Winner of Vol. 71, No. 43
What’s inside?
Thursday, December 3, 2020
n de Blasio hints, however, middle and high schools won’t return until early 2021 rbrennan@riverdalepress.com
Ben Franklin Club faces controversy yet again after what appears to be confusion on how officers will be elected in COVID era. Page A3
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Schools reopen only for youngest students By ROSE BRENNAN
Election dispute
the Pulitzer Prize
When city public school buildings shut down after the weekly positive coronavirus test rate reached 3 percent, Mayor Bill de Blasio wanted the city’s 1.1 million public school students to return to campus as early as possible. And he’s got his eyes on next week. For now, it seems the 3 percent thresh-
old is going out the window, and younger students and those with increased needs will be prioritized for the return to in-person learning. School reopening procedures will begin Dec. 7 for preschools and elementary schools. Students in specialized District 75 schools will return a few days later, Dec. 10. As of Nov. 30, the mayor didn’t have a specific date set for middle and high schools to return to in-person classes, but reports suggest it won’t happen in 2020. For de Blasio, prioritizing younger students is important in the new reopening procedures, because while remote learning might not be ideal for anyone, it can deeply impact both younger children’s aca-
demics and social emotional learning. “There’s less concern about the spread when it comes to younger kids,” de Blasio told reporters Sunday. “And I feel for all our parents who are experiencing so many challenges right now, how important it is for them to have their younger kids in school, how important that is at that age, both educationally and socially.” The mayor and schools chancellor Richard Carranza also are looking to expand in-person learning to five days a week in school buildings where that’s possible. And that will be on option for students in those schools who opted for blended learning earlier this term. “For any school that does have the space
Umbrellas turned inside-out
and the ability to move to five-day-a-week in-person instruction, for those kids, that will now be the preferred model,” de Blasio said. “We’ll have in-person instruction for those who are part of that approach, (and) remote for all other kids.” But with that expansion also comes an added need for coronavirus testing — which will now occur at schools weekly, as opposed to monthly. And those tests will now be mandatory for any students who want to go to school in-person. “I want to emphasize this: Students will not be able to attend school unless they have a consent form on record, period,” de Blasio said. “This is something for everyone’s health and safety.”
City tells CB8:
Don’t worry about new flood zones on the block n Proposed changes are complicated, but not expected to have much impact locally By MICHAEL HINMAN mhinman@riverdalepress.com
So no ranking? Some city leaders fear voters aren’t ready yet for ranked-choice ballots, but a few candidates disagree. Page A5
Filling bellies Thanksgiving was a time to feast for many, especially those who don’t get to eat a lot otherwise. Page A5
HIRAM ALEJA0NDRO DURÁN / Photos
November ended with a fury Monday as more than an inch of rain fell on the Bronx. But it felt like a lot more, especially with winds gusting as high as 47 mph in some parts of the city, according to the National Weather Service. That meant a lot of impassable sidewalks — like the walkway along the green construction fence in front of P.S. 81 Robert J. Christen on Riverdale Avenue, at right, and some deformed umbrellas at the end of the day.
Usually when New York City talks about hurricanes, it’s usually preceded by “remnants of” or “formerly a.” But not Hurricane Sandy. It arrived in late October 2012 as a Category 1 hurricane — just a step above what is typically a less destructive tropical storm. But October is practically the end of the summer hurricane season, and to make matters worse, a Nor’easter already had arrived ahead of it. And to top it off, Oct. 28 was a full moon, meaning the high tide was pretty high. The destruction was like CHARLES nothing New York City had MOERDLER seen before. Thousands of homes destroyed, especially in Queens and Long Island. The subway system in Lower Manhattan was decimated as water filled the tunnels and the streets above. Power was gone for most of the city — and much of it would take weeks to be restored. In the end, damage in New York City topped $19 billion. Even higher-elevation areas like the Northwest Bronx weren’t spared, with a surging Hudson River flooding the Metro-North and Amtrak lines, as well as some coastal institutions like the Riverdale Yacht Club. City officials realized existing flood maps weren’t as accurate as they originally thought, with water finding its way to nooks and crannies of the five boroughs that had not even been considered. And while it’s unlikely we’ll FLOODING, page A4
Even at home, maintaining school routine important n Remote learning created many challenges, but creating ‘There’s endless possibilities of ways to be inventive a home classroom can help By ROSE BRENNAN rbrennan@riverdalepress.com
Mornings begin the same for every student at BedRock Preschool. Once they walk through the doors of the Arlington Avenue school, they sanitize their hands and have their temperatures checked, all while their parents fill out a COVID-19 questionnaire about symptoms, travel and exposure. But this is nothing new to BedRock’s students. In fact, sometimes, a student will be so familiar with the routine they’ll walk up to educational director Valarie Simmons and ask for the hand sanitizer by very matter-of-factly saying, “I need my foam.” Following a routine might be monotonous or annoying to adults, but for early childhood and elementary school students, it’s absolutely vital, according to Alexandra Abikzer, Riverdale Temple Nursery School’s director. They thrive on predictability, and love knowing what comes next
and creative while making education fun as a parent. We just have to think outside the box to create structure for the kids.’
— Valarie Simmons
BedRock Preschool
— whether it’s the getting-ready-for-school routine, the bedtime routine, or any routine in between. “A schedule and a routine make them feel safe,” Abikzer said. “And when things are too open-ended, then they might feel instability. They could be anxious or act out. So when things are structured and they know what to expect, it’s healthy for them.” But maintaining routines might be a bit more difficult to implement this time around, particularly because of hybrid and SCHOOL ROUTINE, page A4
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HIRAM ALEJANDRO DURÁN / File
While Riverdale Temple Nursery School wasn’t required to follow the city’s edict for all schools to move remote, its personnel nevertheless recognize the difficulty of establishing a routine in a remote environment. According to the school’s director Alexandra Abikzer, routine gives young children a sense of security — especially in the midst of a pandemic.