Treyger to Announce Investment for Southern Brooklyn Schools
Council Member Mark Treyger (D-Coney Island, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, Gravesend) will be joined by the principals, teachers, and students from Mark Twain Intermediate School, John Dewey High School and Abraham Lincoln High School, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, District 21 Superintendent Michael Prayor and the NYC School Construction Authority for a virtual press conference to announce over $1 million in funding for three brand new courtroom classrooms for the legal academies at the aforementioned schools.
This investment builds on Treyger’s work to expand career-based opportunities for students.
This event is slated to take place today, Feb. 4 at 11:00 a.m. at https://www.facebook.com/CouncilMemberTreyger
Stringer Releases Blueprint for Strengthening Public Safety
New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer yesterday unveiled a blueprint for a new approach to public safety.
Stringer’s plan, which builds on his June 2020 analysis of the New York Police Department (NYPD) budget, would move responsibilities away from the NYPD, address serious crime and the recent increase in shootings, improve accountability and civilian oversight of the NYPD, and reinvest police dollars into communities.
“To keep all New Yorkers truly safe, we must confront the structural racism that is embedded in our criminal legal system, and we must act decisively and creatively to put a stop to the rise of violence in our city. We must transform the City’s approach to public safety, and this report is a blueprint for that transformation,” said Stringer.
In June, Comptroller Stringer detailed ways to achieve recurring savings from the NYPD that could be reinvested in communities. Some but not all of these proposals were adopted by the City Council and the Mayor. This report, developed over the months since the adoption of the City’s budget, takes the June proposals as a baseline and goes far beyond them with a vision for comprehensive reform that moves additional responsibilities away from the NYPD and identifies specific areas for reinvestment in communities.
Gillibrand Legislation to Invest Billions in Schools
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced legislation that would invest billions in public school infrastructure and help cash-strapped school districts safely reopen under Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines.
The Reopen and Rebuild America’s Schools Act of 2021 would invest more than $100 billion in grant funding to schools with facilities that pose health and safety risks to students and staff, allocate funding for updates to combat the spread of COVID-19, and expand access to reliable, high-speed broadband to continue digital learning.
“Reducing air transmission is crucial to limiting the spread of COVID-19, which means that repairing our schools’ aging ventilation systems is essential to safely reopen our schools. Unfortunately, decades of under-investment and, now the economic crisis’ impact on state and local budgets makes these updates even harder to achieve” said Gillibrand. “Repairing crumbling facilities, updating HVAC systems, and getting schools COVID-safe, will cost money that schools — and state and local governments — simply don’t have. The Reopen And Rebuild America’s Schools Act Of 2021 would send a lifeline so that high-poverty school districts can address the unique needs of this crisis and make necessary repairs and renovations that create safe learning and working environments for all students, teachers, and staff. Congress must work together to get our children safely back in schools and I will keep fighting for the resources needed to provide every student with a quality and safe education.”
