Inside Scoop

 

 

Any parent who’s delved into the city’s educational landscape has come to rely on Insideschools.org. With reviews of virtually every public school in the city, it’s an invaluable tool in a family’s school search, serving as a “Consumer Reports” to the public school system. It also offers up-to-date information on education news and issues. On June 30, however, the site announced drastic budget and staffing cuts. Though fundraising efforts are under way—the organization recently received $150,000 in grants, in addition to individual donations—Insideschools is still short of its financial goal. With the staff whittled down to a core team, it’s now largely relying on trained volunteers. But, Pamela Wheaton, the site’s program director, has hope for the year ahead. “There will be some change,” she says. “We have to be creative about coming up with a new model. But I hope parents will continue to support us both financially and otherwise.”

How did Insideschools first start up?

The site started as publicschoolsreport.com, which took excerpts from Clara Hemphill’s series of books, “New York City’s Best Public Schools.” But in 2002, we got funding from several foundations to expand the site and include information about every public school in NYC, not just the ones that were considered the best. Insideschools.org officially launched that year in September.

The mission is to provide information about the public schools to New York families and to help them navigate what can be an incredibly complicated process. When we started, there were 1,100 schools in the city, and today there are over 1,500. Insideschools has earned a reputation as sort of the “Consumer Reports” of NYC public schools. We don’t get any money from the Department of Education (DOE), so parents see us as an independent voice for public education in the city.

How do you go about reviewing the schools?

We visit all the schools in the city. We have a lot of data from the DOE, which we put in a concise form, and when we go on school visits, we determine things like the school’s culture, its curriculum, after-school and special ed programs offered. We sit in classrooms and talk to the principal, parents and parent coordinator. We like to stay for the day and see the lunch hour because it is very illuminating to see what is happening in the cafeteria.

What sections of the site are most popular with parents?

The in-depth reviews of individual schools are the most popular, followed by news articles and the blog. Plus, basic information on how to navigate the system and the ever-changing admissions procedures for kindergarten, middle and high schools, gifted and talented programs, etc., all of which are presented in plain, jargon-free language. The community forum is increasingly popular. For example, right now there’s a discussion about gifted and talented programs, and one parent is asking what happens if a child is accepted to a gifted and talented program and they start to falter?

How often is the site
updated and who writes for it?

We have a calendar that gets updated every day.
People can post events of interest to public school parents. We have a
blog and an Inside Scoop section that gets changed every day with links
to new sites or new postings. [Before the layoffs], the staff had been a
mix— former teachers and journalists interested in education reporting
and even AmeriCorps volunteers.

What do you think is great about the NYC public
school system?

Parents really do have a lot of choice, especially at the high
school level. You have high schools for kids who are musically talented
or for kids who are interested in technology. There’s also [the fact
that] kids can attend schools with students from other boroughs and all
different backgrounds. I think that the curriculum for the most part in
the elementary schools is hands-on.

What changes have you noticed since the mayor took
control of the school system? How do parents feel about it?

We have polls on our site,
and with the poll on mayoral control of the schools, over 70 percent
[of respondents] (based on 1, 348 votes) gave Mayor Bloomberg a grade of
a C, D, or F—and I think part of that is the reaction of parents
against the emphasis on test prep. I also think that some parents think
that Bloomberg has been too autocratic in making decisions about the
public school system. Parents are angry about decisions being made
without their input and that’s why you see rallies at City Hall and
lobbying up in Albany to put some curbs on mayoral control.

What are ways in which
public schools are being affected by the economy?

Schools may have partnered
with a non-profit to bring in something like a dance program, and a lot
of these non-profits are gone. Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment
is one such example. It has worked with several dozen schools
over the last 30 years and now it no longer exists. Another thing is
that funding streams change from year to year so schools have to
scramble from year to year to figure out if they can have after-school
programs. Class sizes are going up, especially as schools are getting
overcrowded. You even have schools calling parents saying, “Guess what?
We are overcrowded— are you sure you want to send your child here?”

With budget cuts, a
lot of arts/enrichment and special needs programs are being cut. Is
there anything parents can do?

I think parents need to become active voices.
They need to go to their monthly educational council meetings and become
active in the PTA and rally and lobby against the budget cuts. If
parents around the city and the state make it known that education is a
priority, then the legislators have to listen to a degree.

The DOE and NYC schools
receive a lot of criticism, but is there any good news about schools on
the horizon?

It’s debatable, but a lot of parents like the fact that there is
increasing school choice with more charter schools opening. I think the
schools are functioning much better than they did five or 10 years ago. I
think that the DOE, in terms of school choice and giving parents
information about enrollment, has improved. They are offering high
school choice workshops more frequently because high school is a time
when it can be very confusing to parents. I also think schools,
especially elementary schools, are improving all over the city.

School
Watch

At
Insideschools, we visit schools all over the city and have found some
hidden gems in every borough. Here are just a few of the schools we
consider to be worth watching.

PS 182 in East Harlem
has been overlooked by many on the Upper East Side. The bulk of the
population is Spanish–speaking, but this bilingual, bicultural
mini-school would be a good choice for English-speaking families who
want their child to become fluent in Spanish. What’s special: Welcoming
environment with experienced principal. Downside: Ethnic diversity is
lacking.

• Downtowners should take a look at the Manhattan
Charter School,
which offers a more progressive education than the
typical charter school. The students post super-impressive test scores
for 2009-2010. What’s special: Kids get daily music instruction.
Downside: Awkward layout in shared building.

• In Bensonhurst,
the Academy of Talented Scholars is opening in a light-filled new
building. It shares the facility with the eagerly-anticipated new
citywide gifted and talented school, in the Brooklyn School of Inquiry.
What’s special: Extra-curricular activities are built into school day.
Downside: Untested principal.

• Now that many city schools have
joined the Green Schools Alliance, it comes as no surprise that a new
charter school in Queens is named Growing Up Green. This year’s
first crop of kindergarten and 1st grade students will be planting
gardens in the schoolyard. What’s special: School founder and leader
Matthew Greenberg has a great track record at the popular Manhattan
School for Children. Downside: Its new home in a former parochial school
will need some TLC to become environment-friendly.

Girl’s
Prep
in the Bronx doesn’t open until September, but it is a clone of
a successful Lower East Side school, Girls Preparatory Charter School,
which provides a welcoming academic environment for girls. What’s
special: Its principal, a graduate of Smith, seriously believes in
nurturing young girls. Downside: Boys may not apply!

• In the
borough least known for school choice, Staten Islanders now have a new
option: the Staten Island School for Civic Leadership. The
principal, an established school leader, envisions youngsters becoming
active community members and is forging partnerships with local
organizations. What’s special: The school will grow to include middle
school grades; a boon in a borough where there is little middle school
choice. Downside: Priority in admissions goes to students zoned for a
few over-crowded schools, and there may not be much room for others.  -Pamela Wheaton

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