NY Times Replaces Education Coverage With Education Blog

The Times may have lost its education page, its education column, Will Okun, and several of its education reporters, but it's got a newish group blog called Lesson Plans that you might want to check out.

In it, several teachers -- including well-known blogger teacherken (bernstein) -- post about their start-of-year experiences.  And, because it's the Times, each post generates a ton of responses.  In a somewhat similar move, The LA Times several months ago replaced its reporter-run education blog (School Me) with a new blog (The Homeroom) that's populated by reporters and a group of teachers and students.

Comments

[Erika]

I am very disheartened that the NY Times is no longer having an education section. Blogging is beneficial, but I love my hands on news as well.

[Julie Carney]

I think this raises an important question: is an interactive blog that may produce intelligent discussion worth more than the exposure a widely distributed print edition would gather? Either way, it seems like this blog could be a valuable information tool. Speaking of, This Week In Education has given me some great ideas for my own site, a blog I started with the NIFB Young Entrepreneur Foundation. Stop by and give us some feedback.

Thanks!

Julie
http://youngentrepreneurfoundation.wordpress.com/

[Peggy Hatton]

I am in need of advice. I live in Chestnut Ridge, NY Rockland Co. I live in the Town of Ramapo. There are two school districts in the town. One, primarily white and affluent. The other, primarily african american and poor. The poorer district's Board of Education is run by the Hasidic and Ultra orthodox community. The "white" district has almost double the test scores of the "African American" district. The town was virtually divided in half back in the late 1950's. The two districts were basically even then. The demographics have changed drastically. The village of Monsey has tripled in numbers and they are primarily Hasidic and Orthodox, who send their children to private school, but bleed the district with transportation, books, Occupational Therapy, PT, Speech, Psych, and the list goes on. At the same time, there are hundreds of tax exempt propterties in the town and the numbers are growing.

I do not understand how this is allowed to go on. Within one town, there are two what appears to be segregated school districts. The politias won't lift a finger to get the schools redistricted, they want the bloc vote.

Does anyone have any suggestions?