.@KathyParkPrice asks why have LT extensions for all busing contracts to make them all end 2025? DOE claims they got favorable terms. [@NYCMayor term ends 2021]. We may have other times to shut down operations & got good terms during shutdown [pay 43% whether using buses or not]
$29M for 71 Learning Bridges DOE contracts for 3&4 yr olds - looks like some private school contracts here including Orthodox Yeshiva child care seats cc @yaffedorg
Emergency contract w/Reliant busing - for 1 month period - this is company DOE is planning to purchase this company. Planning to bring this deal later to PEP. More on this here: nypost.com/2020/10/13/de-…
.@KathyParkPrice asks re month of Sept., full busing payments made even though schools closed? DOE: haven't triggered any 43% payments. Reductions only triggered by FULL shutdown vs partial shutdown. Otherwise would create operational challenges. [so in Sept. paid full amount?]
DOE: We paid 85% for April, May and June - [previously said 43% for May & June] They're paying full month of Sept. even though schools closed till Sept. 29. Sept. 23 & 24 - at 85%. [what?]. Isaac asks before then we weren't paying 100%? Yes. [Crazy confusing]
No more comments from contract committee members. Resolutions created for contracts with no vote taken.
Disappointed in how few PEP members attended the Contract committee meeting & only 2 asked questions; this is to perform their responsibilities to consider & approve about $400 million in contracts in the midst of a looming recession & fierce budget crunch.
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Phil Wong CEC24 says parents are concerned Catholic schools are open for 5 days/wk in-person learning but not public schools & some leaving for these schools; Robert Holden asks: also heard kids are finished w/schoolwork in 10 min? Phil Wong says yes, not enough instruction.
.@MarkTreyger718 we know many kids going into schools only to learn online; today we find out over 72,000 open requests for device; only until July the admin started planning for the fall. When you fail to plan you plan to fail
Council does have power to shine light on problems. If we had gotten info we asked for fr/ DOE back in May & summer, or showed up for hearings in Sept., we could have learned this earlier. No one going to lecture us about ground rules.
Andrea Ortiz @thenyic- abrupt shift to remote learning hit immigrant students hardest & w/o devices & DOE system made parents sign on w/ DOE directly to request devices & NOT via schools.
.@randi_levine@AFCNewYork Some parents think they've sign up for devices but DOE says not/ no one is taking ownership of this issue to check w/parents what's going on.
.@MarkTreyger718 some families sharing devices & didn't realize they could ask for each child; @randi_levine says: DOE told families originally they could only get one. Technical asst. also needed to help them use it. Treyger: also Chromebooks are needed w/internet access.
.@StephenLevin33: Why is 0.2% positivity rate fr/random testing in schools so much lower than citywide positivity rate? Dr. Varma - city positivity rate higher b/c more sick testednot same as actual prevalence -- we estimate actual citywide prevalence last week about 0.1%-0.7%.
(this is one of most interesting stats we've never heard before from Mayor or anyone else.)
What statutory authority for mandated Covid testing asks @JoeBorelliNYC - & if they forced to remote, does that constitute sound basic education? Carranza:we'll get the legal authority for you. We are all choosing from portfolio from imperfect solutions including remote learning
We don't take issuing subpoena lightly; astonished that we couldn't get attendance data from DOE says @NYCSpeakerCoJo . Chaos is tremendous and no individual's fault; our stress nothing compared to anxieties families are facing with little info & rules changing day by by.
.@NYCspeakerCojo says getting education right will determine future of our city and how we handle this challenge will determine whether parents can go back to work & kids will get their education; excuses no longer acceptable
.@JumaaneWilliams says the planning for reopening schools could have been done better; it couldn't have been done worse. Blames it on incompetency of @nycmayor. Delays caused by Inadequate staffing while he was warned by principals of teacher shortage months in advance.
D31 HS Aaron asks re students getting no live instruction re remote blended learning; parents feel duped, as they were promised. Also some classes still don’t have teachers.
Chancellor: no vested interest in duping parents. I don’t get a bonus for this.
Chancellor: I know some districts started remote learning and in-person w/ cameras in classrooms. This is the most horrible form of pedagogy I can think of. We could have done that and called that synchronous learning but we decided not to.
Chancellor: We finally landed at about 6,000 additional teachers as goal to staff a model we can stand behind. In order to do that, we need to ramp up to that. It will continue to get better every week.
Snakeoil alert: “a comprehensive look at Summit Learning — the program behind the so-called rebellion in Kansas — found that it was often making good on its potential to “transform teaching and learning for the better.” Actually NO evidence for that. hechingerreport.org/opinion-fixing…