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