SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS ANNOUNCES 2 MORE COMMUNITY FORUMS

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS From the White Plains City School District. August 17, 2020: 3PM

In order to ive you a better understanding of the district’s reopening plan, we will be hosting a series of three virtual community forums for parents and members of the community to ask questions that may not have been addressed during Dr. Ricca’s community updates during the month of July. Click here for flyer.

Here are the day and times and log-ins for the two remaining Virtual Community Forums:
TODAY August 18, 2020—12 noon—1:00pm

Login: https://lhric-org.zoom.us/j/98938007829?pwd=bmFpU0QzaGl3c1g3UHBSWUgvaGJYUT09;

THURSDAY August 20, 2020—12 noon—1:00pm

Login: https://lhric-org.zoom.us/j/98938007829?pwd=bmFpU0QzaGl3c1g3UHBSWUgvaGJYUT09;

On Friday, Aug. 7, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that in-person instruction is permitted in all regions of New York state for the start of the 2020-21 school year based on current COVID-19 infection rates, while also outlining new requirements related to school reopening plans.

 These requirements include highlighting plans for remote learning, COVID-19 testing, and contact tracing, which are all parts of the district’s reopening plan that was recently submitted to the New York State Education Department (NYSED) and New York State Department of Health (DOH). 

Those sections of our plan can be found on the Learning Model section of our reopening plan and the Health and Safety section of our reopening plan. 

 Over the course of the last several weeks, the district has been working to formulate a plan for reopening school in September. These plans were created based on guidelines from federal and state agencies, as well as feedback from community stakeholders. A copy of our complete reopening plan can be found here. 

\Anyone with questions or concerns about the district’s reopening plan can be directed to send their questions to [email protected]. 
Additionally, a list of frequently asked questions and answers will be posted on the district’s website in the coming days. Please stay safe, well and # WPProud!

Respectfully,

Dr. Joseph L. Ricca
Superintendent of Schools
Posted in Uncategorized

GOVERNOR CUOMO 6 MONTH COVID UPDATE: SCHOOLS MUST LISTEN TO PARENTS AND TEACHER CONCERNS–HAVE 3 TO 5 COMMUNITY MEETINGS BY FRIDAY. (WHITE PLAINS HAS HELD ONE, WILL HOLD 2 MORE ON ZOOM TOMORROW AND FRIDAY.) GOVERNOR WILL CLOSE SCHOOLS IF THEY SHOW COVID OUTBREAKS.

WPCNR CORONAVIRUS 6 MONTH UPDATE. (ADDITIONAL LOCAL INFO ADDED 2:50 PM EDT ) August 17, 2020:

Governor Cuomo stressed today New York is opening schools but that is “how” schools reopen that must be addressed with parents and teachers. Without their cooperation and buying into to school district plans, if they keep children home and teachers are not confident of their safety and stay home “you have no schools,” the governor said.

Here is a clip from the governor’s statements today about the school reopenings:

GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO NEWS CONFERENCE THIS MORNING ON THE SCHOOLS

 He outlined how gyms can reopen. He sharply criticized cities and towns across the state for not enforcing restaurant and bar rules stating 66 violations were issued across the state.

MICHELLE SCHOENFELD of the White Plains City School District told WPCNR the White Plains has already had the first of three such meetings last Friday and plans on two more.

The second such forum is tomorrow Tuesday with links and time to come. She said the third and final will take place Friday. (Time and link to come). The district calls these meetings “Virtual Community Forums on Zoom.”

He reported yesterday the state infection rate dropped to to point 7 %, the lowest it has been since the covid epidemic began in the state. “New Yorkers did what couldn’t be done.”

Posted in Uncategorized

County Executive Demands Fast, Fast Fast Relief from Con Edison at Next Storm. Excoriates PSC Ineffective Action on Ineffective Con Edison Response to Outages on Latest “Bad Storm”

Westchester County Executive George Latimer issued the following statement on the Con Edison performance in response to Tropical Storm Isaiaa power outages in Westchester County Friday.

“Con Edison’s performance in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaias was grossly deficient. The Governor, the New York State Public Service Commission, elected officials of both parties at every level and the customers themselves all recognize that failure.

Con Ed was simply not ready- a repeat of March 2018 – to provide the necessary manpower to cut and clear wires and to restore power in a timely fashion.

It cannot be acceptable to take a week or more to fully restore power, and in this case, from a storm that was not of the magnitude of Hurricane Irene or Superstorm Sandy.

This tells us the utility is simply not staffed up to handle storms; it tells us the profitability of the company is based on carrying staff insufficient to handle any significant weather incident.

“Westchester residents have time and again been underserved precisely in the moment when they most need that service. They need and deserve a service provider that outs service to the public ahead of any other consideration.

“Now, it is up to the State to use its regulatory authority to right this wrong, and mandate that the utility provide sufficient manpower and equipment that can, during the next hurricane, bring speedy relief to Westchester residents.”

Posted in Uncategorized

County Board of Legislators Issues Task Force Report on Recommended Voting Reforms this Fall

WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2020. From the Westchester County Board of Legislators. August 16, 2020:

Expanded early voting hours; a multimedia campaign to encourage early voting; multi-lingual video instructions for how to vote absentee; changes in procedures to increase the number of available workers; drop boxes for returning absentee ballots; necessary voting equipment; and information-sharing partnerships with community organizations — these are just some of the recommendations for improving voting this November contained in a newly issued report from the Board of Legislators’ Election Information Gathering Task Force.

The Task Force was created by Board Chairman Ben Boykin in response to voting challenges that emerged during the June 23 primary elections.

The Task Force is co-chaired by Legislators Catherine Borgia and Vedat Gashi. The other Task Force members are Vice Chair Alfreda Williams and Majority Leader MaryJane Shimsky. The Task Force gathered information from more than 100 public comments and committee meetings with voter advocates and the Westchester County Board of Elections Commissioners.

The 21-page report details some of the things that went right and some of the things that went wrong during the June primaries, as election officials dealt with unprecedented events relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Challenges included multiple State changes to deadlines and absentee voting procedures, difficulty in recruiting and training poll workers, and changes in the availability of many regularly used polling locations.

Other recommendations in the report include technology investments to help streamline opening and recording of mailed ballots and improvements to the Board of Elections website.

Taskforce Co-Chair Catherine Borgia said, “The Board of Elections faced an extremely difficult set of circumstances in June because of COVID.  We have to assume the situation will be similar this fall, but voter turnout will be much higher. Although the Board of Elections has the sole power and responsibility over the conduct of elections, we hope the information and recommendations we’ve assembled will be helpful to the BOE. The Board of Legislators stands ready to be a partner to the BOE in making sure voters in Westchester have the greatest possible access this fall.”

Taskforce Co-Chair Vedat Gashi said, “The impact of the pandemic on the June primaries was something no one could have been fully prepared for. However, we still have more than 10 weeks before early voting begins in the general election and the experiences of the June primaries to learn from. This report pulls together what we’ve learned since June and I hope the information and recommendations will be valuable to the Board of Elections going forward.”

Read the full report at https://westchesterlegislators.com/images/Newsroom/2020/eigtf-final-report.pdf.