Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:35:09 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Deborah Kolben :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Deborah+Kolben istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/school-pressures-push-families-into-country-houses/74856/ Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST When Alexa Kent and her husband had their fourth child, the Upper West Siders sat down and calculated that they were on their way to spending $1.5 million on schools before their children even got to college. "Enough already," Ms. Kent said. They decided to pull their children out of private school and take up residence full-time at their six-bedroom country house in Connecticut, 90 minutes outside of Manhattan. By enrolling their children in the local public school, they saved an estimated... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/little-georgia-town-that-covers-new-york-city/69012/ Mon, 7 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST DALTON, Ga. — With a population only twice the number of people who work inside the Empire State Building, this self-proclaimed carpet capital of the world appears to have very little in common with the hustle and bustle of New York City. But Dalton, which is nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, has forged a most unusual connection to New York: It has, literally, become crucial to the ground on which many New Yorkers walk and play. The town has carved out a niche for itself as... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/castle-sale-seen-altering-berkshires-landscape/64819/ Thu, 18 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST For the past 22 years, the castle at the end of Main Street in Great Barrington, Mass., has been home to an experimental school for troubled teenagers. The two-dozen students sleep in the turrets and the carriage house and play Frisbee on the lawns of the walled estate. The director's office is housed in the drawing room with a marble fireplace flanked by five-foot statues of Hercules. For the first time in decades, the 1888 French château, built by one of the richest women in the country, who... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/rather-than-force-city-to-hire-them-klein-to-give/38884/ Thu, 31 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST In a move that could cost the city about $5.2 million, the schools chancellor, Joel Klein, said yesterday that he would place 44 assistant principals into unneeded office jobs rather than force schools to hire them. "I believe that leaders need the power to choose their own management teams," Mr. Klein said in a letter sent to the city's 1,400 principals. If the Department of Education cannot place the 44 "excessed" assistant principals — those whose posts may have been cut due to budget or... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/city-schools-are-dangerous-places-report-says/38413/ Wed, 23 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST Just 14 New York City schools reported enough violent incidents to make it onto the state's list of "persistently dangerous" schools, the state education commissioner, Richard Mills, announced yesterday. That list, which is required under the federal education law known as No Child Left Behind, includes 11 special education schools. Just months ago, the state comptroller charged that school officials were underreporting the number of violent incidents in the classroom. Yesterday, Mr. Mills... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/to-boost-number-of-college-applicants-city-will/38303/ Tue, 22 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST In an attempt to boost the number of New York City students who apply to college, Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday that the city is picking up the tab for high school students who want to take the warm-up test for the SATs. The city inked a $1.2 million deal with the College Board to offer the Preliminary Scholastic Assessment Test for free to all sophomores and juniors. The test normally costs $12. Used to help prepare students for the official college acceptance exam, the PSAT also can... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/evangelism-in-fashion/38174/ Fri, 18 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST What would Jesus say about that backless halter minidress? Forever 21, a popular chain of cheap-chic clothes with stores throughout New York, is literally spreading the Gospel with every sale. When customers leave the shopping emporium with bags full of red cocktail dresses and panties emblazoned with phrases like "Y is for Yummy," few realize that they are also walking away with a bit of religion. The owners of the company are devout Christians who print in small type on the bottom of the... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/from-queens-revolution-sweeps-the-world-of-yogurt/37831/ Mon, 14 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST Antonios Maridakis says that when one of the world's most famous and well-chiseled actors headed to Mexico recently to shoot a movie, he first placed a call to Queens with a special request — for a case of yogurt. From his small office in an industrial strip on the border of the Woodside and Astoria sections of Queens, Mr. Maridakis controls a small dairy empire, importing 40 million cups of Total yogurt a year from his native Greece to be shipped to 38 American states. Creamier and less... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/citys-night-school-program-getting-permanent/37769/ Fri, 11 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST In an acknowledgment that its evening high school program is an abysmal failure, the city is dismantling it and calling on school principals to design their own classes to target at-risk high school students. Currently, about 28,000 high school students are referred to night classes and just 14,000 attend, with only half of those passing courses. "The old program failed too many kids and it was time for us to make a change — the program was a dinosaur," a spokeswoman for the city's Department... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/students-may-face-curbs-on-web-use/37663/ Thu, 10 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST The city's Department of Education is now trying to regulate how students use the Internet outside of school. Following several reported incidents of students complaining that other students were threatening them on popular social networking Web sites like Myspace, the department is proposing a new provision to its discipline code that would call for suspending a student for up to 10 days for such behavior. In the proposed draft of the code, which went under the microscope at a public hearing... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/education-department-stands-poised-to-add-new/37419/ Mon, 7 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST Despite its inability to open additional charter schools, the city's Department of Education has assembled a pool of 15 charter schools that are in the pipeline to launch pending a change of law. When the state approved the creation of charter schools in 1998, the law limited the number of such schools to 100. While the last of those charters were granted earlier this year, the department is encouraging more school operators to apply. About 21 potential school operators have submitted concept... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/report-ranking-public-school-students-above/37192/ Wed, 2 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST A new study by Harvard University is raising questions about a recent federal report that said public school children perform as well or better that their private school peers on national reading and mathematics tests. The Harvard study released yesterday called the earlier report's analysis "flawed" and said that its findings were unreliable because it underreported the number of disadvantaged students in private schools. The government report — which fanned the flames of the school voucher... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/miracle-child-of-public-drinker-earns-a-full/36137/ Mon, 17 Jul 2006 00:00:00 EST If you've ever walked through Union Square Park, you probably noticed Belinda and Joey. On most days, you could find them there getting drunk. Not the falling down kind of drunk, but drunk enough. Belinda started the day with a bottle of vodka, Joey a bottle of something else. On some days the cops would ask them to keep it down. On others, Joey took a trip to the emergency room with a case of the shakes. At 50, Belinda, who wears her black hair tied back tight, lives with her mother in the... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/ban-on-cell-phones-in-schools-is-unconstitutional/36026/ Fri, 14 Jul 2006 00:00:00 EST The city's ban on cell phones in schools is unconstitutional, a lawsuit filed yesterday by a group of parents claims. The lead lawyer representing the eight parents in the case, Norman Siegel, said the Bloomberg administration has acted "illegally and unconstitutionally" and called the issue a matter of civil rights. The suit, filed against the city's Department of Education, Mayor Bloomberg, and the schools chancellor, Joel Klein, asks that children be allowed to carry their phones to and from... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/new-jersey-families-using-state-constitution-as/35952/ Thu, 13 Jul 2006 00:00:00 EST In the newest tactic of the school choice movement, a group of families in New Jersey is piggybacking on a decades-old school-funding lawsuit and using the state's constitution as justification for school vouchers. In a lawsuit to be filed today against New Jersey and some of its poorer performing school districts, the families argue that students should be allowed to switch schools across district lines — or attend private schools — and take their share of funding with them. Groups backing the... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/city-adds-funds-for-catholic-jewish-schools/35680/ Mon, 10 Jul 2006 00:00:00 EST The New York City government is starting quietly to fund local parochial schools. The City Council is allocating $1 million of taxpayer money in this year's budget to purchase school buses for Jewish schools. Last year, the City Council paid $2.5 million to put computers in Jewish and Catholic schools. Because the money is tucked into the council's thick budget, and because the amounts are small relative to the $15 billion a year spent on the city's public schools, most public school advocates... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/tweed-courthouses-math-problem-graduation-rate/35324/ Fri, 30 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST If the city's Department of Education received a report card, it would get an "F" in math. The schools chancellor, Joel Klein, said yesterday that his staff had drastically miscalculated the city's high school graduation rate - a disclosure that, had it been made months earlier, could have saved Mayor Bloomberg serious embarrassment. Rather than decreasing slightly, as the city previously reported, the percentage of students graduating on time actually soared to 58% - the highest graduation... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/union-seeks-rule-change-for-schools/35185/ Wed, 28 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST The head of the city's teachers union is latching onto a recent spate of firings at a Brooklyn charter school to push Albany to make it easier for teachers at charter schools to join the union. After the Williamsburg Charter School fired three teachers, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, stepped in. She fired off letters yesterday to the school's CEO, to the city's schools chancellor, Joel Klein, and to the state Department of Education. In a letter to the... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/concern-emerges-on-cunys-future-as-shakeup-pends/35104/ Tue, 27 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST The City University of New York is going through an academic renaissance with beefed-up standards and a new honors college that students are clamoring to attend - but some critics are concerned about the university's future with a pending shake up of the board of trustees. Many of the academic changes are attributed to Chancellor Matthew Goldstein and an outspoken set of trustees looking to reform the nation's largest urban public university. Now the board is about to see a number of changes as... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/as-part-of-war-on-fat-new-fitness-test/34983/ Fri, 23 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST As part of the city government's crackdown on fat, the schools chancellor, Joel Klein, announced a new fitness test for students yesterday - and the food industry raised alarms about the specter of a legislative assault on fast food. With more than one in four city elementary students considered obese, Mr. Klein is expanding a new program to test students' strength and speed and link the information to their academic achievement. "Clearly,we have a problem with very high calorie intake and too... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/nys-survivor-getting-into-private-schools/34621/ Mon, 19 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST Perhaps it was only a matter of time before television producers and documentary filmmakers aimed their cameras at what some New York City parents consider a real life version of "Survivor" - getting their children into private schools. While there are no indigenous bugs or barbecued rats on the path to victory, parents on the island of Manhattan do go to extremes while trying to insure their children get spots at the city's top schools. Competing film crews are swooping in to document such... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/parents-ask-department-of-education-to-abandon/34568/ Fri, 16 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST Parents fed up with the amount of testing in the city's public schools are asking the Department of Education to abandon plans to give students additional exams next year every six to eight weeks. During a packed meeting at the Department of Education headquarters at the Tweed Courthouse yesterday, dozens of parents said that their children were already overwhelmed with the city's new high-stakes tests. "Why be stressing our kids out with more assessments?" a parent representative from... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/council-rallies-behind-bill-aiming-to-skirt/34531/ Thu, 15 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST The mayor's refusal to compromise on a citywide ban on cell phones in public schools may meet resistance as the City Council rallies behind a bill that aims to skirt the rule. Parents, students, and the teachers union have attacked Mayor Bloomberg for not allowing students to carry their mobile phones to school. "There will be a battle," the chairman of the education committee, Robert Jackson, vowed yesterday at the council's first hearing on the issue. While a ban on beepers and pagers has in... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/mayor-in-shift-tries-decentralization/34313/ Tue, 13 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST The invitation Mayor Bloomberg extended yesterday to 25% of the city's schools to join a bureaucracy-reduced "empowerment zone" where schools operate outside of the normal districts, immediately raised questions among some education experts about the future existence of the city's school system. Under the plan unveiled yesterday at a high school in the Bronx, 331 schools will join together to form the empowerment zone where principals can choose their own reading, math, and sex education... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/pataki-end-game-includes-a-bid-to-challenge-uft/34168/ Fri, 9 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST Governor Pataki is using his final months in office to take on the teachers union. Mr. Pataki on Wednesday night vetoed legislation that would have allowed 52,000 home-based day care workers to become quasi-state employees and join the city and state teachers unions. Averaging $19,000 a year, home day care workers are overwhelmingly women and predominantly black and Hispanic. The United Federation of Teachers kicked off a campaign last summer to push Albany to pass legislation that would allow... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/school-administrators-waiting-to-hear-about-2004/33986/ Wed, 7 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST As the city's schools chancellor, Joel Klein, advocates a system of performance-based pay, some say that if the system applied to him, he wouldn't earn a bonus for following through on the point. With this school year coming to an end, public school administrators are still waiting to hear about bonus checks for the 2004-05 school year. Principals qualify for bonuses of between $5,500 and $15,000 under an agreement reached in 1999. "If Klein wanted it done, then it would be done," a spokesman... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/nanny-trouble-urban-nurture-is-importing-help/33917/ Tue, 6 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST Mary Poppins is coming to town and, no, she's not part of the hit musical from London opening on Broadway. An investment banker from London is importing a small team of well trained British nannies to help with Manhattan's most pesky child-rearing problems. Instead of moving in with particular families, the nannies working for Urban Nurture will travel from home to home - likely by subway, rather than flying umbrella - consulting with parents on how to deal with colicky babies, petulant... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/as-emphasis-is-placed-on-using-testing-data-as/33591/ Wed, 31 May 2006 00:00:00 EST Even as the schools chancellor increases the importance of using testing data to evaluate students and schools, the city's top testing official is stepping down. Lori Mei, who is in charge of analyzing the test scores of the city's 1.1 million public school children, submitted her resignation yesterday, saying she was ready to move on. Ms. Mei is the second top official to resign from the Department of Education in the past month. The deputy chancellor of teaching and learning, Carmen Farina... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/fossella-turns-to-bishop-for-help-in-wrangling/33597/ Wed, 31 May 2006 00:00:00 EST In an effort to drum up support for federal legislation that would give parents of students in parochial and private schools a $4,500 tax credit to help pay for tuition, Rep. Vito Fossella reached out yesterday to the leader of the Brooklyn Diocese. Since introducing the legislation last month, Mr. Fossella, a Republican who represents Staten Island and a swath of Brooklyn, has been meeting with lawmakers and religious leaders across the country. The archbishop of New York, Edward Cardinal... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/icahn-quietly-emerges-as-force-for-improved/33494/ Tue, 30 May 2006 00:00:00 EST The billionaire investor and famed corporate raider Carl Icahn, best known recently for his attempt to shake up Time Warner, has quietly opened one of the most successful charter schools in the city and plans to open several more. Nestled into a quiet street in the South Bronx, the Carl C. Icahn Charter School serves 252 children in kindergarten through sixth grade. Inside, the building is peppered with inspirational signs reminding students that college is a requirement, not an option, and... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/web-site-aims-to-help-parents-with-preschool/33435/ Fri, 26 May 2006 00:00:00 EST Getting a child into preschool is such a cutthroat process that some parents pay as much as $6,000 a year on advisers and start touring schools even before their child is born. In an effort to take matters into their own hands, a group of mothers has started a Zagat-like Web site that rates school programs on everything from storybook reading to kindergarten placement rates. The San Francisco-based company, Savvy Source, launched a New York site this week and plans to expand to about 12 more... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/hit-the-buzzer-for-john-kenneth-galbraith-and-you/33167/ Tue, 23 May 2006 00:00:00 EST "What influential liberal - " It took just three words before Alex Pepper of Chantilly High School in Chantilly, Va., buzzed in to answer the question. "John Kenneth Galbraith," he said with a triumphant smile. The question, one of many that the moderator and CNBC anchor, Ron Insana, didn't have the opportunity to finish before a student buzzed in, was: "What influential liberal economist and anchor of the 'The Affluent Society' died at the age of 97 last month?" Poised with buzzers in hand and... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/is-this-the-biggest-self-righteous-arrogant/33029/ Fri, 19 May 2006 00:00:00 EST Students aren't the only ones working on research projects at some of the city's elite private schools. A history teacher at Horace Mann School in Riverdale has used his intimate view of the city's movers and shakers to pen a novel about a leafy campus in New York City where 17-year olds drive Mercedes cars, take prescription drugs to boost their academic performance, and turn to seduction and plagiarism to guarantee a slot in the Ivy League. "Academy X" is hitting bookstores this week and some... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/union-opposes-klein-effort-on-principals/32888/ Wed, 17 May 2006 00:00:00 EST Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's efforts to give principals more control over their schools provided they meet certain achievement goals was criticized yesterday by the president of the principals union, who sent a letter to her members encouraging them not to "succumb to pressure." The president, Jill Levy, also filed a complaint with the state Public Employment Relations Board earlier this week charging the Department of Education with unfair labor practices. "When we decided to give more... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/where-to-get-a-date-with-an-olsen-twin/32686/ Mon, 15 May 2006 00:00:00 EST Parents looking for a Swiss watch, a date with one of the Olsen twins, or perhaps a few nights at the Fairmont Southampton Princess hotel in Bermuda need just go to school. With more upper-middle-class parents moving their children into the city's public schools, the annual auction season is becoming increasingly serious. In areas of Manhattan and pockets of Brooklyn, some schools are pulling in upwards of $100,000 a night offering everything from rides on private jets to handmade art projects... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/2nd-democrat-backer-of-mayor-lands-a-lucrative/32645/ Fri, 12 May 2006 00:00:00 EST A second Democrat who failed in a bid to become Manhattan president has been rewarded with a lucrative city job after crossing party lines and backing Mayor Bloomberg. Brian Ellner will make $165,000 a year as the senior counselor for community affairs at the Department of Education - $30,000 more than he would have been paid if he'd become the borough's president. Last month, another losing candidate who endorsed the mayor, Margarita Lopez, was appointed to a $162,183 a year position on the... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/hunter-students-threaten-a-lawsuit-over-yearbook/32455/ Wed, 10 May 2006 00:00:00 EST Students at an elite public high school on the Upper East Side are threatening to file a First Amendment lawsuit if the school's administrators refuse to stop prying into their yearbooks. Seniors at Hunter College High School, one of the city's most prestigious, said the administration is going behind their backs and stopping the presses to pull from the yearbooks a list of what the students consider benign jokes. Fed up, the yearbook's editor in chief has enlisted the help of the New York... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/irked-mayor-backs-cell-phone-ban-spurning/32369/ Tue, 9 May 2006 00:00:00 EST Despite mounting pressure to lift the ban on cell phones in the city's public schools - the only such prohibition among the nation's big cities - Mayor Bloomberg is refusing to budge and appears to be losing his patience with the topic. "What do you mean a compromise? You can't use cell phones in school and you can't use iPods - why can't you get the message?" Mr. Bloomberg said yesterday when reporters asked about the ban at an unrelated event in Brooklyn. Among the 10 largest school districts... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/fuhrman-will-lead-columbia-teachers-unit/32381/ Tue, 9 May 2006 00:00:00 EST Almost a year after the president of Columbia University's Teachers College announced that he was stepping down, the school is scheduled to announce his replacement today. The dean of the graduate school of education at the University of Pennsylvania, Susan Fuhrman, will assume the post at the nation's largest education program this summer. While Teachers College isn't slated to announce Ms. Fuhrman's appointment until this morning, the student newspaper at the University of Pennsylvania posted... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/in-lieu-of-gym-schools-teach-yoga-to-combat/32307/ Mon, 8 May 2006 00:00:00 EST Until this year, most students at P.S. 84 in Brooklyn probably thought "child's pose" meant being slumped over at a desk at school. Because the school doesn't have a gym, an occasional dance class and trips to a nearby park were students' only physical activity. Now, the children at the elementary school on Berry Street in Williamsburg are learning positions like downward dog and child's pose as part of a new program to bring yoga into the classroom. "You have to remember to be focused and... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/parents-fed-up-with-bloombergs-school-cell-phone/32314/ Mon, 8 May 2006 00:00:00 EST Parents and teachers who are fed up with the Bloomberg administration's ban on cell phones in city schools are planning to protest outside a Brooklyn school this morning. The president of the United Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, said cell phones are a "lifeline" for parents and that students should be allowed to carry them to school as long as they are shut off during the day. She will join Council Member Bill de Blasio outside M.S. 51 in Park Slope to call for the Department of... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/cuny-law-bans-coca-cola-citing-unfair-labor/32262/ Fri, 5 May 2006 00:00:00 EST Coca-Cola is being expelled from the CUNY School of Law. Citing unfair labor practices at a company bottling plant in Colombia, the law school in Queens voted this week to ban its beverages in all campus vending machines. Student groups are prohibited from using school money to buy any Coca-Cola products for meetings or other events. "We are a public interest law school and this was just such a glaring inconsistency with the reason that most people are at CUNY Law School," a first year student... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/call-it-the-e-z-pass-for-citys-schools-use/32159/ Thu, 4 May 2006 00:00:00 EST Call it the "E-Z Pass" of city schools. Students once started the morning by raising their hands and saying, "Here," but 388 city schools are now requiring them to swipe an electronic identification card that tracks attendance and logs when and where they are at school. First introduced five years ago in the city's most troubled schools, another 100 or so, including some of the most elite high schools, have signed on for the scanners in the past 18 months. In addition to tracking attendance... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/parents-teachers-come-out-against-mayors/31980/ Tue, 2 May 2006 00:00:00 EST As the Bloomberg administration cracks down on students carrying cell phones in public schools, the city's teachers and parents are lining up against the ban. The United Federation of Teachers voted last night to oppose the policy.The union's executive board agreed that students should be allowed to carry phones to school for use outside of class. "In lieu of banning the possession of cell phones outright, each school should develop and enforce a policy prohibiting cell phone use by students in... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/teachers-going-to-training-day-may-not-find/31905/ Mon, 1 May 2006 00:00:00 EST Strange to some, the notion of Brooklyn-Queens Day has gotten a whole lot stranger. Every year, schools in Brooklyn and Queens shut their doors on the first Thursday in June to commemorate the obscure holiday with protestant roots. It was once the envy of students in other boroughs - at least of those who knew about it. This year, students citywide will celebrate Brooklyn-Queens Day by getting a day off from school on June 8. The city's 83,000 teachers won't be so lucky. As part of the raise... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/judge-stymies-mothers-attempt-to-have-state-fund/31820/ Fri, 28 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST A judge has shot down a Queens mother's attempt to get the state to pay for her children to attend private school until the city's public schools begin offering her children a "sound basic" education guaranteed under the state constitution. A retired corrections officer who is the mother of five adopted children, Dianne Payne, sued the state, claiming that until Albany comes through with billions of additional education dollars ordered by the courts, she was owed the money the city spends on... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/alonso-succeeds-carmen-farina-as-klein-deputy/31692/ Thu, 27 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST In the midst of major policy changes intended to make individual schools more accountable for their successes and failures, the city's schools chancellor, Joel Klein, lost his top instructional leader to retirement. Deputy Chancellor Carmen Farina, a 40-year veteran of the city's public school system, announced yesterday that she is stepping down in June to spend more time with her family. Mr. Klein, a lawyer by training, relied on Ms. Farina to handle instructional issues while he tackled... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/klein-is-using-broadway-tickets-to-entice/31617/ Wed, 26 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST After working almost three years without a contract, many public school principals aren't exactly jumping at the chance to spend a Saturday morning with their boss, the schools chancellor. So Joel Klein is trying a novel approach to lure principals to a citywide meeting focusing on changes to the school system: offering free tickets to Broadway hits like "Hairspray" and "Sweeney Todd." The president of the principals union, Jill Levy, called the offer "disgraceful." The meeting, scheduled for... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/students-at-top-city-schools-suing-rumsfeld/31539/ Tue, 25 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST Six students at top city high schools are suing Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and the Department of Defense for violating their right to privacy. The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in federal court yesterday on behalf of the students, charging that the department is violating federal law by maintaining an unauthorized database of personal information on millions of high school students across the country for the purpose of military recruiting. The president of the NYCLU, Donna... DEBORAH KOLBEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/all-the-good-things-and-all-the-warts-promised/31443/ Mon, 24 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST Move over, Michael Moore. One of the city's most powerful union chiefs, Randi Weingarten, has jumped into the documentary film game. After many years of opposing charter schools, the United Federation of Teachers in September opened one of its own - the UFT Elementary School - and hired a film crew to document the endeavor. It is the first union-operated charter school in the country. Ms. Weingarten is president of the union. On Friday night, viewers will have their first glimpse of the...