By Dan Murphy
Former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, who is a candidate for NY Governor in 2022, made an appearance at Mount Vernon High School on Dec. 23 to speak out against remote learning, and the harm that he says it is putting on children’s educational experience. See the Astorino at the link below.
https://www.facebook.com/RobAstorino/videos/343481327196926/
On Dec. 21, the Mount Vernon School District recently announced that students will not return to the classroom until at least Jan. 18. “Kids, we know, are extraordinarily low risk of getting anything consequential from coronavirus and so they should be allowed to continue with their lives. We should be having sports. We should be allowing schools to stay open and not go back to the failure, which was remote learning, which most parents agree was disastrous — and we’ve seen the empirical evidence of it,” said Astorino.
Mount Vernon Schools Superintendent Kenneth Hamilton stated, “We have all been watching as Broadway closed, professional sports have been affected, and some states (Maryland) have moved to remote learning. We have also seen an increase in our positive cases and quarantines. I have been very reluctant to close schools, but given the current trends in COVID cases, it would be risky not to do so.”
“I think it’s the wrong move and I strongly disagree,” Astorino wrote. “I also disagree with the state canceling the January Regents Exams. I believe they are doing so because they don’t want to show how much kids were harmed by the prolonged school closures. Kids are at very low risk from Covid. Social isolation, denial of education, sports and other school-related activities are all greater risks to kids.”
Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard responded to Astorino’s comments and visit to MVHS on Twitter. “It’s interesting that you would worry about young people getting COVID in Mount Vernon,” Shawyn Patterson-Howard commented on Astorino’s video. “But what is your plan for our underfunded hospital, with NO ICU and an ER that’s under resourced? I’m surprised you were able to even find Mount Vernon on the map.”
https://twitter.com/MayorSPH/status/1473816143781629969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1473816143781629969%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpatch.com%2Fnew-york%2Fmountvernonny%2
