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New York City Department of Education
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The New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) is the branch of municipal government in New York City that manages the city's public school system. These schools form the largest school system in the United States, with over 1.1 million students taught in more than 1,400 separate schools. The department covers all five boroughs of New York City.
The department is run by the New York City School Chancellor. The current chancellor is Joel I.
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The New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) is the branch of municipal government in New York City that manages the city's public school system. These schools form the largest school system in the United States, with over 1.1 million students taught in more than 1,400 separate schools. The department covers all five boroughs of New York City.
The department is run by the New York City School Chancellor. The current chancellor is Joel I. Klein, appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2002.
Because of its immense size—there are more students in the system than people in eight U.S. states—the New York City public school system is the most influential in the United States. New experiments in education, text book revisions, and new teaching methods often originate in New York and then spread to the rest of the country. To keep track of the large amount of student and school data, the Department uses the powerful Automate The Schools (ATS) system.
History
In 1969, New York City Mayor John Lindsay relinquished mayoral control of schools, and organized the city school system into a Board of Education (made up of seven members appointed by borough presidents and the mayor) and 32 community school boards (whose members were elected). Elementary and middle schools were controlled by the community boards, while high schools were controlled by the Board of Education.
In 2002, the city school system was reorganized. Control of the school system was given to the mayor, who began reorganization and reform efforts. The community school boards were abolished and the Board of Education was renamed the Department of Education. The education headquarters were moved from 110 Livingston Street in downtown Brooklyn to the Tweed Courthouse building adjacent to New York City Hall in Manhattan.
Schools and organization
Each residential area in New York City is zoned to an elementary school and a middle school. High schools in Staten Island and portions of Brooklyn and Queens are zoned. High schools in the Bronx, Manhattan and portions of Brooklyn and Queens are not zoned. Instead, students must apply to the high schools of their choice. Schools are supervised by community district and high school superintendents, who report to the chancellor.
The city has embraced the philosophy of the small schools movement, phasing out large high schools and phasing in a number of new, smaller schools, each of which takes up part of a floor or wing of the old building. A number of older high schools have been recreated as large "educational campuses" housing 5-8 small schools, which often share sports teams and other extracurricular activities that a school of 400 students could not support on its own.
Nine specialized high schools in New York City exist, and these are considered elite public schools. Eight of these (Bronx Science, Brooklyn Technical, Brooklyn Latin, High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College, High School of American Studies at Lehman College, Queens High School for the Sciences at York College, Staten Island Technical High School, and Stuyvesant) admit student on the basis of performance in a competitive entrance examination, the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test. The ninth specialized high school, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, admits students on the basis of an audition rather than by examination. Other magnet high schools exist, such as Townsend Harris High School in Flushing, Queens.
Organizational history
From the late 1960s through 2003, schools were grouped into districts. Elementary schools and middle schools were grouped into 30 geographic districts, and high schools were grouped into five geographically larger districts: One each for Manhattan, the Bronx, and Queens, one for most of Brooklyn, and one, BASIS, for the rest of Brooklyn and all of Staten Island). In addition there were several special districts for alternative schools and schools serving severely disabled students. While the districts no longer exist, the former district of a school is often used as an identifier.
In 2003 the districts were replaced by ten regions, each encompassing several elementary and middle school districts, and part of a high school district. In 2005, several schools joined the Autonomous Zone (later Empowerment Zone) and were allowed to use part of their budgets to directly purchase support services. These schools were released from their regions.
In 2007, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel I. Klein announced the dissolution of the regions effective June 2007. The district plans to keep the Empowerment Zone, and four large Learning Support Organizations.
Teachers
The city has a chronic teacher shortage in every subject, but most strongly in bilingual education, science, math, ESL, and special education.
Beginning in 2000, after experiments with hiring uncertified teachers to fulfill a massive teacher shortage failed to produce acceptable results, and responding to pressure from the New York State Board of Regents and the No Child Left Behind Act, the DOE instituted a number of innovative programs for teacher recruitment, including the New York City Teaching Fellows , the TOP Scholars Program, and a number of initiatives to bring foreign teachers (primarily from eastern Europe) to teach in the city's schools. Housing subsidies are in place for experienced teachers who relocate to the city to teach.
Demographics
About 1.1 million students attend New York City public schools. About 40 percent of students in the city's public school system live in households where a language other than English is spoken, and one-third of all New Yorkers were born in another country. The city's Department of Education translates report cards, registration forms, system-wide alerts, and documents on health and policy initiatives for parents into Spanish, Chinese, Urdu, Russian, Bengali, Haitian Creole, Korean, and Arabic.
The racial makeup of public school students is 36.7 percent Hispanic, 34.7 percent black, 14.3 percent Asian, and 14.2 percent white.
The specialized high schools tend to be disproportionately white and Asian. New York's Specialized High School Institute is an after-school program for students in late middle school. It was designed to enlarge the pool of black and Hispanic candidates eligible for admission to the selective schools by giving them extra lessons and teaching test-taking skills. Unlike other urban school districts (such as San Francisco Unified School District), New York does not use racial preferences (affirmative action) in public school admissions.
School buildings
Many school buildings are architecturally noteworthy, historically important, or are named after noteworthy people.
- PS 11 Purvis J. Behan Public School - This school is located at 419 Waverly Avenue, Brooklyn. According to the newspaper Brooklyn Daily Eagle of April 30, 1902, Purvis J. Behan was at the time the principal of PS 45 on nearby Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn. According to the paper, Behan had two teenage boys from the neighborhood arrested for blowing "putty balls" and peas into an open window of his own school. The two boys were convicted by the local magistrate.
- PS 110 M is named the Florence Nightengale School. It is located on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. The building was built in 1902, just 8 years before her death. She is most well known for her unusual position as a nurse. She came from an elite family which expected her to settle down and marry; only poor women went out to work. She spent a lot of time researching sanitary conditions and improving hospital environments.
- William Alexander Middle School 51, located at 350 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, has an enrollment of approximately 1,000 students in grades 6-8. Students at MS 51 have the opportunity to participate in several talent programs including Vocal Music, Drama, Art and Photography.
- Petrides School was named in honor of Michael J. Petrides, who was a member of the central BOE. It was the first experiment where students from across Staten Island would attend K through high school. In mid-July 1995, construction workers worked to make college classrooms into elementary classrooms. On that first September morning teachers met 225 students in grades K through 2. They noticed they had forgotten to install water fountains however they were still estatic to fulfill a dream set forth by Michael J. Petrides for a laboratory school environment.
- Middle School 117- Francis Scott Key. The school is located in Brooklyn, in the Bedford -Styvesant neighborhood
- P.S. 94 was once named the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow School, for the famous poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, but in 2007 its name was changed to the more utilitarian School of Diverse Languages and Cultures. Appropriate enough, since its student population is now mostly made up of students from Latin America, the Middle East and Asia which is unlike the students that attended the school when it opened its doors 100 years ago.
- P.S. 53 The Bay Terrace School is known for its well kept homes, basketball hoops and driveways with wide streets. Bay Terrace School was built in 1966 and feels like suburban New Jersey. It has the vibe of bright murals, decorative walls and the main office is painted pink and purple. The main entrance displays shoebox dioramas, lovely constructed replicas of kindergartners favorite places: the zoo, mall, and the museum.
- P.S. 81 Thaddeus StevensThis school was named after Thaddeus Stevens, who was born in Vermont, on April 4, 1792. He was a fervent believer of public education. He defended free public education and demonstrated a great love for the underprivileged and less fortunate ones. His greatest concern was for orphans. Thaddeus Stevens died August 11, 1868 and interestingly, he wrote his own inscription, which stated that, "he wanted to be buried in a place without regard to race."
- PS.135 is named after a former principal Sheldon A Brookner. It is located in a predominiently Caribbean neighborhood in Brooklyn. There is no documented information on this gentleman. The building was constructed in 1919 but Mr.Brookner was principal in the 1960s. This building houses about 550 students ranging from second grade to fifth grade. The school is now headed by Ms. Penny Grinage.
- P.S./I.S. 109 P.S. 109 is located at 1001 E45 ST. Brooklyn, N.Y. 11203. Their official web site is . This is an elementary and intermidate school; it also houses a cluster of P.S.4 which is a special education branch. P.S./I.S. 109 was opened in 2002. The school only has a number eg: 109, but was not officially named after anyone. The current principal of P.S./I.S. 109 is Denise Talley.
- PS 67k is located at 51St. Edwards st. in Brooklyn, New York. The school was named after Charles A. Dorsey which became the principal in 1863. The name was changed in Brooklyns school records from colored school number one to PS 67 in 1887.
- Juan Morel Campos School He was a Puerto Rican dancer/composer who was considered to be responsible for taking the genre of the "danza" to its highest level. Juan Morel Campos was born on May 12th 1857 in Ponce and began to study music in his hometown at age 8 under the guidance of Antonio Egipciaco. He also learned to play practically every brass instrument and was one of the founder and directors of the "Ponce Fireman's Band." Later, Campos became a student of thecomposer Manuel Tavarez "the father of danza." His first composition was called "Sapapos." The influence of Tavarez plus the particulsr style developed by Campos can still be listened to in music today. He suffered a stroke on April 26th 1896 during a concert in Ponce and died on May 16 in the city of Ponce. In 1984 the government of Puerto Rico honored hin by declaring May 16th "Juan Morel Campos Day" and November 23rd is known as the "Day of the Composer."
- Middle School 117- Francis Scott Key. The school is located in the Bedford-Styvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. The building first opened in 1954. It has always been a neighborhood school, and most students walk from the bordering area of Fort Green. Presently the building houses five different schools. Students ages, range from 11-21( sixth grade to G.E.D. prep. The administration and staff of all the schools, have to work together to meet the needs of all students attending.
- The Paul Robeson Complex is located in The Mott Haven section of the Bronx, 339 Morris Avenue, Bronx, New York 10451. The building houses three schools, Bronx Academy Of Letters, MS 203, and PS 168 @ MS 203. The school is named after Paul Robeson who was a noted actor, singer, athlete, and civil rights activist. There are a number of schools throughout the borough named after Paul Robeson. Before the school was renamed The Paul Robeson Complex it was called IS 183 Paul Robeson School which was established in 1972. The Paul Robeson Complex has been in existence since 2005.
- P.S 329 Surfside Elementary School is located 2929 W30th street.Brooklyn, NY 11224 it is located in Coney island
- The Jackie Robinson School-PS 375 is located at 46 McKeever Place Brooklyn New York. This school is named after the first African American baseball player who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. The school has been divided into an elementary section and a middle school section. The elementary department retains the name The Jackie Robinson School while the middle school is called the Ebbetsfield Middle School.
Health and nutrition
The city has made an effort to reduce childhood obesity among students by promoting exercise and improving nutrition in school cafeterias.
During Mayor Bloomberg's first term, white bread was entirely replaced with whole wheat bread, hot dog buns, and hamburger buns in cafeterias. In 2006, the city set out to eliminate whole milk from cafeteria lunch menus and took the further step of banning low-fat flavored milks, allowing only skim milk (white and chocolate). The New York City school system purchases more milk than any other in the United States; although the dairy industry aggressively lobbied against the new plan they ultimately failed to prevent its implementation.
Radio and television stations
The department operated television station WNYE-TV from 1967 to 2004. A new education channel, Channel 25, is now operated by the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications.
The department operates the FM radio station WNYE.
See also
External links
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- - A website that rates New York City public schools
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