Carrie Melago
@carriemelago.bsky.social
Editor, writer, sleuth. Chalkbeat, WSJ, NY Daily News, New Haven Register. Coal miner's granddaughter. Ms. @jonlemire.bsky.social I’m crafty and write about my kids. https://www.clippings.me/carriemelago
Pinned
Carrie Melago
@carriemelago.bsky.social
· Sep 25
How I Learned to Love Being a Soccer Mom
I never identified with the label until I saw how much my sons’ sports teams meant to them.
www.wsj.com
Several years ago, I reluctantly became a soccer mom -- a label I never imagined embracing. Thanks to
@wsj.com
for running my essay about my change of heart. www.wsj.com/lifestyle/re...
@wsj.com
for running my essay about my change of heart. www.wsj.com/lifestyle/re...
"Asked if he has a message for all those kids shouting “six seven” in school instead of paying attention, he replies: “Six seven.”" www.wsj.com/lifestyle/si...
The Numbers Six and Seven Are Making Life Hell for Math Teachers
‘Six seven’ sends teens into a frenzy that schools have been powerless to stop. ‘It’s like throwing catnip at cats.’
www.wsj.com
October 15, 2025 at 1:35 PM
"Asked if he has a message for all those kids shouting “six seven” in school instead of paying attention, he replies: “Six seven.”" www.wsj.com/lifestyle/si...
Wow big NYC high school admissions change — in-person essays for Beacon instead of remote.
www.beaconschool.org/apps/pages/i...
www.beaconschool.org/apps/pages/i...
The Beacon School
The Beacon School
www.beaconschool.org
September 27, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Wow big NYC high school admissions change — in-person essays for Beacon instead of remote.
www.beaconschool.org/apps/pages/i...
www.beaconschool.org/apps/pages/i...
Reposted by Carrie Melago
I never identified with the label “soccer mom”—until I saw how much my sons’ sports teams meant to them, writes Carrie Melago.
How I Learned to Love Being a Soccer Mom
I never identified with the label until I saw how much my sons’ sports teams meant to them.
on.wsj.com
September 25, 2025 at 7:28 PM
I never identified with the label “soccer mom”—until I saw how much my sons’ sports teams meant to them, writes Carrie Melago.
Several years ago, I reluctantly became a soccer mom -- a label I never imagined embracing. Thanks to
@wsj.com
for running my essay about my change of heart. www.wsj.com/lifestyle/re...
@wsj.com
for running my essay about my change of heart. www.wsj.com/lifestyle/re...
How I Learned to Love Being a Soccer Mom
I never identified with the label until I saw how much my sons’ sports teams meant to them.
www.wsj.com
September 25, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Several years ago, I reluctantly became a soccer mom -- a label I never imagined embracing. Thanks to
@wsj.com
for running my essay about my change of heart. www.wsj.com/lifestyle/re...
@wsj.com
for running my essay about my change of heart. www.wsj.com/lifestyle/re...
Reposted by Carrie Melago
Allison “had graduated as a nursing assistant and had earned a $60,000 scholarship to attend Gardner-Webb University.”
Allison, 20, has been detained for six months at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia.
She had nearly given up her legal fight due to health issues and unsanitary conditions at the facility.
She had nearly given up her legal fight due to health issues and unsanitary conditions at the facility.
Charlotte nursing student arrested by ICE in February to go to Honduras
ICE was looking for someone else when they raided the home of Allison Bustillo Chinchilla, 20.
www.charlotteobserver.com
September 1, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Allison “had graduated as a nursing assistant and had earned a $60,000 scholarship to attend Gardner-Webb University.”
Twenty years after Hurricane Katrina, Chalkbeat spoke with five New Orleans educators about surviving the storm, teaching in Katrina’s wake, and how they understand the seismic changes to the city’s school system.
www.chalkbeat.org/2025/08/28/n...
www.chalkbeat.org/2025/08/28/n...
‘I revert back to the pain’: New Orleans educators reflect on Katrina after 20 years
One remembered floating corpses. Another recalled kids living without their parents. And getting laid off couldn’t keep a determined math teacher and football coach away from the city’s students.
www.chalkbeat.org
August 28, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Twenty years after Hurricane Katrina, Chalkbeat spoke with five New Orleans educators about surviving the storm, teaching in Katrina’s wake, and how they understand the seismic changes to the city’s school system.
www.chalkbeat.org/2025/08/28/n...
www.chalkbeat.org/2025/08/28/n...
Reposted by Carrie Melago
With well under half of students in Indianapolis Public Schools borders actually going to IPS-run schools, is the district going the way of New Orleans after Katrina? www.chalkbeat.org/indiana/2025...
Is this the end of Indianapolis Public Schools as we know it?
Indianapolis Public Schools enrollment is declining. Charter schools have secured bipartisan support and funding wins. And lawmakers are keen to see structural changes to IPS. Will the district go the...
www.chalkbeat.org
August 26, 2025 at 5:35 PM
With well under half of students in Indianapolis Public Schools borders actually going to IPS-run schools, is the district going the way of New Orleans after Katrina? www.chalkbeat.org/indiana/2025...
Reposted by Carrie Melago
The stellar @rebeccaredelmeier.bsky.social got up at the crack of dawn to ride SEPTA to school with two Philly students. The whole trip took over an hour and they missed a bus and had to walk the last mile to Palumbo. These cuts are already having a real impact on Philly's young people:
Follow 2 students as SEPTA cuts complicate their commute on the first day of school
Students across Philadelphia are waking up earlier and waiting longer for SEPTA to get them to school. But many say they’re bound to be late anyway, with less reliable service and more crowded routes....
www.chalkbeat.org
August 25, 2025 at 6:30 PM
The stellar @rebeccaredelmeier.bsky.social got up at the crack of dawn to ride SEPTA to school with two Philly students. The whole trip took over an hour and they missed a bus and had to walk the last mile to Palumbo. These cuts are already having a real impact on Philly's young people:
Reposted by Carrie Melago
Chalkbeat’s deep dive on a Bronx school; CBS News somehow misidentifies the sandwich-tosser; and the Memphis press follows along with Marsha Blackburn’s rules.
This week’s Laurels and Darts ⤵️
www.cjr.org/laurels-and-...
This week’s Laurels and Darts ⤵️
www.cjr.org/laurels-and-...
Schoolkids in the Crosshairs
Keeping up with ICE. Plus: Crime in DC? Preschool in Oregon? And who tossed that sandwich?
www.cjr.org
August 22, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Chalkbeat’s deep dive on a Bronx school; CBS News somehow misidentifies the sandwich-tosser; and the Memphis press follows along with Marsha Blackburn’s rules.
This week’s Laurels and Darts ⤵️
www.cjr.org/laurels-and-...
This week’s Laurels and Darts ⤵️
www.cjr.org/laurels-and-...
Reposted by Carrie Melago
6 takeaways from an interview with Zohran Mamdani’s favorite high school teacher: www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...
Meet Zohran Mamdani’s favorite NYC high school teacher
Marc Kagan shares his memories teaching Zohran Mamdani at Bronx Science
www.chalkbeat.org
August 20, 2025 at 10:09 PM
6 takeaways from an interview with Zohran Mamdani’s favorite high school teacher: www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...
Reposted by Carrie Melago
ICE splits a Queens family into three, sending a 7-year-old to a newly reopened family detention center in Texas. @gwynnefitz.bsky.social reports on the behind-closed-doors deportation arrests targeting young kids.
ICE Ships 7-Year-Old Queens Student and Mom to Texas Detention, Prompting School Principal’s Plea for Their Release
An older brother is detained in Newark while two other siblings remain in New York, “unprotected and traumatized” after arrests at immigration check-in.
www.thecity.nyc
August 15, 2025 at 7:30 PM
ICE splits a Queens family into three, sending a 7-year-old to a newly reopened family detention center in Texas. @gwynnefitz.bsky.social reports on the behind-closed-doors deportation arrests targeting young kids.
Reposted by Carrie Melago
"It is acceptable to engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual." Meta removed that language from its internal guidelines after I raised it.
AI experts worry financial incentives will blur the line between human relationships and bot engagement.
www.reuters.com/investigates...
AI experts worry financial incentives will blur the line between human relationships and bot engagement.
www.reuters.com/investigates...
Meta’s AI rules have let bots hold ‘sensual’ chats with children
An internal Meta policy document reveals the social-media giant’s rules for chatbots, which have permitted provocative behavior on topics including sex and race.
www.reuters.com
August 14, 2025 at 2:11 PM
"It is acceptable to engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual." Meta removed that language from its internal guidelines after I raised it.
AI experts worry financial incentives will blur the line between human relationships and bot engagement.
www.reuters.com/investigates...
AI experts worry financial incentives will blur the line between human relationships and bot engagement.
www.reuters.com/investigates...
Reposted by Carrie Melago
Normally, in the final month of school, students at ELLIS Prep worried about moving to the next grade or graduating. This year, they wondered: “Is a masked person going to grab me off the street?”
'The goal is to survive': NYC school for immigrants faces an uncertain future under Trump
Normally, in the final month of school, students at ELLIS Prep worried about moving to the next grade or graduating. This year, they wondered: “Is a masked person going to grab me off the street?”
bit.ly
August 14, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Normally, in the final month of school, students at ELLIS Prep worried about moving to the next grade or graduating. This year, they wondered: “Is a masked person going to grab me off the street?”
Reposted by Carrie Melago
Part 2 is out today. It’s about what happens after the deportation campaign arrives at ELLIS’ doorstep and the difficult choices facing Bridget and the school as they try to make it through the Trump administration.
www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...
www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...
August 14, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Part 2 is out today. It’s about what happens after the deportation campaign arrives at ELLIS’ doorstep and the difficult choices facing Bridget and the school as they try to make it through the Trump administration.
www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...
www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...
Reposted by Carrie Melago
Here is your must edu-read of the day; terrific embedded reporting on the fear and stress our immigrant neighbors and their children are experiencing and the heroes trying to steer them through it
For 6 months, I’ve followed ELLIS, a Bronx HS for newcomers, to understand what it means to educate immigrant students in Trump’s second term.
Proud to share the 1st of 2 stories about ELLIS, Bridget, an undocumented teen, & the fight to keep her education alive.
www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...
Proud to share the 1st of 2 stories about ELLIS, Bridget, an undocumented teen, & the fight to keep her education alive.
www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...
‘They’ve given her a lot of hope’: A NYC school fights to educate an undocumented teen under Trump
For Bridget and Marta, ELLIS Prep often felt like the only public institution with its arms open in a city and country that seemed not to want them.
www.chalkbeat.org
August 13, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Here is your must edu-read of the day; terrific embedded reporting on the fear and stress our immigrant neighbors and their children are experiencing and the heroes trying to steer them through it
Reposted by Carrie Melago
“Be humble, love your sisters, keep moving forward. Don’t be like me and be nothing, and have to collect bottles.” www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025... via @chalkbeat.org
‘They’ve given her a lot of hope’: A NYC school fights to educate an undocumented teen under Trump
For Bridget and Marta, ELLIS Prep often felt like the only public institution with its arms open in a city and country that seemed not to want them.
www.chalkbeat.org
August 13, 2025 at 1:02 PM
“Be humble, love your sisters, keep moving forward. Don’t be like me and be nothing, and have to collect bottles.” www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025... via @chalkbeat.org
Reposted by Carrie Melago
For 6 months, I’ve followed ELLIS, a Bronx HS for newcomers, to understand what it means to educate immigrant students in Trump’s second term.
Proud to share the 1st of 2 stories about ELLIS, Bridget, an undocumented teen, & the fight to keep her education alive.
www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...
Proud to share the 1st of 2 stories about ELLIS, Bridget, an undocumented teen, & the fight to keep her education alive.
www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...
‘They’ve given her a lot of hope’: A NYC school fights to educate an undocumented teen under Trump
For Bridget and Marta, ELLIS Prep often felt like the only public institution with its arms open in a city and country that seemed not to want them.
www.chalkbeat.org
August 13, 2025 at 12:55 PM
For 6 months, I’ve followed ELLIS, a Bronx HS for newcomers, to understand what it means to educate immigrant students in Trump’s second term.
Proud to share the 1st of 2 stories about ELLIS, Bridget, an undocumented teen, & the fight to keep her education alive.
www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...
Proud to share the 1st of 2 stories about ELLIS, Bridget, an undocumented teen, & the fight to keep her education alive.
www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...
“It’s not going to be my fault that her dream dies." @MichaelElsenRoo spent months with an undocumented NYC student and the school fighting to keep her education hopes alive www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...
‘They’ve given her a lot of hope’: A NYC school fights to educate an undocumented teen under Trump
For Bridget and Marta, ELLIS Prep often felt like the only public institution with its arms open in a city and country that seemed not to want them.
www.chalkbeat.org
August 13, 2025 at 2:18 PM
“It’s not going to be my fault that her dream dies." @MichaelElsenRoo spent months with an undocumented NYC student and the school fighting to keep her education hopes alive www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...
Reposted by Carrie Melago
Four Al Jazeera staff, including reporter Anas Al Sharif, were killed in an Israeli attack on a tent for journalists outside the main gate of Gaza's al-Shifa hospital aje.io/onll19
Anas al-Sharif among five Al Jazeera journalists killed by Israel in Gaza
Al Jazeera staff killed in targeted Israeli attack on a tent housing journalists near al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza City.
aje.io
August 10, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Four Al Jazeera staff, including reporter Anas Al Sharif, were killed in an Israeli attack on a tent for journalists outside the main gate of Gaza's al-Shifa hospital aje.io/onll19
How much is your NYC school getting for the cell phone ban? www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...
NYC schools get millions to implement student cellphone ban
With the state’s new ‘bell-to-bell’ ban, NYC schools are getting a cash infusion for cellphone storage. Find out how much your school is getting.
www.chalkbeat.org
August 7, 2025 at 10:18 PM
How much is your NYC school getting for the cell phone ban? www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...
“The discovery is unlikely to affect Adams’ candidacy. Ballot petitions receive little, if any, scrutiny from city election officials.”
gothamist.com/news/forged-...
gothamist.com/news/forged-...
Forged signatures found on Mayor Adams’ petitions to run as an independent
The Adams campaign said it is conducting a review after Gothamist found signatures that were fraudulently obtained or outright forged.
gothamist.com
August 1, 2025 at 1:09 PM
“The discovery is unlikely to affect Adams’ candidacy. Ballot petitions receive little, if any, scrutiny from city election officials.”
gothamist.com/news/forged-...
gothamist.com/news/forged-...
Reposted by Carrie Melago
The SUN Bucks program is meant to help families pay for food for their kids all summer. But some Pennsylvania families are struggling due to the delay in getting the money distributed. The state says the benefit should be distributed to families by mid-August.
Pennsylvania’s summer food benefit for kids is delayed — again
The SUN Bucks program is meant to help families pay for food for their kids all summer. But some Pennsylvania families are struggling due to the delay in getting the money distributed. The state says the benefit should be distributed to families by mid-August.
bit.ly
July 31, 2025 at 10:01 PM
The SUN Bucks program is meant to help families pay for food for their kids all summer. But some Pennsylvania families are struggling due to the delay in getting the money distributed. The state says the benefit should be distributed to families by mid-August.
Reposted by Carrie Melago
Last year, 10 Black students received offers to Stuyvesent High School. This year, 8 did.
NYC specialized high school admission offers dip for Black and Latino students
Last year, 10 Black students received offers to Stuyvesent High School. This year, 8 did.
bit.ly
July 31, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Last year, 10 Black students received offers to Stuyvesent High School. This year, 8 did.
Reposted by Carrie Melago
As many parts of the US brace for a sweltering week, our latest uncovers a critical and often overlooked intersection of climate change and correctional policy: The dangerous heat crisis within US prisons www.reuters.com/graphics/USA...
Scorching cells
How heat threatens lives in America’s prisons
www.reuters.com
July 30, 2025 at 11:25 AM
As many parts of the US brace for a sweltering week, our latest uncovers a critical and often overlooked intersection of climate change and correctional policy: The dangerous heat crisis within US prisons www.reuters.com/graphics/USA...