STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that education leaders, experts and advocates will sit on a council to help guide New York City in reopening school buildings in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The Education Sector Advisory Council -- which consists of 45 members -- is one of six Sector Advisory Councils announced by the mayor last week. The councils serve as a link to disseminate information about reopening and providing guidance to shape the city’s response during the pandemic.
New York City school buildings are closed for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year -- moving to remote learning on March 23. Last month, de Blasio detailed a five-point plan designed to keep students properly educated, provide teachers and parents with the tools they need, and to re-open schools on time after the summer.
“These councils will provide real world guidance to ensure our plans to reopen the city make sense and keep people safe," de Blasio said in a news release. “We are facing an unprecedented crisis, but by working together, we will come out stronger than before.”
*** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK ***
Members of the Education Sector Advisory Council include leaders of charter schools, local non-profits, unions and education experts -- including City University of New York (CUNY) Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez and United Federation of Teachers (UFT) President Michael Mulgrew.
Here’s a list of who is on the council:
- Melissa Aase, University Settlement
- Shirley Aldebol, 32 BJ SEIU
- Andrea Anthony, Day Care Council
- David C Banks, Eagle Academy
- Richard Beattie, New Visions for Public Schools
- Sian Beilock, Barnard
- Jack Bendheim, SAR Academy Riverdale
- Lee C. Bollinger, Columbia University
- Phoebe Boyer, Children’s Aid Society
- Marc Brackett, Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence/Developer, RULER
- Richard Buery, Achievement First
- Mark Cannizzaro, CSA
- Natasha Capers, NYC Coalition for Educational Justice
- Steven Choi, New York Immigration Coalition
- Michael Coppotelli, Archdiocese of New York
- Margaret Crotty, Partnership with Children
- Traci Donnelly, Child Center of NY
- Gregory Floyd, Local 237, School Safety Agents
- Jane Foley Fried, NY State Association of Independent Schools
- Kay Galarza, Student PEP Member
- Henry Garrido, DC 37
- Peter Gee, The Door
- Barbara Glassman, Include NYC
- Jasmine Gripper, Alliance for Quality Education
- Anita Gundanna, Coalition for Asian American Children and Families
- Andrew Hamilton, NYU
- Kristin Kearns Jordan, Urban Assembly
- Thomas Krever, Hetrick-Martin Institute
- Vanessa Leung, PEP Member- Individualized Education Program
- Stanley Litow, IBM Foundation
- Joe Luft, Internationals Network for Public Schools
- Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, CUNY Chancellor
- Nequan Mclean, Education Council Consortium, (ECC)
- Joan McMaster, Diocese of Brooklyn
- Wes Moore, Robin Hood
- Michael Mulgrew, UFT
- Allison Palmer, ED, New Settlement College Access Center
- Shael Polakow-Suransky, Bank Street College Of Education
- Susan Stamler, United Neighborhood Houses
- Robert J Troeller, Local 891, Custodian Engineers
- Javier H. Valdés, Make the Road
- Dennis Walcott, Queens Public Library
- Sheena Wright, President & CEO United Way NY
- Michelle Yanche, Good Shepherds Services
- Rabbi David Zweibel, Agudath Israel
STATE COUNCIL
New York state has also made its own council to help “reimagine" what schools will look like in the future.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced last week that as New York begins to develop plans to reopen schools and colleges, the state and the Gates Foundation will develop a blueprint to reimagine education in the new normal brought on by the coronavirus outbreak.
Cuomo later announced the members of New York’s Reimagine Education Advisory Council, which is comprised of educators, students, parents and education leaders.
FOLLOW ANNALISE KNUDSON ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER.