Roosevelt Island Essential Worker Parents Describe “Disparity” and “Nightmare” As City Refuses to Open “Learning Bridges” Site
Roosevelt Island, NY - Families and public school students at PS/IS 217 on Roosevelt Island serving 632 students rallied for a “Learning Bridges” - remote learning center - where there currently is none. Island Kids had been working since August to become a Learning Bridges site to serve 45 children, but was rejected on October 27, 2020 with a form letter that included no explanation. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright, and Acting RIOC President Shelton Haynes joined Council Member Ben Kallos and more than 40 families for a virtual rally with signs drawn by children calling for the city to open Learning Bridges on Roosevelt Island. An online petition for Learning Bridges started on October 30 has already exceeded 100 signatures.
“After not hearing anything for a month, I reached out and was told that we were on the waiting list, which basically gives us no chance of attending. We can’t afford additional child care because we already pay for my younger son. My husband and I are alternating schedules … It is extremely stressful and tiresome and requires additional energy from me … On Friday, my son turned 5 and he really didn’t want me to share this, because he doesn’t think his birthday wish would come true. His birthday wish when he went to bed that he told me was that we could all be together as a family…I worry that there is a growing disparity that is affecting our community and will affect the learning level of our children because we can’t facilitate their school work and work efficiently at the same time,” 28 minutes into the video cried Amy Rodriguez, a frontline worker at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, a Roosevelt Island resident and parent of two-boys.
“It is nothing short of a nightmare not to have Learning Bridges on Roosevelt Island and while I was really excited that she got a spot at the YMCA, when I looked and saw that it was at the Vanderbilt site, I was crushed because it was useless to me,” 32 minutes into the video said Kirstin Bruan, a Public Defender and essential worker who must still appear at the Kew Gardens Court House in a the Queens redzone, a Roosevelt Island resident and parent of a young girl.
“This is really needed for the community. We want to stress for pre-k kids that this is really needed. We put [my daughter] to watch screen time more than we have desire, that we would allow her to do it,” said 37 minutes into the video said Elizabeth Diago Navarro, a city employee living on Roosevelt Island with a 4-year-old and infant child.
So far there are only 62 Learning Bridges locations in Manhattan to serve 195 elementary and middle schools with 78,002 public school students in 3K through 8th grades. Council Member Ben Kallos originally proposed the idea of remote learning centers to accommodate families who needed child care while students were learning remotely on July 10th 2020 in a letter to the Mayor and Chancellor as covered by the New York Post. On July 16, 2020, Mayor de Blasio announced the adoption of remote learning centers as “Learning Bridges” for up to 100,000 students from 3K to 8th grade. On July 23, 2020, Kallos was joined by Council Member Lander in demanding more seats as covered in the New York Post. By mid September Council Member Kallos joined parent sentiments in stating that Learning Bridges “was a mess” as they learned only 30,000 slots would be available.
“Our essential workers and families of color who have paid the highest price are owed more than a thank you together with lip service and the promise of free childcare 40 minutes away. Mayor de Blasio must provide more than one hundred Roosevelt Island families with Learning Bridges on Roosevelt Island and work with the providers we’ve lined up on the Island to serve our families and children,” said Council Member Ben Kallos. “When Mayor de Blasio promised universal pre-kindergarten and then didn’t offer it on Roosevelt Island, we found a provider and got the school seats we needed, and we can do it again.”
Quotes available from the video of the Zoom rally at the filing minute marks:
9 Minutes - Congress Member Carolyn Maloney
14 Minutes - Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright
19 Minutes - Acting Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation President Shelton Hayes
4 Minutes - Nikki Leopold, Director of Island Kids
21 Minutes - Kate Orozco, Board Chair of Island Kids
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