent Money
School budget cuts, rising expenses and grander ambitions for student activities have driven up the cost of sending a child to a New York City public school. Earlier this spring, SchoolBook asked...
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With Parents' Support, a Chelsea School Goes Healthy
He plants lettuce in the garden, sells organic food at a farmers' market, often eats vegetarian and takes cooking classes.Adrian Allannic, a third grader, has learned the lessons of healthy eating at...
View ArticleSome NYC PTA's Make Millions — Some Zero
For the first time, the New York City Department of Education is releasing a tally of how much money parent associations collect to support their schools. The new numbers are rough, but they tell an...
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