When the Biggest Student Mental Health Advocates Are the Students
With the number of adolescents struggling with mental health rising, student-led clubs have come to provide support amid a dearth of resources. Last October, to commemorate Mental Health Awareness Week, a group of students at Sacopee Valley High School in Hiram, Maine, created the annual Hope Board. Shaped like an enormous tulip and displayed in […]
When schools assign substitutes the wrong status, the error suppresses their pay
When the Queens public school where she was working assigned Antonietta Auriemma to seven classroom sections, she realized something was wrong. Between January and June 2023, Auriemma, a substitute teacher, filled in for two different teachers on long-term leaves of absence, on top of extra classroom periods as needed. According to her handbook, she should […]
A former tutor’s off-Broadway show tackles NYC’s high-stress high school admissions
New York City’s high-stakes high school admissions process is taking center stage in a new off-Broadway production. School Pictures, running through Dec. 3 at Playwrights Horizons theater, draws on playwright Milo Cramer’s experience as a tutor, which often entailed preparing kids for the Specialized High School Admissions Test that determines entry to eight coveted public […]
With influx of migrants, NYC school enrollment ticks up for first time in 8 years
The number of students attending New York City’s public schools increased for the first time in eight years, a sign that enrollment may be stabilizing in the wake of deep declines during the pandemic. About 915,000 children from 3-K to 12th grade enrolled this year, up 0.9% from last year, or roughly 8,000 additional students, […]
NYC launches free online therapy for teens
New York City teens now have access to free online therapy through a city program that launched Wednesday, officials said. City teens, ages 13-17, can text, call, or video chat with licensed therapists through the online platform Talkspace without providing payment, insurance information, or referrals, officials said. The teen telehealth initiative, which Mayor Eric Adams […]
The secret to good teaching? Teamwork.
Twelve years ago, when I left a career as a lawyer to become a history teacher, my vision of what a “good teacher” looked like was shaped in part by movies, such as “Stand and Deliver” and “To Sir, With Love,” which depict teachers who overcome institutional dysfunction to connect with students and inspire them […]
Modern Career and Technical Education is for everyone. Here’s why it should start in middle school.
When my grandfather entered the workforce with a seventh-grade education in the early twentieth century, he mined coal in western Pennsylvania, did factory work after serving in WWI, and retired as an City Councilman. My grandfather owned a home and a car and led a comfortable life. My father graduated high school toward the middle […]
Public Schools Are NYC’s Main Youth Mental Health System. Where Kids Land Often Depends on What Their Parents Can Pay
On Staten Island, a middle schooler with a hair-trigger temper was in a fistfight every week. In north Brooklyn, a ninth grader cut class for months before he tried to commit suicide. A few miles east, where Brooklyn meets the marshlands of Jamaica Bay, a 13-year-old ended up in a psychiatric emergency room after the […]
