Gary The Creator
Just my thoughts!
NY Free School Meals Still Require Tight Controls
New York students can eat school meals at no charge, but districts still face federal reimbursement, claiming, training and financial-control requirements.
Read More
New York Just Collected $125,000 From a School Vendor. Here Is the Playbook Before You Let an App Into Your Classroom.
The state penalized a vendor over a breach that hit 25 school agencies. The legal duty sits with your district, but the risk starts at your desk.
Read More
Washington Is Suing New York Over Who Counts as a Resident at SUNY
The Justice Department sued New York on August 10 over resident tuition and state aid for undocumented students. Here is what it does and does not change.
Read More
You Have 14 Days. New York's School Vaccine Clock Starts the Morning Your Kid Walks In.
New York gives families exactly fourteen days from the first day of school to produce immunization records. Here is what is required by grade, what changed in Albany this year, and what did not.
Read More
What School Anxiety Looks Like Before the First Day of School
The stomach ache before school shopping starts. The sudden fight over nothing. The child who wants to be walked all the way inside. Here's what back-to-school anxiety actually looks like, and how parents can respond before the first bell rings.
Read More
New York's Middle School Reading Gap is Getting Worse
New research finds sixth grade reading scores flat since 2022 and still falling for the weakest readers. New York's literacy law targets first graders, self-certifies compliance, and does nothing for the students already past it.
Read More
Twenty-Nine Schools Are Under State Control: Albany Gave Their Families Until September 28.
New York is rewriting how it labels and takes over failing schools. The comment window runs through back-to-school, and the Regents are on recess for most of it.
Read More
Your Evaluation Is Being Rewritten: A New York Teacher's Playbook for the STEPS System
New York is retiring APPR and HEDI for the STEPS system. Here is what changed, and the questions every teacher should ask this fall.
Read More
The Trench Is Holding: What Kids Learn Before School
Five kids, one sand trench, and an incoming tide. A school district budget officer on why the difference between two students in the same classroom is usually decided years before either one walks in.
Read More
The Adult Most Likely to Be Threatened at Your Child's School Is the One Running It
New research finds parents direct verbal threats and public humiliation at school administrators at roughly three and a half times the rate teachers experience. Nobody is counting it, and the districts paying the price are the ones now struggling to fill leadership jobs.
Read More
New York's Free-Tuition Clock Is Ticking: A Student's August Deadline Guide
Two of New York's biggest tuition scholarships close this month. A student's plain-English guide to Excelsior, STEM Incentive, FAFSA, and SUNY Reconnect.
Read More
Your School Taxes Do Not Pay for Lunch. Here Is What They Actually Buy.
New York homeowners pay an average of $7,573 a year in property taxes while their districts spend $37,033 per student. Here is where school money actually comes from, which programs the local levy never touches, and why the bill keeps arriving long after the kids graduate.
Read More