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News 12's Amanda Bossard sat down with Thomas Sheppard, a parent from the Panel for Educational Policy to discuss charter schools, budget priorities, and school safety.

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Now, the question I have about the mayor is that the weather down in DC, a warmer than the weather here because it's got to be at least a little bit better. It is a little bit warmer in DC. But you know, we are dealing with that really cold pocket of air that is taking us just for one more day. But we are going to turn our eyes for the weekend an early look for what are some potential impacts for this storm. So some thunderstorms in December, that's what is possible for Sunday evening into Monday, steady rain isolated flooding high winds of 40 MPH or even stronger that can knock down some decorations even cause some scattered power outages and then temperatures start to crash. So we're forecasting a high of 61 on Sunday by Monday night. It's going to be in the 30. So that's something that we need to monitor in terms of tomorrow. Another very cold start, temperatures will be near 29 feeling much colder than that high. Tomorrow will be in the low forties, feeling like the mid thirties throughout the day. A few flurries possible by the early afternoon drying out and clouds clearing out by Friday. Seeing more of that sunshine seasonable fill with highs in the upper forties. Saturday will actually be the pick of the week. We're going to see that beautiful sunshine highs in the mid fifties and then we're watching for some stormy weather on Sunday.

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State of Our Schools: Thomas Sheppard, Panel for Educational Policy

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We are following breaking news tonight here on state of our schools. What started as a fight erupts in gunfire right outside of a Brooklyn high school. Three people hit by bullets, Two of them students. It is just the latest in what seemed like nonstop acts of violence surrounding our city schools. Thanks so much for being with us here. I'm Amanda Bossert on the heels of this latest shooting new numbers from the N. Y. P. D. Tonight showing a disturbing trend in the number of Children becoming victims of gun violence in recent years. Last year there were 153 shooting victims who were under the age of 18. Citywide the year prior in 2021 that number was at 100 and 38 in 20 2100 and 25. Now tonight two more teens are recovering from gunshots after a triple shooting outside of a Williamsburg high school this afternoon. News twelve's field Tate brings us the latest on the search for a suspect that's happening right now Phil a very scary situation. As the doorstep of a school turned into a crime scene students exiting their building as an active investigation is underway and while we spoke with one mother who says she can't believe what she saw right before her eyes. Then all of a sudden something happened that everybody ran, they ran towards somebody in the middle of the intersection and then you just heard like 34 shots for parent Elizabeth cabrera an afternoon pick up outside of the Williamsburg charter high school took a turn for the worse. Police tell us, bullets flew on Varick street. Following a dispute between a group of students. Enough is happening for them to go through this. I have to drag my son out of the school right now in tears. Kids don't need to go through a frightful scene. As police tape lines the outside of a place of learning. Police tell us tonight, a 15 year old girl was shot in the right thigh. A 17 year old male shot in the left leg along with a 37 year old that was grazed with a bullet to the neck. It's very strong and the and the kids, the kids are crying and noisy. It's dangerous in new york and then in school to get out of school, you're kidding. This is, this has to stop at this hour. Police sources tell us that the suspect they're looking for is school age and at this hour, an active investigation continues. We're told all three victims were taken to Elmer's hospital. As for their status, we are told they are all listed in stable condition. That's the latest here in Williamsburg. I'm Phil Tate Phil Thank you. Now, today's violence comes just two days after two other teenagers were shot. Also in Williamsburg, it happened monday afternoon on Mauser street right outside of the Williamsburg houses and across the street from Grand Street campus. High school police say a 19 year old was grazed by a bullet on his head and a 17 year old girl was shot in her stomach. Both were in stable condition after the shooting, police continued to investigate why they were shot. Whether they were targeted so far, no arrests have been made. Another big story that we are following tonight. The city's remaining Covid vaccine mandate will be lifted on friday and that move has implications for city schools. Teachers and school staff will no longer need proof of vaccination to be able to work in public schools. City officials say those who lost their jobs because of that mandate won't get them back but are well welcome to reapply for open positions. Visitors to public school buildings won't have to show proof of vaccination anymore either, making it easier for some families to attend games, presentations and other school activities. Now, despite all of this, the mayor and medical professionals also say that they still recommend everyone gets vaccinated. Some students in park slope are spending the school year trying to help the tens of thousands of migrants who arrived here in new york city. They've hosted a food drive and now they're donating up to 600 bags of snacks and drinks. The student run diversity, inclusion and social justice committee at the ST Savior Catholic Academy spearheaded this project with the help of students across the school. They prepared and even decorated the hundreds of bags for donation and their work is being recognized by the Mayor's Office of immigrant affairs with a visit from the office's chief of staff, the impact that they have in terms of reaching other kids that are going through this process as migrants and self I think is, you know, I mean it's just amazing. The bags will be donated to community help in park slope inc a group with the mission to end food insecurity and homelessness in the city. A coalition of more than 60 organizations, educators and faith leaders are joining forces to make religious diversity a part of the new york city school curriculum. They're pushing for the reintroduction of resolution 12 57 in our city council, which would require the Department of Education to bring that curriculum to all grade levels and trained teachers, lawmakers and advocates say it's needed to combat the hate crimes that continue to plague the city. We must be investing in education and culturally responsive pedagogy um, to really get at the root of who we are and why we belong and why we must build stronger communities and a stronger democracy together. And so I am proud to be the prime sponsor of this resolution. That resolution was first introduced in the city council in 2020. It has been six months since speed cameras in school zones around the city were turned on 24 7 and if you ask the state senator who co sponsored and introduced that bill, it's been nothing less than a massive success Brooklyn senator Andrew bernard is pointing to city data that shows while speeding tickets spiked in august when that law first went into effect, they've gone down Every month since that's why gun Ardis doesn't think it's a coincidence that 2022 was also the first year the city saw a drop in traffic deaths since 2018 with the senator saying a lot of those decreases are in the new hours that the cameras have been on. You couldn't put a cop on every corner in the city and catch the number of speeders that we've caught with the speed cameras. And the and the thing is 70% of people who get one ticket don't get another one, which means that they change their behavior and they're keeping everyone else safe. Senator gardez adds that the one place where people are still frequently passing away in car crashes is on highways. He says the next step might be looking into ways to use the same cameras there a new after school classes aimed at educating kids about cannabis and its impacts. These just ask me or jam sessions create a safe space to talk about taboo topics. It's part of the after school programming let go does at three school campuses in the Bronx and for the first time marijuana is being added to the career for sixth through eighth grades at P. S. I. S. To 18. The Raphael Hernandez dual language magnet school. This role on allow roll out rather aligns with the start of the legal recreational market here in new york city. A big part of it is peer mentoring to make these tough talks a bit easier at our age. There's a lot of people that do this kind of stuff and it's not right like it's unhealthy and I think that we should know the ways to consume it and like how to do these kind of things so that we don't make like very bad mistakes in the future marijuana. Just one of the topics covered over seven of these jam sessions as they advanced through the grades. The program aims to build on the topics covered a new high school is coming to Bay Ridge Brooklyn council member Justin Brannan making the announcement on twitter yesterday morning teasing that there are more details to come. We reached out to the school construction authority. They shared that the public review process will begin as soon as possible and more information will be made available when they start the design high school students from all over the state came together over the weekend to learn more about historically black colleges and universities. It happened at the Yonkers riverfront library and it's the sixth year that this college fair has been held, organizers say it's about making teens aware of the opportunities that an HBCU can provide. Today is the sixth annual and intro to H. B. C. U. S. And we have students coming from all over the state of new york to learn more about historically black colleges and universities. Hbcu s are important because there are no H B C U. S in the tri state area. New york, New Jersey and Connecticut don't have any of those schools. So I'm bringing all of the H. B C. U. S to Westchester County and events like this is important that we expose students no matter how young they are to college options. And I'm excited that we have students here of all ages. So that way they can see the importance of HbCU and H. B. C. U. S. Were established prior to the Civil rights Act of 1964 with the principal mission of serving black americans. Speaking of college president joe biden making it a little easier for misled students to apply for certain student loan forgiveness. The Department of Education Law Launched a new web page for students who took out loans from a school that led them astray or lied to them providing clear information now on how to apply for that borrower defense to repayment. It comes as the president's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt is currently held up in the courts when we return, we are one on one with the first ever member of the panel for educational policy directed elect directly elected by parents stay with us. Our conversation with thomas Sheppard after the break right here on state of our schools, welcome back and getting right to our guest tonight, joining us is thomas shepherd. He is the first ever member of the Panel for Educational Policy here in the city, directly elected by parents. And it's a title I imagine is made even more special because as we were talking, he's a dad of 63 of whom currently new york city public school students in the Bronx right now, so tom I know you're busy. Thanks for making time for us here tonight on state of our schools. Thank you for inviting me. Yeah, happy to have you here. I do want to start things off on a serious note because we did have a heavy start to this show tonight. We saw another case of students getting hurt right outside of their school. It's something that sadly we're covering too often hear shootings, stabbings and we're seeing it with increasing frequency. So it feels as a parent of students in our school system right now? What happens? What runs through your mind when you see things like this continuing to happen? Well, I'll say the first thing that runs through my mind is as a parent is, you know, I pray that um uh the students uh and everyone involved is is okay, right. Um you certainly uh it touches you and and really, you know, touches you to your core when these things happen. And uh more than anything, I just wanted to um extend my uh prayers to everyone involved. And I hope that everyone is doing okay. And you know, the other thing and, and I have to switch because the other part for me is I want to uh, as a school board member, right? Actually reassure parents that while we have violence issues that may exist outside of our schools, that new york city public schools themselves are safe places. Uh, and and parents uh, while we uh may have concerns, uh, I really don't want them to worry about their Children inside of our schools. And that's always part of the conversation, right? Is that it's not necessarily inside of our schools, but surrounding our schools, especially during that dismissal time, is when we see it happening all too often as a panel member, any action that is being discussed or considered right now to increase that safety surrounding the school campuses. Well, one of the things that's actually being uh considered this month on our agenda uh, is a contract um to uh provide uh locking mechanisms at the front doors of schools to um better control access inside of our school buildings. Uh, parents across the city have expressed um, a desire for it. But you know, you do have some parents that have uh shared their concerns and rightfully so that uh, schools are being fortified. And at the end of the day, we really want our schools to be uh welcoming places. But you know, that said, you know, we really do understand that parents have genuine fears and genuine concerns about safety in schools. Uh, and there's a contract coming up this month to address that. Yeah, and those are conversations that will continue to keep tabs on here. And I know another conversation happening now is surrounding charter schools, especially after last week with the governor proposing eliminating that charter school cap in her budget. What do you think will happen if that does take place and ultimately makes it into whatever is passed up in Albany? Well, first of all, I believe that our communities uh have been disproportionately uh impacted by uh, the number of chance, the number of charters and you know, lifting this cat will place a, a more of a financial burden on our system. Uh, and here in the Bronx, our traditional public school parents have made it clear um that they do not want more charter schools and I think we need to have a different kind of conversations about the way our schools are designed and how they're funded to um deal with that. Yeah. And especially with budget season upcoming. I know those conversations will be ongoing and we'll continue to follow that and Tom Sheppard, thank you so much for your insight and time here tonight. We appreciate having you on. Thank you for having me as we switch gears now, this black history month, we hear on state of our schools are highlighting the achievements and contributions of inspiring african americans and in the south Bronx one, local educators helping kids reach their potential through the lessons that he has learned in life news. 12. Carmen Grant has the story from the dream Mott Haven middle school, the kids are honestly what makes this work, this work worthwhile. It makes me like really motivated to work. Jack Kale Daniels is the academic dean and principal in residence at Dream mont Haven Middle School on Wales Avenue. He's been in that role for the past two years. I really felt really passionate about giving that same opportunity opportunity. I was kind of removed of two students that look um appear and come from certain circumstances like me, he's accomplished a lot in his seven year career as an educator which includes earning his PhD. But Daniels says academics didn't always play an important part in his life in his younger years, grades took a backseat to a standout skills in baseball, which was his primary focus until Daniel says he experienced what he called an awakening to be honest. Like once I got kicked that high school things kind of changed for me. I kind of seen the impact I had on my like mom and I was like, I want to make mom proud. That was like the internal. Um, and I would say that kind of what motivated me to care a little bit more about education now. He's passing that passion to students and teachers at dream mont Haven, he pushes me every day and since I told him I want to want to be a real estate mobile, he make, it reminds me every day that I'm gonna be a real estate mobile. He teaches me discipline when I need it because sometimes I'll be off track and he'll be like Danny get on track. In addition to mentoring students. He also runs the schools saturday Academy, a weekend program that provides emotional support to students and helps those who are falling behind having like professors that care deeply about us as human beings. Um, outside of just like getting a grade was really important and that's literally what we try to do with the whole child model hair dream is like support kids outside of just academics. So like sports after school tutoring. The Bronx charter school will soon be launching its first ever student athletic program, which will be led by Daniels, which the Bronx administrator says he's excited about to combine his passion for athletics and academics together In mont haven. Carmen Grant news 12 mm welcome back here on state of our schools and it's time now to highlight those in our school system who are making our honor roll this week were shouting out Lorraine Dunbar, she's a student at the Creston academy in the Bronx, we are told that she is an extraordinary student and on the principal's list since she's been there. So clearly it shows in those grades. Congratulations Lorraine. And if you know a student teacher or school employee who's going above and beyond, you can nominate them to be on our honor roll. Just head on over to our website, news 12 dot com and tell us how they're making a difference. Students at Truman High School are all fired up over the newest addition to the school's art program, kilns are being used again in Truman's art room for the first time in nearly a decade, students have been experimenting with different kinds of ceramic projects like pots and even three D. Recreations of spaces that make them feel safe. Teachers are excited for those students to get a chance to learn an art form that they might not encounter elsewhere. I do think they find it very therapeutic. Like they sit there and they're making their thing and they'll help each other like, okay, what color should it be? But I didn't know that our school could have this class. So I'm really excited that I got to do it and I really have an interest for ceramics. So if you didn't have this class, I wouldn't know that. I enjoy it a lot. And I'm also learning like a lot of new things about clay itself. Like I didn't know that clay could be a pain a code and you have to glass to clay when it's cooked and stuff and I didn't even know it has to be cooked either, so, and she's teaching me. I had no idea about all those things either. The two new kilns were purchased after the ones used almost 10 years ago were no longer functional. That's changed now. Well over the weekend, kids got to celebrate to spot a jewish holiday that honors the new fruits of the season and a reminder of humans connection to earth. A local organization teamed up with the Brooklyn Children's Museum to celebrate with games like a maple tree pinball game and painting with fruit and up in the Bronx. New Yorkers interested in stargazing are now going to have the opportunity to explore space from the borough this spring. The city's first public observatory will be installed at the Jerome Park Reservoir. We're told it will be open to the public free of charge. And the vice president of the amateur astronomers association says that the star attraction will be used as an educational space for students from eight nearby schools and he hopes that it will encourage them to learn more about the world beyond just planet earth. It's one thing to see it in a book or on a laptop. It's another thing when you actually see the object with your eye and then you get a sense that you're, you're part of it. We're all part of this big universe. Right? So inspiration for kids is a large part of why we're doing this project and it's gonna have a huge impact in that community. The association is gonna be submitting a drawing of their construction plans to the Parks Department. Their hope is to break ground by april. Thanks so much for joining us here tonight on state of our schools. We will be back next Wednesday at seven with more of the headlines that are impacting your local school communities until then, be safe and be well.

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