Giving Compass' Take:

• Scott Stringer wrote a letter to the school chancellor of New York, Richard Carranza, urging him for more transparency in the Renewal schools program because it is not progressing in the way the city had hoped. 

• How can communities get involved in the decision-making process within their school districts? 

• Read about the middle school students who are asking adults to do something about the segregated school systems in New York. 

The city’s top financial watchdog didn’t wait even a week before pressing Chancellor Richard Carranza on whether the “Renewal” school turnaround program is living up to its nearly $600 million price tag.

“While some Renewal schools have shown improvements,” Comptroller Scott Stringer wrote in a letter to Chancellor Richard Carranza, “inconsistent progress across all Renewal schools suggests the need for a more thorough review of the program’s components and their overall impact.”

The letter, sent just three days after Carranza officially took office, asks for a detailed accounting of how Renewal schools spent money on core elements of the program, including teacher training and extending the school day for an hour — as well as any evidence that those efforts are paying off or being monitored.

Stringer’s letter appears to be motivated at least in part by a recent round of hotly contested school closures.

“With the decision to now close schools that have not made sufficient progress,” Stringer wrote, “I question whether there have been adequate direction and accountability measures in place to ensure that all school received allocations with sufficient time to show progress, and were directing new resources to high impact programs and interventions.”

While Stringer acknowledged that the city conducts a holistic review in making closure decisions, “the lack of transparency about these additional factors and how school closure decisions are made is breeding needless distrust in communities.”

Read the full article about new york schools closing  by Alex Zimmerman at Chalkbeat