<Irina Krush holds the title of International Master (IM), and has two of three tournament results (norms) necessary to qualify for the International Grandmaster (GM) title. On the May 2013 FIDE rating list for women, Krush has a FIDE rating of 2470>

It seems unlikely that her facebook was updated today. Had she made any changes she probably also would have mentioned that her FIDE rating is now over 2500, rather than give the outdated lower figure.

Mark Crowther also suggests she has earned the title.

<The traditional Baku Open finished successfully for Irina Krush of US. She fulfilled either 2nd or 3rd GM norm. As she explained it's not known yet because FIDE Congress which will take place in Tallinn in several days should decide if her success at the team championship in Astana will be counted as a norm. If it will be approved then Irina Krush will become a "real" Grandmaster.>

2012 interview with Irina:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0Fb...>

Trust me, NYC private schools don't give stipends to chess teachers. They don't value chess teachers so highly; we are a cash cow to be exploited by the afterschool programs. You either get a salary (very rare, and the few in NYC who have it work VERY hard and deal with a lot of stress) or, like the vast, vast majority of us, get paid per-class (by the school itself or by the company that teaches chess to that school's students)--with no benefits, no vacation pay, no nothing.

A lot of what you're saying is guesswork, so let me help you:

Every school wants to do well in Nationals; providing conditions to make this possible is another story. First of all, most schools have afterschool chess, but only elementary schools with some form of curriculum chess ever win Nationals, and there are probably (to be conservative) 10 to 20 schools with only afterschool chess for each school with curriculum chess and afterschool.

Your typical private school afterschool will have parents paying $35-70 per class. There are Fall, Winter, and Spring trimesters, each with approximately 12 weeks. So the school collects $480 to $840 per trimester, per student!

The school wants decent teachers (to keep the kids happy so the parents keep paying) and will pay anywhere from $75 to $150 per class; the head teacher can get more IF they had some kind of connection (influential parent) who got them the program in the first place. Often, two teachers do the class together. Still, the private school makes a killing off the classes. Just imagine two teachers getting $120 each for a class of only 10 students paying $55 "a head"...

That's what I'm saying: the schools don't care that "GM so-and-so" is teaching their chess class. That's not what "sells" the class to the parents. Remember that only chess fans care about the level and titles of chessplayers.