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Good morning. It’s Amy with Chalkbeat New York.

Following an initial defeat in August, NYC’s Panel for Educational Policy voted last week to approve the $1.65 million contract extension with tech giant Oracle. City officials pushed heavily for the deal, warning that dropping the software could disrupt mission-critical human resources and enrollment systems across the school system.

However, the vote did not pass without some friction. Activists and board members voiced concerns about the company’s investments in AI and co-founder Larry Ellison’s political ties, signaling an increasingly independent school board willing to push back on tech vendor deals.

EVENT: How to vet an NYC public school like an education reporter
Navigating NYC school admissions can be overwhelming. On Thursday, Oct. 15 (6-7 p.m.), journalists from Chalkbeat and The City Reporter are hosting a free hybrid session at the Brooklyn Public Library (Central Branch) and online. Learn how to dig through public data, cut through the noise, and ask the right questions when evaluating schools. RSVP for free here.

Local education coverage is disappearing. Chalkbeat helps families and educators understand what’s changing. We can’t do it without you.

Every student brings to the classroom different background knowledge and learning needs. Modern research suggests that multimodal instruction — combining modalities and learning experiences to support access and understanding — can reduce learning barriers, especially for students with disabilities and language-learning needs.

Join us for a conversation focused on what the research shows about how students engage with, interpret, and communicate understanding across different formats and walk away with a practical framework for building multimodal instruction into everyday teaching.

Brooklyn Will Soon Have One of the Nation’s Only Middle Schools for LGBTQ Kids, Hell Gate (Paywall)

The most polarizing parenting essay ever? New York Magazine (Paywall)

Education equity demands transparency and higher expectations for all students, AMNY (Opinion)

Mamdani threatens Columbia University with lawsuit if NYC school won’t open gates to public, New York Post