Bad Grades Even though there are many wonderful NYC public schools, I think we all agree that the system is in desperate need of improvement. Overcrowding, budget cuts, unhealthy lunches, lack of technology, teaching to the tests, poor communication—the list of complaints could take up this entire post! Right now, one of the DOE's main goals is overhauling its teacher evaluation process. Under the current system, which has only two ratings, satisfactory and unsatisfactory, just 2% of teachers failed. However, the results of a new pilot program in 20 schools are out and 18% of the teachers evaluated were deemed ineffective. Yes, that's an upsetting statistic, but as we all know as parents, not everyone tests well. This new system will be rolled out to 150 this fall. We're curious to see the numbers and find out how exactly this process works.

A Children's Museum in the Works for the Bronx The boogie down borough is the last one without a museum for kids, so residents are pretty excited about the Bronx Children’s Museum, even though it's only an art bus at present. The mobile museum is filled with cool work done by (who else?) kids, and it's been traveling to family festivals around town, including City of Water Day on Governors Island, which is where we first hard about the project. Like the institution's Facebook page to find out where it will be next and, assuming fund-raising goes well, BCM will open at 733 Exterior Street (near the Gateway Mall in the South Bronx) in 2013.

Forever Fairway As an Upper West Sider, I'm lucky to live near a trio of great grocery stores: Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Fairway are all within a 10-block radius. (If only I knew how to cook...) Now my peers across town can enjoy the same selection, long lines and crowded aisles that I do, since Fairway has opened on East 86th Street. Grub Street documented the massive crowds that mobbed the three-story grocery mecca on the first day. We're assuming the frenzy has now died down... but the rumble is just beginning. Get ready for the Whose Fairway is Better Debate! Just one more thing for us Westsiders and Eastsiders to fight about.

World Without Borders Bad news for bookworms: Borders is going out of business. The good news: its liquidation sale, which started last Friday. Shoppers can enjoy 40% discounts, and we suspect the markdowns will increase as stock decreases. I realize the book giant's demise is due to ereaders, rising rents and over-expansion. But as a book lover who also took my daughter to some Borders children's events, it makes me sad.

Whatever Floats Your, Er, Pool Looks like the Floating Pool Lady in the Bronx may soon have a little competition. Family and PlayLab are collaborating on the + Pool, a plus-shaped floating pool filled with (filtered and clean!) river water. Right now it's just in the design stage, but the creators have earned an impressive amount of money on Kickstarter. It looks and sounds seriously cool. We hope these guys are able to bring this project to fruition before next summer's inevitable heat wave!

There's An App For Us Up until a few months ago, I still used an old-school (a.k.a. dumb) phone. Typing C-A-T took about five minutes. Then I got an iPhone and promptly became addicted to Angry Birds along with my fellow “power moms." That’s apparently how marketers and retailers refer to us hooked-up, tech-savvy mamas. According to The Washington Post, moms are the fastest-growing group of iPhone buyers. Can't say I'm surprised: Most of the moms I know guard their smartphones as closely as their kids!

No Kids Allowed You're out at dinner on a date night and a family sits down next to you and their kids are having a bad day... or life. As a parent, you're sympathetic (even if you do silently tell yourself that your children would never act that way). But childless folks are less forgiving. That's why Grub Street rounded up a dozen restaurants that ban (or strongly discourage) kids. We can see both sides to this. My kid is well-behaved (no really!) and on the rare occasion when she's not, we get our food to go and leave. But we know not all kids are like that, and not all parents take control of these situations. That said, we don't know anyone who would take a kid to most of the eateries on this list. One of them has a prix-fixe $450 menu per person. Yes my kid is priceless to me, but a $7 grilled cheese is my limit.