Schools...good and bad news

From the Daily News:

The Bloomberg administration has abandoned a controversial plan to close 10 struggling city high schools.

Just seven of 17 troubled high schools that the city tried to close this spring ended up on the chopping block in 2012 after many posted gains on city progress reports.

The city had sought to close the schools this summer and immediately reopen them with new instructors, a turnaround plan the teachers union opposed in court.

A court battle that lasted six months, ending with a judge’s ruling in the union’s favor. Now it appears the city has reversed plans to close 10 of those schools.

Students and teachers were thrilled at schools that were spared the axe.

Newtown High School in Queens also jumped from a C to a B on its progress report this year and made it off of the city’s hit list.

From NY 1:

Eleven days after Hurricane Sandy, the Rockaway Beach neighborhood around Scholars' Academy was like no-man's land. Residents fled, leaving behind downed wires, waterlogged debris and sand soaked with heating oil.

But the doors to the school building were open, similar to what we saw at other damaged schools across the city. Contracted crews moved in and out, pumping, repairing and decontaminating, all to get students back as soon as possible.

Yet at some point, school officials say someone must have entered the building and exited with about $100,000 worth of stolen equipment.

"We discovered that approximately 90 iPads were stolen and six to 10 iMacs," said Brian O'Connell, the principal of Scholars' Academy.

It wasn't just pricey tablets and computers. Also reported missing were two automated external defibrillators, each estimated to be worth about $1,600.

This was not an isolated incident. The New York City Department of Education says 30 schools have reported looting so far. Among the items missing include cameras, calculators and a projector.

Officials say they don't yet know the overall value, but there is no insurance to cover it.