Editorial/Opinion ....................Pages 12,13 Education

Chancellor Banks, Cardi B kick off back to school week

Schools Chancellor David Banks and rapper Cardi B pay a surprise visit to I.S 232 Middle School in the Bronx. (Ariama C. Long photo)

By ARIAMA C. LONG

Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member

Back to school is in full swing this week, as Schools Chancellor David Banks and famed rapper Cardi B pay a surprise visit to I.S 232 Middle School in the Bronx this Tuesday.

Cardi B, aka Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar, is a Manhattan and Bronx native who attended I.S 232 as a youth. She was joined by Banks, Principal Desiree Resto, and Community Capacity Development Executive Director K. Bain. She announced that she’d be donating $100,000 to the school for additional programming.

“I’m hoping, you know, sometimes bad decisions happen after school, so I’m hoping we could have amazing after school activities, like tutoring or something fun like a music program,” said Cardi B.

She spoke to an exuberant auditorium of students from various grade levels about the hazards of gang culture and fighting, taking school seriously, and how her grades and decisions early on somewhat impeded her career. She said when it came to trying to get into a performing arts high school they wouldn’t even let her audition. The rapper also took questions from and photos with the clearly surprised and eager kids.

“Even though in the back of my head I used to hear my mother say, ‘you better become somebody, take school seriously,’ I still wanted to be one of those girls because I was very popular,” said Cardi B. “But to be popular [I had to make] a lot of bad decisions.”

The city said this school year it’s tackling the prevalence of dyslexia and literacy in schools, adding more than a thousand new Gifted & Talented Programs in school districts, putting $100 into scholarship accounts for kindergarteners citywide, continuing Meatless Mondays and plant-based Fridays, and hiring more school safety agents and social workers.

The spokesperson for the Department of Education (DOE) said so far the rollout for back to school has been smooth compared to other years.

Meanwhile, the excitement of students flooding the halls again hasn’t overshadowed the weekslong legal battle between the city, DOE, parents, and teachers over school budget cuts. Though Adams staunchly refused to call it a “budget battle” when asked about the topic on the first day of school.

“It’s not a budget battle,” said Adams at a presser. “The way the system of government operates is that the mayor presents our budget. The Council uses all of their staff to review the budget, and then they vote on the budget. This is a historical moment that the Council is fighting against a budget that they approved. We are going to make sure that every child and every school receives the resources that they need.”

On Sept. 6, the City Council voted to pass Resolution 283-A, sponsored by Speaker Adrienne Adams, which demands Mayor Adams and Banks immediately reverse the DOE’s $469 million reductions to school budgets. The resolution clarifies that the DOE “removed nearly three times more from school budgets than was indicated in the city budget.”

See CARDI B on page 29

NYC Schools’ student safety plan faces backlash over expansion of NYPD presence

By TANDY LAU

Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member

NYC Schools Chancellor David Banks kicked off the semester last week by announcing a comprehensive plan to “reimagine school culture and student safety.”

“When a parent kisses their child goodbye in the morning, they trust that their child will be both emotionally and physically safe at school,” he said. “This administration is prioritizing the reimagining of our commitment to supporting the whole child from the day they enter our schools to the day they graduate.”

Part of such a reimagination involves the hiring of roughly 850 NYPD school safety agents. Critics grade the Department of Education’s move an F, saying more officers on campus adversely affect students of color. Monifa Bandele, senior vice president and chief strategy officer of grassroots nonprofit MomsRising, says such a move opens the door for further racial profiling against Black students like her daughter.

“Children thrive in schools that have really great systems of care,” she said. “Whether there’s an abundance of school nurses, guidance counselors or social workers—trauma informed adults, those are the types of things that make schools very healthy and safe for children. It’s just a really

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NYC Schools Chancellor David Banks with a school safety officer (Ariama Long photo)

“This resolution focuses attention on how DOE implements its $37 billion budget, with its actions increasingly occurring outside of public accountability and transparency,” said Speaker Adams in a statement. “These unaccountable actions must cease to truly support our students and school communities, and DOE must reverse them. The answer to declining enrollment cannot be simply for DOE to take money from schools.”

Councilmember Kristin Richardson-Jordan and Charles Barron, known for their incredible outspokenness, called the entire budgeting situation “political theater” in a letter. The letter says that the city council body collectively failed, along with the mayor, to take necessary action on the cuts before the budget was approved.

That’s not the only contentious law in education.

On Sept. 9, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the class size bill, much to the chagrin of Mayor Adams who’s been drilling down about the cost. The class size bill requires city schools, Banks, and unions for teachers and principals to phase in smaller classes over the next five years, starting in the fall of 2023.

Advocates, however, were motivated by the news. Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters, said, “Thank you, Governor Hochul, for listening to the research showing that class size matters, especially for kids who need help the most, and for heeding the pleas of parents and teachers that it’s time to provide true equity to our students who have long suffered from the largest class sizes in the state.”

Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about culture and politics in New York City for The Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting: https://tinyurl.com/fcszwj8w

2022-23 ADMISSION

NOW OPEN

(Ariama C. Long photo)

School Safety

Continued from page 28

wrong direction that we see our schools going in to become militarized, because we know it increases anxiety, and it makes it a very toxic place to learn.”

With the Uvalde shooting serving as a key concern for student safety nationwide, Bandele also mentions police inaction during the tragedy is a reason for fewer cops in schools, not more.

“You’re called school safety agents, but you’re not giving the school safety,” said Jolie S., a high school junior from Brooklyn. “You’re a school cop. You’re policing us, you’re surveilling us. You’re watching our every move. At times, it does feel like jail.”

The youngster, who serves as a youth leader with the Urban Youth Collaborative and Make the Road NY, says students of color like herself are often overlooked in conversations about school safety.

“They block us out from everything, and they also say that we are the next generation,” she said. “But at the same time, you’re not listening to the next generation, how are you supposed to help us and help us grow? The chancellor’s announcement just aggravated me because he said that school police keep us safe. At the same time, look at Uvalde, the school police didn’t do anything, stood there and [waited] for backup.”

Beyond the controversial addition of school safety agents, the plan will also enlist community-based organizations with proven backgrounds in youth support and violence disruption to participate in a new initiative called Project Pivot. Roughly 110 social workers will be redeployed closer to schools. And 1,300 issues with school alarms, locks and PA systems were identified by the Division of School Facilities during the summer and are currently being addressed.

Bandele says the best solutions for student safety are in resources like more psychologists and counselors. And retaining teachers. She wants to ask the proponents of more school safety officers a simple question:

“Look at the safest communities in the country, do they have the most police?” said Bandele. “People start blinking. The safest communities in New York City? Do you see police on every corner? And then you ask them, so what is in that community that keeps it safe? They’re not inundated with armed police officers.”

Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member and writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift today by visiting: https://tinyurl.com/fcszwj8w