Talk Out of School

Council Member Mark Levine on his concerns with the health and safety protocols in the NYC school reopening plan

Episode Summary

Leonie interviewed CM Mark Levine, chair of the NYC Health Committee, about his concerns related to the health and safety protocols in NYC’s school reopening plan.

Episode Notes

Resources:

NYC DOE school reopening plan

Class Size Matters testimony on the plan

The Major Problems with NYC's School Reopening Plan

Video: Rabbis urging vaccination

Air purification: Intellipure model that DOE purchased for $43 million lacks HEPA filters, and independent experts rank the model among the most expensive and least efficient on the market.

Testing protocol: Los Angeles schools are doing weekly Covid testing of all students and staff, vs. NYC which is only testing one tenth of unvaccinated students once every two weeks.

FEMA fact sheet on how the federal government will cover the entire cost of staffing and Covid testing for any school district, through December 31, 2021.

Social distancing: Mark Cannizzaro, the President of the Principal Union, on how the majority of  NYC’s roughly 1700 public schools would not be able to achieve 3 feet of social distancing this year.

Remote learning: DOE has refused to offer a remote option to New York City students unlike most other districts, despite the advocacy of many parents, elected officials, and organizations.