Beth Fertig

American Bar Association Says Immigration Courts Are 'On The Brink Of Collapse'

Beth Fertig

The American Bar Association says the nation's immigration courts are so overloaded they're "on the brink of collapse." Now new data show the backlog has grown to almost 900,000 cases.

A appellate court found Suffolk County Police went too far by putting Susai Francis, an Indian national living on Long Island, back in jail at the request of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Crime

Local Police Can't Detain Immigrants For ICE, NY Court Finds

Beth Fertig

An appellate court in Brooklyn ruled that local police officers in New York state can't detain immigrants solely to turn them over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement without a judicial warrant.

Public schools and Chinese community groups in New York City are becoming increasingly familiar with "satellite babies."

Born In The U.S., Raised In China: 'Satellite Babies' Have A Hard Time Coming Home

Beth Fertig

Some immigrant families from China send their U.S.-born babies to their home country to be raised by relatives. Certain educators in New York City say this can make education a challenge.

Teacher Tenure Fight Spills Into N.Y., Where A New Lawsuit Brews

Beth Fertig

A new salvo has been fired in the fight over teacher tenure. A group led by former TV anchor Campbell Brown filed a complaint in New York state court, arguing that tenure laws are preventing the state from providing every child with the "sound, basic education" its constitution guarantees.

Campbell Brown of the Partnership for Educational Justice, with plaintiffs in their New York teacher tenure lawsuit.

Teacher Tenure Lawsuits Spread From California To New York

Beth Fertig

Why are so many low-income and minority kids getting second-class educations in the U.S.? That question is at the center of the heated debate about tenure protections and who gets them.

In New York, three-quarters of all students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, but a third of those simply don't participate.

Why NYC Is Afraid Of Free Lunch For All

Beth Fertig

A federal program to extend free lunch to all kids has the city worried it could lose federal dollars to pay for other things.

The New York City skyline is mostly dark in this photo of the 2003 blackout that hit U.S. and Canadian cities.

How A Massive Power Outage Sent People Out In The Street

Beth Fertig

Ten years ago, a tree on a power line in Ohio touched off the largest outage in U.S. history. In New York City, many people were so relieved it wasn't another terrorism attack that in some places, a carnival atmosphere prevailed.

New York City's Department of Education issued its first guidelines this spring for how teachers should navigate social media.

Friend Your Students? New York City Schools Say No

Beth Fertig

This spring, the city's Department of Education issued its first guidelines about how teachers should navigate social media. The rules make it explicit: Teachers cannot friend or follow their students on Facebook or Twitter, but they can have professional accounts and pages for students to follow.

Katherine Moloney, principal of P.S. 100 in Brooklyn, says that evaluating teachers on test scores alone is not enough.

New York Teacher Ratings Renew Evaluation Debate

Beth Fertig

The Obama administration is making some federal funds contingent on schools using student test scores and classroom observations to evaluate teachers. New York City recently sparked a controversy when it rated thousands of teachers with test scores alone — and then released those ratings to the public.

Transport Workers Union Leader Roger Toussaint

Beth Fertig

Beth Fertig of member station WNYC discusses the Transport Workers Union, its pugnacious leader, Roger Toussaint, and the various pension, pay and health care issues that are at the center of the New York City transit labor dispute.