‘More diffi cult decisions will be needed’
Queens lawmakers, Community Education Councils react to school shutdown
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
The decision to close
schools didn’t come easy for
Mayor Bill de Blasio and
Schools Chancellor Carranza,
but after mounting pressure
from teachers, parents and fellow
elected officials and coronavirus
cases continued to
rise, they finally announced
the shutdown on Sunday.
All New York City public
schools, the nation’s largest
school system with 1.1 million
students and 75,000 teachers,
will be closed until at least
Monday, April 20 — but could
stay closed even longer. As a
result, students will begin remote
(or online) learning on
Monday, March 23.
Although the logistics are
still to-be-determined after
the Department of Education
conducts training for teachers
who will now switch to online
educating, Queens lawmakers
and Community Education
Council (CEC) leaders saw
it as a necessary measure to
contain the coronavirus outbreak.
“Chorus of calls to close
schools in NYC became deafening.
Mayor then closed
schools, but now questions, as
well as potshots, abound. Let’s
pull together as New Yorkers
and help each other through
this pandemic. More difficult
decisions, perhaps curfew,
will be needed,” Senator John
Liu said in a statement.
“I agree with Mayor De-
Blasio’s decision to close NYC
schools until April 20th” Assemblyman
Daniel Rosenthal
said. “This is going to be a difficult
time ahead. This is the
right call. We will get through
this.”
Senator Jessica Ramos told
QNS that as a public school
mother, she’s glad they closed
the schools and is eager to see
what remote learning will
look like.
Most importantly, Ramos
wants students and parents
to take advantage of the Graband
Go program the DOE has
in place so students who depend
on their schools’ daily
breakfast and lunch still have
that option.
From 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Any
and all students, can go to any
school to pick up their breakfast
and lunch — they do not need to
be enrolled in the school where
they pick up their meals. Meals
will be available outside of the
main entrance of every school.
NYC Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza says students can stay healthy and full during the COVID-19 outbreak by picking up food.
CEC 24 President Phil Wong
told QNS that all they’ve been
doing since the announcement
is talking to parents and
spreading the information
they have so far via social media.
They were mainly waiting
to hear what the DOE plans to
do about childcare.
The city announced it will
open about 100 “regional enrichment
centers” in all five
boroughs on Monday, March
23, which will be sites to accommodate
school-aged children
of parents who are first
responders (health care workers,
and transit workers).
The centers will be open
from 7:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. on
weekdays, with each room allowing
a maximum of 12 children.
Councilman Barry Grodenchik
took to Twitter to remind
New Yorkers of the severity of
COVID-19.
“This underscores just
how difficult the crisis we are
facing is,” Grodenchik wrote
on Twitter.
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.4 COM | MARCH 20-MARCH 26, 2020
Meanwhile, Councilman
Robert Holden told QNS that
he believes the mayor and
chancellor should have acted
sooner.
“While I am glad our
schools are closed to protect
our students, teachers, staff
and the city at large from the
further spread of COVID-19,
the mayor and chancellor did
not act fast enough,” Holden
said in a statement. “The
mayor has been indecisive at
a time when quick action is
critical to slowing this virus
down. We need that to change
immediately.”
But CEC 27 President Willie
Jones Sr. told QNS that “it
was prudent for them to shut
it down when they did, even
though most people wanted it
to be earlier.” He said that they
had to work out at least some of
the logistics in order to do it.
“It’s better for students to
stay home,” Jones said. “We’re
happy that students will be
able to keep learning from
home, even though it’ll be an
Photo by Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Offi ce
inconvenience for many but
the DOE is working to give
them the resources they need.
We’re happy they won’t miss
out on so much education.”
The DOE partnered with
Apple to provide students with
iPads, with 25,000 of them to be
distributed next week. Spectrum
is also offering free WiFi
and broadband (high-speed internet)
for the next 60 days to
households with children ages
K-12 and college students.
CEC 30’s Co-Presidents
Roberto Cruz and Deborah
Alexander told QNS that they
wish they knew more details
as “this uncertainty causes
anxiety among parents and
students,” but the D30 community
“inspires confidence
that we will get through this
together.”
“In our district, we’ve always
prioritized the value
and well being of each of our
students. By extension, the
Mayor’s efforts to safeguard
the health of all New Yorkers,
young and old, is critical as we
face uncertain developments
in the weeks ahead,” Cruz
said. “While we appreciate the
gravity of the decision to suspend
schooling, we recognize
it’s only part of the efforts each
of us must make to secure the
safety of the most vulnerable
in our community.”
CEC 29 told QNS that they
stand in solidarity with the
mayor, chancellor and rest of
the School District 30 community.
At the moment, they’re
figuring out logistics to conduct
public meetings remotely,
in accordance to Gov. Andrew
Cuomo’s executive order that
partially suspends the requirements
of the Open Meetings
Law.
“We continue to encourage
all of us to utilize proper
sanitary practices,” CEC 29
wrote. “We must all do our
parts to reduce the spread of
the novel coronavirus, and to
ensure that our children will
have consistent opportunities
to excel during these challenging
times.”