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Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘I did it': Cuomo claims credit for NYC's universal pre-K program, stoking outrage
NEW YORK — Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo claimed credit Monday for the creation of New York City's universal pre-K program, an initiative that's widely viewed as the brainchild of his longtime political nemesis, ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio. Cuomo, who's running as an independent candidate in November's election for New York City mayor, staked out his position during an appearance on WNYC after being asked if he agrees de Blasio spearheaded the 2014 launch of the popular early childhood education program. 'No, he didn't,' replied Cuomo, who as governor frequently clashed with de Blasio. 'The state did it — I did it.' The city's universal pre-K program, which provides free full-day child care for every 4-year-old in the five boroughs, got off the ground in September 2014 after de Blasio made it the main objective of his early days as mayor. Administered by the city Department of Education, the program's launch was undergirded by a hefty tranche of funding included in that year's state budget, meaning Albany played a key role in getting the initiative across the finish line. However, the program itself was proposed and designed by de Blasio's administration, and the former mayor has long said Albany, including then-Gov. Cuomo, only came around to backing a state funding increase after relentless advocacy from his City Hall team. Asked for clarity on Cuomo's radio comments, his spokesman Rich Azzopardi said the ex-governor was referring to a small-scale pre-K pilot program he launched on the state level in 2013 before de Blasio became mayor. Azzopardi also took a shot at de Blasio for initially pushing Albany for a state-level tax increase on the wealthy to bankroll the universal pre-K program. 'His point was that de Blasio wanted a tax increase for the sake of a tax increase, and Gov. Cuomo was able to build upon the pilot program he launched prior to de Blasio's election and deliver those pre-K slots not only to the city, but also the rest of the state with existing resources,' Azzopardi said. De Blasio didn't immediately return a request for comment Monday. Some de Blasio defenders stepped in to accuse Cuomo of rewriting history in light of his radio remarks. City Council Finance Committee Chairman Justin Brannan, who as a senior city Department of Education official helped with the rollout of universal pre-K in 2014, said Cuomo's comments made him feel like his 'head is going to explode.' 'And I built the Verrazzano Bridge with my bare hands,' Brannan added. 'Andrew Cuomo lives in his own reality. Facts don't matter,' Ana Maria Archila, the New York Working Families Party's co-director, piled on in a post on X. 'He makes up stories and then just expects people to fall in line.' In a press conference held this past April to celebrate a funding increase for the pre-K program, de Blasio hinted at the grueling battle his administration got into with Cuomo's administration in 2014. 'I went to Albany, and I found a door that was closed quite often and a lack of support — and we had to fight and fight and fight to finally get what our children deserved,' he said at that press conference. 'You either stand for early childhood education or you don't, and I just think everyone's record should be remembered.' The 2014 feud is reemerging at a time Cuomo faces a deja vu of sorts over policies related to taxation and childcare — albeit from a very different angle. Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor who's polling as the favorite to win November's election, has proposed vastly expanding free childcare in the city so that kids between the ages of 6 weeks and 5 years are entitled to it. In order to fund such a drastic expansion, Mamdani, a democratic socialist, has proposed increasing taxes on corporations and millionaires. Cuomo and other critics of Mamdani, including Mayor Eric Adams, who's also running as an independent in November's election, have argued Mamdani's proposals are unrealistic, saying, in particular, that there's no way Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers will agree to tax hikes next year. In his WNYC appearance, Cuomo — who raised taxes on millionaires in 2021 — reiterated his belief that Mamdani wouldn't be able to secure any tax hikes in Albany in 2026. 'That is not going to happen,' said Cuomo, who resigned as governor in August 2021 amid sexual and professional misconduct accusations he denies. ____ _____
New York Post
5 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
OF COURSE ‘restorative justice' in schools doesn't work — and now the proof is in
Surprise, surprise: School 'meditation rooms' and 'harm-reduction circles,' a new study shows, don't cure juvenile delinquents but instead undermine teachers' authority and lead to more chaotic classrooms. Gee, who would've thunk it? Actually, the study — by the Manhattan Institute — confirms what we've long known about then-Mayor Bill de Blasio's push for 'restorative justice' in the name of racial equity: It was always doomed to fail. Restorative justice calls for schools to provide students and staff the opportunity to talk through conflicts instead of punishing kids with meaningful measures like suspensions. Yet the data shows that, despite an outlay of $100 million since it became the prevailing practice, incidents requiring the NYPD's school safety division more than doubled — from 1,200 in the first quarter of 2016 to 4,120 in the first quarter of 2025. The report also found that putting troubled students in 'meditation rooms' instead of suspending or kicking them out of class doesn't solve any problems, as violent incidents continued to rise and absenteeism jumped 35%. The study cites several instances of students not being punished or held accountable for deplorable behavior and violent acts. Though students at Origins High School who had subjected a Jewish teacher to Nazi salutes and threats were sent to a 'meditation room,' the harassment did not stop. This spring, an 8-year-old stabbed a staff member with a pencil and threatened classmates at Staten Island's PS 8. Parents derided the school's response — a meditation room and calls home — as entirely inadequate. A Center for Court Innovation in Brooklyn found no statistically significant benefits in schools that implemented restorative-justice practices compared to those that used a traditional disciplinary approach. The Department of Education claims suspensions have plummeted 48% over the past 10 years, resulting in 'keeping more children in class and engaged.' Duh: If your policy is to suspend fewer kids, as restorative-justice calls for, it's no shock that fewer kids get suspended. Even Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos admits the approach isn't cutting it: 'The work is far from done,' she conceded Wednesday. Yet she vowed, 'It's not leaving New York City public schools.' That's unforgivable: The study's bottom line clearly found restorative justice fuels disorder, a lack of accountability and possibly an increase in chronic absenteeism. The disruptions that prevent well-behaved kids from learning alone should be enough to ditch this policy, not to mention the violence and absenteeism that comes from it. Mayor Eric Adams, as a former cop, should know that kids who don't pay meaningful consequences for misbehavior will simply continue misbehaving. Some good news: An April 2025 executive order from Donald Trump puts the kibosh on using race as a factor in discipline, which may help push schools to return to traditional responses to misconduct and a restoration of order in classrooms. But until New York City's policy changes, the chaos will continue — and learning will suffer.
New York Post
5 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Soft ‘restorative justice' discipline policy a bust in NYC public schools — as violent incidents balloon to 4,200 this year: study
The New York City Department of Education's $100 million push to implement 'restorative justice' instead of stricter school discipline has been a bust — with violent incidents doubling to 4,200 reports this year and 'chronic absenteeism' spiking to a whopping 35%, a new study claims. The major shift in policy at city public schools started in 2015 under then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, when the DOE began requiring principals to obtain approval from the central office before suspending students in grades K–2. But 'what began as an alternative became a mandate, forcing administrators to abandon exclusionary options regardless of school context,' Jennifer Weber, an education behavioral researcher with the Manhattan Institute think tank, wrote in the report, released Thursday. Advertisement 8 Violent incidents have doubled to 4,200 reports this year in NYC public schools. Courtesy of Sidney Southerland 'NYC's implementation of RJ has failed to achieve its promises,' Weber said. 'The changes undermined teacher authority and weakened classroom order rather than improving school climate and advancing equity.' Restorative justice is the education establishment's equivalent of alternatives to jail programs for juveniles and criminals — focusing on mediation, conflict resolution, relationship building and harm reduction 'circles' of students and teachers, aimed at defusing and preventing misbehavior, fights and violence. Advertisement The goal is to improve school climate and curb more punitive punishment such as student suspensions, and advocates have pushed the changes in the name of racial and economic equity. Groups including the New York Civil Liberties Union have long complained that suspensions disproportionately punish minorities, particularly black students. But the new system ultimately did not lead to 'a shift from punishment to compassion,' Weber wrote, 'but the dismantling of the systems that had maintained basic classroom stability.' Weber's MI-funded study cited shocking examples — some highlighted in The Post — of students not being punished or held accountable for reprehensible and violent acts. Advertisement The Manhattan Institute's study on the city DOE's $100 million 'restorative justice' initiative highlights several shocking incidents, including: Students who subjected a Jewish teacher to Nazi salutes and threats at Brooklyn's Origins High School last year were sent to a 'meditation room' and their parents were called. But it did not stop the harassment. In May, an 8-year-old allegedly stabbed a staff member with a pencil and threatened classmates at PS 8. The school's response — a 'meditation room' and phone calls — was inadequate, families fumed. 'He has rights, and so does my child. If he's threatening my child, what am I supposed to do?' one parent said bluntly. The report also cites a 2022 study by the Center for Court Innovation in Brooklyn's District 18 conducted in five borough high schools with high suspension rates. It found that, despite implementing 'restorative justice' practices, there was no statistically significant difference, compared with other schools that stuck with the previous discipline system. Early last year, a Jewish teacher at Brooklyn's Origins High School was subjected to Nazi salutes and threats from students. But the school's response — making calls to parents and sending the students to spend time in a 'meditation room' — did not stop the harassment, the study noted. 8 Dara Kammerman was the interim principal of Origins High School. Advertisement The teacher, Danielle Kaminsky, and campus manager Michael Beaudry, who allege they were booted from the school in retaliation for blowing the whistle on anti-Jewish and anti-gay hate, eventually filed a pending lawsuit against the city. The case shows 'how RJ without consequences can leave staff vulnerable,' Weber wrote. In another stunning incident, the report notes how parents at P.S. 8 on Staten Island picketed their own school in May after an eight-year-old allegedly stabbed a staff member with a pencil and threatened classmates. 8 Parents at P.S. 8 on Staten Island picketed their own school in May. Obtained by the New York Post The families were outraged over the school's response, sending the student to a 'meditation room' and making phone calls to parents, fuming it was inadequate. 'He has rights, and so does my child. If he's threatening my child, what am I supposed to do?' one parent quoted in the report said bluntly. Weber noted: 'The incident reflects a broader concern when schools avoid consequences in the name of compassion, safety, and accountability.' The report also cites a 2022 study by the Center for Court Innovation conducted in five Brooklyn high schools with steep suspension rates. Advertisement 8 Pictured: Letter written by third graders at a Staten Island elementary school at PS 8 in Great Kills about a problematic student from their classroom. Obtained by the new York Post It found that, despite implementing restorative justice practices, there was no statistically significant difference in climate and suspensions compared with other schools that did not make changes in discipline. The new system may even be harmful, the study found, contributing to disorder, lack of accountability and possibly an increase in chronic absenteeism. Over the last decade since restorative justice began being rolled out, incidents that the NYPD's school safety division nearly doubled, from 1,200 in the first quarter of 2016 to 4,120 in the first quarter of 2025, records show. Advertisement Chronic student absenteeism — missing 10% of school days or 18 days in a given year — skyrocketed from 26.5% in the 2018–19 school year to 34.8% in 2023-24. 8 An eight-year-old allegedly stabbed a staff member with a pencil and threatened classmates. Obtained by the new York Post That percentage is equal to roughly one-third of kids in the nation's largest public school district, or some 300,000 students, regularly missing class. 'When classrooms feel chaotic or unpredictable,' the study said, 'students simply and regretfully opt out.' Advertisement At the same time, test scores have been less than stellar — with 53% of students in grades 3-8 meeting standards on the state's 2024 standardized math exam and 49% passing the English test. On the more rigorous National Assessment of Educational Progress tests, only 33% of city 4th graders and 23% of 8th graders were deemed proficient in math. 8 Ahmed Elmaliki replaced Dara Kammerman at Origins High School. Linkedin Ahmed E. Similarly, just 28% of 4th graders and 29% of 8th graders were found to be proficient in English. Advertisement The bombshell MI report comes after President Trump in April issued an executive order instructing schools to ban race as a factor when dealing with student discipline. The study said the DOE has spent a total of $99 million on restorative justice initiatives from 2015–2024 under both de Blasio and current Mayor Eric Adams. By the numbers: Cost of 'restorative justice' initiatives: $99 million between 2015-2024 Percentage of kids deemed 'chronically absent' from school (missing 10% of days) in 2023-24: 34.9%. That same percentage in 2018-19: 26.5% Number of incidents NYPD responded to in city schools so far this year: 4,120 That same number in 2016: 1,200 The report attributed the failure to produce improvements in student behavior and school safety to a lack of infrastructure and of consistent application to support the program. 'These outcomes highlight a basic problem: schools were never given the necessary tools to make lasting changes in student behavior,' Weber said. Weber said restorative justice programs can work to supplement — but not supplant — stricter disciplinary action. 8 The DOE has spent a total of $99 million on restorative justice initiatives from 2015–2024. Obtained by the new York Post For instance, 72% of charter schools report using restorative justice approaches without taking classroom removals and suspensions off the table. The study recommends that the mayor scrap the policy that forces principals to obtain central office approval before suspending K–2 students. It also urges the DOE to revise the discipline code to state that 'exclusionary consequences' such as suspensions are legitimate responses to serious or repeated misbehavior. 8 Pictured: Parents of third graders at a Staten Island elementary school at PS 8 in Great Kills rallying for the city Department of Education to boot one problematic student from their kids classroom. Obtained by the new York Post 'The result has not been better outcomes or more equity, but more disruption, frustration, and fewer tools for the people doing the work,' Weber said. A rep for Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos defended the policy as a success. Suspensions have plummeted by 48%, the DOE said, keeping more children in class and engaged. The DOE emphasized that suspensions are still imposed under the discipline code, coupled by robust restorative supports. 'While our young people are mandated to follow school rules – including the Discipline Code – we are working towards addressing any issues in a positive, supportive, and less punitive manner,' the spokesperson said. 'This strategy is working – suspensions and chronic absenteeism are down, and our students are safe, supported, and engaged.'
USA Today
22-07-2025
- General
- USA Today
School cell phone bans are a distraction. The real crisis isn't in your kid's hand.
Banning phones won't turn back the clock on childhood. It will just widen the gap between the kids who have and the kids who don't. Dear parents, every August, we buy the pencils, we pack the lunches and we tell ourselves we're ready. But as another school year begins, I want to ask you to take a breath – and look past the headlines. Because if you believe what you're hearing, the biggest threat to our kids' future is in their pockets. Banning phones in schools, they say, will cure anxiety, raise test scores, restore childhood. I understand the instinct – I'm a father myself. But I've also been a teacher, a principal, a senior education advisor to former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio who oversaw the country's largest school system – and now the president of an education company. And I'm telling you: this is a distraction. Of course we don't want kids using their phones throughout the school day without purpose and intentionality. But the real crisis isn't in your kid's hand. It's in their reading scores. Right now, one third of American eighth graders can't read at the National Assessment of Educational Progress "basic" testing benchmark. In some districts, the numbers are even worse. This isn't a new problem – it's just one we keep refusing to face head-on. Instead, we reach for easy fixes, fueled by nostalgia and fear. But banning phones won't turn back the clock on childhood. It will just widen the gap between the kids who have and the kids who don't. Opinion: My 4-year-old asked for a smartphone. Here's what I did next as a parent. Here's what I've seen in the classroom: when you take away cell phones, you don't create equity – you erase it. In underfunded schools, smartphones are calculators, translators, research tools and sometimes the only reliable internet connection a student has. For multilingual learners, for kids without Wi-Fi at home, that device is a lifeline. When we ban it, we're not protecting them – we're pulling up the ladder. Not all screens are created equal Let's be honest. The anxious generation isn't our kids – it's us. We're the ones struggling to navigate a changing world, grasping for control. But our children don't need us to fear the future. They need us to prepare them for it. That means leaning into digital literacy, not running from it. It means investing in the tools and teaching that help kids learn how to use technology wisely. And it means addressing the root of the problem – not the symptom – by giving every child access to the kind of reading instruction, books and support they need to thrive. Your Turn: Tablets, screen time aren't 'parenting hacks.' They're killing kids' attention spans. | Opinion Forum I believe in meeting kids where they are – because that's where real learning begins. Not all screens are created equal, and the goal isn't to eliminate technology but to use it wisely. There's a big difference between passive consumption and purposeful practice. Research shows that just 15 to 20 minutes a day of focused, high-quality reading can drive real progress – especially when it's supported by tools that are engaging, accessible and grounded in how kids actually learn. That's the idea behind many of the resources we build at Mrs Wordsmith, a company of which I'm president and where we use cell phones and other nontraditional approaches to teach students how to read. This school year, don't let the conversation get hijacked. Ask your school leaders the hard questions, such as how are you teaching reading? How are you using technology to support learning? And what are you doing to ensure every child has the skills and knowledge to thrive in school and beyond? Our kids deserve better than blanket bans and wishful thinking. They deserve an education built for the world they're actually going to live in. Brandon Cardet-Hernandez is a member of the Boston School Committee and the president of Mrs Wordsmith. You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.
The Guardian
14-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
I was on New York's rent board. Zohran Mamdani's ideas aren't pie in the sky
During the New York City mayoral primary campaign, Zohran Mamdani's proposal for a citywide rent freeze became a contentious topic. The Democratic nominee says to achieve a cap on annual rent increases for the city's 1m rent-stabilized apartments, he would appoint members to the city's rent guidelines board who support it. Critics decry a rent freeze as a pie-in-the-sky, unrealistic proposal. I served as a rent guidelines board member for nearly four years, appointed by then mayor Bill de Blasio in 2018. And it's clear this controversy isn't just about rent freezes – there's a larger agenda to deregulate rent-stabilized housing, under which rent ceilings prevent landlords from raising the rent too high and tenants must be offered renewal leases (unless the landlord shows legal reason not to). In 2023, a report revealed that half of New Yorkers couldn't afford basic needs such as housing, transportation, food and healthcare. This is the New York that I grew to know intimately before I joined the board. I'd been a tenants' rights attorney for years under the city's right-to-counsel program, representing hundreds of low-income families facing eviction who could not afford their own attorneys. Each week, I entered housing court to find my clients – families with toddlers, seniors with disabilities and food delivery drivers – anxiously awaiting possible eviction. It's not just low-income tenants at the mercy of landlords. Over the last 12 years, I've listened to thousands of stories and the one common thread is how easy it is for a moderate-income person to wind up homeless. Sudden unemployment, unexpected disability coupled with a rent increase, and now you're fighting like hell to survive housing court and not join the 350,000 homeless New Yorkers. For these New Yorkers, a rent freeze isn't some out-of-touch idea; it's a lifeline. The people who make that decision are nine board members, all appointed by the mayor – two tenant members (my former role), two landlord members and five public members whom the tenants and landlord members vie to win over to reach a majority vote. We don't rely on feelings or vibes – we're poring over reports and hours of public testimony, and engaging in spirited policy debates. In 2020, those reports revealed record unemployment spurred by the pandemic and an already high homelessness rate and rent burden (most tenants were paying 30% or more of their income on rent). Weighing that with landlord operating costs, the board voted to approve a rent freeze that year, and a partial rent freeze (for six months) the following year. In fact, the board voted for a rent freeze four times over the last 10 years under the de Blasio administration (the board votes every summer on these rent levels and they take effect in the fall). This is why criticisms of Mamdani's rent freeze ring hollow for me – it's painted as out of touch, yet there's already a precedent, backed by government reports and data. It is essential for the public to understand that there is a broader agenda behind the 'rent freezes are bad' argument. Undermining freezes is part of a larger goal to weaken rent stabilization, which landlords have consistently sought to do – and they were nearly successful recently. While I was on the board, landlords sued the rent guidelines board and all of its members (including me!) in federal court, claiming that rent stabilization amounted to an 'unconstitutional taking': if the government tells me how much I can increase my rent by and when I can terminate a lease, then the government is interfering with my private property without just compensation, the argument goes. For years, there had been whispers that New York landlords were rubbing their hands together, eager to devise ways to get such a case before the US supreme court – and this one came dangerously close. I still remember when I got the call four years after the case traveled its way up the federal appeals court chain: 'The court declined to hear the case!' Supreme court cases aren't selected in a vacuum – the court often grants certiorari , or agrees to hear a case, when there is a broad public interest, leading some parties to drum up support for their cause strategically. When I was on the board, I often heard the dichotomy of the good landlord versus the bad tenant. It's become so popular, you've probably been inundated with these stories too. 'Professional tenants' who sign a lease, then never pay rent. TikToks about tenants leaving an apartment in disarray. Squatters. Rent-stabilized tenants who are secretly wealthy, gaming the system by paying low rent. All designed to lead you to the conclusion that 'rent stabilization shouldn't exist'. You'd never know that the median household income for rent-stabilized tenants is a modest $60,000. Or that eviction rates are so high that the New York City housing court doesn't have enough judges to handle the volume of cases it sees daily. Just last year, in yet another case that landlords asked the supreme court to review, the court declined, but Justice Clarence Thomas signaled the court would be interested in hearing a rent stabilization challenge and even provided a legal roadmap for how to bring it. Landlords don't want to reform rent stabilization – they want it done away with. At the end of the day, when the goal is profit and power is unchecked, it will be profits over people. Mamdani's proposals are a threat to the real estate industry because they signal a mayorship that doesn't ascribe to the tenet that government must sit back and let the market come to its own conclusion – all while millions of New Yorkers are trying to avoid housing court. Leah Goodridge is a former member of the New York City rent guidelines board and an attorney who spent 12 years in legal services representing tenants
