Editorial
Op-ed
Back to school basics
The Key to NYC may be forcing
residents and visitors to show proof
of vaccination for a night out on the
town — but the key to the future is giving city
kids the best education possible.
Which should be reason enough for Mayor
Bill de Blasio to mandate all teachers be vaccinated
when schools open Sept. 13 — ironically
the same date the city will be doling out
hefty $1,000 for fi rst offense and $2,000 for
second offenses to indoor businesses that fail
to ensure their venues are off limits for those
who remain unvaccinated.
But the powerful United Federation of
Teachers (UFT) union – a major fi nancial
backer of de Blasio as mayor and quite possibly
in his bid for governor next year – is pushing
back against any mandate that their rank-andfi
le be vaccinated when schools open.
Instead, teachers are encouraged to get
vaccinated and if they don’t they must show
proof of a recent COVID test showing they
tested negative. This comes as outgoing Governor
Andrew Cuomo, on Aug. 16, mandated
that all healthcare workers in the state be
vaccinated.
The non-mandate for all public school
teachers comes after the most vulnerable
of the city’s roughly million K-12 students
already missed nearly a full year of schooling
last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and
a botched rollout of both remote learning,
and the on-again/off-again reopening of
public schools.
Currently, de Blasio’s plans for reopening
the city’s 1,800 public schools also includes
full-time, in-person instruction fi ve days a
week with no remote learning, except for
immunocompromised children under an
existing city program.
Additionally, the plan calls for all students,
teachers and staff to wear masks during the
school day, regardless of vaccination status, and
a social distancing requirement of three feet.
While this plan is all well and good, more
thought and contingency plans need to be put
in place before the school year starts.
That starts with working out the kinks
of remote learning if the Delta variant gets
further out of hand, expanding the threefoot
social distancing requirement, and
most importantly, mandating all teachers be
vaccinated.
If privately-owned bars or restaurants
must police the public to be vaccinated or
risk getting fi ned, public sector teachers
should be mandated to be vaccinated at the
risk of not being paid.
Failing our most vulnerable kids for
another year is not an option.
Publisher of The Villager, Villager Express, Chelsea Now,
Downtown Express and Manhattan Express
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On the psychology
of elected officials
BY HANK SHEINKOPF
What makes elected offi cials lose
their minds?
Some electeds see themselves
endowed with powers no others possess.
They can right the wrongs. Only their
words and deeds have truth.
Makes you wonder what those people eat
for dinner and what pills they take before
sleeping.
Those we elect have become a separate
unique social class. They do little because
action can offend and doing nothing offends
no one. Lips moving and blabbing
rarely chase away writers–check writers–
who keep the system oiled. And good
words keep believers happy. Citizens keep
fi lling out ballots the way those electeds
want.
Everyone feels good. No eggs broken;
no omelets made. Electeds pick up their
paychecks, healthcare most couldn’t afford,
and a pension at the end of the career.
Meetings. Everyone’s feeling great. We have
process. We have inclusion. And we have
lots of photos. Nobody made trouble. And
trouble makers don’t get meetings.
History however respects governors
who are trouble makers, and imperial.
And defames them. Nelson Rockefeller,
fi rst and only New York State governor
to be elected to four consecutive four-year
terms — governors once served two-year
terms in many states throughout the nation
including New York — built the campus
surrounding the State Capitol, modernized,
expanded and funded SUNY, supported
the Port Authority built the World Trade
Center, created the Urban Development
Corporation (UDC) to build housing, and
the MTA to rescue the failing NYC transit
system and bankrupt commuter railroads.
He also gave us the Attica riots, dead
inmates and correctional offi cers, moral
obligation debt — which led to the 1975
city and state fi nancial disasters. Rocky left
town in the middle of his term and served
as Gerald Ford’s vice-president. No one
cried.
Hugh Carey used his power — the governor
is called His Excellency in the NYS
Constitution — to save the city and state
from bankruptcy. The banks would have
gone belly up I975 if Carey hadn’t pushed
the players around because city and state
debt instruments were then large parts of
bank holdings. A true crisis. Carey the hero
Outgoing Governor Andrew Cuomo
became Carey the goat after the miracle
save.
Eliot Spitzer was the self-described
steam roller tough guy prostitute patronizer
who escaped the cops by leaving town.
Mario Cuomo. Constructed more prison
cells some say than anyone in history.
Stopped the Sing Sing prison riot bloodlessly.
Great orator, and defender of the
State. They hated him. The three-term
imperial governor was defeated by a Republican.
Yes. In New York State.
Like Rocky, Carey, and Spitzer, and
Mario, Andrew Cuomo was an imperial
governor. He built airports, train stations,
subways. He not only twisted, but probably
broke arms. This imperial governor had to
be threatened and yanked out almost by
force. And the cops aren’t fi nished with
him.
Conclusion: tough guy imperial governors
are so over. They do and do and do,
they think. Until they always undo themselves.
They just lose their minds. Average
men and women love the blabbers and glad
handers much more.
Hank Sheinkopf founded Sheinkopf
Communications Ltd., a political-strategic
communications firm, in 1981. Over the
course of his career, Sheinkopf has contributed
to more than 700 political campaigns
across the United States.
8 August 19, 2021 Schneps Media
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