SCHOOL DESK

SNHU hails top Bronx students with honors

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Southern New Hampshire University might be a four-hour drive away, but some of its top students call this part of the Bronx home.

Four of them, in fact, were recognized as part of the college’s winter president’s list. In order to qualify, students must be enrolled in the college full-time and maintain a semester GPA of 3.7 or higher.

Those local members of the president’s list are John Dukarm, Cesille Gentle, Annie Walmsley and Emily Walton.

Southern New Hampshire University is located in Manchester, New Hampshire, and claims to serve more than 150,000 students worldwide. It was recently recognized by U.S. News & World Report as the most innovative regional university.

Principals’ union endorses Johnson

It sure isn’t easy to lead a school. But the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators know who they want to handle the money in their city: outgoing city council Speaker and comptroller candidate Corey Johnson.

“Our city is at a crossroads, and we need Corey Johnson in the comptroller’s office to help lead our recovery,” said union president Mark Cannizzaro, in a release. “On the city council, Corey has always been on the side of students, educators and working people. After negotiating multi-billion-dollar municipal budgets, Corey understands the city’s finances better than anyone, and that’s why he’s ready to lead as New York City’s next comptroller.”

Prior to his run for comptroller, Johnson also sought the mayor’s office before dropping out last September due to what he described as mental health challenges. However, the endorsement from the CSA seems to have emboldened him in his latest quest for this other citywide office.

“As comptroller, I’ll fight to improve public schools and make sure teachers and administrators have the tools they need to help students thrive,” Johnson said, in a release. “I’m deeply grateful to CSA — not just for endorsing my campaign to be New York City’s next comptroller, but also for the hard work their members have done during this extremely challenging period in our city.”

There are more than a dozen candidates running for the seat currently held by Scott Stringer, with Johnson about the middle of the pack in fundraising — just over $858,000 in private donations, according to the city’s campaign finance board. That puts him behind Zachary Iscol, Brad Lander, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera and Brian Benjamin.

However, Johnson has scored the most matching funds so far, his $3.85 million just squeezing past the $3.81 million collected by Lander.

So far, more than $7.4 million has been spent on the comptroller race, with candidates collectively ready to spend $15.6 million more.

Bx Science, American Studies ranked best

The U.S. News & World Report doesn’t mince words when it comes to ranking high schools and colleges across the country. And two local schools made the cut this year.

The Bronx High School of Science and the Bronx High School of American Studies both ranked among the top 50 secondary schools in the nation. Bronx Science was ranked 35th, while American Studies was 49th. This makes Bronx Science the fifth-highest ranking school in the state, and American Studies the eighth.

Both high schools were among 23 New York institutions on the full list.

Mayoral candidate calls out snow days

The city’s public school system was stingy with its snow days before the coronavirus pandemic, but at least they happened once in a while. 

But with snow days not part of next year’s academic calendar, one mayoral candidate isn’t happy.

Shaun Donovan asserted himself as proudly pro-snow day in wake of the city’s announcement, calling the decision to give students the option to learn from home during bad-weather days “short-sighted.”

“Although well-intentioned, replacing students’ snow days with a solution we know won’t work for our most vulnerable children — or their parents — is deeply misguided,” Donovan said, in a release. 

“Hundreds of thousands of our city’s students still lack access to the devices needed for remote learning — an issue we saw play out with terrible results for too many of our children during this pandemic. 

“Instead of fixing that, the mayor is exacerbating its impact.”

Southern New Hampshire University, John Dukarm, Cesille Gentle, Annie Walmsley, Emily Walton, Manchester, U.S. News & World Report, Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, Corey Johnson, Mark Cannizzaro, Scott Stringer, Zachary Iscol, Brad Lander, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Brian Benjamin, Bronx High School of Science, High School of American Studies, Shaun Donovan, Rose Brennan

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