Ben Kallos, Re-Elect to New York City Council in 2017 - Education

El Diario Exclusiva escuela abre sus puertas a residentes de El Barrio by Zaira Cortes

Feed — Sat, 23 Dec 2017 10:22:17 +0000

El Diario

Exclusiva escuela abre sus puertas a residentes de El Barrio

https://eldiariony.com/2017/12/21/exclusiva-escuela-abre-sus-puertas-a-residente...

Zaira Cortes

12/21/2017

Los residentes de El Barrio ahora podrán beneficiarse de los programas educativos y servicios comunitarios de la exclusiva escuela Marymount School, situada en el número 20 de la lista de las mejores escuelas privadas de la ciudad de Nueva York de 2018, según el ranking del sitio web Niche.

La educación de un solo estudiante en algunas de las escuelas de ese listado puede costar hasta $50,000 al año; sin embargo, en East Harlem, muchos padres trabajadores no superan los $40, 000 en ingresos anuales, como el mexicano Marcelo Suárez, un empleado de restaurante y residente del vecindario por más de una década.

“Trabajo duro para darles a mis tres hijos educación de calidad. He tenido hasta dos trabajos para comprarles útiles escolares y todo lo que necesitan. Quisiera hacer más por ellos, ayudarlos a que logren sus sueños, aprovechar cualquier oportunidad que los ayude a mejorar”, dijo Suárez, de 43 años.

Issue:

Education

Council Passes Bill Requiring Department of Education to Report The Number of Children Turned Away from Neighborhood Public Schools

Feed — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 14:01:54 +0000

Education

Council Passes Bill Requiring Department of Education to Report The Number of Children Turned Away from Neighborhood Public Schools

Geographic Diversity Would Be Added as Measure for Public Schools

New York, NY – Today the City Council passed legislation forcing the Department of Education to report the number of children from each neighborhood who apply to attend a particular school, the number of seats available at each school, how many offers of admission were made, and total enrollment in all public schools. The legislation authored by Council Member Ben Kallos will show the current geographic diversity in NYC schools, whether there are sufficient numbers of school seats in each neighborhood, and how many children are being turned away from the public school system because the City lacks the capacity to allow children to attend school in the neighborhood in which they live.

Geographic Diversity Would Be Added as Measure for Public Schools

Geographic Diversity Tracking Bill Passes Vote in Education Committee

Feed — Thu, 07 Dec 2017 16:40:27 +0000

Education

Geographic Diversity Tracking Bill Passes Vote in Education Committee

Geographic Diversity Tracking Bill Passes Vote in Education Committee
Legislation Aims to Measure Diversity in NYC Public Schools
New York, NY – Today the City Council’s Education Committee passed legislation that would measure the number of children from each neighborhood who apply to attend a particular school, the number of seats available at each school, how many offers of admission were made, and total enrollment in all public schools. The bill introduced by Council Member Ben Kallos will also require the Department of Education (DOE) to issue reports on the number of individuals who applied for, received offers for, and enrolled in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, sixth and ninth grade in DOE schools.

“The fact is we need more school seats and we need more transparency from the Department of Education. We have a growing city and the more useful data we can get the better our children will be served,” said Council Member Ben Kallos. “The Mayor’s promise of ‘Pre-Kindergarten for All’ must include enough seats in every neighborhood, including the Upper East Side. Parents in my district are giving up on our public schools and with it our government and parents who can’t afford private school are being forced out."
According to records obtained by Council Member Kallos in 2015, 54% of would-be pre-kindergarteners on the Upper East Side were not offered school seats in their zip codes. For the 2017-2018 school year, more than 900 four-year-olds applied for a total of 596 seats available for this school year. A decrease of 22 seats from the previous school year. This means that at least one in three four-year-olds will not be offered a seat in their neighborhood.

In 2016, in School District 2, which spans from the Financial District to the Upper East Side, 1,696 preschoolers took the Gifted and Talented exam, 838 of whom were deemed eligible for the program, and 652 applied. However, according to Department of Education, only 346 received offers, leaving 47% of applicants, a total of 306 preschoolers, without access to the coveted program.

The aforementioned data for these two programs indicates a larger problem which extends to general enrollment. This legislation seeks the data from the DOE needed to enact changes in order to give the City Council the ability to do so.

The reporting required under the legislation will show the current geographic diversity in NYC schools, whether there are sufficient numbers of school seats in each neighborhood, and how many children are being turned away from the public school system because the City lacks the capacity to allow children to attend school in the neighborhood in which they live. The information would be reported by community school district and by individual school. The information would be disaggregated by grade level, community school district of residence of individuals, primary home language of individuals, and zip code of individuals.

“The fact is we need more school seats and we need more transparency from the Department of Education. We have a growing city and the more useful data we can get the better our children will be served,” said Council Member Ben Kallos. “The Mayor’s promise of ‘Pre-Kindergarten for All’ must include enough seats in every neighborhood, including the Upper East Side. Parents in my district are giving up on our public schools and with it our government and parents who can’t afford private school are being forced out."

Ed Scoop NYC Broadband Initiative Looks to Eliminate the Homework Gap by Kate Roddy

Feed — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 03:32:16 +0000

Ed Scoop

NYC Broadband Initiative Looks to Eliminate the Homework Gap

http://edscoop.com/nyc-broadband-initiative-looks-to-eliminate-the-homework-gap/

Kate Roddy

12/04/2017

“Access to reliable, high-speed internet is no longer a luxury. In 2017, it is a necessity,” said Ben Kallos, member of the New York City Council. “Whether you are a small business competing for customers or a high school student doing homework, access to broadband could make the difference between landing a big contract or not, or getting an A on a research paper. I applaud this administration's efforts as New York City works toward universal broadband access."

New York City officials recently released a request for information (RFI) to collect insights on developing plans for the deployment of universal broadband throughout the city — an initiative that could have a considerable effect on the area’s homework gap.

The gap exists for students who use internet-connected devices to complete their work while at school but who lack internet access at home. The Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer says it wants to ensure connectivity for every resident and business in New York City by 2025 — and it expects to see substantial benefits for students along the way.

“I think the ideal end state is that every kid in public school who goes home with digital homework has the same opportunity to compete in and outside the classroom,” said Miguel Gamiño, the city's chief technology officer. “Students could come home and not have to worry about their internet connection being a barrier to compete with their classmates or to complete their homework, and I would like for that to be the case for every New Yorker.”

Many local leaders have voiced excitement for the plan's potential impact on schools.

Issue:

Education

Technology

Our Town Schools could find rec relief from Spence by Michael Garofalo

Feed — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 12:52:16 +0000

Our Town

Schools could find rec relief from Spence

http://www.ourtownny.com/local-news/20171129/schools-could-find-rec-relief-from-...

Michael Garofalo

11/29/2017

In addition to serving the Spence School’s athletics programs, the new facility would provide gym space for physical education classes from P.S. 151 and P.S. 527 under the terms of a proposed, but yet-to-be-finalized agreement between the schools. The two schools are each located near the proposed site of the new Spence facility and have limited space for physical activities. Students at P.S. 151, located at 421 East 88th St., use two converted classrooms for recreational space, while those at P.S. 527, located at 323 East 91st St., use an auditorium with a sloped floor and low ceiling, said City Council Member Ben Kallos, who described the gym-sharing proposal last week at a public hearing on the project at the Board of Standards and Appeals.

According to Kallos, by the time the new building opens for the 2019-2020 school year, Spence and the Department of Education will enter into an agreement allowing the public schools to use the Spence gymnasium for physical education classes during school hours, at no cost to the schools.

http://www.ourtownny.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=NP&Date=20171129&Cate...

Issue:

Education

Testimony in Support of Spence Field House for Use by Local Public Schools

Feed — Tue, 21 Nov 2017 17:00:00 +0000

Education

Testimony in Support of Spence Field House for Use by Local Public Schools

I am pleased that the Spence School, the principals of P.S. 151 and P.S. 527, and the Department of Education have agreed in principal to the common goal of opening a state of the art recreational facility to our local public-school students, and to the stated timeline for doing so.

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Good afternoon, I am New York City Council Member Ben Kallos. I am here today to address the application by the Spence School to the Board for a zoning variance to allow for the construction of a field house at 412 East 90th Street, in Council District 5, which I represent. Thank you to Chair Perlmutter and the members and staff of the Board for having me today.

As you know, the Spence School, a private, all girls K-12 school located at 22 East 91st Street purchased this site, at 412 East 90th Street, in 2011. The lot is zoned C8-4, allowing for a mix of commercial and manufacturing uses, and before the school purchased the building it had been operated as a garage.

Although similar uses still exist at nearby buildings, including multiple garages, the area surrounding the site has over time become heavily residential, and the garage was not an ideal use for this neighborhood. Residents often complained about the garage and I personally saw cars often being driven out of the garage down a one way street in the wrong direction.

The intended use by the Spence School of a field house for its students fills an established need for the school, whose current athletics program uses the school’s primary building, Central Park, and a mix of field houses and athletic facilities through the neighborhood. But it also presents an opportunity for the surrounding neighborhood, which lacks in park space and is always in need of additional recreational facilities.

When I first met with the Spence School to discuss this application, in January of 2017, Head of School Bodie Brizendine indicated to me that the school was serious about outreach to the community, both to communicate clearly about issues around construction of the new facility, and to establish productive uses for the space that would benefit the community as a whole.

As a Council Member, I have visited every public school in my district and almost every private school, and one of the things that I first started noticing when I went to my public schools was that very few of them have full size gyms, if they have any recreational space at all. School children in old buildings on the dense Upper East Side make do with the space they have, taking recess in closed streets, cafeterias, or classrooms.

I was therefore pleased that when I raised this issue, Head of School Brizendine indicated that the field house could be made available to neighboring public schools, in part because the Spence School’s need for the space was primarily after school, as it is a supplementary space to the school’s two already-existing teaching gyms.

I have been further pleased that in the ensuing months, discussions have proceeded among my office, the Spence School, neighboring schools P.S. 151 and P.S. 527, and the Department of Education.

P.S. 527, known as the East Side School for Social Action, is located at 323 E 91st Street, one avenue west and one block north of the Spence field house site. P.S. 527 is a lower school with 388 students enrolled, but which uses as its recreation space an auditorium with a sloped floor and ceiling that starts out very low.

P.S. 151, known as Yorkville Community School, is located at 421 East 88th Street, two blocks south of the proposed field house. Yorkville Community School has 515 lower school students enrolled with two classrooms that have been converted into recreational spaces. One features a mirror and bar on the wall, somehow making it a “dance studio,” and the other classroom is half the size of this hearing room, with basketball hoops mounted at one another’s three point lines. You can get a sense of the conditions if you asked everyone in the audience today to get up from their seats and start running around in a circle on their side of the room. It is a challenge to say the least, and I am concerned that children are not getting the physical education they need, something the Mayor has recognized citywide but not yet for this district.

Although I would prefer to have a memorandum of understanding in place ahead of the Board’s approval of this variance request, I have enclosed correspondence memorializing our agreement, and my understanding is that if the Board approves this application:

The Spence School will be opening its new building in time for the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year.
Access arrangements for P.S. 151 and P.S. 527 will be in place at that time so that the gymnasium will be available for P.S. 151 and P.S. 527 for their physical education curricula during school day hours, at no cost to the public schools.
Once Spence and the two schools have agreed to the essential program elements and a schedule for utilization, Spence and the Department of Education will enter into whatever binding agreements are customary for the Department of Education to require when utilizing off-site private spaces for physical education purposes, subject to whatever terms and conditions Spence may require in providing the City a license to enter on the Spence property.
The three schools will report quarterly to my office on progress of this arrangement, with the understanding that I may request a meeting with all concerned if I fail to see sufficient progress for the preparation of access in time for the 2019-2020 school year.

While acknowledging that substantive follow-up will be required to turn these intentions into a reality, I am pleased that the Spence School, the principals of P.S. 151 and P.S. 527, and the Department of Education have agreed in principal to the common goal of opening a state of the art recreational facility to our local public-school students, and to the stated timeline for doing so.

Thank you to the Spence School for making this a priority and for taking seriously its commitment to serving our shared community.

With the above understanding, I recommend the Board approve this application.

Forbes Technion Tour Highlights Economic Triangle Of China, Israel, NY by Rebecca Fannin

Feed — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 12:42:15 +0000

Forbes

Technion Tour Highlights Economic Triangle Of China, Israel, NY

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccafannin/2017/10/28/technion-tour-hainan-fligh...

Rebecca Fannin

10/28/2017

VIPs from corporate business, politics, VC and academia spoke and were honored during the program, among them Sanford Weill, Andrew Tisch, Ronald Lauder, Dr. Irwin Jacobs, Benchmark venture partner Scott Belsky and NYC Council Member Ben Kallos (who coined the term Silicon Island for the new campus overlooking central Manhattan and Long Island City).

Now all it takes is critical mass for the new campus to take off and really become a Silicon Island!

Anyone doubting the impact of the Tech Triangle as a new world order in technology leadership should have been at the Technion World Tour 2017 in New York City. At a four-day program highlighting science and technology innovations, the tech trio markets of Israel, China and New York were highlighted.

Technion president Peretz Lavie led a day-long visit to the newly opened Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute on Roosevelt Island and its three major facilities so far on a 12-acre campus: the Bloomberg Center academic hub, The Bridge startup and research center, and the environmentally advanced, student residential high-rise.

Now all it takes is critical mass for the new campus to take off and really become a Silicon Island!

At Cornell Tech (a joining of Cornell University and Technion in an initiative led by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg to create the campus as a springboard by NYC tech), the focus was on how the institution's focus on research, entrepreneurship and intellectual rigor will have an economic impact on New York City. Participants that included Technion alumni and supporters also got to hear about the center's Runway Postdoc program, which offers a spinoff route to commercialize tech creations, and already has 16 success stories. One current Master's degree student, Roy Cohen, noted that the Israel military was less rigorous than a Technion semester.

The tour brought in a dinner gala at the iconic Rainbow Room and a stop at Carnegie Hall for a performance by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and virtuosos Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman. Meanwhile, several Technion innovators had a chance to show off their inventions during the tour. They included Assaf Glazer of baby sleep monitoring device Nanit, Dr. Amit Goffer of a new walkable wheelchair UPnRide, Moty Avisar of VR glasses for medical startup Surgical Theater and Hossam Haick, creator of a breath sniffing device for detecting 17 specific diseases.

An outing to the Asia Society the following day brought in China to the equation. Panelists including Startup Nation author Dan Senor, Asia Society president and CEO Josette Sheeran, and philanthropist and entrepreneur Angelica Berrie explored the growing connections among the U.S., Israel and China, and increased investment by China into Israeli venture capital funds and R&D.

Not to be overlooked is Technion's launch of the first Israeli university in China, with a campus in Shantou, Guangdong province.

If the China connection was not pronounced enough already, a New York week also brought the launch of a new direct, non-stop flight by China's Hainan Airlines between New York City and both Chengdu and Chongqing in Southwestern China. A gala celebration at Alice Tully Hall, complete with a fashion show of flight attendants' uniforms over the years and an orchestral performance highlighted the launch of two weekly flights on each route for the airline, a part of China's real estate, financial and media/entertainment conglomerate HNA Group.

Rebecca A. Fannin is founder/editor of news, events and research group Silicon Dragon. She is an author of three books on innovation and venture trends, and is a public speaker.

Issue:

Education

School Food Accountability Bill Expected to Pass City Council

Feed — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 14:50:54 +0000

Education

School Food Accountability Bill Expected to Pass City Council

New York, NY- What is for breakfast lunch, and dinner along with how many children actually eat it is on the menu and passing the City Council thanks to legislation authored by Council Member Kallos. The Department of Education will now report on all school meals for 1.1 million public school children and on planning measures to increase participation in programs like Breakfast After the Bell and the newly announced Universal Free Lunch.

"No public school child should go hungry in one of the wealthiest cities in the world," said Council Member Ben Kallos. "With the addition of universal lunch, New York City offers a number of options for meals to our students. But we must make sure our kids and families are participating and the food they are served is nutritious.”

"Intro 773-B enables us to ensure that the Free School Lunch for All and Breakfast After the Bell initiatives reach their full potential. Given the extraordinarily high cost of living in New York City many families are struggling to make ends meet and school meals guarantee that students have the fuel they need to thrive in school." said Liz Accles, Executive Director, Community Food Advocates.

NYC to Report on How Many of the 1.1 Million Public School Students Actually Eat School Meals

New York, NY- What is for breakfast lunch, and dinner along with how many children actually eat it is on the menu and passing the City Council thanks to legislation authored by Council Member Kallos. The Department of Education will now report on all school meals for 1.1 million public school children and on planning measures to increase participation in programs like Breakfast After the Bell and the newly announced Universal Free Lunch.

"No public school child should go hungry in one of the wealthiest cities in the world," said Council Member Ben Kallos. "With the addition of universal lunch, New York City offers a number of options for meals to our students. But we must make sure our kids and families are participating and the food they are served is nutritious.”

"Intro 773-B enables us to ensure that the Free School Lunch for All and Breakfast After the Bell initiatives reach their full potential. Given the extraordinarily high cost of living in New York City many families are struggling to make ends meet and school meals guarantee that students have the fuel they need to thrive in school." said Liz Accles, Executive Director, Community Food Advocates.

"Council Member Kallos understands that proper child nutrition is critical in ensuring educational performance," said Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America. "To be schooled, you must be fueled. To be well read, you must be well fed. That’s why we are so grateful that his bill ensures greater transparency for our school system food services, and makes it easier for organizations like Hunger Free America to help make sure every child receives a nutritious meal during the school year."

For years, the City Council advocated in its Budget Response for Breakfast After the Bell, pointing out that comparable cities like Los Angeles received $16 million in federal funds for implementing the program. Efforts to increase healthy, free school meal participation have been a city priority. After the Council successfully advocated for free lunch in stand-alone middle schools, the Mayor announced recently that free lunch will now be offered in all public schools. According to Lunch 4 Learning,participation in lunch programs rose 8% in participating middle schools. The City can expect a more dramatic rise with the rollout of universal free lunch this year.

"While we know that healthy food fuels success for children, only a quarter of NYC students are eating free school breakfast, one in five NYC children is at risk of hunger, childhood obesity rates remain too high, and NYC recently ranked 61 out of 62 urban districts with regard to the take-up rate for school breakfast,” said Stephanie Gendell, Associate Executive Director, Policy and Government Relations, Citizens’ Committee for Children. “NYC public school children need universal Breakfast After the Bell programs, salad bars with fresh, nutritious food, universal free lunch, and after-school snacks. The data in Council Member Kallos’ bill will provide us with the ammunition we need to demonstrate the need to take immediate actions to ensure all school children are eating nutritious meals during and after the school day”

According to Hunger Free-NYC, one quarter of New York City children are food insecure. And a recent survey by the Food Research and Action Center found that New York City ranks second-to-last among 62 large school districts in effectiveness at reaching children eligible for programs like free breakfast. Introduction 773-B will allow the New York City Council to hold the DOE accountable for increased food security so no children will ever go hungry in New York City schools.

Int 773-B requires that the DOE report annually online to the City Council and the general public:

The average daily number of meals served for breakfast both before and after the bell;
The average daily number of meals served for lunch; and
The average daily number of meals served for school snacks and supper; and
Steps taken by DOE to increase participation in these programs through special initiatives and new proposals.

“The School Food Accountability Bill provides a much-needed addition to NYC’s existing food metrics. The data will help parents, advocates, researchers and school administrators track the progress of several important initiatives to improve school food and make it more accessible. The school food program continues to be one of the most important ways that New York City reduces food insecurity and improves the nutritional health of our children. The CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute welcomes this legislation and applauds the Council for including a requirement that DOE report the steps it is taking to increase student participation. In the spirit of the old adage that ‘what gets measured gets done,’ we are happy to see this step toward greater accountability,” said Janet Poppendieck co-founder of the NYC food policy Center at Hunter College.

“Having worked in school feeding across the globe, I have had the pleasure of diving in deep with the amazing team at School Food for many years and its evident that no group uses data better to drive healthy changes for its million-plus student customers. Now working in emergency feeding, at West Side Campaign Against Hunger, we know that low-income parents face multiple barriers to feeding their families healthy meals, but school food doesn’t have to be one of them. With publicly available data on school breakfasts and snacks, we believe we can better advocate for increased participation by promoting policies such as breakfast after the bell,” said Chef Gregory Silverman, MSc, Executive Director at West Side Campaign Against Hunger.

NBC News 4 New York Children Testify Against Park Pesticides by Roseanne Colletti

Feed — Sun, 01 Oct 2017 18:32:18 +0000

NBC News 4 New York

Children Testify Against Park Pesticides

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/on-air/as-seen-on/Children-Testify-Against-Park-Pestic...

Roseanne Colletti

09/26/2017

Children at one New York City school testified in City Council chambers against the use of pesticides in parks. Roseanne Colletti reports.

Issue:

Education

Health

CBS New York NYC Elementary Students Want City Council To Ban Toxic Pesticides In Parks by Erin Logan

Feed — Sun, 01 Oct 2017 18:32:18 +0000

CBS New York

NYC Elementary Students Want City Council To Ban Toxic Pesticides In Parks

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2017/09/26/toxic-pesticides-in-city-parks/

Erin Logan

09/26/2017

It was first introduced in May 2015. Council Member Ben Kallos was one of its sponsors, and some of the children have been in the chambers advocating before.

“We protested a little bit,” Savann Basen said.

Kallos said his goal is to use only biological pesticides that come from natural materials instead of synthetic materials. He said what’s most concerning is the herbicide spray called Roundup.

“The World Health Organization found that it was a carcinogen, so we introduced legislation right away,” he said.

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Some New York City elementary students took a stand Tuesday, hoping to make changes at city parks when it comes to the use of toxic pesticides.

They made sure their voices were heard before lawmakers in City Council chambers.

“We are going to make a great big fuss,” they chanted in a skit.

A fuss over toxic pesticides used in New York City parks.

“I think this is a good law that should pass, because pesticides are bad for people,” Jesse Balsam told CBS2’s Erin Logan.

The fourth grader at PS 290 said he’s been researching the topic since he was in Mrs. Rogivin’s kindergarten class. On Tuesday, he and his classmates stated their case in skit form.

“Those pesticides and herbicides are toxic,” they chanted.

Grades kindergarten through third also joined in, testifying in favor of Intro 0800 – a bill which calls for banning toxic pesticides in city parks and public spaces.

It was first introduced in May 2015. Council Member Ben Kallos was one of its sponsors, and some of the children have been in the chambers advocating before.

“We protested a little bit,” Savann Basen said.

Kallos said his goal is to use only biological pesticides that come from natural materials instead of synthetic materials. He said what’s most concerning is the herbicide spray called Roundup.

“The World Health Organization found that it was a carcinogen, so we introduced legislation right away,” he said.

The students and their teachers said they worry about little kids who don’t know any better.

“They roll around in the grass,” Basen said.

The Parks Department told CBS2 it’s thrilled that area children care so much about the parks, but there are some cases in which they have no choice but to use toxic pesticides to protect native species and public health.

When they do, by law, they make it very clear by posting signs.

“Kids playing sports don’t go around reading signs saying, ‘Oh they spray over here, we shouldn’t touch,’” Rogovin said.

She said she hopes other lawmakers will listen to her students’ message.

Kallos hopes to have the legislation passed by the end of the year.

Issue:

Education

Health