Education

CUNY Professors, Students Continue Protests against Budget Cuts ahead of Return to In-Person Learning

By DAVID GREENE
Before the return to in-person learning this fall, a group made up of staff and students at some Bronx-based City University of New York (CUNY) colleges, vowed to continue their “caravan” protest tactic of driving lines of vehicles past the homes of two CUNY college presidents, to continue to demonstrate their opposition to lay-offs of almost 2,000 adjunct professors that took place at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, as reported.   The protestors say CUNY is sitting on $4.8 million in CARES Act funding and funding from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA) which could be


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UPDATE Neighborhood Notes on 9/11 Commemoration, Back-to-School Events, Help with Flooding & More

  9/11 Memorial Events Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and the Supreme Court of Bronx County is hosting a 9/11 memorial service on Monday, 13th Sept. at noon, at Lou Gehrig Plaza. See attached flyer for more information.   Partnerships for Parks announced that on Saturday, October 16th, nearly 1,000 volunteers will gather in parks across the city for Fall IMP-act Day, the group’s annual citywide park beautification day.   For the 20th anniversary of 9/11, volunteers will begin planting 70,000 daffodil bulbs which will bloom in the spring of 2022, honoring the lives lost to the terrorist attacks through the Daffodil


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UPDATE: 85 Bronx Students Complete Digital Skills Program in Efforts to Narrow the “Digital Divide”

By SHANIA DEGROOT & SÍLE MOLONEY
The “digital divide” is defined as the gulf between those who have ready access to computers and the internet, and those who do not. A 2019 report by New York City Comptroller, Scott Stringer, found that roughly a third of New York City residents did not have reliable access to the internet. Not only was this a cause for concern when it came to the completion of the first online census in 2020, but the subsequent, necessary transition to widespread remote learning, amid the pandemic, brought the problem into even sharper focus.   In June of this year, as reported,


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Archdiocese of New York Shares Catholic Schools Reopening Plan

By SÍLE MOLONEY
Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of New York are preparing for schools to be fully open for in-person learning in the fall with no remote or hybrid learning. On Thursday, Aug. 12, the superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of New York released “Catholic Schools Are Open: We Continue to Soar!”, a guide which lays out the Archdiocese’s plan which representatives say aims to ensure the maximum health, safety, and care for children and staff in September.   According to the archdiocese, the updated manual, distributed on Thursday to parents, principals, school staff and faculty, is based on an international


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Back-to-School Panel for Parents of Students with Disabilities on Aug. 17

By SÍLE MOLONEY
  INCLUDEnyc is hosting an online back-to-school panel for Spanish-speaking parents of students with disabilities on Tuesday, Aug. 17. The panel aims to address and ease concerns about the transition to in-person learning, and how to connect to needed supports this fall.   INCLUDEnyc will be convening Araina Sepulveda-Moreiras, associate director of special education translations and Daliz Vasquez, director for special education from NYC Department of Education, Dr. Judith Flores, a pediatrician from NYC Health + Hospitals, as well as Cruz Fuksman, community liaison at New York psychotherapy and counseling center. Panelists will discuss school reopening, vaccine eligibility, school translation


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Neighborhood Notes on School Reopening, Alternative Vax App, Arts Recovery Funding

COVID-19 Updates Transmission Rates & Trends  As of August 9, all five New York City counties have community transmission considered substantial or high by the CDC. On July 27, the CDC issued an updated recommendation that all people, regardless of vaccination status, should return to wearing masks in indoor, public spaces in areas of high COVID-19 infection rates. To see the risk of transmission in your area, visit covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view.   Delta Variant An internal CDC document leaked by The Washington Post revealed that further research proved that the Delta variant causes more severe illness than other variants and is as


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CUNY’s Mexican Studies Institute at Lehman College Lands $1 Million City Council Award

By SÍLE MOLONEY
The CUNY Mexican Studies Institute (MSI), housed at Lehman College, is celebrating its 10th year with a significant new investment from local lawmakers. In July, the institute received a funding allocation of $1 million from New York City Council to support its work.   CUNY MSI is one of just two research centers in the Northeast of the country dedicated to Mexican and Mexican American studies. College officials say, as part of its mission, the institute also strives to boost enrollment of Mexican and Mexican-American students at CUNY and works with international and local organizations to empower the City’s Mexican immigrants,


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Bronx Parents, Teachers Rally for Fall Remote Learning Option

By DAWN CLANCY
With bullhorns in hand, about 20 parents and teachers from the Bronx rallied outside the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) offices in Manhattan on Monday, July 26, to push for a remote learning option for New York City public school students this fall.   The rally, organized by the Bronx Parent Leaders Advocacy Group (BPLAG), follows Mayor Bill de Blasio’s announcement, on May 24, that all public schools which had closed for on-site instruction in March 2020, in efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus, will fully reopen in September without any option for students to learn remotely.  


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Op-Ed: Test for Specialized Schools is Best Available Option

By MICHAEL HOROWITZ
For at least a decade, many educators and elected officials have been lobbying intently for the elimination of the standardized test students take to get admitted to the City’s specialized high schools, such as Bronx High School of Science, Stuyvesant High School, and Brooklyn Technical High School.   The publication of admission rates to such schools, broken down by race, has fueled an ongoing debate between parents of Asian-American and White students who broadly support the use of the test as an objective, fair and, generally, unbiased way of determining admission, and some parents of Black and Latinx students who


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