NYC Reads! (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

I spent most of my kindergarten year envious of Gina and Adam. These classmates had found the holy grail of learning: they could read.

Our teacher continually praised them for their intelligence — and dismissed mine. I remember thinking, “If someone would just show me how, I could read, too.”

Thankfully, my first-grade teacher helped me unlock the magic code by explaining that letters stood for sounds that then blended

DOE Chancellor Banks with Mayor Adams (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)

Class size has been an enduring concern of parents and teachers alike and a deep flaw of New York City schools for nearly a century. As far back as 1930, during the administration of Mayor Jimmy Walker, theNew York Times concluded that excessive class sizes were the

UFT President Michael Mulgrew (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

February 28, 2023 - Max Politics Podcast: UFT President Mike Mulgrew on Contract Negotiations, Charter Schools, & More

Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), joined the show to discuss his union's contract negotiations with the city, the governor's charter school expansion proposal, and more.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter @TweetBenMax. You can listen to the show through the

CSA President Mark Cannizzaro (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

September 13, 2022 - Max Politics Podcast: How Principals are Navigating the New School Year, with Administrators Union President Mark Cannizzaro

Mark Cannizzaro, president of the Council of School Supervisors & Administrators, joined the show to discuss how principals and other school leaders are navigating the new school year, budget cuts to many schools, and other challenges.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter ...

Mayor Adams says hello to students (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

September 9, 2022 - Max Politics Podcast: The Start of a New School Year in New York City

Alex Zimmerman, reporter at Chalkbeat New York, joined the show to discuss the start of the new school year, the controversy around school budget cuts, and more education news.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter @TweetBenMax. You can listen to the show through the embedded audio below or download the episode

Mayor Adams visits a school (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

After two-and-a-half years of a chaos and disruptions due to the covid pandemic and a change in mayoral administrations, many parents, teachers, and advocates were yearning for a steadier, supportive, and safe re-opening of a new school year, in which students would get the attention and the stability they need. Sadly, that  does not seem to be in store. 

The pandemic is not over, no matter how much one may wish for it. The covid test

Comptroller Brad Lander (photo: John McCarten/City Council)

According to New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, the city’s chief financial officer, “it’s a very mixed-signals moment” for the city’s economy.

On one hand, Lander said during a recent appearance on Gotham Gazette’s Max Politics podcast, the city economy is seeing increased job and business growth; while on the other hand, nationwide inflation is among the challenges now and into the

Mayor Adams, Chancellor Banks, and students (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)

The Trojan Horse called “Fair Student Funding” that allocates $10 billion of city funds to our 1,700 public schools needs to be scrapped. The attractively alliterative system inadequately funds the real needs of schools and, according to an unreleased 2021 Fair Student Funding Task Forcestudy

How ‘Gifted and Talented’ Shows the Failures of One Man Rule of Our Schools

The future of schools in NYC (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

Two years after lockdown, we’re entering a new phase of the pandemic. Mask and vaccine mandates have been rolled back across the state, and we’re eager to return to some kind of ‘normal.’ We have a new mayor and a new City Council, being tested for the first time. And we’re at a crossroads: what lessons have we learned? How can we ensure that our city is resilient, not just in the face of another health crisis or a new variant, but universally?

...

The Mayor & Chancellor at School (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)

When Mayor Adams launched his campaign to improve school nutrition, he opened the door to solving a devastating and long-neglected issue that has left generations of New York City students without the fuel they need to get through the day.

We’ve all seen photos of disappointing school lunches over the years — the same sloppy joe’s, wilted veggies, and lukewarm pizza that generations of New York City students have sadly grown up on for decades.

Scanners at work (photo: Evolv Technology)

New York City is currently running a pilot program at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx using an advanced weapon detection system created by Evolv Technology, a Massachusetts-based security technology firm, and Mayor Eric Adams has indicated that the technology could eventually be rolled out in schools across the city.

In the wake of several incidents of gun violence in the city this year, Mayor Adams has...

NYC Charter School Center CEO James Merriman, left (photo: @nyccharters)

February 22, 2022 - Max Politics Podcast: The Growth of Charter Schools in New York City

Why We Welcome Vegan Fridays in New York City Schools

Students at school (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayor's Office)

Our more than 1,600 schools have been under “mayoral control” since 2003 when the New York State legislature gave New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg full control of the school system. The City Board of Education (which former Mayor Bloomberg unofficially renamed the Panel for Educational Policy) has the power to approve contracts, budgets, regulations, “standards, policies and objectives” related to educational achievement and student performance, but is made up of a

Mayor Adams and Chancellor Banks at a school (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)

In an interview late last year, New York City’s new schools chancellor, David Banks, vowed to “transform the lives of…[New York City] children, but particularly Black and brown children who have struggled the most in this system.” While all students have struggled during the pandemic,...

Mayor de Blasio at school (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)

When he first ran for Mayor, Bill de Blasio portrayed himself as a leader who would make a host  of progressive changes in our schools. He promised to be a far different leader than Michael Bloomberg, who had expanded high-stakes testing, proceeded to grade teachers and schools primarily via test scores, closed dozens of public schools displacing thousands of students, and helped charter schools expand in their place. 

Bloomberg and his schools chancellors had done all

Students back at school (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)

The pandemic has exacerbated the mental health risks faced by students in our public schools. Last spring, in an effort to monitor students' social-emotional health, the de Blasio administration awarded an $18 million contract to Aperture Education, a South Carolina-based “social enterprise” founded in 2017, to assess students’ social and emotional learning (SEL) at at all grade levels. As a public high school student, I am

Kids and teachers safe in school (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if we had a mayor who thought school safety was important. Bill de Blasio didn’t, or he wouldn’t have placed the ridiculous plan we’ve had since September into effect. Eric Adams doesn’t, or he wouldn’t have rubber-stamped the ‘doubling’ of the anemic de Blasio plan.

Here’s the problem. You can say we’re testing 10%, 20%, or whatever percentage you choose for covid, but it’s not a real figure unless you’re talking about everyone. Right now, we are

UFT President Michael Mulgrew (photo: @UFT)

December 7, 2021 - Max Politics Podcast: Teachers Union President Michael Mulgrew on Pandemic Schooling, Class Sizes, & Mayor-Elect Adams

New York City teachers union president Michael Mulgrew joined the show to discuss where things stand in city schools amid another pandemic school year, vaccine mandates and covid testing, learning loss and other classroom themes, the UFT's relationship with Mayor-elect Eric Adams, and more.

Listen to the

Students (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

This week, the City Council heard debate about a bill that would require the New York City Department of Education to cap how many people it can squeeze into our classrooms. The purpose is to ensure better ventilation and reduce the possibility of viral spread — a health safeguard in the era of COVID-19.

The end result would be fewer students in each classroom — a reduction in class size that New York City students, families, and educators have been

Mayor de Blasio and school kids (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

Despite New York City Department of Education officials’ claims during this past week’s City Council hearing that the city’s school reopening plan for this fall represents “the gold standard,” the reality is that the plan is riddled with profound flaws.

First, and perhaps

(photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayoral Photo Office)

Six years ago, I filed a complaint with the New York City Department of Education (DOE) alongside 51 others because there are dozens of ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Yeshivas in our city that do not provide their students with an adequate secular education, as required by law.

As a result of the complaint, the city announced an investigation on July 28, 2015. Yet now more than six years later, despite ...

Council Speaker Johnson, right, and Council Member Treyger (photo: John McCarten/City Council)

UPDATE: On Saturday August 21, following the publication of this article on the evening of Thursday August 19, the City Council scheduled an oversight hearing by the education committee on the city's school reopening plans for Wednesday September 1. The hearing will come less than two weeks before the first official day of school for more than 900,000 public school students on Monday September 13. The article below has been

School during covid (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

For years we’ve heard from the mayor and his schools chancellors that our Department of Education is all about “equity and excellence.” Lofty goals, lofty promises, and grand announcements of progress have followed, giving the impression that we are much further along than we really are. You may not share the DOE’s faith in utopia, but my school, Francis Lewis High School, is located right on Utopia Parkway in Queens. 

This notwithstanding, I’m not persuaded. Next school