In this special back-to-school episode of P.S. Weekly, New York City schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos shared her thoughts on pressing education issues including the cellphone ban, restorative justice, mental health support for students, and whether she’d encourage her middle school daughter to take the Specialized High School Admissions Test, or SHSAT.

This is a video-first episode. Watch on YouTube.

Student journalists Roberto Bailey, Aponi Kafele, and Autumn Wynn also pressed the chancellor on her commitment to the city’s Journalism for All initiative and what students can do if they don’t feel their schools are sufficiently academically rigorous.

Cover Photo: Dulce M. Marquez
Videography: Christian Williams Fernandez and Kevin Jones
Editing: Taylor McGraw
Special thanks: Alex Zimmerman

Recorded on August 12, 2025

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P.S. Weekly is available on major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Reach us at [email protected].

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

What is happening with the youth vote during this year’s mayoral race? Are New York City’s young people tuning in? Are the candidates reaching out to young voters? And why hasn’t education been a centerpiece of the mayor’s race so far?

Producers Jojo Fofana, a senior at Fordham High School for the Arts, and Roberto Bailey, a junior at Hunter College High School, examine the 2025 mayoral race and the role of young people in the election. They dig into the candidates and their positions, what they have to say directly to students, and why only 18% of young voters actually cast ballots. 

You’ll hear from the candidates who sent one-minute videos to Chalkbeat with their direct appeal to young New Yorkers, and you’ll hear the producers share their candid reactions to these clips. And you’ll also hear what Jojo and Roberto wished the candidates would have tackled head on. In a conversation with Chalkbeat’s Amy Zimmer and Alex Zimmerman, you’ll learn more about the challenges of getting the candidates to focus on issues touching the Education Department — the city’s largest agency. 

Ultimately, P.S. Weekly’s final episode of the season is a call to action, offering tips on how young people can register to vote, research the candidates, and connect with youth-focused organizations. 

To find out more about how to register, visit Vote.org, and to learn more about how NYC high school students can get involved, check out YVote. 

If you want to find out more about the candidates views on important education issues, you can find the candidates’ responses to seven critical education questions Chalkbeat asked them or you can read a cheat sheet here. 

If you want to see which candidates best align with your views, check out the “Meet your mayor” quiz from our friends at THE CITY and Gothamist in which they asked the mayoral hopefuls where they stand on issues such as affordable housing and public safety.

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P.S. Weekly is available on major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Reach us at [email protected].

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

The race for New York City’s next mayor is in full swing, but do teens know what’s going on?

Next week on P.S. Weekly, student journalists Roberto Bailey and Jojo Fofana are delving into the upcoming primary election.

They’ve been digging into who the candidates are, what their positions are, what they have to say directly to students, and trying to figure out why only 18% of 18-29 year-olds actually vote.

Dropping in your feed, Tuesday, June 17th.

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P.S. Weekly is available on major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Reach us at [email protected].

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

Why do so many young people lack the fundamentals of civics knowledge? Is the education system adequately preparing future generations for active participation in democracy? Do New York City teens know there’s a big mayoral race coming up — and can they name any of the candidates?

Producers Jasmyn Centeno, a senior at Uncommon Leadership Charter High School, and Annie He, a senior at John Dewey High School, tackle these questions head on. They talk to their P.S. Weekly peers who are focusing on the upcoming mayor’s race to hear more about Gen Z’s behavior: They may actively repost social media content about politics, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into voter action. 

Jenna Ryall, the Education Department’s director of Civics for All, explains the city’s efforts to get young people to “practice” democracy before they’re expected to participate as adults. The goal, she says, is to help students engage in civil conversation and make sense of the information around them. 

Civics education isn’t about teaching students what to think, Ryall said. “We are teaching them how to think.”

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P.S. Weekly is available on major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Reach us at [email protected].

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

It’s been five years since COVID shut down New York City schools. How are kids faring with the aftermath? How do they talk about the pandemic – or not? 

The fallout is often framed around “learning loss” or dips in test scores, but what about some of the social impacts, like the quiet shifts in students’ personalities or the mounting mental health struggles many are still confronting? 

Producers Mateo Tang O’Reilly, from Central Park East High School, and Katelyn Melville, from the Brooklyn Institute for Liberal Arts, explore the ripple effects that continue to weigh on young people’s lives, such as “school refusal,” which is when severe anxiety or other mental health issues prevent students from attending class. 

Chalkbeat’s Amy Zimmer discusses how the prolonged isolation exacerbated school refusal, highlighting the challenges schools face in getting kids back into the classroom. Anika Merkin, a Chalkbeat Student Voices Fellow, shares her personal experience as someone whose struggles with obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, led to school refusal, and how she managed to do the hard work in therapy to turn things around. Her story serves as a reminder to hold onto empathy and grace for the students whose lives continue to be profoundly touched by the pandemic. 

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P.S. Weekly is available on major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Reach us at [email protected].

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

What is the state of youth climate activism in New York City? 

The momentum of the climate protests at the start of the 2019-20 school year may have slowed since the pandemic, and many students remain apathetic, but climate anxiety continues to fuel some students into action. 

Producers Sanaa Stokes, a senior at Manhattan’s Professional Performing Arts High School, and Aponi Kafele, a junior at Manhattan’s Essex Street Academy, tackle the issue head on — and help make a difference along the way. 

They spotlight the work of Alice Schwartz, an Essex Street student, who has been tirelessly pushing to implement a mandated composting program at the school, only to be met by bureaucratic hurdles and logistical challenges. 

But her persistence — and the power of student journalism — pay off. As the producers dig into the reasons for the delayed composting program, they connect Alice with an Education Department official, who realizes the oversight and rectifies the situation. It’s a moment of triumph and hope, revealing how climate advocacy and holding institutions accountable can lead to small victories. 

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P.S. Weekly is available on major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Reach us at [email protected].

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

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, of 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. 

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P.S. Weekly is available on major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Reach us at [email protected].

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

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.

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P.S. Weekly is available on major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Reach us at [email protected].

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

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 turbulent 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.

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P.S. Weekly is available on major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Reach us at [email protected].

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

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. 

Send us a text

P.S. Weekly is available on major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Reach us at [email protected].

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