Latest news with #Biederman
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Push to create educator ‘responsibility to parents' draws backlash from teachers
House Bill 235 would update the state's educator code of conduct to require that teachers pledge a responsibility to parents — not just students. (Getty Images) To Nancy Biederman, proper teaching is about staying on the right side of the line. On one side are the topics and behavior appropriate for students; on the other, subject material that is overly personal, political, social, or religious. Teachers should remain on the first side, Biederman believes. The second should be the sole domain of a student's parents. And lawmakers should establish legislative safeguards to make sure the line is respected. 'Teachers are just stepping over the line and trying to become the parents of the children,' said Biederman, a New Boston resident and former elementary and middle school teacher, in an interview. 'And that's not their job.' That sentiment has driven a raft of school-related Republican legislation, such as the parental bill of rights, which passed the House, 212-161, in March. It's also inspired a less prominent bill. House Bill 235 would update the state's educator code of conduct to require that teachers pledge a responsibility to parents — not just students. Teachers found by the State Board of Education to have failed that responsibility could face disciplinary sanctions. Some, like Biederman, a strong advocate for the parental bill of rights, have cheered HB 235. 'I think it would definitely make teachers stop and think for a second before they discuss certain topics,' said Biederman. 'And I think it would put that line in the sand that seems to have disappeared, of where they are allowed to discuss and give opinions … on certain topics.' But the move has drawn fierce criticism from teachers, who say they already do maintain productive relationships with parents but that legislating those relationships would constrain their ability to do their job. 'I just think you could be abused,' said Mary Ann Cadwallader, a Hanover resident and former teacher, in an interview Tuesday. Under current law, the educator code of conduct requires that teachers and other educators maintain four responsibilities: to the education profession and educational professionals; to students; to the school community; and to the 'responsible and ethical use of technology as it relates to students, schools, and other educational professionals.' HB 235 would simply add the phrase 'and parents' to educators' responsibility to students. Rep. Rick Ladd, a Haverhill Republican and the chairman of the House Education Funding Committee, said it would solidify what should already be part of a teacher's job. 'Parents are involved in your schools,' Ladd, a former school administrator, said. '… It's important that we recognize, and I think by recognize in this code of ethics that parents or guardians need to be there.' The legislation comes as increasing parental involvement in schools has been a top priority for conservatives, amid accusations that teachers are usurping the role of families. House Bill 10, the parental bill of rights, would enumerate a number of rights of parents with respect to their school districts, including the right to direct their child's education or care, make health care decisions for their child, review school records, consent to any medical tests, and consent to any video recordings of their child. It would also obligate teachers and administrators to communicate and review curriculum with parents, HB 235 is a much simpler bill. But teachers' unions have warned it could still have a broad and negative impact in the classroom. 'There's a lot put on educators when it comes to all sorts of rules, regulations that you need to follow,' said Brian Hawkins, director of government relations for the National Education Association of New Hampshire, at a hearing on the bill in the House Education Policy and Administration Committee. 'And they just want to go in there and teach and educate.' Hawkins added there is 'no doubt' that partnerships between parents and teachers are important. But he said that complex issues and demands from parents are often better handled by school administrators, not individual teachers. If passed by the Senate and signed by Gov. Kelly Ayotte, it is not yet clear how HB 235 would be implemented. The bill itself is short; the exact requirements put into the educator code of conduct would be fleshed out by the State Board of Education and the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules after the bill's passage. Hawkins warned lawmakers that because the term 'responsibility' is not defined, the bill could give broad leeway to JLCAR to add expansive requirements for teachers. In written testimony to the House committees, other teachers expressed opposition to the idea of having a formal statutory responsibility to teachers. Some said it would be too high a time burden. Others said the bill would eliminate the potential for schools to act as a safe space for children who are struggling internally. 'I am a professional who treats all of my students with respect,' said Heather Fabbri, of Hampton Falls, who identified herself as a 29-year teacher. 'I fear this bill will open doors to parents who have an agenda about who does and does not deserve to feel safe within my classroom.' Cadwallader hasn't been teaching since 2001. But she says when she was a teacher, any issues with parents were dealt with head on, without the need for legislative mandates. 'Public education is very important for everyone and parents certainly have a role in that,' she said. 'There's teacher conferences for parents to talk. A parent who's really upset with what's happening can go and talk to the principal in the school.' To Cadwallader, the current climate can feel oppressive for teachers. 'I don't think the general motivation to be a teacher is to stay out of the reach of the law for Pete's sake. It's to attend to a child. It's to be the best teacher you can be, which means you have to get your coursework across to the student.' But Biederman says teachers can avoid that scrutiny as long as they stay in their professional lane, as she says she and her colleagues did before she retired from the profession 10 years ago. 'A teacher needs to respect a parent's right to bring their child up the way they want to bring their child up,' she said. 'And how dare you step over that line. As long as the child has their basic needs met, there is no reason for a teacher' to get involved.
Yahoo
16-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Cyclist safety bill pedals its way through the Roundhouse
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – The cycling community in New Mexico, is hoping to improve safety at intersections with a new bill. 'I've had so many close calls, I can't count them. And as a result, I do treat the stop signs as yield signs,' said Alex Applegate, an advocate of Senate Bill 73. It's an issue that's been bubbling up for years among cyclists. More than 130,000 bicyclists are injured in crashes on roadways every year in the United States. According to the University of New Mexico Annual Crash Report, 38 bicyclists have been killed in the last five years. 'As a cyclist who's been commuting by bicycle for over 30 years with hundreds of thousands of miles on the roads, I've been hit twice at intersections,' continued Applegate. Construction begins on new bike lanes along Central corridor in downtown Albuquerque This is why bicycle advocacy groups like Bike ABQ have teamed up with Senator Antoinette Sedillo Lopez and Representative Pamelya Herndon to push forward Senate Bill 73. 'Senate Bill 73 implements a new law that improves bicyclist safety at intersections,' mentioned Eric Biederman, board member of Bike ABQ. This bill would allow a cyclist to treat a stop sign at an intersection as a yield sign. 'So as a cyclist approaches the intersection, they have to check for conflicting traffic that may have the right-of-way, and if there is none, they're allowed to proceed through the intersection without making a complete stop,' explained Biederman. Within the biking community, this is already a common practice but by codifying this bill into law, advocates believe it could make significant improvements. 'The reason it improves cyclist safety is that it reduces cyclist exposure to cars at these intersections. So they can transit through the intersection more quickly than they would under the current laws, and they remain more visible to traffic,' emphasized Biederman. Soon, advocates hope to develop the necessary infrastructure to maximize safety for all motorists on the roads by adding raised sidewalks and protected bike lanes. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
29-01-2025
- Business
- New York Times
A Restaurant That Helped Change Bryant Park Is Losing Its Lease
Good morning. It's Wednesday. We'll get an update on the squabble over the lease renewal for a restaurant that is a centerpiece of Bryant Park. We'll also find out about the city's plan to try to lengthen life expectancy after a dramatic drop during the pandemic. Change is coming to Bryant Park, where a long-established restaurant, the Bryant Park Grill, is losing its lease. It will be replaced by a place run by the peripatetic chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who presides over the market and food hall at the South Street Seaport as well as a dozen other restaurants in New York City. The Bryant Park Corporation, the nonprofit management company that is the landlord of the 9.6-acre park behind the New York Public Library's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, has decided to award the lease to Vongerichten's Jean-Georges Management 'to develop new food and beverage concepts,' with Seaport Entertainment Group as the operator. Seaport Entertainment owns 25 percent of Vongerichten's company. 'It's an iconic space in New York,' Vongerichten said on Tuesday, adding that he wanted to 'change it with new flavors' and mentioning 'local products, local farmers, local fishermen.' 'We want to change the ethos of what they're doing now,' Vongerichten said. Daniel Biederman, the president of the Bryant Park Corporation, told a committee of Manhattan Community Board 5 about the change on Monday. He said the new lease had not been signed, 'but it's very close to being signed.' The Parks Department — which leases the park to Biederman's group, which in turn leases out the restaurant space — will then have to approve the deal. The current operator, Ark Restaurants, has run the Bryant Park Grill for nearly 30 years. Biederman's group said in a statement that the Bryant Park Grill would close in April for renovations. Vongerichten said that 'it's going to take a good year, I think, to refurbish, redesign the whole place.' He said that the 250 employees of the Bryant Park Grill could apply for jobs when the new restaurant is ready to open. Vongerichten said that he would 'probably keep the name because it is so iconic.' But Matt Partridge, the chief financial officer of Seaport Entertainment, said during the meeting on Monday that 'from a naming perspective, it's going to have some component of Jean-Georges in it.' Partridge also said that the Porch, the casual outdoor restaurant in one corner of the park, would be modeled on 'a concept called Happy Monkey.' Vongerichten runs a restaurant by that name in Greenwich, Conn. Ark has been squabbling with the Bryant Park Corporation for months. Michael Weinstein, the chief executive of Ark, had said in September that he had heard that Biederman had been negotiating with Vongerichten. Ark then launched a pre-emptive strike, a page on the restaurant's website headed 'Help save Bryant Park Grill.' Weinstein said in September the Bryant Park Grill now pays roughly $3 million a year in rent. During the session on Monday — a meeting of the community board's Parks and Public Spaces Committee — Biederman did not say how much Vongerichten and Seaport Entertainment had offered. Vongerichten said he did not know what Ark's deal had been. 'We were not undercutting anybody,' he said, noting that the Bryant Park Corporation had 'approached us as they approached many other groups.' During the meeting on Monday, several committee members raised questions about the affordability of the new restaurant. Biederman said that 'we do not believe Jean-Georges will be much more expensive.' Weinstein said on Tuesday that Biederman was 'trying to kick out the one institution most responsible for transforming Bryant Park into what it is today.' He said he would keep fighting to stop a change he called 'disastrous.' 'They've never run anything of this size,' he said. 'This is 1,350 seats that get filled at the same time. Good luck to them. They're not going to be able to perform. Eventually they'll figure it out.' Expect mostly sunshine with a chance of rain and temperatures in the high 40s. For tonight, wind and partly cloudy skies with temperatures in the low 20s. Suspended for Lunar New Year's Eve. The latest New York news A plan to lengthen life expectancy In the first year of the pandemic, life expectancy in New York City dropped from 82.6 years to 78 years, the lowest since the early 2000s. Life expectancy has since inched back up to 81.5 years, according to the most recent statistics. Mayor Eric Adams said in 2023 that he wanted the average life expectancy to be higher than that by 2030, and even higher than before the pandemic — 83 years by 2030. On Tuesday the health department released a report that outlined ways to get there. The Adams administration has set a goal of reducing deaths from some cancers — including breast, colon, prostate, lung and cervical cancers — by 20 percent over the next five years, partly by addressing racial disparities in cancer screenings and access to cancer care. The plan also calls for reducing deaths from diabetes- and heart-related ailments by 5 percent. The report characterized the drop in life expectancy as inequitable, with the largest decreases among Black and Latino New Yorkers. Of the 19 proposals summarized in the report, many are intended to reduce racial disparities in health outcomes. The report noted that the Adams administration had already set targets for reducing what it called 'key drivers of premature mortality,' including death from some cancers, partly by addressing racial disparities in screenings and access to care. Among Black men in New York City, for instance, the death rates from screenable cancers are about 50 percent higher than among white or Hispanic men, according to health department statistics. The proposals in the report would cost approximately $36 million, city officials said. My colleague Joseph Goldstein writes that the question is whether this assortment of programs will be enough to mitigate chronic illnesses, especially diabetes, a disease that afflicts close to 13 percent of adult New Yorkers. That figure has not improved in years — and is twice what it was a generation ago. Artful Dear Diary: My trips to the Metropolitan Museum of Art typically include a stop to see Seurat's Study for 'A Sunday on La Grande Jatte,' a precursor to his much larger 'A Sunday on La Grande Jatte.' That painting, almost certainly the artist's best known, has been viewed by countless visitors to the Art Institute of Chicago, and by many others who have seen a certain popular 1980s movie in which the piece has a small, but meaningful, role. On my most recent visit to the Met, I heard a man behind me explaining the work to his group: And there's another one at the Art Institute of Chicago that's three times as big as this one, he said. I turned around. 'You really know your stuff,' I said. 'Yeah,' he said. 'I saw 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off.'' — James Devitt Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here. Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B. P.S. Here's today's Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here. Francis Mateo and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@ Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox.
