We know that principals are extremely busy. But perhaps the holiday break offers a few minutes for reflection, and some more principals can use SchoolBook to explain their schools to the greater education community. Just e-mail us for the link.

Articles in The Times about top-tier private schools moving to cut back homework and about Fieldston firing a teacher who made comments some perceived as racist, stimulated comments and questions about why The Times covers private schools. The education editor, Jodi Rudoren, explains.

In Sunday’s New York Times Magazine (and now online), a former Moscow bureau chief puts his children into Russian schools even though they do not speak a word of Russian.

There will be tears today. And grins. Delight over seeing old friends. And trepidation over making new ones. Teachers will charm children and worry them. Principals will be charmed — and will worry. This is the way it goes on the first day of school. So it is, so it seemingly has always been. We present a slide show of first days through the decades.

The principals who responded to a SchoolBook questionnaire opened a revealing window on daily life at city schools and provided rich details about curriculum, the qualifications they look for when they hire teachers, and the expectations and aspirations they have for students.

SchoolBook was invented by The New York Times and WNYC, but it is your site to shape, define and grow. Dive in. Read our posts. Check out the individual school pages. Study the data. Analyze the explanations. Consider the guides and resources.