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Winner of Vol. 71, No. 6
A letter from the publisher Dear friends, neighbors and colleagues, First and foremost, I hope that you and your loved ones are staying safe in these uncertain times. Please be sure to heed the advice of health care experts at CoronaVirus.gov, and to check in with your neighbors who are the most vulnerable to the novel coronavirus (i.e., people older than 60, or those with underlying health issues). I wanted to update you on what we at the Herald Community Newspapers — the publisher of The Riverdale Press — are doing to ensure that we continue to provide you with real news and verified facts that you can trust as we confront — together — the challenges imposed by the coronavirus. Local journalism organizations, like The Press, remain the most reliable, trusted and prolific source of news that affects your family’s daily life. With the safety of our staff in mind, we are all focused on serving the informational needs of the people who live and work in the northwest Bronx without interruption. For readers Our team of editors and reporters are on the phones 24/7 with local elected officials, community institutions, nonprofit organizations and small businesses to bring you the most up-to-date and relevant coronavirus-related information. All of the latest coronavirus stories — including school closings — can be found at RiverdalePress.com/ coronavirus. We have also set up a dedicated voice mailbox and email address where you can submit tips, suggest issues you’d like for us to investigate, and tell us about how the coronavirus is affecting the lives of you and your family. The Press’s dedicated coronavirus hotline is (718) 5436065, Ext. 308, or by email at coronavirus@ riverdalepress.com. Lastly, you can subscribe to our new daily email newsletter that brings all of the latest local coronavirus news straight to your inbox. Send your email to coronavirus@ riverdalepress.com, and we’ll get you added. PUBLISHER, page A7
the Pulitzer Prize
Thursday, March 19, 2020
$1.00
EVERYTHING IS CLOSED Mayor shutters public schools in effort to slow virus
Lehman prof sets example for the city’s public schools
By KIRSTYN BRENDLEN & MICHAEL HINMAN
By KIRSTYN BRENDLEN kbrendlen@riverdalepress.com
of The Riverdale Press
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ayor Bill de Blasio has made it official: All public schools are closed Monday, and they won’t open again until — at the earliest — April 20. The announcement came just a few hours after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced public schools in Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties were closing beginning Monday, and that New York City public schools had 24 hours to develop an action plan that would allow those schools to shutter this week. “I am very concerned that we are seeing a rapid spread of this disease, and it is time that we take more dramatic measures,” de Blasio said in a Sunday evening press conference. “And I will tell you that the issue that has been on everyone’s minds is our public schools.” The decision comes in light of ongoing efforts at both the city and state level to slow the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. de Blasio expects schools to open after the spring holiday break on Monday, April 20, but warned that this would be a “first attempt.” “I have to be honest in that we are dealing with a lot of unknowns, and a lot of challenges, and we understand how difficult it will be to achieve that goal,” the mayor said. “I have been very honest about the fact that there is a real possibility that by closing our schools now, we may not have the opportunity to reopen them in this full school year. We may actually have to go for the whole school year, which is just extraordinarily painful for our kids, for our parents, and for our educators.”
Technology offers new challenges
Public school teachers started training in remote learning this past Tuesday, with remote instruction scheduled to begin March 23, according to a letter from schools chancellor Richard Carranza. “We have to go into work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,” said Anthony Hilliard, a physical education teacher at P.S. 7 Milton Fein School. “I don’t know what the heck we’re going to do, though. I’m going to have to find out more information” on Tuesday. Hilliard expected to spend time this week organizing lessons and uploading them online, but wasn’t sure what technology he or his students would be using while school buildings are shuttered. What he did know, though, was that physical education might be particularly challenging to teach remotely. “I’m going to make a video,” Hilliard said. “I’m going to go over certain things that children could do on their own — different stretches, different drills and things.” For kids who might not want to take part in those activities, Hilliard plans to write up an assignment about how the values of team sports are applied in the real world. “And then I just hope they do it,” he said. “That’s
t hasn’t taken long for things to settle into a new — if temporary — reality not just around the world, but closer to home, as the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 moves its way through. That reality is, mostly, receiving a lot of emails about canceled events. Purim parties, political protests, book clubs and community dinners have all been postponed or called off all together. Many parents are suddenly finding themselves home with their children as schools close. Since the first week of March, nearly every private school in the area has closed physical campuses, at least until the end of March. Some have moved to online classes and will reassess at the end of the month. All three of the local colleges have moved online, although only one — the College of Mount Saint Vincent — had a student test positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It’s not easy, though. Some facilities at Manhattan and Lehman have stayed open for student use. The food bank at Lehman, for example, along with its wellness center and computer labs have all stayed open to LEHMAN PROF, page A4 what I’m worried about, is that we’re going to do all this work, and then put it on the computer, and are they going to do it.” Keeping students engaged while at home is one thing. Wondering how much parents can be around, who might have to work, is something that was on Gov. Cuomo’s mind over the weekend when he talked about some of the collateral damage that could come from parents who are essential for their jobs in the midst of the coronavirus crisis. These parents, he feared, may have to choose between going to work or staying home with their kids. “Our goal is to slow the spread of the virus to a rate that the health care system can manage, and one of the ways to do that is to reduce density,” Cuomo said, in a release. “Closing the schools is a good idea, but you have to anticipate and correct any unintended consequences — we have to ensure children who rely on free school meals continue to get them, and that there’s adequate child care, especially for health care workers and first responders who are parents of young children. “We will close these schools, but it needs to be done with these contingencies in mind so that children are not harmed, and our hospitals aren’t understaffed — otherwise, we cut off our nose to spite our face.”
Ensuring kids get something to eat
According to the city’s education department, free breakfast and lunch will be available for students to SCHOOL CLOSED, page A7
Look bleak? No, there’s always hope
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ore often than I would like, I find myself leaving our North Riverdale office quite late in the evening. If you’ve never been around Skyview Shopping Center near West 259th Street after midnight, it’s an interesting experience. What’s typically a busy Riverdale Avenue becomes eerily quiet. It’s unnerving, to say the least, because I have to remind myself I’m in New York City. But usually I find some solace civilization still exists thanks to the fantastic music emanating from Yukka, or a quick glance into the window to see a packed bar at Connaughton’s Riverdale Steak House. MICHAEL HINMAN What we’re going through Editor’s Note right now with this coronavirus is unprecedented, to a certain extent. It seems nearly every generation has something that disrupts our lives in ways we’d prefer not. Whether it was the Kennedy assassination in the 1960s, the energy EDITOR, page A4
Nosanwisch pioneers fun for Hebrew school By ROSE BRENNAN Intern
A classroom is sometimes synonymous with boredom. After a certain amount of time, students drift away from the material and doodle in their notebooks, look out the window, or even begin to fall asleep. Most teachers would chide their students and tell them to pay attention. But if this happens in Phreddy Nosanwisch’s fourth-grade spiritual technologies class, he’ll ask the students if they want to go for a run instead. It might seem unusual, but running is not a free recess. At least not in Nosanwisch’s class. Rather, it reinforces this day’s particular lesson on spiritual singing. As each of the students keeps pace along the running path, Nosanwisch tasks one student to set the pace for both their run and a song, encouraging the others to follow along. With it, he places emphasis on breath control and rhythm, foundational tools of singing — and, coincidentally, running. By the end of the lesson, the
students learned something new about their spirituality, channeled their energy for the lesson in an alternative activity, and were primed for their next class that day. “It was amazing to see them connect, and then to see that energy get us to where I’d hoped the lesson would go,” Nosanwisch said. “And they had a Hebrew lesson right after the run. My guess is that they probably paid a bit more attention to the Hebrew because they got to spend 30 minutes running.” For the past two years, Nosanwisch has taken the Marsha Dane Stern Hebrew School at the Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riversale by storm. How did he win the kids over? A commitment to learning outside traditional norms, and a focus on building community among his students. Nosanwisch’s class focuses on new ways to interpret and practice the Jewish tradition, particularly to improve spiritual, personal and emotional growth. Nosanwisch recalled a particular lesson about spiritual movePIONEER, page A4
JULIUS CONSTANTINE MOTAL
Phreddy Nosanwisch feeds his daughter Erev Willow in their Washington Heights home. Nosanwisch became a parent around the time he started teaching at the Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale two years ago, and is one of this year’s recipients of the Jewish Education Project’s Robert M. Sherman Young Pioneers Award.
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