Racist hacks into South Queens Education town hall zoom meeting

Closure vs. transformation for schools

From the NY Times:

On Friday, the city announced which of 34 schools on a state list of “persistently lowest achieving” schools it would keep open and try to improve — in a process known as transformation – and which it would most likely phase out beginning in the 2011-12 school year.

The 11 schools chosen for transformation can hire two new kinds of teachers — master teachers and turnaround teachers — who will earn up to 30 percent more than their regular salaries for training teachers in addition to their regular duties. Those premiums, and other school improvements, will be financed by $2 million a year in federal stimulus money over the next three years.

The 11 schools selected for transformation are:

* Automotive High School
* Bread & Roses Integrated Arts High School
* Brooklyn School for Global Studies
* Chelsea Career and Technical Education High School
* Cobble Hill School of American Studies
* Flushing High School
* Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School
* Long Island City High School
* Queens Vocational and Technical High School
* Unity Center for Urban Technologies
* William E. Grady Career and Technical Education High School

The additional 23 schools on the state’s “persistently lowest achieving” list that will most likely be phased out and replaced with new schools are:

* August Martin High School
* Beach Channel High School
* Boys and Girls High School
* Christopher Columbus High School
* Fordham Leadership Academy for Business and Technology
* Grace Dodge Career and Technical Education High School
* Grover Cleveland High School
* High School of Graphic Communication Arts
* Jamaica High School
* Jane Addams High School for Academic Careers
* John Adams High School
* John Dewey High School
* John F. Kennedy High School
* Metropolitan Corporate Academy
* Monroe Academy for Business/Law
* Newtown High School
* Norman Thomas High School
* Paul Robeson High School
* Public School 065 Mother Hale Academy
* Richmond Hill High School
* Sheepshead Bay High School
* Washington Irving High School
* W.H. Maxwell CTE High School

Additional schools that the city says it will attempt to close again next year, after having been prevented from doing so because of a lawsuit from the N.A.A.C.P. and the teachers’ union this spring:

* Frederick Douglass Academy III (middle school)
* Global Enterprise High School
* Monroe Academy for Business and Law
* School for Community Research and Learning
* New Day Academy
* Academy of Collaborative Education
* Kappa II
* Academy of Environmental Science High School
* Middle School for Academic and Social Excellence
* Public School 332
* Business, Computer Applications and Entrepreneurship High School
* Choir Academy of Harlem High School

Liu makes fun of Asians at Sharpton birthday bash

From the Daily News:

Speaking before the Rev. Al Sharpton's birthday party, Hazel Dukes noted that Liu - elected the city's first Asian-American councilman in 2001 - was on hand for the festivities.

"I see John Liu here - he's been the little Asian boy running around with us a long time [in] the NAACP," Dukes, president of the NAACP New York State Conference, warmly said to laughter during Sharpton's weekly radio broadcast. "But Rev. [Sharpton], he was a good guy, so we said, 'Come on, come on, come on - we can make you what you want to be,'" Dukes continued to more chuckles and applause as Liu, 42, sat on the stage with a bemused smile.

Bidding Sharpton a happy 55th, Liu also poked a little fun at his own heritage - or maybe just goofed on his own singing abilities. "You know the way Asian-Americans sing 'Happy Birthday,' right? They go, 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY,'" Liu jokingly boomed as the audience broke into laughter. "That's about all you want to hear from me, okay? Happy birthday, Al Sharpton."