Education

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Nearly 200 additional K-8 public school seats are being allocated to the Upper East Side as a result of a 2018 law that changed the way the city determined the need for seats, local City Councilman Ben Kallos announced Thursday.

The School Construction Authority is now planning to build 824 new K-8 seats on the Upper East Side by 2024, a spokesman for Kallos said. In last year's SCA proposed five-year master plan, the city agency allocated just 640 seats to the neighborhood. The amendment represents a gain of 184 seats for the neighborhood.

Kallos attributes the additional Upper East Side seats to a law he authored and passed in 2018 that requires the SCA to disclose the methods and formulas it uses to decide where and when to build new schools.

The New York City Council aims to hold a hearing this month on a bill aiming to equip school buses with cameras to catch illegally passing vehicles, Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez said during a panel hosted by City & State and BusPatrol on Tuesday.

“We’re looking to have a hearing mostly likely the 16th or 18th of December,” Rodriguez said.

The bill, sponsored by Councilman Ben Kallos, would require the city to install cameras on nearly 10,000 school buses transporting students across the five boroughs that would record cars that pass when a bus’s stop sign is deployed. A new law signed by the governor in August gave local officials the ability to put cameras on buses, with the goal of finding and fining drivers found to be illegally passing buses letting children off. Both Suffolk and Nassau counties have already approved similar measures.

The letter, authored by Council Members Robert Holden (D–Queens) and Ben Kallos (D–Manhattan), and signed by 20 other council members, questioned why the Education Department didn’t comply with a January law requiring the agency to make real-time GPS tracking available to parents starting this past September. “We...demand that the DOE explain its error and abide by the law immediately for the sake of our students and parents,” the lawmakers said in the note sent Friday. Lawmakers passed a bill in February to shore up city school bus service after frequent delays and missing school buses last year. The law required that the city make real-time GPS data available to “authorized parents or guardians” starting at the beginning of this school year.

The new hyrdoponic greenhouse facility will teach students about sustainability, climate change and science

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Students at an Upper East Side public school will have the chance to learn about issues such as sustainability and enhance their science skills at a brand-new lab facility funded through participatory budgeting.

Nonprofit organization NY Sun Works — which installs hydroponic science labs in New York City schools — celebrated the opening of its newest facility last week at PS 183 Robert Louis Stevenson, the company announced. Funding for the lab was provided by City Councilman Ben Kallos through a participatory budgeting vote in 2017.

"We must invest in STEM education to prepare students for jobs of the future and today, we cut the ribbon on a $600,000 science lab," Kallos said in a statement. "Voting creates real change. The 11-year-olds and parents who voted can see for themselves, as they learn first-hand the power of democracy, not to mention all the science they'll get done."

Students at PS 183, a pre-k through 5th grade school located on East 66th Street between York and First avenues, will be able to use the facility to grow food and other plants. The experience of growing crops will provide firsthand knowledge of science, a spokesperson for NY Sun Works said.

The new science lab can also be used to teach students lessons about climate change and sustainability efforts such as urban farming. NY Sun Works has built more than 125 similar labs in schools in all five boroughs, teaching about 40,000 students. Construction on the lab at PS 183 took less than a year to complete and included electrical upgrades, a heating unit and new

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sinks, flooring, counters, cabinetry and furniture for the classroom.

"The hydroponic lab will provide students with the opportunity to grow food while learning hands-on about science and climate education as well as food justice and community service," NY Sun Works Executive Director Manuela Zamora said in a statement.

City Council member Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan) has proposed a bill that would allow the city to opt-in and institute the safety measure in the five boroughs. The idea is gaining momentum as lawmakers plan a hearing on the issue within the next month.

If a New York City Council bill being proposed Wednesday goes through, more motorists will be hearing that word when they zoom past school buses.

Councilman Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan) wants to require almost every school bus in the city to carry a camera on the stop signs that swing out when kids are picked up and dropped off. There are about 10,000 school buses in the city.

About 50,000 drivers statewide illegally pass a stopped school bus everyday, according to a study cited by Cuomo’s office.

“By not letting this dangerous behavior go unpunished we will be letting drivers know that this is not OK and that the consequences will be in the mail,” Kallos said.

His bill would impose fines of $250 to $275 on first-time offenders and $300 for second- and third- offenders. Part of the funds raised by the fees would go to the city’s Department of Education.

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – It’s a story we’ve been following for months.

New York City parents remain infuriated over their inability to track their kids on city school buses.

Now they say a backup plan using the bus’ GPS system is also experiencing issues.

For Bunny Rivera, waiting for her son’s school bus is the most stressful part of the day. 13-year-old Chazz Rivera is on the autism spectrum and Rivera says she was depending on a new phone app to alert her of his location, but it never came.

“No one knows where their child is, and it’s terrifying. My child is somewhere in the city he special needs and I have no idea where he is,” Rivera told CBS2’s Christina Fan.

Under the law, the DOE was required to install a GPS in every bus and have parents be able to track their child on their phone by the start of the school year. The DOE only fulfilled half of its obligations.

Councilmember Ben Kallos, who spearheaded the legislation, says it’s unacceptable.

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – It’s a story we’ve been following for months.

New York City parents remain infuriated over their inability to track their kids on city school buses.

Now they say a backup plan using the bus’ GPS system is also experiencing issues.

For Bunny Rivera, waiting for her son’s school bus is the most stressful part of the day. 13-year-old Chazz Rivera is on the autism spectrum and Rivera says she was depending on a new phone app to alert her of his location, but it never came.

“No one knows where their child is, and it’s terrifying. My child is somewhere in the city he special needs and I have no idea where he is,” Rivera told CBS2’s Christina Fan.

Councilmember Ben Kallos, who spearheaded the legislation, says it’s unacceptable.

“Pretty standard technology, and they had to get it done by the first day of school. I’m very disappointed it wasn’t done by the first day of school,” Kallos said.

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Just one week into the new school year and hundreds of parents are complaining that a new GPS system that was supposed to keep track of all city school buses does not work.

On Thursday, CBS2’s Natalie Duddridge spoke to parents who said they were lied to.

Mother of two Lainie Gutterman meets her kids, 9-year-old Ian, who is autistic, and his sister, 6-year-old Greenly, who is non-verbal, at the bus stop. She said wondering where their school bus is every day is stressful.

“I was promised that there would be GPS, that I could see my children’s bus, where they were at all times, on my phone, which would be a great way to follow my kids,” Gutterman said.