HIGHER ED TODAY
COURIER L 22 IFE, SEPT. 25-OCT. 1, 2020
Educators call for
safer reopening
Teachers protest for more COVID testing
Teacher Sarah Yorra demands more COVID-19 testing as schools reopen at a protest outside
of Brooklyn Borough Hall.. Photo by Kevin Duggan
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
They’re giving the mayor an F!
Dozens of public school teachers
marched through Downtown Brooklyn
on Sept. 21 to demand safer working
conditions as in-person classes resume,
arguing that educators needed
more testing access to stay safe amid
the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m scared as a New Yorker, because
the Department of Education
is not showing it has the capacity to be
able to do adequate testing, and I think
they have to be honest and stop lying
to us,” said Brooklyn school teacher
Sarah Yorra at the rally, which started
at the Department’s Court Street offi
ces and headed to Borough Hall.
City offi cials began readmitting
public school students by age groupings
on Sept. 21, with Pre-K and special
needs pupils beginning classes
fi rst. Elementary aged students will
begin on Sept. 28, and both middle and
high school students are slated to start
in-person on Oct. 1.
While students have the option to
learn fully online, those young scholars
who do physically attend classes
will go on a staggered schedule —
spending between one and three days
inside a classroom, and the other days
learning remote.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and DOE offi -
cials had previously said they would
not attempt to reopen schools if the
citywide positivity rate for COVID-19
tests was above 3 percent — and, while
it currently sits at around 1.2 percent
across the fi ve boroughs, some areas
have seen higher numbers.
Yorra, who teaches English language
in the 11204 zip code near Bensonhurst,
where the positive infection
rate has hovered around 3 percent for
several weeks, said she had little confi
dence that city offi cials are prepared
for the phased return of classes.
“All we are asking is for the testing
that you promised would keep us
all safe, because if the city can’t get it
together and come and test in one zip
code — one zip code — what’s going to
happen when we’re over 3 percent in
fi ve zip codes,” she said.
The following day, de Blasio announced
that there was an uptick in coronavirus
cases in three neighborhoods
near Yorra’s zip code — Midwood, Borough
Park, and Flatbush — along with
Williamsburg and parts of Queens.
Hizzoner added at his Sept. 22 press
conference that the city would deploy
more testing in response to the uptick
— similarly to another increase
in Sunset Park in August, where the
infection rate jumped to a worrisome
7 percent.
Some Brooklyn school teachers
worried that ventilation in school
buildings would cause signifi cant
problems, including one Fort Greene
instructor slamming schools Chancellor
Richard Carranza and United Federation
of Teachers President Michael
Mulgrew for their guidelines, which
the teacher called “not acceptable.”
“Carranza and Mulgrew have
agreed that keeping a window open
2 inches constitutes suffi cient ventilation
for a room, and that’s terrible,
especially if more ventilation is possible.
To settle for this and to be asked
to settle for this is not acceptable,” said
Adam Stevens, who is also a UFT delegate
for his school building.
One East Flatbush educator said
that the ongoing staff shortages will
leave students at risk across the city.
“You can’t have classrooms without
teachers in them, you can’t have
students unsupervised no matter how
small the classes are,” said Danielle
Bullock, an arts teacher.
Just days into the fall semester, the
City University of New York’s ability to
propel students up the socioeconomic
ladder was recognized in a series of national
rankings of institutions of higher
ed.
The Wall Street Journal named Baruch
College and City College of New
York as the country’s top two “Best
Value” public colleges, respectively.
Those schools were also listed, along
with six other CUNY colleges, among
the top public schools in the northeast,
and also among the nation’s most affordable
and diverse.
CUNY’s quality and affordability
were also recognized by U.S. News &
World Report, which named 10 CUNY
senior colleges among the top performing
public institutions of higher education
in the northeast. The magazine
listed six CUNY schools among the top
25 in promoting social mobility, and six
whose graduates have the least student
debt. And Business Insider, Money.com
and the Princeton Review each also
touted CUNY’s value and affordability
in their rankings, while a study published
earlier this year by the Brookings
Institution affirmed CUNY’s effectiveness
in lifting low-income students into
the middle class.
Our community colleges were also
recognized for their quality in the 2019-
2020 school year, when three were selected
as candidates for the prestigious
Aspen Prize, putting them in league
with the top 15 percent of community
colleges nationwide. Earlier this year,
Borough of Manhattan Community College
was named a finalist for the $1 million
prize.
This all serves to underscore CUNY’s
tangible impact on the city and region,
its economy and residents. Its greatest
impact can be stated in two words: social
mobility.
CUNY’s 25 campuses anchor their
communities, helping all residents of
our city to meaningfully contribute to
the city’s evolving economy. Now, the
University is marshaling its resources
to help the region build back even better
from the economic fallout of the pandemic.
To ensure that our graduates continue
to drive the area’s economic resurgence
for years to come, we have
collaborated with industry partners
and created career readiness programs
for students that will culminate in tens
of thousands of well-paying jobs for the
city’s economy.
of some of the largest employers in New
York will create career pathways for
25,000 CUNY students with a focus on
low-income and Black, Latinx and Asian
communities. The New York Jobs CEO
Council will have a direct impact on the
economy, creating a pipeline of skilled
CUNY workers to the growing workforce.
90-day Upskilling challenge, which is
providing free skills training and includes
course partnerships with Google
and IBM to connect students to employers
who are hiring during COVID-19.
-
ing CUNY in the state’s historic $9 million
Workforce Development Initiative
to support job training opportunities
across New York. The federally funded
program will support job training opportunities
across the state, and will
benefit CUNY colleges including Lehman,
Kingsborough Community College
and LaGuardia Community College,
helping our students adjust to a post-
COVID market.
-
tural Corps, a proven-successful program
that provides a pipeline to careers
in New York City arts and cultural sectors
for students from underrepresented
communities. With new support from
the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation,
CUNY will be able to place hundreds of
additional students in internships and
give them access to the training and exposure
to pursue fulfilling careers in
the arts.
These initiatives represent the kinds
of work-based learning programs that elevate
students and inspire informed observers
to acknowledge our efficacy, and
the benefits are long-lasting. As of summer
2018, we estimated that 1 million
people who graduated from a CUNY college
in the previous half century were
living in New York State, and 82 percent
of those — or 840,000 CUNY grads —
lived in New York City.
From CUNY’s operations and procurement,
research, construction and
student and alumni activities, our colleges
annually generate billions of dollars
for the regional economy, as two
studies noted earlier this year.
When I was appointed Chancellor
in May of 2019, I brought an agenda that
focused on increasing access for traditionally
underrepresented groups. The
COVID-19 pandemic compelled us to
quickly pivot to distance learning, but
it didn’t alter my priorities. It only made
them more urgent.
After all, when we provide a path upward
for all New Yorkers, we are moving
the city forward. I can’t think of a better
cause to get behind in these uncertain
times.
/Money.com