Dear Commons Community,

Calling former President Donald J. Trump “a cancer for the country,” Representative Anthony Gonzalez, Republican of Ohio, said in an interview yesterday that he would not run for re-election in 2022, ceding his seat after just two terms in Congress rather than compete against a Trump-backed primary opponent.

Mr. Gonzalez is the first, but perhaps not the last, of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Mr. Trump after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot to retire rather than face ferocious primaries next year in a party still in thrall to the former president.

The congressman, who has two young children, emphasized that he was leaving in large part because of family considerations and the difficulties that come with living between two cities (see his statement below). But he made clear that the strain had only grown worse since his impeachment vote, after which he was deluged with threats and feared for the safety of his wife and children.

Mr. Gonzalez said that quality-of-life issues had been paramount in his decision. He recounted an “eye-opening” moment this year: when he and his family were greeted at the Cleveland airport by two uniformed police officers, part of extra security precautions taken after the impeachment vote.

“That’s one of those moments where you say, ‘Is this really what I want for my family when they travel, to have my wife and kids escorted through the airport?’” he said.

Mr. Gonzalez, who turns 37 on Saturday, was the sort of Republican recruit the party once prized. A Cuban American who starred as an Ohio State wide receiver, he was selected in the first round of the N.F.L. draft and then earned an M.B.A. at Stanford after his football career was cut short by injuries. He claimed his Northeast Ohio seat in his first bid for political office.

Mr. Gonzalez, a conservative, largely supported the former president’s agenda. Yet he started breaking with Mr. Trump and House Republican leaders when they sought to block the certification of last year’s presidential vote, and he was horrified by Jan. 6 and its implications.

Still, he insisted he could have prevailed in what he acknowledged would have been a “brutally hard primary” against Max Miller, a former Trump White House aide who was endorsed by the former president in February.

Yet as Mr. Gonzalez sat on a couch in his House office, most of his colleagues still at home for the prolonged summer recess, he acknowledged that he could not bear the prospect of winning if it meant returning to a Trump-dominated House Republican caucus.

“Politically the environment is so toxic, especially in our own party right now,” he said. “You can fight your butt off and win this thing, but are you really going to be happy? And the answer is, probably not.”

The Republican Party is indeed a “toxic environment” that has just killed off one of it rising stars.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Olympic gymnasts Simone Biles and McKala Maroney ripped the FBI and the Justice Department in Senate testimony (see videos above and below) ) on Wednesday for how FBI agents mishandled abuse allegations brought against Larry Nassar and then made false statements in the fallout from the botched investigation.  As reported by The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

On the flight returning from Slovakia, Francis was asked for his opinion about the debate within the U.S. Bishops Conference, about whether Biden, who is Catholic, should be denied communion because of his support for a woman’s right to choose even though he is personally against abortion. 

“I never denied communion to anyone. But I never knew that I had in front of me anyone such as you described, that is true,” he said, without elaborating. 

Last June a divided conference of U.S. Roman Catholic bishops voted to draft a statement on communion that may admonish Catholic politicians, including Biden. 

“Communion is not a prize for the perfect … communion is a gift, the presence of Jesus and his church,” the pope said. 

On Tuesday the Biden administration formally asked a federal judge to block enforcement of a new Texas law that effectively bans almost all abortions in the state under a novel legal design that opponents say is intended to thwart court challenge. 

The Republican-backed law forbids abortions performed once cardiac activity has been detected in the embryo, typically starting at six weeks of gestation. 

Church law says a Catholic who procures an abortion automatically excommunicates themselves from the Church. 

But there is no clear policy on Catholic politicians who say they have no choice as elected officials to support abortion rights even if they are personally opposed. 

This has led to heated debates in the U.S. Church. 

The pope said bishops should deal with the problem as pastors not as politicians.

“A pastor knows what to do at any moment but if he leaves the pastoral process of the Church he immediately becomes a politician,” Francis said. 

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Fearful of Donald Trump’s actions in his final weeks as president, the United States’ top military officer twice assured his Chinese counterpart that the two nations would not go to war, according to a forthcoming book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley told Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army that the United States would not strike. One call took place on Oct. 30, 2020, four days before the election that defeated Trump. The second call was on Jan. 8, 2021, just two days after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of the outgoing chief executive.

Milley went so far as to promise Li that he would warn his counterpart in the event of a U.S. attack, according to the book  Peril,  written by Woodward and Costa.   As reported by CNN (see video above), the Washington Post and the Associated Press.

“General Li, I want to assure you that the American government is stable and everything is going to be okay,” Milley told him in the first call, according to the book. “We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you.”

 “If we’re going to attack, I’m going to call you ahead of time. It’s not going to be a surprise,” Milley reportedly said.

Selections from the book, which is set to be released next week, were first reported by The Washington Post yesterday.

The second call was meant to placate Chinese fears about the events of Jan. 6. But the book reports that Li wasn’t as easily assuaged, even after Milley promised him, “We are 100 percent steady. Everything’s fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes.”

Milley believed the president suffered a mental decline after the election, agreeing with a view shared by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a phone call they had Jan. 8, according to officials.

Pelosi had previously said she spoke to Milley that day about “available precautions” to prevent Trump from initiating military action or ordering a nuclear launch, and she told colleagues she was given unspecified assurances that there were longstanding safeguards in place.

Milley, according to the book, called the admiral overseeing the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the military unit responsible for Asia and the Pacific region, and recommended postponing upcoming military exercises. He also asked senior officers to swear an “oath” that Milley had to be involved if Trump gave an order to launch nuclear weapons, according to the book.

Milley was appointed by Trump in 2018 and later drew the president’s wrath when he expressed regret for participating in a June 2020 photo op with Trump after federal law enforcement cleared a park near the White House of peaceful protesters so Trump could stand at a nearby damaged church.

Requests for comment from Milley were not immediately returned. Milley’s second warning to Beijing came after Trump had fired Secretary of Defense Mike Esper and filled several top positions with interim officeholders loyal to him.

The book also offers new insights into Trump’s efforts to hold on to power despite losing the election to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump refused to concede and offered false claims that the election had been stolen. He repeatedly pressed his vice president, Mike Pence, to refuse to certify the election results at the Capitol on Jan. 6, the event that was later interrupted by the mob.

Pence, the book writes, called Dan Quayle, a former vice president and fellow Indiana Republican, to see if there was any way he could acquiesce to Trump’s request. Quayle said absolutely not.

“Mike, you have no flexibility on this. None. Zero. Forget it. Put it away,” Quayle said, according to the book.

Pence ultimately agreed. He defied Trump to affirm Joe Biden’s victory.

Trump was not pleased.

“I don’t want to be your friend anymore if you don’t do this,” Trump replied, according to the book, later telling his vice president, “You’ve betrayed us. I made you. You were nothing.”

It is a miracle that the United States survived four years of the Trump Presidency!

Tony

GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger calls former President Trump "one of the weakest men I've ever seen."

"Folks on my side like to use the term 'snowflake' when talking about people that get offended really easily. That's Donald Trump." pic.twitter.com/mRUI6FSboc

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) September 14, 2021

Dear Commons Community,

California Governor Gavin Newsom yesterday emphatically defeated a recall aimed removing him from office, a contest the Democrat framed as part of a national battle for his party’s values in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and continued threats from “Trumpism.”

Newsom’s victory boosted by a healthy turnout in the overwhelmingly Democratic state. He cast it as a win for science, women’s rights and other liberal issues, and it ensures the nation’s most populous state will remain in Democratic control as a laboratory for progressive policies.

“‘No’ is not the only thing that was expressed tonight,” Newsom said. “I want to focus on what we said ‘yes’ to as a state: We said yes to science, we said yes to vaccines, we said yes to ending this pandemic.”  As reported by the Associated Press.

With an estimated two-thirds of ballots counted, “no” on the question of whether to recall Newsom was ahead by a 30-point margin. That lead was built on votes cast by mail and in advance of Tuesday’s in-person balloting, with a strong showing by Democrats. While likely to shrink somewhat in the days ahead as votes cast at polling places are counted, Newsom’s lead couldn’t be overcome.

Republican talk radio host Larry Elder almost certainly would have replaced Newsom had the recall succeeded, an outcome that would have brought a polar opposite political worldview to Sacramento.

The recall turned on Newsom’s approach to the pandemic, including mask and vaccine mandates, and Democrats cheered the outcome as evidence voters approve of their approach. The race also was a test of whether opposition to former President Donald Trump and his right-wing politics remains a motivating force for Democrats and independents, as the party looks ahead to midterm elections next year.

Republicans had hoped for proof that frustrations over months of pandemic precautions would drive voters away from Democrats. The GOP won back four U.S. House seats last year, success that Republican leaders had hoped indicated revived signs of life in a state controlled by Democrats for more than a decade.

But a recall election is an imperfect barometer — particularly of national trends. Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 2-to-1 in California, so the results may not translate to governors in toss-up states or reflect how voters will judge members of Congress next year.

Trump, who had largely stayed out of the contest, made unsubstantiated claims that the election was rigged in the closing days, claims echoed by Elder’s campaign. Elder did not mention fraud as he addressed his supporters after the results were in.

“Let’s be gracious in defeat. We may have lost the battle, but we are going to win the war,” he said, later adding that the recall has forced Democrats to focus on issues such as homelessness and California’s high cost of living.

Newsom for months had likened the recall to efforts by Trump and his supporters to overturn the presidential election and a push in Republican-led states to restrict voting access.

“Democracy is not a football, you don’t throw it around. It’s more like — I don’t know — an antique vase,” Newsom said after his win. “You can drop it, smash it into a million different pieces — and that’s what we’re capable of doing if we don’t stand up to meet the moment and push back.”

He became the second governor in U.S. history to defeat a recall, cementing him as a prominent figure in national Democratic politics and preserving his prospects for a future run. Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker survived a recall in 2012.

California voters were asked two questions: Should Newsom be recalled, and, if so, who should replace him? Only a handful of the 46 names on the replacement ballot had public recognition, but most failed to gain traction with voters.

Elder entered the race just two months ago and quickly rose to the top of the pack. But that allowed Newsom to turn the campaign into a choice between the two men, rather than a referendum on his performance.

Newsom seized on Elder’s opposition to the minimum wage and abortion rights as evidence he was outside the mainstream in California. The governor branded him “more extreme than Trump,” while President Joe Biden, who campaigned for Newsom, called him “the closest thing to a Trump clone I’ve ever seen.”

Though the contest didn’t quite bring the circus-like element of California’s 2003 recall — when voters replaced Democratic Gov. Gray Davis with Republican movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger — it featured quirky moments of its own.

Reality TV star and former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner entered the race but gained little momentum and left the state for part of the campaign to film a reality show in Australia. Businessman John Cox, who lost badly to Newsom in 2018, tried to spice up his campaign by hiring a live bear to join him, branding himself as the “beast” to Newsom’s “beauty.”

Newsom will soon be campaigning again; he’s up for reelection next year.

Orrin Heatlie, the Republican who launched the recall effort last year, cast it as a “David and Goliath” battle and said it was telling that Newsom had called on national Democrats like Biden to “salvage his damaged political career.”

The president and other prominent Democrats offered Newsom support in the race’s closing days, while national Republican leaders largely kept the contest at arm’s length.

The recall needed 1.5 million signatures to make the ballot out of California’s 22 million registered voters. It never would have come before voters if a judge hadn’t given organizers four extra months to gather signatures due to the pandemic. That decision came the same day Newsom attended a maskless dinner at the lavish French Laundry restaurant with lobbyists and friends, stirring outcry.

Supporters of the recall expressed frustration over monthslong business closures and restrictions that kept most children out of classrooms. Rising homicides, a homelessness crisis and an unemployment fraud scandal further angered Newsom’s critics.

But the broader public stayed on his side. Polling from the Public Policy Institute of California showed his approval rating remaining above 50% throughout the pandemic. With weeks to go, the institute’s poll showed 60% of Californians approved of Newsom’s handling of the pandemic.

The rise of the highly contagious delta variant led Newsom to frame the race as one of “life or death” consequences. He pointed to Texas and Florida, which were seeing worsening surges as their Republican governors rejected mask and vaccine mandates, as cautionary tales for what California could become.

Newsom has been viewed as a potential White House contender since at least 2004, when he defied federal law to issue marriage licenses to LGBT couples as mayor of San Francisco. His victory maintained those prospects, though he will still have to navigate around the ambitions of Harris, who came up through San Francisco politics alongside Newsom.

He came to the contest with advantages. California’s electorate is less Republican, less white and younger than it was in 2003, when voters booted the Democratic Davis. Newsom was allowed to raise unlimited funds, dwarfing his competitors while flooding TV screens with advertising. Public worker unions and business and tech executives poured millions into his campaign.

Congratulations, Governor!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The longest shutdown in Broadway history is over.

Some of the biggest shows in musical theater, including “The Lion King,” “Wicked” and “Hamilton,” resumed performances last night, 18 months after the coronavirus pandemic forced them to close.

They were not the first shows to restart, nor the only ones, but they are enormous theatrical powerhouses that have come to symbolize the industry’s strength and reach, and their return to the stage is a signal that theater is back.  As reported by The  New York Times.

“People are ready,” said Julie Taymor, the director of “The Lion King,” “and it’s time.”

Of course, this moment comes with substantial asterisks. The pandemic is not over. Tourists are not back. And no one knows how a long stretch without live theater might affect consumer behavior.

But theater owners, producers, nonprofits and labor unions have collectively decided that it’s time to move forward. And the crowds who packed into shows all over Broadway last night were grateful to be there. There were roaring ovations and, at times, tears.

“We were open to anything,” said Erica Chalmers, interviewed at the just reopened TKTS booth Tuesday afternoon, “just so I could have that experience of a Broadway show.” She opted for a play, “Lackawanna Blues,” that had its first Broadway performance Tuesday night.

The reopening of Broadway comes as a variety of other performing arts venues, in New York and around the country, are also resuming in-person, indoor performances: In the days and weeks to come the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, Carnegie Hall and the Brooklyn Academy of Music will all start their new seasons.

“Broadway, and all of the arts and culture of the city, express the life, the energy, the diversity, the spirit of New York City,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference. “It’s in our heart and soul. It’s also so much of what people do to make a living in this town. And that makes us great. So, this is a big night for New York City’s comeback.”

Those attending shows on Broadway are finding the experience changed: every show is requiring proof of vaccination (patrons under 12 can provide a negative coronavirus test) and every patron must be masked.

Even before tonight, four shows had begun: “Springsteen on Broadway,” which had 30 performances between June and September, as well as a new play, “Pass Over,” and two returning musicals, “Hadestown” and “Waitress,” all of which are still running. None has missed a performance; “Waitress” managed to keep going even after a cast member tested positive by deploying an understudy.

The returning blockbusters opening tonight were joined by “Chicago,” a beloved musical which this year marks 25 years on Broadway, and a new production of “Lackawanna Blues,” an autobiographical play by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. And more are on the way — more than two dozen more before the end of the year.

At stake is the health of an industry that, before the pandemic, had been enjoying a sustained boom. During the last full Broadway season before the outbreak, from 2018 to 2019, 14.8 million people attended a show.  And that attendance translated to real money — the industry grossed $1.83 billion that season.

Raise the curtains and let the shows begin!

Tony

Gavin Newsom and Larry Elder

Dear Commons Community,

Californians will be voting today whether or not to recall Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.  In  TV ads and rallies, Gov. Newsom has been urging voters  to turn back the recall vote that could remove him from office.  The leading Republican candidate to replace Newsom, Larry Elder, has been broadly criticizing the media lately for what he described as double standards that insulated Newsom from criticism and scrutiny throughout the contest.

Newsom — who was joined by with President Joe Biden for a final  get-out-the-vote rally in Long Beach — was in a largely Hispanic area on the northern edge of Los Angeles, where he sought to drive up turnout with the key voting bloc.

In recent weeks, the campaigning has been vicious.

Elder  was in Los Angeles yesterday, where he was joined by activist and former actress Rose McGowan, who repeated her claims that Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, attempted to persuade her in 2017 not to go public with her allegations of sexual misconduct against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

Siebel Newsom’s office described the allegations as a “complete fabrication.” In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Newsom characterized McGowan’s claims as a “last-minute classic hit piece” from one of Elder’s supporters.

The governor called Elder desperate and grasping, saying McGowan’s claims about his wife “just shows you how low things go in campaigns these days.”

He echoed his earlier criticism of Elder, saying the conservative talk show host and lawyer “doesn’t believe that women have the right to their own reproductive freedoms, he’s devoutly opposed to Roe v. Wade, doesn’t believe there’s a glass ceiling, doesn’t believe in pay equity laws.”

During her appearance, McGowan spoke warmly of Elder and lambasted Hollywood Democrats who she said traumatized her life. She now lives in Mexico.

“Do I agree with him on all points? No,” McGowan said. “So what. He is the better candidate. He is the better man.”

The last-minute exchange highlighted growing tensions in the election, which largely grew out frustration with Newsom’s pandemic orders that shuttered schools and businesses during the pandemic. Voting concludes Tuesday. Recent polling shows Newsom is likely to hold his job.

As Newsom’s “first partner,” Siebel Newsom, an actress turned documentary filmmaker, has championed gender equality and society’s treatment of women and families.

McGowan, 48, who is known for her role in the “Scream” movie franchise, was one of the earliest of dozens of women to accuse Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct, making her a major figure in the #MeToo movement.

Elder, who could become the state’s first Black governor, targeted some of his sharpest remarks at what he described as skewed media coverage.

Earlier this week, his walking tour of homeless encampments in LA’s Venice Beach neighborhood was cut short after a woman bicyclist wearing a gorilla mask threw an egg toward Elder and then took a swing at a member of his entourage. The confrontation set off strong reactions on Twitter, with conservatives charging the incident wasn’t immediately branded a racist attack because Elder is a conservative.

If he was a Democrat “it would have been a major story,” Elder said. He also said McGowan’s accusations largely have been ignored by the media, but argued that if similar charges had been made about him “that’s all you guys would be talking about.”

“This is a double standard,” he said. “I’m sick of it.”

Emails posted on Twitter by McGowan showed she had contact with Newsom’s wife, which her office confirmed but said their communication was “as fellow survivors of sexual assault and in Jennifer’s former capacity leading the Representation Project, an organization that fights limiting gender stereotypes and norms.”

One of McGowan’s key claims is that during a 2017 phone conversation, Newsom’s wife referenced a law firm that was working with Weinstein and asked her what the firm could do “to make you happy.”

McGowan said Sunday she didn’t recognize the firm’s name at the time. “I had no idea who that was. So, I just said nothing and hung up on her. That was my last contact with her,” she said.

The election will determine whether Newsom can complete his first term or will be removed office more than a year early. Voters are being asked two questions: Should Newsom be recalled and, if so, who should replace him? If he gets a majority vote on the first question, the second question with the names of 46 replacement candidate is irrelevant. Otherwise, the highest vote-getter among the replacement candidates would become governor.

If you have not done so already and live in California, please vote today!

Tony

Antony Blinken

Dear Commons Community,

Secretary of State Antony Blinken testified at the House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday that, “as of the end of last week, we had about 100 American citizens in Afghanistan who told us that they wish to leave the country.”

Blinken emphasized that this number reflects “a snapshot,” adding, “This is a picture that will continue to change over time.” As for the number of U.S. green card holders, or legal permanent residents, who remain in Afghanistan, Blinken said that although this was “something that we don’t track directly,” an estimated “several thousand” U.S. green card holders remain in the country

The hearing was the first of two this week in which the secretary of state is scheduled to testify on the U.S. military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan last month, which has been the subject of intense criticism from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

Appearing remotely via video conference, Blinken defended the Biden administration’s handling of the withdrawal and, in particular, the State Department’s role in the chaotic effort to evacuate American citizens and at-risk Afghans from the country after the swift takeover of the Taliban. Responding to accusations that the State Department failed to begin evacuations in time, ultimately leaving Americans and Afghan allies behind, Blinken echoed the argument made by President Biden that the deal the Trump administration negotiated with the Taliban last year left few options on when to pull American troops out of Afghanistan. Subsequently, he added, the Afghan government and security forces collapsed faster than anyone had anticipated.

“Even the most pessimistic assessments did not predict that government forces in Kabul would collapse while U.S. forces remained,” Blinken said in his prepared remarks.

Committee members of both parties pressed Blinken on what the State Department is doing to ensure that Americans and other Afghan allies left behind in Afghanistan can get out of the country, and expressed concern about whether the Taliban’s interim government can be trusted. Republicans were particularly forceful in their criticism. Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, the ranking Republican on the committee, called the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan an “unmitigated disaster of epic proportions,” while Reps. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., and Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., called on Blinken to resign.

Some Democrats, including New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, the committee chairman, sought to give context to the chaos that unfolded during the U.S. military’s final weeks in Afghanistan, pointing to the Trump administration’s negotiations with the Taliban, as well as the country’s long history of instability. Still, Meeks acknowledged there were problems with the Biden administration’s approach.

“Could things have been done differently?” said Meeks. “Absolutely.”

In his prepared opening remarks, Blinken said that the State Department is in “in constant contact with American citizens still in Afghanistan who have told us they wish to leave,” and that since the end of the military evacuation operation two weeks ago, efforts to get Americans and at-risk allies out of the country have continued.

Blinken noted that two Qatar Airways charter flights left Kabul last week carrying U.S. citizens and others.

“In addition to those flights,” he said, “six American citizens and 11 permanent residents of the United States have also left Afghanistan via an overland route, with our help.”

I am glad we have ended the 20-year war in Afghanistan and accept the fact that the withdrawal could have been handled more adeptly.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

My colleague, David Bloomfield alerted me to this article that appeared in Chalkbeat yesterday that comments on what to look for in the coming months in the New York City public schools. Perhaps the most provocative are comments on the possibilities as to who will be appointed schools chancellor.  David is quoted in the following:

“Many political insiders believe that the next mayor  (likely Eric Adams) will tap David Banks to lead the nation’s largest school system. The founding principal of the Eagle Academy for Young Men — the first school in a network of all-boys public schools in New York City — is a trusted advisor of Adams, and was standing with him on the night the Brooklyn borough president won the Democratic primary.

Other names to consider include former superintendent of Brooklyn’s District 17 and newly appointed East Ramapo Superintendent Clarence Ellis, Treyger (the teacher turned council member), and the current chancellor Meisha Porter, suggested David Bloomfield, a professor of education, law, and public policy at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center.

(Banks is one of Porter’s mentors. He was the founding principal of the Urban Assembly school in the Bronx where Porter taught and eventually served as principal.)

“Banks is the favorite, but Ellis, Treyger, and Porter are still worthy of mention, as would breaking tradition by putting all four before the public — or just a single nominee — for public questioning by the City Council or Panel for Education Policy prior to appointment,” said Bloomfield, a proponent of a public search process for chancellor.”

The entire article is below!

Tony

————————————————————————–

Chalkbeat

It’s back to school for NYC. Here are 6 issues to watch this year.

By Amy Zimmer

 September 12, 2021

A child stands in front of his Brooklyn school last year. Beyond the logistics of reopening, questions remain around how will teaching and learning look different this year.

José A. Alvarado Jr. for Chalkbeat

On the last day of school in June, many educators and families exhaled, looking forward to a brighter year in September. Vaccination rates tracked up, and COVID numbers dropped.

The scene dramatically shifted just weeks later. Vaccines are indeed “a game changer,” as Mayor Bill de Blasio has said, but breakthrough cases are happening as the highly transmitted delta variant has gained a foothold in New York City. Meanwhile, more than half of the city’s schoolchildren are under 12 and remain ineligible for the vaccine.

As the city’s 1,600 public schools open Monday, de Blasio remains steadfast against a remote learning option, banking on vaccines as the first line of defense this school year. All public school teachers as well as pre-k educators and after-school staff with city-funded contracts must be vaccinated with at least one dose by Sept. 27. And while the mayor isn’t planning a vaccine mandate for all eligible students, officials are offering vaccines at 700 school sites when buildings reopen, and the shots are required for high risk sports and after-school activities.

That’s on top of other layers of protection against the virus, including mandatory masking, improved ventilation, two air purifiers in every classroom, and three feet of social distancing “where possible,” as per federal guidance. (A lot of families, however, remain worried, especially when masks come off during lunch.)

But beyond the logistics of reopening, major questions remain around academic recovery, mental health services, and the basics of teaching and learning as all New York City schoolchildren head back to buildings for the first time since March 2020.

Here are some issues we plan to keep an eye on this school year:

Who will actually be back in the classroom?

Last school year, New York City’s public schools lost an estimated 43,000 students, or 4% of its enrollment, according to data the education department released in January. The attrition rate for that one year was more than the previous 14 years combined, Chalkbeat found.

Early signs indicate that enrollment may still be down at some schools: The number of kindergarten applications fell 12%, and middle school applications fell 6%, city figures revealed. Some schools have already told families that declining enrollment would mean fewer teachers this year, while other schools are waiting to see if children come back after they learned remotely when their families lived elsewhere last year. Families who switched to parochial or private schools last year may opt to stay there, while charter school enrollment increased last year by about 10,000, or roughly 7.5%.

Many families are still calling for a remote option, with some planning to boycott the first day of school.

City officials did not respond to queries about the number of families requesting homebound instruction for children with medical conditions or how many requested to pull their children out of buildings to homeschool them.

Will promises of mental health support be more than lip service?

The city has promised to hire an additional 500 social workers to ensure that every school has at least one social worker. Experts, educators, and students are calling for mental health clinicians in schools and also, that social emotional learning be embedded in every classroom in some way.

With some students feel anxious, especially those who have spent more than a year learning remotely, it’s important for educators to have structured opportunities for students to engage with one another, Kevin Dahill-Fuchel, the executive director of Counseling in Schools, said at a recent Chalkbeat panel focused on mental health. He emphasized the importance for educators being available to listen to students and start those “critical relationships” with them and their families.

“The last time I was in the school building, I was in my second semester sophomore year, and I’m now going into my senior year of high school, which feels like a very big jump and that’s definitely something that makes me nervous and a little bit fearful of going back,” Shivali Korgaonkar, a Stuyvesant High School student, said at the event.

There are also questions about what school discipline will look like when children return to buildings. Suspensions dropped dramatically as children were remote, though still disproportionately affected Black students. The disparities in discipline were among the reasons that many families wanted to keep their children remote again this year.

Will students with disabilities get their promised support?

The disruption in learning has been particularly difficult for many students with disabilities, especially those who struggled with remote physical or occupational therapy or limited access to a special education teacher. City officials announced a roughly $251 million plan claiming that every student with an individualized education program — or roughly 200,000 children with disabilities — would be eligible for extra special education programming after school and on Saturdays in addition to whatever services they normally receive.

The “vast majority” of the funding would flow to school budgets to provide services outside the traditional school day, officials said, with principals scheduling times that work well for their families. The services are expected to kick in by early November, officials said.

But several principals told Chalkbeat as of last week that they hadn’t heard anything about this plan nor had they received any funding yet.

Education officials said that schools would receive funding for these programs in the next few weeks, and that principals recently received separate funding under the Academic Recovery program to begin planning for these special education services.

“Over the next few weeks schools will be reviewing student progress, determining what services each child needs, planning their after-school or Saturday schedules and more,” education department spokesperson Sarah Casasnovas said in an email. “All schools will have the resources they need to offer this critical support to every student with an individualized education program.”

Will the ‘situation room’ be able to stay on top of positive cases?

De Blasio has repeatedly said he expects fewer school building closures this year, and that may be true given the higher threshold for building closures, which will be done on a case-by-case basis. But quarantines and classroom closures aren’t expected to disappear, as evidenced by the hundreds of classroom closures in the first month that charter schools have been open this school year, Chalkbeat found. While elementary schools are expected to close full classrooms, middle and high schools students could be in for a confusing ride this year in terms of “office hours” and keeping up with coursework.

With roughly 1 million children expected back on campus this year — compared to about 365,000 in buildings by the end of last year — watchdogs are concerned that the “situation room” might be overwhelmed with responding to positive cases. The inter-agency rapid response team is charged with figuring out which classes might need to close and which students might need to stay home. It could get complicated to determine who can stay or not (for instance, vaccinated children can remain in buildings if they have no symptoms). Adding to the hurdles: many middle and high schoolers will be moving from class to class with different kids in each course.

Yet, despite having 2.5 times as many children in school buildings this year, the situation room’s hours are being significantly reduced. On weekdays, it’s now open from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., according to a recent newsletter the education department sent principals. That closing time is four hours earlier than last year.

Brooklyn City Council member Mark Treyger, a former teacher who heads the education committee, wondered whether the situation room could handle the school system at full capacity, and expressed concern about all of the time that principals had to spend on COVID-related conversations with the situation room, taking them away from instruction.

“The more time they’re doing, whether it’s contact tracing, situation room coordination, communication with families about cases,” he said at a recent council hearing, “there’s going to be a cost here.”

How many assessments will kids get, and how will they help?

In an effort to understand where children are academically, schools are expected to conduct assessments at least three times a year, starting in kindergarten. The city is devoting $36 million for additional screening this year, including the cost of training teachers to deliver the assessments.

Roughly $3 million of that is earmarked for K-2 literacy assessments, which are designed to flag struggling readers. Students in grades three to 12 will be given assessments in English as well as math to help give educators a baseline understanding of where students are and track their progress throughout the year.

But the question remains: What will happen after students are assessed and identified as having challenges? What specific training will be provided to educators to help them respond?

“We don’t want to see this just left up to individual schools for everyone to do their own thing,” Sarah Part, a policy analyst at the nonprofit Advocates for Children, previously told Chalkbeat.

Will a new chancellor take over mid-year?

Odds favor Democratic nominee Eric Adams taking over as the city’s chief executive in January 2022, and that could mean a new chancellor with a new set of priorities.

Many political insiders believe he will tap David Banks to lead the nation’s largest school system. The founding principal of the Eagle Academy for Young Men — the first school in a network of all-boys public schools in New York City — is a trusted advisor of Adams, and was standing with him on the night the Brooklyn borough president won the Democratic primary.

Other names to consider include former superintendent of Brooklyn’s District 17 and newly appointed East Ramapo Superintendent Clarence Ellis, Treyger (the teacher turned council member), and the current chancellor Meisha Porter, suggested David Bloomfield, a professor of education, law, and public policy at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center.

(Banks is one of Porter’s mentors. He was the founding principal of the Urban Assembly school in the Bronx where Porter taught and eventually served as principal.)

“Banks is the favorite, but Ellis, Treyger, and Porter are still worthy of mention, as would breaking tradition by putting all four before the public — or just a single nominee — for public questioning by the City Council or Panel for Education Policy prior to appointment,” said Bloomfield, a proponent of a public search process for chancellor.

A new administration brought Bloomfield a dose of optimism: “Adams’ lack of a detailed education plan and experience might be a plus by letting education policy be largely dictated by an educator at the DOE with NYC school experience instead of by the mayor’s office.”