Miseducation

Latest Episodes:

P.S. Weekly: Why Schools Are Restricting Bathroom Access May 19, 2025

Show notes

Cutting class. Fights. Vaping. School bathrooms have long been notorious for all sorts of illicit behavior. And in response, many schools now significantly restrict access to bathrooms or are adding surveillance tools, including vape detectors.

Producers Isabella Mason, from Midwood High School, and Bernie Carmona, from Beacon High School, wade into the debate over school bathroom policies.

At Midwood, for instance, the school locks bathroom doors for the five minutes while changing classes, and bars access during the first and last 10 minutes of class. The school’s assistant principal of safety and security, Richard Franzese, discusses the evolution of the policy and the lengths the school has gone to crack down on incidents. Beyond limiting the times the bathrooms are open, the school has bathroom sign-in sheets, allowing up to three students in at a time, and has school aides stationed outside.

“There's no perfect solution,” he said.

And Chalkbeat reporter Michael Elsen-Rooney sheds light on how schools are specifically responding to student vaping, illuminating the tension between simply enforcing rules versus dealing with larger issues related to addiction and mental health.

P.S. Weekly is available on major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Reach us at PSWeekly@chalkbeat.org.

P.S. Weekly is a collaboration between Chalkbeat and The Bell, made possible by generous support from The Pinkerton Foundation.

P.S. Weekly airs Thursdays this spring. Episodes re-publish in the Miseducation feed on Mondays.

Miseducation is a podcast of The Bell that equips New York City public high school students with the tools to report on inequities in the nation’s largest school system.

P.S. Weekly: Can Writing Teachers Fend Off AI? May 12, 2025

Show notes

P.S. Weekly airs on Thursdays this spring. Subscribe wherever you get podcasts.

Episodes republish Mondays in the Miseducation feed.

There’s no way to ignore the rise of AI in schools.

Students are embracing it. Educators are battling it. Policymakers are trying to get ahead of it. There's no turning back.

But are there some classes where AI just doesn't belong?

Producers Annie He, a senior at John Dewey High School, and Roberto Bailey, a junior at Hunter College High School, explore how AI use among students is exploding and question its effect on creativity.

Writing teachers are especially worried. To combat these new, rapidly evolving tools, some teachers are resorting to old ones: pencil and paper.

Miseducation is a podcast of The Bell that equips New York City public high school students with the tools to report on inequities in the nation’s largest school system.

P.S. Weekly: Why Do Teachers Leave? We Investigate May 05, 2025

Show notes

P.S. Weekly airs on Thursdays this spring. Subscribe wherever you get podcasts.

Episodes republish Mondays in the Miseducation feed.

When schools have high rates of teacher turnover, students lose connections to trusted educators, and new teachers who fill the openings are often less experienced.

Producers Mateo Tang O’Reilly, from Central Park East High School, CPEHS, and Katelyn Melville, from the Brooklyn Institute for Liberal Arts, BILA, compare turnover at their schools and examine how relationships between teachers and administrators might play a role in retaining or losing educators.

David Wertz, a former music teacher at BILA, shares how his struggles with administrators ultimately drove him from the school. And Candice Ligator, a teacher-turned-administrator at CPEHS, reflects on what supportive relationships between teachers and administrators can look like — helping us think differently about how that dynamic could be built.

Miseducation is a podcast of The Bell that equips New York City public high school students with the tools to report on inequities in the nation’s largest school system.

P.S. Weekly: When Filling Out the FAFSA Feels Dangerous Apr 28, 2025

Show notes

P.S. Weekly airs on Thursdays this spring. Subscribe wherever you get podcasts.

Episodes republish Mondays in the Miseducation feed.

Applying to college is stressful enough. Navigating the financial aid process adds a whole new layer. And for children of immigrants, including those with undocumented parents, the process comes with even greater hurdles and anxieties.

Producers Jasmyn Centeno, a senior at Uncommon Leadership High School, and Jojo Fofana, a senior at Fordham High School for the Arts, explore the frustrating and complicated experience many students — including themselves — have when navigating the FAFSA process.

For students like “Gabby,” whose mother is undocumented, applying for financial aid comes with very real fears at a time of heightened deportation concerns under the Trump administration.

Danielle Insel, a counselor at University Neighborhood High School, sheds light on the systemic barriers and technical glitches students face, along with the emotional support they need to get through it as they find their path to college affordability.

P.S. Weekly is available on major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Reach us at PSWeekly@chalkbeat.org.

P.S. Weekly is a collaboration between Chalkbeat and The Bell, made possible by generous support from The Pinkerton Foundation.

Miseducation is a podcast of The Bell that equips New York City public high school students with the tools to report on inequities in the nation’s largest school system.

P.S. Weekly: Are NYC Schools Teaching Sex Ed? It's a Touchy Subject Apr 14, 2025

Show notes

P.S. Weekly airs on Thursdays this spring. Subscribe wherever you get podcasts.

Episodes republish Mondays in the Miseducation feed.
Are New York City students getting the sex education they need? P.S. Weekly’s episode 2 explores the systemic shortcomings and urgent need for comprehensive — and inclusive — sex education in New York City schools.

Producers Aponi Kafele, a junior at Manhattan’s Essex Street Academy, and Sanaa Stokes, a senior at Manhattan’s Professional Performing Arts High School, expose the patchwork approach to sex education across schools, from anatomy lessons using gingerbread men to teachers who aren’t trained in the subject.

The information gaps are especially concerning for LGBTQ+ youth. One student, who is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, wishes his school offered sex ed where he could ask more questions and get more advice. “I think it's important for sex ed to normalize sex, especially for people our age,” he told Sanaa. “So we don't carry on these fears into our adulthood.”

And Aliyah Ansari, a teen health strategist from the New York Civil Liberties Union, explains why her organization is pushing for change, calling on the state to require K-12 comprehensive sexuality education in public and charter schools that would be age and culturally appropriate and medically accurate and inclusive.

“We see time and time again,” Ansari said, “our students are not getting the information that they need.”

P.S. Weekly is available on major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Reach us at PSWeekly@chalkbeat.org.

P.S. Weekly is a collaboration between Chalkbeat and The Bell, made possible by generous support from The Pinkerton Foundation.

Miseducation is a podcast of The Bell that equips New York City public high school students with the tools to report on inequities in the nation’s largest school system.

P.S. Weekly: The Fight for Ethnic Studies in NYC Schools Apr 03, 2025

Show notes

P.S. Weekly airs on Thursdays this spring. Subscribe wherever you get podcasts.

Episodes republish Mondays in the Miseducation feed.

Episode 1 dives into the state of ethnic studies in New York City schools and how the Trump administration could threaten the recent expansion of Black studies, LGBTQ history, and other diverse curriculums in schools across the five boroughs.

Producers Bernie Carmona Pereda, from Beacon High School, and Isabella Mason, from Midwood High School, discuss the critical role of ethnic studies courses — and their uncertain future.

Hear from Marame Diop, a sophomore at Yale who created an ethnic studies course while a student at Beacon High School, which gave her peers an alternative to typical history classes that focus too much “on some old, white, dead guy.”

And Chalkbeat reporter Julian Shen-Berro explains how federal pressures could lead to potential self-censorship in the classroom, raising concerns about the future of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the nation’s largest school system.

P.S. Weekly is available on major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Reach us at PSWeekly@chalkbeat.org.

P.S. Weekly is a collaboration between Chalkbeat and The Bell, made possible by generous support from The Pinkerton Foundation.

Miseducation is a podcast of The Bell that equips New York City public high school students with the tools to report on inequities in the nation’s largest school system.

P.S. Weekly at SXSW EDU: Teen Journalists on NYC Admissions, Resources, and Real Change Mar 26, 2025

Show notes

We recorded this bonus episode live at the annual SXSW EDU conference, hosted earlier this month in Austin, Texas. P.S. Weekly’s student reporters spoke on a panel at the event, diving into the pressing inequities of New York City’s school system.

Listen to what it’s really like to navigate the largest school system in the country, from the admission process to stark resource disparities within schools — and what students would change if they were in charge.

Featuring: P.S. Weekly reporters Marcellino Melika, Bernie Carmona, and Salma Baksh, along with Chalkbeat New York reporter Alex Zimmerman.

Miseducation is a podcast of The Bell that equips New York City public high school students with the tools to report on inequities in the nation’s largest school system.

Chronically Present: How One High School Transformed Attendance Jan 16, 2025

Show notes

By Bernie Carmona, Katelyn Melville and Kelsi Bowen

In the years since the COVID-19 pandemic, students across the country have missed school far more regularly than before it. In New York City, the chronic absenteeism rate (percentage of students who miss at least 10% of total school days) hovered around 25% in the years leading up to the pandemic. When students returned to classrooms in the 2021-2022 school year, the rate jumped to 40%. It remains stubbornly high.

We wanted to understand why and what schools can do to reverse the trend.

While analyzing attendance rates and student demographics of nearly 500 New York City public high schools, we noticed an outlier in the data. Pan American International High School, which serves recent arrivals to the country who often face economic hardship and housing instability, reported a chronic absenteeism rate of just 14.6% in the 2022-2023 school year — lower than some of the city’s most sought-after screened and specialized high schools.

In this episode, follow us on our trip to Pan American, where we uncover the stories behind the numbers and hear directly from three students who each made a big turnaround in their attendance. What made the difference? What can other schools learn from Pan American’s approach? And… have adults been talking about this issue all wrong?

Tune in to find out.

Miseducation is The Bell’s flagship podcast and internship program, which gives New York City public high school students the tools to report on inequities in the nation’s largest school system. This episode was made possible with support from College Board.

Miseducation is a podcast of The Bell that equips New York City public high school students with the tools to report on inequities in the nation’s largest school system.

Special: Students and Parents on the Future of High School Admissions Dec 13, 2024

Show notes

Miseducation interns Kelsi, Katelyn, and Bernie join parent advocates in a live panel marking 20 years of NYC's high school admissions process, sharing personal stories and bold ideas for a more equitable future.

Miseducation is a podcast of The Bell that equips New York City public high school students with the tools to report on inequities in the nation’s largest school system.

Special: Journalism for All Oct 07, 2024

Show notes

Sabrina is joined by two student leaders to share a special announcement about a new citywide initiative called Journalism for All. The initiative will provide curriculum, training, funding, and other forms of support to 30 NYC public high schools that want to start journalism programs. The initiative is led by the NYC Youth Journalism Coalition, which is directed by The Bell.

The application is open now through November 4. All of the details, including information session registration links, can be found at youthjournalismnyc.org/all.

Miseducation is a podcast of The Bell that equips New York City public high school students with the tools to report on inequities in the nation’s largest school system.

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