Believe It or Not, Trump and DeVos Have Done Some Good for American Education

I’ve been leading Getting NYC Kindergarten and Getting Into NYC High School workshops for New York City parents for approximately 15 years. But only since…

How My School Blocked Me From Teaching ‘The Hate U Give’

While “The Hate U Give” is a best-selling book and top-rated film, I’m getting some real pushback from my administration about having my students read the…

What Happens When Even the ‘Best’ Neighborhood School Treats Its Students With Disabilities Horribly?

The New York Post recently profiled Wesley Clark, a 9-year-old fourth-grader at PS 8 in Brooklyn Heights. The article describes a “supposedly progressive Brooklyn Heights public school that talks…

White Families You’re Not Doing My Kids Any Favors By Sending Your Kids to Our School

The big buzz word in New York City education is: Diversity. On October 26, 2017, yet another plan was announced, this time promising to bring diversity…

VIDEO: I Fight Against the School-to-Prison Pipeline for My Students and for My Husband

Every day during the week I teach Black and Brown kids at a school in the ’hood. Then every Saturday or Sunday I visit my…

Do I Really Have to Live in an All-White Neighborhood for My Kids to Get a Good Education?

I grew up in Queens (St. Albans), New York, and attended Andrew Jackson High School in the early ’90s. My family, who migrated to New…

We Aren’t the First and We Won’t Be the Last Family to Leave the Public School System

We are not the first family and I know we will not be the last to transfer our children out of public school. Our eighth-grader and…

I Didn’t Have Dual-Language Classes When I Immigrated. Maybe That’s a Good Thing.

Earlier this year, I wrote about dual-language programs in New York City schools, and who really benefits from them. Is it the non-English speakers that Chancellor…

I Always Hated Charter Schools. Until I Put My Kids on the Waitlist.

I have never been much of a proponent of charter schools. I am the proud product of traditional public education from kindergarten through 12th grade…

I Got an Email That My Former Student Graduated and I Wish His Dad Could Have Seen Him

Last Friday I had a fire in my apartment. Everyone is fine, thank God, and I’ve been taking care of the clean-up, paperwork and phone…