Today: Mugging, Crowding, Whistle-Blowing

Today I have a story on walking home from school, which, due to threatened muggings and assaults, can be a production.

I also have a story up about a DOE staffer-turned-whistleblower who is challenging a new district restriction on -- blogging! It is a rare story in which the DOE press office had zero comment. UPDATE: a link to the blog of the staffer, Lisa Nielsen, here.

In the Times, Elissa Gootman has a close look at Lower Manhattan's pupil jam, introducing a term I hadn't heard before: "the hold list," which is where a child is put if there is no room for her at her zoned public school.

And there are more details on the new downtown elementary school in Greenwich Village.

Elsewhere...
The D.C. Schools Chancellor, Michelle Rhee, has fired the principal at the school her children attend, the Washington Post reports. She cites our schools chancellor here, Joel Klein, as a mentor.

West Village Will Get New School

A new public school is coming to the West Village, thanks to help from the Rudin family, a city school official just confirmed.
This is just in time for the Community Board 2 meeting on school overcrowding tonight at P.S. 41.
*Update: more here.