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Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said the city's plan to close and reopen 26 struggling schools in order to keep federal funds was "not an act of revenge" against the teachers union.

Beth Fertig, WNYC's education reporter and contributor to SchoolBook, looks at Chancellor Walcott's first year and other education news.

Eighth-graders from across the city are invited on Sunday to the Department of Education's annual high school fair aimed at helping students decide what high school they're interested in attending.

Just in time for the tenth anniversary, the city's public schools will now have a new curriculum for teaching about the 9/11 attacks.

City education officials closed a Bronx school after final test results showed unsafe levels of a toxic chemical existed in the building.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's new $127 million initiative to help young black and Latino men relies heavily on improving their academics, because too many students are graduating without the skills they need for college or work.

In a reversal of a much criticized policy, city principals will now get to keep more of their money — but only if their schools get good marks. 

Public Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott is asking the public to remain patient as the City Council and Mayor continue to negotiate the city budget - and whether or not teachers really will be laid off.

City Council members grilled Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott on the city's plan to eliminate 6,100 teaching positions — most through layoffs — during a contentious hearing Wednesday. 

City parents and some politicians claim the Department of Education has bungled the community education council election, which is supposed to provide an avenue for parent engagement.

The city's Panel for Educational Policy voted to phase-out three more low-performing schools late Thursday night. The vote capped an emotional night even as the new schools chancellor appealed for respect.

A Department of Education consultant illegally billed the city for an extra $3.6 million connecting public schools to the Internet, and then used the money to pay for luxury cars and Long Island real estate, the U.S. attorney's office claims.

The newly appointed New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said he believes school options should include charter schools. He called for a tapering of the rhetoric around whether charter schools or regular public schools need to be expanded.

The deadline for city parents to apply and run for positions on Community Education Councils that sign off on school zoning changes and play an advisory role is Friday — but the city is still struggling with waning interest in the posts.

A state education panel is recommending that Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott be granted a waiver to serve as the new city schools chancellor.

The City Council Education panel did not spare Schools Chancellor-appointee Dennis Walcott on his second day on the job, attacking Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plans to eliminate 6,000 teaching slots.

Dennis M. Walcott, 59, a Queens native, was appointed Chancellor of New York City Public Schools by Mayor Bloomberg on Thursday morning, immediately following Cathie Black's resignation.

Breaking from the stridency of Rhee or the discomfort of Black, Walcott will test whether better relationships will lead to better politics as he takes on the charge of continuing Bloomberg’s education redesign.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg set out to conquer the most recent snow storm to blanket New York City — and succeeded.

But the public schools he closed today are another matter.

By the time Mayor Bloomberg started his 10am press conference at City Hall to updater the city on  snow removal efforts, he had already given live interview to three radio stations and New York 1 News.

Joining Bloomberg were the city's commissioners for police, transportation, education, sanitation, and emergency services, all waiting to answer any questions. They had been working since before sunrise.

A Staten Island elementary school has been found to have elevated levels of PCBs. In a letter Friday to Teachers Union President Michael Mulgrew, Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott said as a precaution, two classrooms in PS 36 had been closed and the affected materials removed until air testing could be conducted this weekend.