Despite the storm’s disruption to the school-year calendar, the Department of Education is moving ahead with tests and meetings scheduled this month and next, beginning with the first Parent Academy workshops on Saturday.

Citing statistics showing students do better in school when their parents are actively engaged in their education, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said the city will open a new Parent Academy to host training sessions at individual schools and in each of the five boroughs.

More than 2,000 parents signed up for mobile updates in the first week of the new school year. The city says it’s expanding outreach to parents as a new report shows a declining number of parents are attending conferences and workshops at their schools.

The United Federation of Teachers began a series of workshops for parents on Saturday morning, to help provide them with skills and motivation “to advocate on behalf of their children and schools, and demand education policy changes,” Gotham Schools reports.

Reflecting on his first year as chancellor of the city’s schools, one marked by protests over school closings and the public release of teacher rankings, Dennis M. Walcott said that, in some ways, the tone of the citywide education debate has improved under his leadership.

In the news, a new Queens high school is in a state of confusion over scheduling, with students experiencing changes to their day as many as 10 times since the school year started, Gotham Schools reports. The principal of Queens Metropolitan High School said she had been working night and day to try to clear up the mess.