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Holocaust studies center at Yeshiva University gets new leader

Shay Pilnik, the new president of the Yeshiva center and himself the grandson of Holocaust survivors, said the recent spate of anti-semitic attacks in New York shows the urgency of coordinated, deep study of the Holocaust.




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NYC lawyers push back on state proposal to lower qualifications for special education judges amid shortage

New York City currently has fewer than 70 special education judges — called impartial hearing officers — to handle the thousands of complaints that special education students lodge every year against the city school system, resulting in more than 10,000 still-open cases.




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NYC schools Chancellor Richard Carranza beefs up security after threats to his safety

Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza, whose outspoken style and aggressive proposals on school diversity have made him a lightning rod in charged city schools debates, is traveling with two body guards after receiving menacing messages.




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Progressive South Bronx charter school facing closure fights for survival

Teachers, parents, and supporters of Heketi Community Charter School in Mott Haven are fighting back, arguing that the school met its goals for academic growth.




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Agencies urge Gov. Cuomo to boost funding for special education preschool amid shortage

Advocates predict up to 2,000 city youngsters with disabilities may be unable to find an appropriate preschool this spring because of financial constraints that make it harder to hire and maintain teachers for special needs programs.




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Two NYC teens handcuffed and held by NYPD for 30 hours after scuffle with school safety officers

The teen and a pal stayed there for roughly 30 hours, most of which time they spent handcuffed to a bench in a Queens police precinct without food or water. “I still can’t sleep at home, because it’s always running through my mind,” 16-year-old Haily D’Souza told the Daily News.




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Poly Prep tennis coach accused of sexual abuse by second former student in new Brooklyn court filing

The plaintiff, a former high school cheerleader identified only by the pseudonym “Mary Coe,” was in her first year at the school when defendant William Martire allegedly initially forced her to perform oral sex on him in the early 1980s, according to a horrifying 18-page Brooklyn Supreme Court filing.




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NYC Education Dept. announces six-month delay on Queens school diversity plan after parent pushback

Officials explained Wednesday that pushing the deadline from June to December for drafting a plan to diversify school enrollment in Queens’s District 28, which stretches from Forest Hills to Jamaica, would allow more people to give their input.




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Second NYC teen speaks out on 30-hour detention as city officials promise to investigate

Flushing High School junior Arialis Guzman said she “just didn’t get treated right" while police held her and a friend for more than a day in the aftermath of an after school altercation. The teens spent the night of Wednesday, Feb. 12 and much of the next day, Feb. 13, handcuffed to a bench in a Queens police precinct.




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NYC Education Dept. employees added to city mental health services plan

Schools workers and their families will be eligible for the Employee Assistance Program, an initiative that helps city workers, at no cost, identify mental health issues, find counseling, and get specialized support for issues like addiction.




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NYC school arrests cut in half amid policing reforms

NYPD officers made fewer than 150 arrests in city schools between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2019 — about half the number of arrests cops made during the same months last year.




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NYC students enjoy free performance of ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ at Madison Square Garden

City middle and high school students streamed off buses and trains, buzzing with excitement for the afternoon’s entertainment. For some, it was the first chance to see a Broadway show.




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Staten Island politician urges NYC Education Dept. to sit out St. Patrick’s Day parade after LGBTQ exclusion

City Council Member Debi Rose (D - Staten Island) said city students shouldn’t feel obligated to march with their schools or bands in the parade while event organizers refuse to let the Staten Island Pride Center march.




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Lawsuit challenges Trump administration toughening of student loan cancellation rules

New rules from federal Education Secretary Betsy DeVos would severely limit students' ability to clear debt by burying them in bureaucratic red tape, according to a new federal lawsuit.




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NY Board of Regents proposes letting non-lawyers be special ed judges

The New York Board of Regents said the move will allow the state to hire more judges and ease the growing backlog of cases.




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NYC starts voter registration push for 16- and 17-year-olds

A new state law allows teens to register as soon as they turn 16, and city officials are holding voter registration drives at city high schools and colleges this week to spread the word.




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Parents, school officials grapple with school attendance policy amid coronavirus fears

Under the policy, middle and high schools may consider attendance records when making admissions decisions — and fourth- and seventh-grade attendance records can be a factor in getting into the city’s most selective public schools.




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Brooklyn pol proposes non-dairy milk pilot in NYC schools

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams wants to start serving non-dairy alternatives to city kids as part of a pilot program, he wrote in a January letter to schools Chancellor Richard Carranza.




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NYC schoolteacher self-quarantined with coronavirus symptoms, as city examines virus response

The teacher recently traveled to Italy and came back to class before noticing the symptoms, according to a source familiar with the situation.




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Three NYC teachers tested for coronavirus after returning from Italy

One of the educators, who works at James Madison High School in Brooklyn, tested negative despite showing symptoms, and the other two are awaiting test results, the mayor said




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NYC teacher arrested for collecting $29,000 from fraudulent medical leave

Jeffrey Gooding collected a city salary for five months during a medical leave — while simultaneously working for a Harlem charter school, according to investigators.




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Harlem charter school principal arrested for assaulting 7-year-old boy

Jason Epting, 43, the principal of Harlem Hebrew Language Academy, left the boy gushing blood from his forehead and concussed during a January encounter Epting first tried to brush off as an accident, the boy’s horrified mother told the Daily News.




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NYC foster care groups plead for school bus guarantee for kids who can’t get to class

Nearly 20 groups representing New York City foster kids pleaded with officials to finally guarantee school buses to students in foster care so they no longer have to switch schools because they can’t get to class.




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Advocates, public health experts urge NYC officials to begin ‘social distancing’ measures in response to coronavirus

In a letter, the group noted that past pandemics show large-scale social restrictions that keep people physically separated can make the most difference if done before the illness becomes widespread.




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CUNY faces mounting calls for closure over coronavirus concerns

The sprawling CUNY system, which serves over 250,000 students — many of whom are low-income — across 25 campuses, remained open Tuesday, and has no confirmed cases of the virus among students or faculty.




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Manhattan fifth-grader tops day one of Daily News spelling bee

Manhattan fifth-grader Vale Esposito took home top honors during the first day of the Daily News spelling bee Tuesday, despite being one of the youngest contestants on stage.




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NYC schools move parent-teacher conferences to phone, videoconference

School officials tweeted the meetings can take place by phone or videochat, but no longer in-person. If parents can’t reach their kids’ teachers during their scheduled conference times, schools will try to accommodate them later this month, officials said.




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Possible coronavirus closure prompts Queens charter school to buy bulk food for students

VOICE Charter School in Long Island City — where 80% of students are low-income — is distributing bags full of pasta, rice and beans, granola bars and other non-perishables to hundreds of families Wednesday afternoon in case the school is eventually forced to close and kids miss out on school meals.




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CUNY, SUNY systems to cancel in-person classes for remainder of semester due to coronavirus

The college systems, which enroll a combined 700,000 students across the state, will move to a “distance learning model,” Cuomo said at a coronavirus-related press conference Wednesday.




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Manhattan eighth grader wins second day of Daily News Spelling Bee

Ashwin Ranjan, a 13-year-old student at The Dalton School, correctly spelled “bauxite,” a type of sedimentary rock, to win the day and go to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in May.




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Catholic elementary schools in NYC and the surrounding counties to close for a week amid coronavirus concerns

The closure applies to Catholic elementary schools in Manhattan, Staten Island and the Bronx, the area covered by the New York Archdiocese. It will last from March 16 through March 20, “with the possibility of a lengthier closure,” according to diocese officials.




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NYC schools shut down after coronavirus scare

The Laboratory School of Finance and Technology and South Bronx Preparatory: A College Board School, two co-located high schools in the South Bronx, will be closed for a day after a student tested positive for the coronavirus.




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NYC Council member proposes a ‘summer school’ approach to coronavirus school closures

Closing most public schools and using the rest to serve at-risk students and families who rely on them to meet basic health needs would be a good way for the Education Department to handle the coronavirus crisis, the chair of the city council’s Education Committee said Thursday. City Council Member Mark Treyger suggested that adopting a “summer school” approach "could work in terms of a limited system shutdown while servicing the most vulnerable.”




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Two Staten Island public schools close after student tests positive for coronavirus

New Dorp High School and the Richard H. Hungerford School were being shut down out of “an abundance of caution,” the DOE said on Twitter early Friday.




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Success Academy shuts down all NYC charter schools amid coronavirus spread

Success Academy Charter Schools, which teaches 18,000 students across 45 schools in the city, will move to online learning starting Mar. 19, though officials didn’t specify how long the shutdown will last.




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NYC teachers, principals unions call on city to shut down schools for coronavirus

UFT head Michael Mulgrew pointed out that many city private and charter schools have already shut their doors plus multiple other states.




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Harlem School of the Arts closes down classes for coronavirus

The private institute offers arts classes to 4,000 students mostly in Harlem, through classes at its building and at partner schools.




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City education officials ramp up remote learning resources ‘to prepare for potential school closure’

Education officials, in a Friday morning webinar, instructed all city principals to prepare for an extended shutdown by assembling materials to send home with students, reviewing how to use online teaching platforms and deciding how to communicate with families, according to a copy of the presentation obtained by The News.




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NYC teachers union threatens lawsuit if schools still open Monday amid coronavirus spread

Mulgrew accused city officials of not complying with state protocol on school closures - which mandates 24-hour shutdowns if a student or staff member tests positive - and creating unsafe labor conditions.




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The biggest questions facing NYC’s new remote learning system

A look at some of the challenges the city school system will be tackling in the days ahead.




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NYC Education Dept. releases new details on contingency plans for food and childcare amid coronavirus school shutdown

The sites, which Mayor de Blasio first announced Sunday, will be staffed by a combination of city teachers and community-based organizations, according to a plan the city Education Department submitted to state officials Monday night.




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Black and Latino students admitted to NYC’s specialized high schools stays flat at 11%

At Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, the city’s most selective public high school, only 10 black students and 20 Latino students got admissions offers, out of nearly 800 students accepted, data shows.




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NYC lawmakers push to expand specialized high school exam to combat low black, Latino enrollment

The proposal comes as city officials announced that only 11% of students admitted to specialized schools this year were black or Latino, compared to 70% of all city students, a figure virtually unchanged from years past.




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New York suspends state exams after coronavirus closures

The annual math and English exams administered annually to New York 3rd-8th graders, as well as exams for English Language Learners, will no longer be given this school year, said Board of Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa and interim state Education Commissioner Shannon Tahoe.




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Advocacy groups urge NYC Education Dept. to include homeless students in childcare at ‘resource centers’

But the centers, slated to open Monday, are currently limited to children of healthcare and transit workers and first-responders - and advocates worry homeless students will be left behind.




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NYC’s remote learning amid coronavirus shutdown brings smiles, a few tears, on first day

Students cracked open laptops or homework packets Monday morning, while parents wrangled restless kids and teachers reconnected with pupils longing for some structure after a week of aimlessness spent mostly indoors.




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NYC school food workers fear for their health as schools continue to churn out meals during coronavirus shutdown

When Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012, Donald Nesbitt, then a cook at a Brooklyn public school, packed a bag and slept at school so he could continue making food for the many students who relied on him for their regular meals.




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NYC school principal dies from coronavirus

A Brooklyn principal has died of complications from the coronavirus, the principals union announced Monday.




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Two NYC Education Dept. employees who shared building with principal who died of coronavirus also hospitalized: sources

Rona Phillips, the principal of KAPPA V High School in Brownsville, is in intensive care with pneumonia, officials said. “Our thoughts are with Principal Phillips and her family for a speedy recovery, and we’ll support the school community in every way we can,” said Education Department spokeswoman Miranda Barbot.




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NYU med school letting students graduate early to fight coronavirus

The Grossman School on Medicine is making the unprecedented move “in response to Governor Cuomo’s directive to get more physicians into the health system more quickly," it said in a statement.