COVID-19 - Bklyner (Page 2)

NYC Schools Chancellor: Why I Dare to Dream Big

Meisha Porter, New York City Schools Chancellor. Image courtesy of NYC Department of Education.By Meisha Porter, New York City Schools Chancellor This week, I began leading the nation’s largest public school system. A school system that serves more than 1 million students—including, many years ago, me! I

Central Brooklyn

Opinion: Let’s Fully Fund Public Schools Now

PS 6 in Flatbush. Liena Zagare/BklynerBy Tracy Jordan, a parent, education advocate, and Flatbush resident. The pandemic has exposed and increased the inequities that exist in our public school system, now we are surely in a crisis. At this moment, we have the opportunity to rectify this crisis by

Business

Recovery: Introducing “Right to Recall” Legislation

Under a new law that is being introduced by Park Slope Council Member Brad Lander, all employers of a certain size would be required to call back those they laid off due to COVID-19. Lander at the rally in Manhattan.Lander made the announcement at a rally in Manhattan organized

Central Brooklyn

NYC schools could get $4.5 billion in federal aid. The big question is how to spend it.

Students at M.S. 51 in Park Slope, Brooklyn streamed into the building, socially distanced and masked. A new federal stimulus bill will send billions of new dollars to New York City schools. Amy Zimmer / ChalkbeatBy Reema Amin, Chalkbeat New York New York City public schools are projected to receive

Central Brooklyn

OPINION: Essential Workers Supported Us This Year, Now We Must Support Them

Salimata Zonon works as a home health aide. Every morning she wakes up at 5:30am to go from Brownsville, Brooklyn to Manhattan to take her daughter Jasmine to school. She then travels to the Upper West Side to take care of Rita Asen, 94 her only client. We told

COVID-19

Brooklyn Bridge Photo Projection Pays Tribute to Lives Lost to COVID

Images of some of the New Yorkers lost to the pandemic were projected onto the Brooklyn Bridge during the COVID-19 Day of Remembrance ceremony (Image: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)The city paid tribute to some of the 30,000 New Yorkers who lost their lives to the coronavirus by

COVID-19

A ‘daunting, dark and difficult’ time: How a Brooklyn school moved forward after losing its leader to COVID

Yesenia Peralta is the principal of the Brooklyn Democracy Academy where Dez Ann Romain, the former principal, died from COVID in the early months of the pandemic. David Handschuh / ChalkbeatBy Alex Zimmerman, Chalkbeat New York High school student Etienne Musole remembered one of his first interactions with principal Dez-Ann Romain.

Central Brooklyn

Protestors Call for Cancellation of Kingsbrook Hospital Consolidation

Protestors gathered outside Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in East Flatbush on Thursday, March 11th, 2021. (Image: Billy Richling)Several dozen activists, hospital staff and clergy gathered outside Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in East Flatbush on Thursday to demand the state abandon its plan to transform the struggling hospital. One Brooklyn

Central Brooklyn

It’s official: NYC high school buildings will reopen in March. Sports are set to resume in April.

NYC high schools will welcome back students on March 22. Brooklyn’s Park Slope Collegiate, which shares a building with several high schools, welcomed its middle schoolers back on Feb. 25. Amy Zimmer/ChalkbeatBy Alex Zimmerman, Chalkbeat New York The overwhelming majority of high school students will continue learning remotely

Central Brooklyn

A Year In Brooklyn: COVID-19

This week marked the anniversary of the first confirmed case of COVID19 in NYC. Today, March 5, marks a year since the first confirmed case in Brooklyn. Soon it will be a year since the city was shut down. And, hopefully, soon everyone will have had a chance to get

COVID-19

Remembering Eugene Hurkin, 1925-2021

Eugene Hurkin, family photo.If there was one thing Eugene Hurkin lived for, it was to laugh and make others smile too. And if a joke was good enough to tell once—it was good enough to tell a thousand times. Every time Eugene and his family drove past a

Central Brooklyn

Frequent COVID School Closures Frustrate Parents At Co-Located School Buildings

With COVID19 still active in Brooklyn, random weekly tests in the borough’s public schools have been the norm since December. But so have school building closures, whenever two unrelated cases are found. This has been particularly frustrating where more than one school shares the building, and all get closed

Central Brooklyn

Letter To The Editor: Rethinking Brooklyn Hospital Consolidation

Dear Ms. Zagare, I want to thank you for the coverage in Bklyner you have dedicated to the transformation of Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center into a “Medical Village,” provided by reporter Billy Richling. The latest article, dated December 17, 2020, describes how the project, a part of New York State’

brownsville

Brooklyn’s Largest Vaccine Site, At Medgar Evers College, Opens Wednesday

Governor Andrew Cuomo at Medgar Evers College on Monday. (Image: Governor’s office)A mass vaccination site at Medgar Evers College in Crown Heights will open on Wednesday, February 24rd, at 231 Crown Street between Rogers and Nostrand Avenues. The site will be able to administer up to 3,000

Bed Stuy

First Lady Chirlane McCray Tells Canarsie Vaccine Site Workers: “You are Loved”

Chirlane McCray, center left, visits a Canarsie vaccination site. Around her, from left to right, are Department of Health First Deputy Commissioner Torian Easterling; site administrator Joanne Yarde; administration manager Kizzi Belford; and operations manager Ed Bobb (Image: Lloyd Mitchell/Canarsie Courier/Pool)New York first lady Chirlane McCray stopped

COVID-19

East Brooklyn Mutual Aid Needs Help Funding Food Deliveries

East Brooklyn Mutual Aid volunteers./ Photo Provided by Natasha SantosThe East Brooklyn Mutual Aid (EMBA) is hosting a fundraiser to keep their volunteer group organizing food distribution in Brownsville, Ocean Hills, East New York, and Cypress Hills for another month. “We’re one of the worst food deserts in the

COVID-19

Advocates Urge Politicians To Bring Vaccines To North Brooklyn Elderly

NYCHA vaccination site at Nostrand Houses in Brooklyn on Friday, February 12, 2021. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography OfficeThe slow rollout of vaccines is frustrating community advocates across the borough. The elderly and frail were supposed to be a priority group, especially in communities hard hit by the pandemic. However, according

Central Brooklyn

New Guidance From DOH – Double Mask Up!

Dr. Dave A. Chokshi, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. City Hall. Thursday, February 18, 2021. Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.The NYC Department of Health (DOH) says we should double mask when possible to increase protection against COVID-19. The new guidance was

Central Brooklyn

Here’s how NYC will admit students to ‘gifted’ programs for 2021

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on UnsplashBy Christina Veiga, Chalkbeat New York New York City will not test rising kindergarteners for admission to gifted programs, the education department announced Wednesday. Instead, students will be evaluated by their pre-K teacher or sign up for an interview. Students will then be referred for

Central Brooklyn

Parents And Educators Brace For Exodus From The Department of Education

Mayor Bill de Blasio at City Hall. Tuesday, February 2, 2021. Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.When Bay Ridge resident Paullette Ha Healy learned that Paul Forbes, the Department of Education’s (DOE) executive director of Educational Equity, Anti-Bias, and Diversity, was leaving his position, she was not surprised.

Bensonhurst

Masbia’s Brooklyn Soup Kitchens To Double in Size To Meet Unprecedented Demand

A line forms outside Masbia’s Borough Park location in May 2020. (Image: Alexander Rapaport/Masbia)Masbia, the Borough Park-based soup kitchen and food pantry network that distributes kosher hot meals and emergency food packages, announced yesterday it would double the size of its Brooklyn locations. Masbia’s executive director

Central Brooklyn

City Releases Vaccine Data By Zip, Shows Least Hit Neighborhoods Getting Vaccinated Faster

This morning NYC DOH released current vaccination data by zip code, and – no surprise – the neighborhoods that were least hit by the pandemic are getting vaccinated faster or at the same rate as those that were hit hardest. var divElement = document.getElementById('viz1613489347017'); var vizElement = divElement.getElementsByTagName('object')[0]; if

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NYC high school applications are due soon. Will pandemic changes help or hurt school diversity efforts?

A student at John Dewey High School’s student kitchen. Not every high school has one, and this year picking the right fit for one’s interests is harder than ever. Liena Zagare/BklynerBy Christina Veiga, Chalkbeat New York The deadline is fast approaching for New York City’s rising

Announcements

Warbasse To Get Vaccination Location, Homebound Seniors Promised Johnson & Johnson Vaccine

Mayor Bill de Blasio visits a NYCHA vaccination site at Nostrand Houses in Brooklyn on Friday, February 12, 2021. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography OfficeMayor de Blasio today announced that starting next Monday, February 15, the City will launch a vaccination site at Warbasse Cares Program (2844 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn), and

Central Brooklyn

As Tax Season Begins, People on Unemployment Face Owing Thousands to the IRS

Tax season has officially begun and some Brooklyn residents who received unemployment during 2020 are facing unexpectedly high tax bills for their government aid. Photo by Jon Tyson on UnsplashIn July of 2020 alone, 20.5% of Brooklyn residents were on unemployment benefits. Many of those who applied had lost