Six weeks later, Maloney declared
winner of June Congressional primary
BY MARK HALLUM
Democratic challenger to Congresswoman
Carolyn Maloney, Suraj
Patel, has no plans to concede,
even as his chances of pulling through
in the Democratic primary seem to be
diminishing.
Maloney was certifi ed offi cially on Tuesday
as the primary winner.
Patel. as part of a lawsuit against Governor
Andrew Cuomo and the city Board
of Elections, was able to see an unknown
number of ballots reinstated by a federal
judge on Monday night on grounds that
the absentees did not have a postmark and
were received two days after the June 23
primary.
Despite the need to count these ballots,
Maloney argues the number of reinstated
ballots do not offer Patel enough of an
advantage to close the gap.
“It is regrettable that my former opponent
has become President Trump’s
mouthpiece in disparaging mail voting
by making unsupported claims of many
thousands of ballots being invalidated
when the true facts show a smaller number
that had no effect on the results” Maloney
said. “Today’s court decision will put an
end to the primary campaign. I call upon
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. FILE PHOTO
Mr. Patel to do as almost every other losing
candidate has done: concede that the voters
have spoken and stop validating Trump’s
undermining our democratic processes.”
While Maloney led Patel by 648 with inperson
votes, after a canvas of the absentees
by the BOE, the incumbent’s lead grew by
up to 3,300. Up to 12,000, or one-fi fth of
absentees, had been disqualifi ed during the
canvas process because of postmark issues
or other errors by the voter themselves, the
majority of them being from the sections of
the district covering Brooklyn and Queens.
According to a spokeswoman for
Maloney, she now carries a lead of 3,700
votes and up to 1,200 ballots that were rejected
due to lack of a postmark are eligible
for reinstatement.
Patel responded to Maloney’s remark
likening him and his campaign to President
Donald Trump’s rhetoric of doubt against
mail-in voting as a false angle on a quest to
restore voting rights to those in a district
disproportionately impacted by what they
view as disenfranchisement.
“When there’s a threat to democracy sitting
in the White House, we cannot serve
him with a precedent to game this election
which is why it was our obligation as New
Yorkers, as progressives, as Democrats, to
fi ght to count votes. It ought to be concerning
to every single American that one in
fi ve or more were tossed in our race,” Patel
said. “We have no reason to concede yet
because we still have thousands of ballots
left to count.”
During a press conference on Tuesday
morning to discuss the judge’s injunction
to reinstate these ballots, an attorney representing
the plaintiffs reiterated how their
pursuit differed from President Trump’s
view that mail-in voting is an opportunity
for voter fraud.
“One of the more interesting and frustrating
parts of what’s been going on in the
discussion around this lawsuit and our fi ndings
is that we started this lawsuit because
we believe in people’s right to vote and that
voting by mail is the future, it’s the present,
we need to make it better,” attorney Ali Najmi
said. “President Trump has manipulated
what’s going on here for his own purposes
to undermine voting by mail.”
Democrat Emily Gallagher was also a
plaintiff in the case, though she overtook
long-time incumbent, Assemblyman Joe
Lentol, for the district covering Greenpoint,
Brooklyn in the June 23 primary.
Lentol had previously conceded defeat.
Remote and blended model learners in New York
City to receive daily live instruction this fall
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
This fall semester students opting out of in-person
classes will receive daily live instruction in short
intervals with some lessons being as brief as 15 to
20-minutes for the city’s youngest learners.
Students participating in the city’s blended learning
model, meaning that they sit in physical classrooms for
half of the week, will also receive live instruction during
their remote learning days.
Schools will post class schedules for live instruction online
for families and students with enough time for parents
to plan their work and family commitments accordingly,
according to a Department of Education spokesperson.
Most remote students will be assigned teachers from their
schools when they receive their class schedules before the
beginning of the school year.
In a statement, the DOE wrote that some fully remote
learners might not be assigned teachers before the start of
the fall semester “depending on the numbers of fully remote
students and staff with reasonable accommodations.”
Every morning, teachers and staff will have a 30-minute
” instructional coordination period” to ensure that course
PHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES
work in in-person and remote classes align. Teachers will
also have a daily 30-minute prep period at the end of the
school day to organize their instructional planning.
In-person teachers will not be required to stay on school
grounds during this time period, the DOE spokesperson
said. Instructors will only be required to work 6 hours and
50 minutes a day and schools will host only one faculty and
one grade or department conference per month.
As part of the new instructional guidelines, in-person
students will eat lunch during one of a class period.
“Health and safety come fi rst,” wrote DOE spokesperson
Danielle Filson in an email to amNewYork Metro. ”
We are rolling out instructional guidance to our schools
based on what we learned this spring and summer for
students who are fully remote and for those learning in a
blended environment.”
The newly released guidance, Filson added, was developed
in partnership with the United Teachers Federation
and the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators.
Both unions have been critical of the city’s haphazard
management of the nation’s largest public school system
during the coronavirus pandemic.
“While there will be some key differences between
the two learning models, the expectation for high-quality
instruction that is culturally responsive and rigorous remain
the same as they always have across the board, for
all students,” said Filson.
12 August 6, 2020 Schneps Media