34 THE QUEENS COURIER • KIDS & EDUCATION • MAY 27, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
34 k TiHdE QsU E&EN Se CdOUuRIcERa • tMiAoY 2n7, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
QCC students help 10K New Yorkers get vaccinated
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@schnepsmedia.com
@jenna_bagcal
Students at a Bayside college have
helped in the process to administer nearly
10,000 doses of the Pfi zer COVID-19
vaccine, just a month aft er the school
opened as a vaccination center.
Since April 21, patients have gotten
vaccinated at Queensborough College’s
Robert F. Kennedy Hall. Th e site is operated
Report: Over a 1/4 of NYC families worried about sending children back into classrooms
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
adomenech@schnepsmedia.com
@AODNewz
A new study conducted by Councilman
Brad Lander and City Council candidate
Justin Krebsfound over a quarter of New
York City public school families with
children enrolled in fully remote learning
are “unsure” about sending their children
back into physical classrooms this
fall or will “most likely” not send them
back into schools.
Over 100 families with at least one
child enrolled in fully remote learning
across the fi ve boroughs participated in
the study, released last week, which was
conducted via phone over four days by
members of the candidate’s campaigns.
Although the number of survey participants
is small, the report provides insight
on how some public school families feel
about the possibility of returning to classrooms
this fall.
Th e purpose of the survey — according
to Krebs and Lander, who’s running
for city comptroller — was to fi nd out
why families chose to keep their children
in fully remote classes and what it
would take for them to come back into
classrooms this upcoming school year,
according to a statement from the current
and hopefully elected offi cials.
Most of the families that took part in
the survey, 64 percent, said they were
“very” or “somewhat” likely to send their
children back to in-person classes this
fall. A little over 20 percent of families
said they were “still uncertain” about
their plans, while 15 percent said they
were “very or somewhat unlikely” to send
their children back into school buildings.
Out of the 111 families that participated,
52 percent said nobody from the
Department of Education had reached
out in regard to their child’s return to inperson
classes next year.
Families reported the health and safety
measures that gave them the most
confi dence about sending children back
into schools were if students and family
members were vaccinated, if students
and teachers were still required to wear
masks and maintain social distance, and
if schools maintained smaller class sizes,
according to the survey.
Th e bulk of participating families told
survey takers they are unhappy with
remote learning and want their children
to go back to in-person classes but
that “they just want to know it’ll be safe,”
according to release.
Th ere remains just over a month left
in the current school year, but offi cials
have been reticent about what next year
will look like for students. Mayor Bill de
Blasio has said the city working to bring
back every child to school for in-person
classes for fi ve days a week.
But many questions about logistics
remain unanswered such as distancing
requirements, how many teachers will
instruct their classes in person or if there
will be a fully remote option available for
students. Krebs, who is running to represent
Brooklyn’s 39th City Council district
and is a father of three in public schools,
worries that the city is still operating too
much on a crisis mentality.
If the mayor does not publicly announce
a central vision for school reopenings, “it
will lead to what we had last summer
which was chaos and rumors and secondguessing,”
he told amNewYork Metro.
“Th e science and data show our schools
are safe and we are planning for every
child to be back in school full-time, fi ve
days a week in the fall,” said DOE spokesperson
Danielle Filson.
Filson added Chancellor Porter is now
taking part in fi ve borough-wide “family
engagement forums to answer questions
and make sure everyone feels comfortable
and excited for what will be a
welcoming, engaging and pivotal school
year.”
Filson added the DOE has for months
been hosting weekly “Reopening
Community Roundtable meetings with
internal and external stakeholders who
advise and partner with us on the planning
and implementation for fall reopening.
Schools have also been doing outreach,
and we will be working with them
over the coming weeks and months in
supporting our families as we prepare for
full reopening in the fall.”
by the New York City Department of
Health and the Hospital for Special
Surgery.
According to the school,
dozens of nursing and
emergency medical technician
students work
one eight-hour shift per
week, assisting a team
of physician assistants,
nurses and
nurse practitioners.
“We help with
the workfl ow, check
in patients, direct
some traffi c
and observe
p e opl e
for side
e f f e c t s
after they
have their vaccination,” said Veronica
Javellana, a fi rst-year nursing student
from Sydney, Australia.
Back in Australia, Javellana worked as
a certifi ed midwife but switched
to nursing once she moved to
the States.
“My specialist qualifi cation
was not transferable
here, so I decided to do
nursing at Queensborough
to get all the foundation
knowledge I need to pursue
my bachelor’s in
nursing,” she
said.
Staff and volunteers at QCC’s vaccination
site administered more than 1,000
doses of the Pfi zer vaccine on opening
day last month. According to state
data, approximately 1,219,489 people in
Queens received a least one dose of any
COVID-19 vaccine and 978,770 people in
the borough are fully vaccinated.
“It’s a great experience for our students
to work with Hospital of Special Surgery
staff , who administer the vaccinations and
manage the site. We’re serving the community
and we love it,” said supervising
nurse professor Nancy Mobyed.
First-semester Queensborough nursing
student Dave Meketansky also worked for
eight years as an EMT with the Glen Oaks
Volunteer Ambulance Corps, which covers
neighborhoods in northeast Queens.
“As a volunteer we’re keeping people
safe. We had 568 people here in just four
hours one day last week,” Maketansky
said.Th
e volunteer added that the patients
who come to the site refl ect the community’s
diversity and helps to foster a sense
of trust between those getting and administering
the vaccine.
“Th at goes long way in getting people
vaccinated,” he said.
Vaccinations are available Wednesday
through Sunday at 221-05 56th Ave. For
more information, please visit www.qcc.
cuny.edu/vaccine/index.html.
Photo via Getty Images
Photo courtesy of QCC
Dave Meketansky is a fi rst semester
Queensborough nursing
student assigned to
the vaccination site.
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