New York City Department of Education

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Type	Public
Budget	US$ 17 billion (2007)[1]
Teachers	80,000[1]
Students	1,042,277[1]
Number of Schools	1,450[1]
Chancellor	Joel I. Klein
Teachers Unions	United Federation of Teachers, American Federation of Teachers
Location	New York, NY USA
Website	http://schools.nyc.gov/

The New York City Department of Education 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 are taught in more than 1,400 separate schools.^[2] 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.

[edit] History

From 1969 - 2002 the city school system was run by the Board of Education, made up of seven members appointed by borough presidents and the mayor, and 32 community school boards, which were elected. Elementary and middle schools were controlled by the community boards, while high schools were controlled by the Board of Education.

In 2002, control of the school system was given to the Mayor, who began reorganization and reform efforts.

The Board of Education and community school boards, created in 1969 when Mayor John Lindsay relinquished mayoral control of the school, were abolished. Renamed the "Department of Education", the schools headquarters was moved from 110 Livingston Street in downtown Brooklyn to the Tweed Courthouse building adjacent to City Hall in Manhattan.^[3][4]

[edit] Schools & 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, and pupils instead 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.

[edit] Organization 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 5 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 region encompassed several elementary/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 the Mayor and Chancellor announced the dissolution of the regions, effective June 2007. The district plans to keep the empowerment zone, and four large Learning Support Organizations.

[edit] Teachers

The city has a chronic teacher shortage in every subject, but most strongly in 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 [1], 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.

[edit] Demographics

Bronx High School of Science

Stuyvesant High School

40% of students in the city's public school system live in households where a language other than English is spoken; one-third of all New Yorkers were born in another country. The city's Department of Education translates report cards, registration forms, systemwide alerts, and documents on health and policy initiatives for parents into Spanish, Chinese, Urdu, Russian, Bengali, Haitian Creole, Korean, and Arabic.

Over all, Hispanic students are the largest group in the city’s schools at 36.7%, and black students are next at 34.7%. The 1.1 million-student system is 14.3% Asian and 14.2% white.

At the city's most elite, competitive public high schools (Stuyvesant High School, Bronx Science, and Brooklyn Technical High School), the student demographics are different^{[citation needed]}. In the 2005-06 school year, blacks made up 4.8% of the Bronx Science student body, down from 11.8% in 1994-95^{[citation needed]}. At Stuyvesant, blacks comprised 2.2% of the student body, down from 4.4%^{[citation needed]}. Hispanic enrollment has declined at the three schools and white enrollment has declined at two of the three^{[citation needed]}. At the same time, the Asian population has soared to 60.6% at Bronx Science, up from 40.8% 11 years ago [2]. Education experts suggest the demographics of these elite specialized high schools are influenced by the use of competitive entrance exams as the sole criterion for admission^{[citation needed]}.

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 test-taking tips, without resorting to the kinds of preferences that have drawn lawsuits in other school districts such as in San Francisco Unified School District.

[edit] Health & Nutrition

The city has made an effort to reduce obesity and improve nutrition for the city's public schoolchildren. White bread was entirely replaced with whole wheat bread, frankfurter buns and hamburger buns in cafeterias during Mayor Michael Bloomberg's first term. In 2006 the city set out to eliminate whole milk from cafeteria lunch menus. It also took the further step of banning low-fat flavored milks, allowing only chocolate skim as an alternative, which made the new policy one of the strictest in the country. The New York City school system purchases more milk than any other in the United States. The national dairy industry aggressively fought the new standards, but ultimately lost. It was afraid that a change of policy in the nation's largest school district would ultimately reduce overall milk consumption nationally, as other large school districts looked to New York for an example. New experiments in education, text book revisions, and new teaching methods are similarly contested by national groups who view the New York City school system as a standard bearer^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Radio and Television Stations

[edit] Television

The department operated television station WNYE-TV from 1967-2004. Now operated by the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, the station is on channel 25.

[edit] Radio

The department operates FM station WNYE.

[edit] Notable People After Whom School Buildings Have Been Named

• Nathaneal Greene

• George E. Wibecan - George E. Wibecan was born and raised on Pulaski Street in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Wibecan attended Columbia College Law School and later studied in Germany. He married Mabel L. Buckley on June 7, 1899. He worked for a number of years at a Brooklyn Post Office and was later promoted to Foreman of the Inquiry Department. Wibecan was involved in politics and Civil Rights. He served his community. He was a Chairman President of over seventy five civic and political organizations. A school located at 794 Monroe Street, Brooklyn, New York, NY 11221, Telephone number: (718) 574-2381 is named to honor him.

• Lillian Rashkis (371K) - Lillian Rashkis was the director of "600" schools (that is, special education schools for "problem children") in 1959.

• Francis Scott Key (I.S. 117)- Francis Scott Key is best known for writing The United States National Anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner". He was a great American lawyer, writer, and poet.

• Eileen E. Zaglin - Eileen E. Zaglin served community school district 21 and its children for over 30 years as a teacher, guidance counselor and administrator. Her caring, concern, sensitivity and wisdom touched the lives of all those she knew and served. PS 225 in Brooklyn is named after Eileen E. Zaglin.

• Sharon Paskal (P771K @ PS225) - Sharon Paskal, a former teacher at P771K played for the Sharks since their very first game in 1999. Sharon was a great talented APE teacher and athlete at P771K Sharon was an inspiration to everyone. She died in car accident on Christmas Day, 2001. The school gymnasium was named in her memory. Sharon Pascale (1973-2001)Sharon Pascale was a special education teacher. She used to teach Adapted Physicla Education.

• Oliver Wendel Holmes (1841-1935) IS 204, a school in Astoria Queens is named after Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. He was a jurist in the United States Supreme Court.

• P53K is not named after anyone, but if it were, it should be named after Mr. Embra Sease. Sease was a well loved dean at P53K who showed great love and admiration for students and staff.

• IS227 in Brooklyn is named after the late Edward B. Shallow, a former NYC Board of Education Associate Superintendent.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• List of high schools in New York City
• List of public elementary schools in New York City
• New York State Education Department
• New York City School Construction Authority
• Specialized high schools
• Tweed Courthouse
• 110 Livingston Street, former headquarters of the Board of Education, in Brooklyn
• Public Schools Athletic League

[edit] External links

• New York City Department of Education
• NYCDOE school zoning information
• Insideschools.org - A website that rates New York City public schools
• a blog of teachers' inside perspectives on schools