{"id":185,"date":"2018-11-17T12:57:11","date_gmt":"2018-11-17T12:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/how-amazons-arrival-to-new-york-city-could-impact-schools\/"},"modified":"2018-11-17T12:57:11","modified_gmt":"2018-11-17T12:57:11","slug":"how-amazons-arrival-to-new-york-city-could-impact-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/?p=185","title":{"rendered":"How Amazon’s Arrival to New York City Could Impact Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY\u00a0CHRISTINA VEIGA<\/a>,\u00a0ALEX ZIMMERMAN<\/a>,\u00a0REEMA AMIN<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

After months of speculation, Amazon announced Tuesday that it picked Long Island City for one of its two new headquarters.<\/p>\n

Details about the new Queens hub are still emerging, and some of the particulars are already raising eyebrows \u2014 including\u00a0billions in incentives<\/a>\u00a0Amazon was offered to locate here. The deal, which officials claim will create as many as 40,000 jobs over 10 to 15\u00a0years, will undoubtedly affect New York\u00a0City\u2019s public school system.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0formal agreement<\/a>\u00a0between Amazon and New York City lays out several direct ways that the deal could impact city schools. The company agreed to house a 600-seat intermediate school on or near its Long Island City campus, replacing a school that had already been planned in a residential building nearby. Amazon also plans to offer \u201ccareer exploration activities\u201d and internship opportunities to high school students. And there is a proposal to relocate some Department of Education offices in Long Island City to make way for the tech giant.<\/p>\n

If Amazon\u2019s impact on Seattle, its primary headquarters, is any guide, there could be reverberations felt in New York City classrooms, especially those districts in or adjacent to Long Island City. Still, given New York City\u2019s size and economy, Amazon\u2019s arrival may not create the same sweeping changes \u2014 and officials are already trying to reassure New Yorkers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city and state are working closely together to make sure Amazon\u2019s expansion is planned smartly, and to ensure this fast growing neighborhood has the transportation, schools, and infrastructure it needs,\u201d de Blasio said in an Amazon blog post announcing the move.<\/p>\n

Here are four potential issues to look out for.<\/p>\n

Overcrowded schools<\/h3>\n

Amazon has pledged to donate space for a new middle school \u2014 space that parents say is desperately needed. De Blasio said Tuesday that the school will replace another that had been proposed for the area. \u201cThere is no loss of school seats,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But Meghan Cirrito, a member of the Gantry Parent Association, an education advocacy group in Long Island City, is skeptical that the school will ease the crunch for classrooms. Queens parents have long fought for more school space in the borough. In the Long Island City neighborhood, schools that serve grades K-8 are already at 102 percent capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will absolutely not relieve the overcrowding. They will keep up with their own development,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re already behind school seats.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deborah Alexander, the co-president of Community Education Council 30, which includes Long Island City, echoed that the school plan feels like \u201ca pittance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still playing catch up for the city\u2019s lack of infrastructure in Long Island City,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The need for more classrooms could also have consequences for de Blasio\u2019s push to make pre-K available to all the city\u2019s 3-year-olds, an effort the city is rolling out slowly in part because of existing space constraints.<\/p>\n

But even if thousands of students arrive with new Amazon employees, they will still represent only a drop in the bucket of the city\u2019s 1.1 million public school students. De Blasio cautioned at Tuesday\u2019s press conference that while some employees will live in the neighborhood, not all will move to Long Island City and some may commute from other areas. Still, the neighborhoods around Queens are some of the\u00a0most crowded school districts<\/a>\u00a0in the city.<\/p>\n

Concerns about the city\u2019s record student homelessness<\/h3>\n

Seattle\u00a0has struggled<\/a>\u00a0to address a surge in homelessness as home prices have soared more rapidly in the city than anywhere else in the country \u2014 an increase that many\u00a0have attributed<\/a>\u00a0to its booming tech sector.<\/p>\n

As the number of high-earners there has shot up, so has\u00a0student homelessness<\/a>, which has increased threefold between 2011 and 2017. But when the city tried to pass a new tax dedicated to boosting services for the homeless, Amazon led a campaign against the measure, which\u00a0eventually died<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Amazon is promising to pay an average salary of $150,000 in New York City. In the school district that will host the tech giant\u2019s new hub, about 72 percent of students come from low-income families.<\/p>\n

In New York City, the number of homeless students is already at an\u00a0all-time high<\/a>. More than 114,000 students here lack permanent housing, which poses challenges for schools that may struggle to meet the needs of children who often\u00a0lag behind their peers<\/a>\u00a0on academic measures.<\/p>\n

Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza\u00a0recently announced<\/a>\u00a0the education department would hire 100 new employees to help schools with high concentrations of homeless students.<\/p>\n

De Blasio said the arrival of large companies such as Amazon could exacerbate homelessness in other cities that \u201cdon\u2019t have substantial affordable housing, are not building a lot of new affordable housing,\u201d specifically calling out San Francisco.<\/p>\n

But, he said, the impact of tax revenue from Amazon\u2019s move will be \u201ccentral\u201d for supporting existing affordable housing in New York City.<\/p>\n

Other changes in student demographics<\/h3>\n

School leaders in Seattle say the number of students who are learning English as a new language has jumped with Amazon\u2019s growth, opening the need for teachers and curriculum to serve those students.<\/p>\n

New York City has\u00a0rapidly expanded<\/a>\u00a0its language programs under de Blasio, which are often seen as a tool to help spur more diverse schools. But the education department has also\u00a0historically struggled<\/a>\u00a0to serve English language learners well.<\/p>\n

Amazon\u2019s move could have other effects on school diversity at a time when advocates have put increasing pressure on the the city to step up integration efforts. New York City schools are among the most segregated in the country, an issue that Carranza\u00a0has pledged<\/a>\u00a0to tackle.<\/p>\n

But with more higher-income families potentially lured to Queens by Amazon jobs, Cirrito worries about gentrification in a borough and neighborhood known for its diversity, and the effect that could have on classrooms.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can we say we welcome new Americans here if they can\u2019t afford to live in Long Island City and they can\u2019t afford to live in neighborhoods where their kids have good schools?\u201d she asked. \u201cAt the time we have a chancellor in place calling for the desegregation of schools, this seems to be a move that will completely undermine his efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if low-income families live side-by-side with Amazon\u2019s workers, it\u2019s not at all clear their children will learn together. Long Island City is home to the New York\u2019s largest housing project, and whether high-earners would opt into schools where many students are poor is an open question.<\/p>\n

A philanthropic boost?<\/h3>\n

New York\u2019s agreement with Amazon doesn\u2019t offer many details about how the company will interact with the nation\u2019s largest school system, but it does include a promise to create internships and \u201cwork-based learning opportunities\u201d \u2014 including activities such as career days and mock interviews.<\/p>\n

What that will look like, and whether a bigger stream of philanthropic support could follow, is unclear. Amazon has offered some support for public education in Seattle, including\u00a0supplies for needy students<\/a>. And its founder, Jeff Bezos, recently announced a\u00a0$2 billion investment<\/a>\u00a0to launch a network of preschools in low-income communities.<\/p>\n

Kathryn Wylde, the president and CEO of the nonprofit Partnership for New York City, which serves as the business community\u2019s lobbying group, said she hopes Amazon\u2019s presence helps fuel career and technical programs in city schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe frustration has been a lack of employer engagement in opportunity for [career and technical education] and workplace opportunities,\u201d Wylde said. \u201cObviously this is a bonanza in providing those opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that Amazon could support schools similar to Brooklyn\u2019s P-Tech, a high school that partners with IBM to offer students opportunities in the tech sector. (Wylde said there were no concrete plans in place yet for Amazon to participate in such a partnership.)<\/p>\n

Others were less optimistic.<\/p>\n

Alexander, the co-president of Community Education Council 30, said she hopes the city would partner \u201cas much as possible\u201d to harness any investments Amazon is willing to make in public schools.<\/p>\n

Still, she added, \u201cIt sticks a little in my craw \u2014 \u00a0the richest person in the world getting billions of dollars in money from New York State when New York State owes schools so much money.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to see what internship or guest speakers or whatever could make that balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: Chalkbeat<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY\u00a0CHRISTINA VEIGA,\u00a0ALEX ZIMMERMAN,\u00a0REEMA AMIN After months of speculation, Amazon announced Tuesday that it picked Long Island City for one of its two new headquarters. Details about the new Queens hub are still emerging, and some of the particulars are already raising eyebrows \u2014 including\u00a0billions in incentives\u00a0Amazon was offered to locate here. The deal, which officials […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brownsvillenews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}