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BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J BTR UNE 4-10, 2021 13
LET US HEAR FROM YOU
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care of this newspaper to Laura Guerriero, Publisher, the Bronx Times Reporter,
3604 E. Tremont Ave., Bronx, NY 10465, or e-mail to bronxtimes@cnglocal.com.
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No unsigned letters can be accepted for publication. The editor reserves the
right to edit all submissions.
BY ADRIANO ESPAILLAT
It’s been over a year since
students and families around
the country had their lives
and education upended by the
COVID-19 pandemic. Millions
of students had to adapt to a
whole new world of learning
— a world that isn’t shy of diffi
culty and disparity. But, in
spite of this, teachers, administrators,
and school employees
alike have worked tirelessly to
support our children during
this time of great uncertainty
— and as states begin to reopen,
it’s now our job to ensure that
they have the resources they
need to ensure their schools’
safely and wellbeing.
This is why the American
Rescue Plan is so critical. It puts
safety fi rst, and helps students,
universities, and communities
around the nation get back on
track, and build back better.
For a solution to get our education
system back on track,
you don’t need to look any farther
than the American Rescue
Plan. It delivers $125 billion
for K-12 education and nearly
$40 billion for childcare providers,
including Head Start,
to get our children safely back
in schools. These funds were
made available to state education
departments so that they
can get schools open safely,
keep schools open safely, and
reinvigorate our students – because
the toll virtual learning
took on our children will take
years to remedy.
It comes as no surprise that
virtual learning has put an incredible
burden on our community
– with countless families
around the country needing
more resources to manage
their children’s education from
home, having to adapt to working
from home, battling to secure
unemployment assistance,
and so much more. Simply put,
the transition to online learning
was no small feat to be tackled
by our teachers and school administrators,
and they should
be applauded for how much
they were able to accomplish.
However, we now see the additional
stressors this transition
put on our educators and staff
who are – still – working overtime
to re-create engaging and
creative learning spaces online
for our students.
But this transition to virtual
and remote learning also
put a burden on our students –
a heavy one. With over a year
in-person engagement lost,
our children have been barred
from developing crucial social
skills that just simply can’t be
learned through their screens.
Too many students have had to
resort to using free, and limited,
Wi-Fi from restaurants, public
libraries, and other businesses
while using school-issued laptops,
tablets, and other devices
just to get by and complete their
assignments on time. And because
of this, we’re seeing disparities
like these more clearly
now than ever before, seeing
just as clearly the structural
weaknesses that COVID-19 exposed
— and exploited.
With the American Rescue
plan providing billions
for COVID-19 tracing, testing,
and vaccines, states can — and
must — fi nally get our children
safely back in school. And it’s
about time.
We can’t become passive or
take for granted the process we
have made as a nation.
And with this nearly $130
billion investment from the
American Rescue Plan, we can
modify our educational spaces
so students and teachers can socially
distance, have improved
ventilation in closed areas, and
be provided additional support
to get our children’s educations
back on track.
The American Rescue Plan
also provides $36 billion for
nearly 5,000 public and private,
nonprofi t colleges and universities
nationwide and will help
local institutions cope with the
severe fi nancial distress caused
by the pandemic and as they
continue serving their students
safely. At least half of the funding
each institution receives
will be distributed in the form
of emergency cash assistance
grants to students who are facing
hunger, homelessness, and
other hardship. On top of that,
nearly $3 billion in additional
funding will be made available
for Historically Black
Colleges and Universities (HBCUs),
Tribal Colleges and Universities
(TCUs), other Minority
Serving Institutions, and
other under-resourced institutions.
I know that what we have
asked of our schools, our educators,
our students, and their
families has been extraordinary.
But now, with vaccines
becoming available to more
and more adults and children,
and with the measures we’ve
learned and deployed to stop the
spread of COVID-19 and combat
this pandemic, we now have
the resources needed to make a
larger and more robust return
to in-person learning.
Schools don’t serve just one
purpose — and this pandemic
has shown us that. Schools are a
place for education, recreation,
nutrition, health care, mental
health care, and emotional support.
Our children need to get
back to learning about different
cultures and experiences.
And with the American Rescue
Plan, we can do it.
Adriano Espaillat is a
member of the US Congress
representing the Bronx.
Support Legislation
to Give Delivery
Workers Benefi ts
BY LOUIS SANCHEZ
I’m a New Yorker through
and through. I was born and
raised in the city and now I
live in the Bronx. I love being
from the city that never
sleeps and is the greatest city
in the world. It was hard this
past year to see NYC shut
down and people afraid or
unable to go out. With hardly
any events, it didn’t look
anything like the city I call
home, but I always knew that
New York would come back.
I’ve worked in the restaurant
industry for years. It’s
long hours and can be diffi
cult at times, but I fi nd it
really rewarding. The pandemic
crushed our industry
and if you were lucky
enough to fi nd work, it was
really unreliable. As restaurants
began laying employees
off and ultimately
shutting down, I leaned on
DoorDash for most of my income.
Doing food deliveries
helped me survive this past
year without my regular
work.
I always missed my fulltime
work in restaurants,
but being a Dasher has been
nice because I have fl exibility
to work whenever and
wherever I want. So if I did
get some part-time work at
another restaurant or bar, I
wouldn’t have to ask my boss
about time off for my shifts,
because I get to decide when
and how I work. My one complaint
is that there aren’t
many benefi ts and I don’t
have the safety net like a traditional
job provides. So, as I
work for DoorDash a lot right
now, I worry that I don’t have
these protections for both my
son and me.
Last week I read that some
unions and New York legislators
are trying to make a
law that would make sure
I have basic protections if
something happens to me or
I can’t work, and gives me a
voice with the union to negotiate
better pay and benefi ts.
It’s about time people realize
that New Yorkers don’t
all make money with a 9 to 5
job. It sounds like this legislation
understands how people
like me actually work
and put food on the table and
make ends meet. It is nice being
able to pick when I work
and for how long, but my
earnings can be unpredictable.
I support the unions
who understand this and
hope they can get it done for
people like me. Having a little
more certainty, but keeping
that fl exibility is key. It’s
a big deal.
So it’s ridiculous to hear
people complain about a law
that could actually give workers
benefi ts and help them
earn more money and more
consistently. They are basically
saying they don’t like it
because it isn’t perfect. Wake
up, life isn’t perfect and doing
something is way better than
doing nothing. We all know
politicians in DC aren’t going
to do anything, so I think it is
good we’re just going it alone
in New York to do it our way.
With summer almost here
and the city open for business,
I hope this passes this
year. New York is the home of
people who get things done.
Tell your local politician to
help people like me who kept
New York going in the dark
days of 2020. It will just be another
way to show the world
how New York is still the best
city in the world.
COVID refl ief is vital to
reopening schools
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