Michael Elsen-Rooney
@MichaelElsenRoo
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Education reporter @ChalkbeatNY | Formerly @NYDailyNews, @teacher_project, @HechingerReport, high school teacher | [email protected]
New York, NY
Joined April 2013
‘We can’t function out of fear’: A Bronx school’s mission grows tougher under Trump. Part 2 from @MichaelElsenRoo
https://t.co/Tqe2MfzFU8
chalkbeat.org
Normally, in the final month of school, students at ELLIS Prep worried about moving to the next grade or graduating. This year, they wondered: “Is a masked person going to grab me off the street?”
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An incredible, timely story about one immigrant student, her family, and her school under the Trump administration. @MichaelElsenRoo @ChalkbeatNY
chalkbeat.org
For Bridget and Marta, ELLIS Prep often felt like the only public institution with its arms open in a city and country that seemed not to want them.
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“It’s not going to be my fault that her dream dies." @MichaelElsenRoo spent months with an undocumented NYC student and the school fighting to keep her education hopes alive
chalkbeat.org
For Bridget and Marta, ELLIS Prep often felt like the only public institution with its arms open in a city and country that seemed not to want them.
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The DOE released this data just hours after we asked why they were dragging their feet: https://t.co/KzSP8L5WCC
chalkbeat.org
“It’s right to ask the mayor, ‘Where the heck is this?’” one government transparency advocate said.
NEWS: The percentage of specialized high school seats going to Black and Hispanic students this year declined from 2024. 3% of seats at specialized schools went to Black students, down from 4.5%. And 6.9% of seats went to Hispanic students, down from 7.6%. Story to come shortly
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WATCH: @NYCMayor banning our reporter in the midst of a press conference is outrageous and an assault on freedom of the press
Mayor Eric Adams just barred @C_Sommerfeldt from coming back into the off-topic series. "Make sure security knows, he's not allowed back into this room," Adams says. Chris is rarely called on (on purpose) during off-topic.
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A lesser reporter would’ve given up months ago. Chris has continued to hold power to account, doing everything he can to provide NYers with the information they need in a shrinking NYC media market. City Hall needs to reverse this, instead of doubling down.
@C_Sommerfeldt City Hall is saying Chris was "super disrespectful" for asking questions out of turn. Chris hasn't been called on for months (in my estimation) Actually, his hand was called on once but once they realized it was him, he wasn't allowed to ask a question.
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DHS agents just denied me entry to the immigration court on Varick St. I identified myself as a member of the press and said I was there to observe. They still didn't let me in, saying I had "no business" there.
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“I look at my reporter’s credentials as a passport to talk to anyone, from the governor on down, and shine a light on corners that don’t usually get looked at.” A brilliant and unfailingly generous and kind colleague. We lost a giant today. RIP Tom
journalism.cuny.edu
The J-School’s longtime Investigative Reporter in Residence died at age 76.
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A Bronx high school student showed up at a routine immigration court date in Manhattan last week. ICE was waiting. Please read this one. Immigration enforcement is an education story:
chalkbeat.org
A NYC public school student’s arrest was part of a nationwide blitz of immigration authorities detaining migrants in courthouses in an effort to speed up deportations.
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NYC education folks: want to see how many of the 3,700 new teachers the DOE is hiring for next year to reduce class sizes are going to your school? See below:
Chalkbeat created a searchable table showing how many new teachers were assigned to each of the 741 schools given new hiring funding by the city.
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Come work with @AGZimmerman, @the_zim and I covering NYC schools at Chalkbeat! https://t.co/jIfUTh3Olj Feel free to reach out if you're interested.
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This oral history on de Blasio's decision to shut down schools during the pandemic really took me back. @ByJessicaGould's radio feature has a great kicker, too.
gothamist.com
Gothamist asked decision makers, educators and students to share their memories about shutting down the nation’s largest school system.
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Not to mention, the new outreach efforts he’s touting here are funded by $5m in this year’s budget that expires in June - and that Adams didn’t renew in his prelim budget for next year.
chalkbeat.org
The preliminary budget committed $100 million to extend Summer Rising next year, but didn’t replace $112 million in expiring 3-K funding.
This is how the mayor announces a reversal, following pressure and protests, of his own administration’s decision to close five child care sites
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.@MichaelElsenRoo and I spoke with migrant parents who were too afraid to send their kids to school this week, in Trump's first days in office. School communities are doing what they can to reassure them, amid a mountain of uncertainty. https://t.co/goULrcG1oK via @THECITYNY
thecity.nyc
On high alert after President Donald Trump's inauguration this week and worried about his promise to fast-track deportations, scores of immigrant families kept kids home.
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A few days after Homeland Security cleared way for immigration authorities to make arrests at schools, agents showed up at Hamline Elem in Chicago's Back of the Yards, a mostly Latino immigrant community that had recently distributed know your rights cards
My phone froze: CPS confirms ICE showed up the school; school staff turned them away, as they didn’t have a criminal judicial warrant.
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My phone froze: CPS confirms ICE showed up the school; school staff turned them away, as they didn’t have a criminal judicial warrant.
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New you can use from @AGZimmerman + @the_zim!
NYC school calendar update: Monday, Dec. 23 will now be a day off https://t.co/eoyhffxFDG
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NEW: What would mass deportations mean for children & schools? We can look to what happened in past & multiply that many times over. Raids have profound emotional & academic effects on kids. “It hurt me for a while,” said one 18yo whose mom was detained
chalkbeat.org
When families are separated, “you’re responsible for how do these kids get home and who takes care of them,” said one superintendent in Mississippi.
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As NYC confronts an increasing number of very small schools, the city has quietly picked up the pace of school mergers:
chalkbeat.org
Officials contend that mergers are less disruptive than shuttering a school. But school communities often experience them as closures.
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Here's our story on this: https://t.co/0keVgnHbiq I hope @NYCSchools starts opening these events highlighting important initiatives to the whole NYC education press corps.
chalkbeat.org
Handing out welcome letters and waiving application fees are part of a broader effort to encourage public high school seniors to apply to CUNY.
Today, I had the honor of distributing @CUNY welcome letters to @NYCSchool seniors with @ChancellorCUNY. We're sending a powerful message to our graduating seniors: there's a place for you at our city's renowned public university!
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