CARDOZO HIGH SCHOOL PLEADS WITH DOE TO
APPROVE HIRING OF ADDITIONAL TEACHERS
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
Benjamin N. Cardozo High
School, one of the largest public
schools in Queens, is pleading
with the Department of
Education (DOE) to approve
the hiring of 13 teachers to
instruct 65 classes for the upcoming
school year.
Teachers of the Bayside
high school, located at 57-00
223rd St., held a rally outside
of the school on Thursday,
Sept. 17, to call on the DOE to
address their staffing needs
before the start of the school
year, which was set for Sept. 21
after it was delayed from Sept.
10. They were joined by state
Senator John Liu and Councilman
Barry Grodenchik.
The rally was arranged
before Mayor Bill de Blasio
announced the start date for
in-person schooling will again
be delayed.
The city will roll out a
phased-in approach for students
who opted to return to
hybrid in-person classes.
Only students in pre-K, 3-K
and District 75 schools (which
serves the city’s disabled students),
will return to buildings
on Sept. 21. Students in K-5 and
K-8 grade schools will now return
to buildings on Tuesday,
Sept. 29. Middle school, high
school, secondary, transfer
and adult education students
will go back to their physical
classrooms on Oct. 1.
That gives the DOE two
more weeks to address Cardozo
and several other schools
in New York City’s staffing
needs.
Principals and education
advocates have warned the
city that the current plan for
a hybrid in-person and remote
learning format will lead to
staffing shortages.
Cardozo school’s UFT representative
Dino Sferrazza
told QNS that while it’s great
they have more time to plan
for a return to school, the city
had six months to plan.
“Our teachers are dying to
get back into the classroom,
but we don’t want them coming
back until it’s safe,” said
Sferrazza. “Until they figure
out proper air filtration, distancing
and staffing, we won’t
be safe.”
Sferrazza said Cardozo was
approved for an alternative
model that actually helps them
coordinate their classes with
less teachers, with a blend of
in-person, remote and live instruction.
“Had we chosen their hybrid
model, then we’d be short
around 70 teachers,” Sferrazza
said.
He said the school appealed
their budget to allow them to
hire additional teachers at
the end of June, but have not
received an answer from the
DOE. The school appealed for
additional staff because of the
number of employees working
remotely due to reasonable accommodations
and students
opting in to blended learning.
Cardozo currently has 3,591
students enrolled and just under
200 teachers.
Teacher staffing is only
one of their worries, though.
Teachers are also concerned
about students without tech at
home, the Wi-Fi capability at
the school and having to share
a room with fellow teachers
during live instructions due to
classroom ventilation.
Liu called for a delay in
school reopening in-person
classes altogether amid confusion
of remote learning.
“Widespread confusion
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.2 COM | SEPT. 25-OCT. 1, 2020
about scheduling, software
and other online tools, staffing
assignments and parental
assistance has created chaotic
situations that will take time
to resolve,” Liu wrote in a letter
to de Blasio. “Clear illustration
of this is the Department of
Education’s sudden announcement
yesterday that students
opting for blended in-person
and remote-learning instruction
will not actually receive
all of their remote learning in
real-time, contrary to previous
assurances by the DOE to
parents who might otherwise
have opted for remote-only instruction.”
The latest DOE data shows
more than 40 percent of public
schools families have opted for
fully remote learning.
On Thursday, the city promised
to hire 2,600 additional
District 75, early childhood,
K-5 and K-8 educators, in addition
to the 2,000 redeployed
staff previously announced.
“Our staff have shown tremendous
patience and leadership,
and today’s announcement
means we’re going to
work with schools to add even
more resources and support,”
DOE Spokesperson Nathaniel
Styer told QNS. “With a citywide
infection rate hovering
at 1 percent, we’re the safest
major city in the country and
we owe it to our students to reopen.”
Councilman Grodenchick
told QNS that while the city is
undergoing a budget crisis, the
divisive plans for returning
to school is on de Blasio and
Schools Chancellor Richard
Carranza. He said like parents,
elected officials haven’t
received information about
school reopening.
“I don’t think they were
ready. I understand it’s unprecedented
times, but it’s
been six months now since the
pandemic began,” said Grodenchick.
“Excuse the pun,
but it’s obvious we haven’t
done our homework.”
Grodenchik said he’s heard
from principals and parents
in his district as well as other
neighboring districts who are
experiencing Cardozo’s staffing
shortage.
“People have been talking
about this for weeks, if not
months. Cardozo is perhaps
the most extreme, but it’s a
common issue in other schools
… there are many schools with
double digits number of need,”
he said.
When asked if City Council
can step in to allocate funds
from the city budget for more
teachers, Grodenchik said
they’re doing their best to
ameliorate the situation.
“I really believe our children
and parents deserve better,”
he said. “Education is
the most important thing our
government provides. It’s the
bedrock of our democracy, and
right now we’re failing.”
Teachers rally outside of Benjamin N. Cardozo High School for more staff by return to in-person
learning. Photos by William Artuso
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