Gabrielle Birkner
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features editor @chalkbeat; co-founder @modernloss; @harpercollins author; mom of 2; telling stories that matter; keeping it real, even in hollywood.
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Articles by Gabrielle Birkner
Why Kol Nidrei Involves Time Travel
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... As Yom Kippur evening falls around the Jewish world, the most sacred of holidays begins with the annulling of vows. The ritual of Kol Nidrei, performed right before the Yom Kippur evening service, is a dramatic recitation of a legal formula that cancels vows we’ve made to God; that way, fallible humans do not suffer the consequences of having broken them.
Psalms in the morgue and scrapped Rosh Hashanah sermons: What rabbis remember about 9/11
New Yorkers look at posters of missing persons days after the World Trade Center attack in New York on Sept. 11, 2001,. (Photo by Roberto Schmidt AFP via Getty Images) JTA – “Today is the birthday of the world. It is also the end of shiva. September 11 plus 7.” That’s how Rabbi Joshua Hammerman of Temple Beth El in Stamford, Connecticut, began his Rosh Hashanah sermon on 18 September 2001 – 1 Tishrei 5762.
Psalms in the morgue and scrapped Rosh Hashanah sermons: American rabbis recall 9/11
On 25th anniversary of attack, which coincides with start of the Jewish New Year, rabbis describe how it changed both themselves and the US in ways that 'the previous Rosh Hashanah, no one could have imagined'
Psalms in the morgue and scrapped Rosh Hashanah sermons: American rabbis recall 9/11
New York Jewish Week via JTA — “Today is the birthday of the world. It is also the end of shiva. Sept. 11 + 7.” That’s how Rabbi Joshua Hammerman of Temple Beth El in Stamford, Connecticut, began his Rosh Hashanah sermon on September 18, 2001 — 1 Tishrei 5762. When I’d left New York City for Stamford the day before, Grand Central Terminal was covered in missing-person posters. All around were photos of those who went to work on a cloudless Tuesday morning and never made it home.
Psalms in the morgue and scrapped Rosh Hashanah sermons: What rabbis remember about 9/11
“Today is the birthday of the world. It is also the end of Shiva (mourning period). Sept. 11 + 7.” That’s how Rabbi Joshua Hammerman of Temple Beth El in Stamford, Connecticut, began his Rosh Hashanah sermon on Sept. 18, 2001 - 1 Tishrei 5762. When I’d left New York City for Stamford the day before, Grand Central Terminal was covered in missing-person posters. All around were photos of those who went to work on a cloudless Tuesday morning and never made it home.
Gabrielle Birkner
By Gabrielle Birkner and Marcy Oster April 28, 2019
People of the Moon
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... This weekend, we experience a lunar eclipse as the sun causes the Earth to cast a shadow across the moon. Visible interactions between heavenly bodies fascinate humanity in general. For us as Jews, the dance between the rhythms of sun and moon has particular cultural import. The Jewish calendar is itself “luni-solar.” Unlike the Muslim calendar, which is strictly lunar, the Jewish year stays in step with the solar year and its seasons.
Saying the Mourner’s Kaddish at Disneyland – Kveller
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... My younger son’s 10th birthday celebration coincides with my father and stepmother’s 20th yahrzeit. We get up early that day and drive to Disneyland. Despite having lived in Los Angeles for most of his life, my younger son has never been to Southern California’s best-known theme park.
‘I revert back to the pain’: New Orleans educators reflect on Katrina after 20 years
Sign up for Chalkbeat’s free weekly newsletter to keep up with how education is changing across the U.S. Every August, Jamar McKneely feels the pain of what was lost. This year has been harder than most. It’s been 20 years since Hurricane Katrina submerged his city — and upended life and learning in New Orleans, where McKneely now leads the InspireNOLA charter school network.
‘Macho B.S.’ or worthwhile activity? P.E. teachers discuss the Presidential Fitness Test.
Sign up for Chalkbeat’s free weekly newsletter to keep up with how education is changing across the U.S. Ask just about any American 30 or older about the Presidential Fitness Test, and they are likely to have feelings. A lot of feelings.
‘Psychological terror’: What happened when border agents detained this Vermont superintendent
Wilmer Chavarria was 5 when he began selling bread with his mom on the streets of Ocotal, Nicaragua, in the country’s northern mountains. “We tried to do whatever we could do to survive,” said Chavarria, whose family had been displaced during Nicaragua’s bloody civil conflict. “That’s how I grew up. So when I think about the communities we are trying to protect now, to me, they’re not hypothetical.” Chavarria, now 36, leads the Winooski School District in Winooski, Vermont, near Burlington.
How Trump’s budget would affect federal aid for Colorado students going to college
Beyond High School is our free monthly newsletter covering higher education policy and practices in Colorado. Sign up to get it delivered to your inbox early. Daniela Ibarra is one of the more than seven million students nationwide who rely on free federal money to go to college.
ICE raids, troop deployment ‘could not have happened at a worse time’ for L.A. students
Speaking from the graduation stage, Kimberly Hernandez told the crowd in Los Angeles’ historic Wilshire Ebell Theatre how honored she was to stand before them “not just as a graduate but as the proud child of immigrant parents.” It was an honor she shared with many of her classmates at Los Angeles High School’s commencement ceremony Monday afternoon.
She Loved Teaching, but After COVID Lockdowns, She Broke Up With It Original
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter During the pandemic, Chalkbeat published dozens of essays that spoke to the tumult of COVID-era teaching. Lindsay Klemas wrote about teaching on Zoom while caring for a toddler. Canwen Xu recounted what it was like to be a first-year educator at the height of COVID.
New Jersey’s largest school district approves $1.57 billion budget for next school year
Sign up for Chalkbeat Newark’s free newsletter to get the latest news about the city’s public school system delivered to your inbox. The Newark Board of Education has approved a $1.57 billion budget for the upcoming school year with increased funding in salaries, school renovations, andcharter school payments while budgeting conservatively in light of potential changes to federal funding. The 2025-26 school year budget approved Wednesday is a slight increase from last year’s $1.51 billion budget.
She loved teaching, but the pandemic, politics, and parents brought her to a breaking point
During the pandemic, Chalkbeat published dozens of essays that spoke to the tumult of COVID-era teaching. Lindsay Klemas wrote about teaching on Zoom while caring for a toddler. Canwen Xu recounted what it was like to be a first-year educator at the height of COVID. Walt Stallings wrote about the particular vulnerability of substitutes during school closures, and George Farmer discussed the challenge of building parent-teacher relationships from a distance.
‘Pandemic, politics, parents’: She loved teaching, but after COVID lockdowns, she broke up with it
5 hours ago Called back to the office, upstate buyers are moving 45 minutes closer rather than giving up on small-town life. In May 2022, two years into the pandemic, Sunny Jenkins found herself captivated by what she glimpsed in the background of a Zoom call — a grand staircase, a fireplace, and a farmhouse …
How a looming strike at Philly’s largest college could affect nearly 1,000 high schoolers
Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia’s free newsletter to keep up with news on the city’s public school system. Nearly 1,000 high school students at the Community College of Philadelphia’s dual enrollment programs could be affected by a potential strike at the city’s largest institution of public higher education.
Being a first-year teacher is famously hard. This Zionsville teacher gets real about it in a podcast
This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters. Jenna McNulty woke up at 3:30 a.m. on a Tuesday morning with a 102-degree fever and chills. She’d need to take her first sick day as a teacher, but it wasn’t just a matter of sending a quick email and crawling back into bed. So McNulty, then a third grade teacher at Hamilton Heights Elementary School in Arcadia, got up and typed out detailed instructions for a substitute.
Illinois lawmakers are looking into a proposal that would provide guidance on how to use AI in classrooms
Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest news on Chicago Public Schools. Illinois educators are asking state lawmakers to create guidelines around the use of artificial intelligence in classrooms, as AI-powered tools are becoming a part of our daily lives. State lawmakers have proposed two bills in the House and Senate that would create an advisory committee to create and distribute guidance on using artificial intelligence.
This Indiana teacher podcasts about her first year in the classroom
How do teachers captivate their students? Here, in a feature we call How I Teach, we ask great educators how they approach their jobs. Sign up for Chalkbeat Indiana’s free daily newsletter to keep up with Indianapolis Public Schools, Marion County’s township districts, and statewide education news. Jenna McNulty woke up at 3:30 a.m. on a Tuesday morning with a 102-degree fever and chills.
School finance officers to lawmakers about funding cuts: ‘Someone else’s turn is up’
Sign up for Chalkbeat Colorado’s free daily newsletter to get the latest reporting from us, plus curated news from other Colorado outlets, delivered to your inbox. Colorado would save $147 million next year by using a single-year student count for the purposes of calculating how to fund schools, according to the state’s budget director. Colorado funds its school districts per student, and Gov. Jared Polis has proposed using a single-year student count to help balance a $1 billion shortfall.
Charter school’s request to move to soon-to-be-empty building denied by Denver board
Sign up for Chalkbeat Colorado’s free daily newsletter to get the latest reporting from us, plus curated news from other Colorado outlets, delivered to your inbox. The Denver school board rejected a request Thursday from a charter school to move into a soon-to-be-vacant elementary school building.
Trump DEI order leads Education Department to scrub website, suspend staff
Sign up for Chalkbeat’s free weekly newsletter to keep up with how education is changing across the U.S. The U.S. Department of Education has removed hundreds of documents from its website, placed staff on paid leave, and halted active contracts to comply with President Donald Trump’s order to end any programs that promote diversity, inclusion, or equity.
Teacher, bestselling author, and social media star: It’s all in a day’s work for this Utah educator.
How do teachers captivate their students? Here, in a feature we call How I Teach, we ask great educators how they approach their jobs. Sign up for Chalkbeat’s free weekly newsletter to keep up with how education is changing across the U.S. A husband, father, and middle school teacher, Marc J. Gregson had a lot on his plate even before adding a second career into the mix. He has taught English language arts at Eastmont Middle School in Sandy, Utah, for the past seven years.
NYC Mayor Adams refrains from taking a stance on immigration arrests near schools
Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to get essential news about NYC’s public schools delivered to your inbox. As the Trump administration rolled back protections from immigration enforcement at schools on Tuesday, Mayor Eric Adams didn’t voice support for a longstanding federal policy that limited arrests at “sensitive” locations.
NY schools would be required to implement cellphone restrictions under new proposal
Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to get essential news about NYC’s public schools delivered to your inbox. It’s official: After months of voicing concerns about the effects of cellphones on student mental health and learning, Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed a $13.5 million plan to help districts implement a ban. Hochul said her plan would help create a “distraction-free” learning environment during the school day.
Philly’s superintendent would really, really like children to go to kindergarten
Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia’s free newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system. Mary Collins has been teaching kindergarten for 15 years, and she still gets a thrill from it. “Kindergarten is so awesome,” she said, as her 25 charges sat patiently waiting for her to tell them what to do next.
Renacer tras la tragedia: la comunidad escolar de Altadena y se pregunta cuál es el siguiente paso
Read in English Carlos García Saldaña condujo a través de las calles donde las casas, las tiendas y las iglesias habían sido “borradas del mapa”. El responsable de la red de escuelas charter necesitaba conocer la magnitud de los daños producidos en sus escuelas. Mientras tanto, el incendio del Eaton que había destruído gran parte de Altadena, continuaba extendiéndose por las montañas de San Gabriel.
After Altadena School Burns to the Ground, CommunityWonders What’s Next Original
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Carlos Garcia Saldaña drove past block after block of homes, businesses, and churches “wiped off the face of the earth.” The Eaton fire that had consumed large parts of Altadena was still burning in the San Gabriel Mountains. The charter network leader needed to see what remained of his schools. As Garcia Saldaña approached Odyssey Charter School South, the facade and main entrance appeared intact.
Tennessee governor to call special legislative session on school vouchers, disaster relief, immigration policy
Sign up for Chalkbeat Tennessee’s free newsletter to keep up with statewide education policy and Memphis-Shelby County Schools. Gov. Bill Lee announced Wednesday that he’ll call Tennessee lawmakers into a special session this month to take up his statewide school voucher proposal, as well as “public safety measures” to prepare for immigration policies under President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.
Colorado’s student enrollment declines slightly. Check the numbers for your district.
Enrollment in Colorado public schools declined more slowly than in past years, while several districts in the Denver metro area saw gains. The October 2024 enrollment count, which the state uses to determine how much money each school district receives, showed Colorado public schools with 881,065 students, down 0.1% from 881,464 a year earlier, according to data released Wednesday by the Colorado Department of Education.
Many schools used COVID aid on ‘legacy’ investments, the feds say. What does that mean?
Sign up for Chalkbeat’s free weekly newsletter to keep up with how education is changing across the U.S. When schools were handed an unprecedented $129 billion in federal pandemic aid, it wasn’t surprising that COVID-related equipment topped the shopping list as schools rushed to snap up hotspots, laptops, desk dividers, and air filters.
After Altadena school burns to the ground, community wonders what’s next
Sign up for Chalkbeat’s free weekly newsletter to keep up with how education is changing across the U.S. Carlos Garcia Saldaña drove past block after block of homes, businesses, and churches “wiped off the face of the earth.” The Eaton fire that had consumed large parts of Altadena was still burning in the San Gabriel Mountains. The charter network leader needed to see what remained of his schools.
Election 2024: What are the most important issues for young first-time voters?
This story was published in collaboration with Headway, a new initiative at The New York Times. Chalkbeat and Headway have been posing questions about the presidential election to educators and high school students since February. We have heard from nearly 1,000 students and 200 teachers across the nation. When Chalkbeat teamed up with Headway at The New York Times to ask young people how they are thinking about the upcoming presidential election, we received hundreds of responses.
Student Voices: Meet Chalkbeat's 2024-25 Fellowship Class
Chalkbeat is thrilled to announce our new Student Voices Fellowship class. During the 2024-25 academic year, we’re welcoming high school students from New York City and, for the first time, from Detroit. The fellows, whose impressive bios are below, will participate in journalism and writing workshops and share their original essays on Chalkbeat. Be sure to look out for their bylines in the coming months. Bryan Campbell (he/him/his) is a junior at Cass Technical High School in Detroit.
On 9/11, they were at school. Here’s what happened inside their classrooms.
First Person is where Chalkbeat features personal essays by educators, students, parents, and others thinking and writing about public education. Sign up for Chalkbeat’s free weekly newsletter to keep up with how education is changing across the U.S. It was the beginning of the school day at the beginning of the school year at the beginning of the millennium.
State Superintendent Tony Sanders speaks about what’s next for schools during the 2024-25 school year
Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest education news. Some Illinois schools will likely experience major shifts this school year as federal COVID relief funds end, district budgets get tighter, and students continue to recover from school disruptions during the height of the pandemic.
Indiana parents practice unschooling with minimal regulation
Sign up for Chalkbeat Indiana’s free daily newsletter to keep up with Indianapolis Public Schools, Marion County’s township districts, and statewide education news. Kori Simmons teaches her children at home, but doesn’t follow a curriculum. She doesn’t give many written tests or traditional homework. And she provides lots of educational flexibility for each child. On Monday, the Shelbyville mom might focus on Native American culture.
In Tim Walz, many teachers see themselves — and an opportunity - NewsBreak
Teachers see something in Tim Walz. They notice how plainly he speaks so that everyone can follow along. They watch as he ad-libs to comedic effect on the stump. They say he exudes empathy, and not just in the “I feel your pain” way of many politicians. In the newly minted vice presidential candidate — a former high school history teacher and varsity football coach — they see themselves. Many of them also see an opportunity.
Philadelphia schools need ‘joy-based’ budget for students, group says
A Philadelphia group wants schools to focus more on being places of joy as a way to overhaul the culture in district schools, and it’s relying on parents and community voices for help. Lift Every Voice, the organization behind this year’s Joy Campaign, is backing the creation of a “joy-based budget” for schools to bolster access to recess, the arts, counselors, and the district’s program to bolster student mental health known as the Support Team for Educational Partnership.
Tim Walz is a former teacher. We want to know what educators think about the VP pick.
Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday selected Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor and a former high school history teacher and football coach, as her running mate on the Democratic ticket. Unlike many past vice presidential candidates, Walz did not attend law school and instead earned two education degrees and for a decade taught at a Minnesota high school.
Why DU hopes a rural college network will get more rural students to college
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Sign up for our free monthly newsletter Beyond High School to get the latest news about college and career paths for Colorado’s high school grads. Rural students may graduate high school at higher rates than their peers, but they’re also less likely to end up on a college campus.
By Jason Gonzales Verified, Michael Elsen-Rooney Verified, Aleksandra Appleton Verified, Gabrielle Birkner
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Chalkbeat
Verified
As NYC seeks to reduce summer violence, these youth programs will extend their hours
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Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools. Some New York City summer youth programs will stay open extra hours in the coming weeks to give kids more time in supervised settings and to help reduce the risk of crime, Mayor Eric Adams announced Friday.
By Michael Elsen-Rooney Verified, Aleksandra Appleton Verified, Gabrielle Birkner, Lori Higgins Verified
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Chalkbeat
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Student Voices Fellowship: Applications for 2024-25 are now open
First Person is where Chalkbeat features personal essays by educators, students, parents, and others thinking and writing about public education. Calling all public high school juniors and seniors in New York City and Detroit! Chalkbeat is thrilled to launch applications for its 2024-25 Student Voices Fellowship. This school year, we will be running our teen essay-writing program in New York City and, for the first time, in Detroit.
Apply to be a Chalkbeat Student Voices fellow
Applications for the 2021-22 Chalkbeat Student Voices Fellowship are now closed. In a First Person essay published last school year, Samantha Charles, then a 10th grader in New York City, described walking through metal detectors every day at school. In another piece, Brianna Moore, of Gary, Indiana, wrote about how she managed to graduate high school this spring with an associate degree. Recent student pieces have also detailed what it’s like to be in high school when you’re in foster care.
Drawing on her own immigration story, this Spanish teacher connects with students struggling to learn English
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How do teachers captivate their students? Here, in a feature we call How I Teach, we ask great educators how they approach their jobs. Sign up for Chalkbeat Newark’s free newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system. For Lina Zapata, becoming a teacher was an early calling that stemmed from her own struggles learning English in New York schools. A Colombian native, Zapata immigrated to the United States with her mom when she was 12.
By Jessie Gomez Verified, Michael Elsen-Rooney Verified, Aleksandra Appleton Verified, Gabrielle Birkner
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Chalkbeat
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Students on guns: Leaders ‘are just not going to protect us’
First Person is where Chalkbeat features personal essays by educators, students, parents, and others thinking and writing about public education. Today’s high school students were born after the mass shooting at Columbine and were in elementary school when a gunman murdered 20 first graders and six adults at Sandy Hook. These teens are old enough to remember the massacre in Parkland, but most of them were too young to join the protests that followed.
How should Detroit schools spend $94M literacy lawsuit settlement cash? A task force weighs in. Original
First grade students should be the target of a large chunk of the $94.4 million the Detroit school district received from the state as a lawsuit settlement, according to a key recommendation from a task force that was created to provide guidance.
Colorado’s universal preschool application opens Feb. 29. Some families can skip it this year.
Inside Colorado's free preschool initiative Many parents of 3-year-olds with risk factors won’t have to fill out Colorado’s universal preschool application to secure a seat for the 2024-25 school year. Instead, they’ll apply this spring through their local school districts. The change could make it simpler for thousands of families to apply for tuition-free preschool — cutting out one of the steps that was previously required.
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