NY Dept. of Education Petitions To Cancel Spring State Exams

January 26, 2021

The New York State Department of Education is seeking a federal waiver to exempt third through 12th grade students from taking state exams for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year as the country continues to grapple with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

NYSED announced via a press release on Monday that it sent two federal waiver requests on state assessment and accountability requirements which are now available online for public comment. The department is accepting comments until Feb. 5, according to the release.

“Given the varying circumstances in each school district, the only fair and appropriate decision at this time is to seek waiver to forego testing and accountability requirements,” said Interim Commissioner Betty A. Rosa.

“In light of the ongoing pandemic, we have determined that the Spring 2021 state assessments cannot be safely, equitably and fairly administered to students in schools across the state and therefore are seeking these waivers,” said Board of Regents Chancellor Lester W. Young Jr., in a statement.

The first waiver asks for the omission of state testing requirements for elementary, middle and high school students and allow the NYSED to give the New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test only to those students who are attending school in person some days of the week.

The second waiver asks for permission to do away with a federal requirement that asks NYSED to assign a level 1 to 4 to “accountability subgroups” at a public school or school district based on performance. The grading system is meant to identify areas of most need of support and improvement. In addition, the second waiver proposes amending the New York state ESSA plan to allow schools currently identified for improvement to use 2018-19 standards instead of modified 2020-21 exit criteria.

The announcement comes shortly after state education officials canceled the January High School Board of Regents Exams due to the pandemic and issued modified diploma requirements for graduating students. Normally, New York state public high school students need to take and pass five Regents exams in order to graduate. But all Regents have been canceled since the pandemic first reached the state in March of last year.

After state officials broke the news about the petition, the state teacher’s union voiced their support for the move.

“In a year that has been anything but standardized, it’s the right move to seek this waiver to cancel this spring’s standardized exams,” NYSUT President Andy Pallotta said. “Educators know their students’ needs and how to maximize their potential. We’re thankful that the Department and Regents are taking this step and are here to work them to ensure students can still showcase their hard work this spring in a safe and equitable manner.”

“Interim Commissioner Rosa, Regents Chancellor Young and the Board are putting students’ physical, social and emotional well-being first with this request,” added NYSUT Executive Vice President Jolene T. DiBrango in a statement. “We’ve heard from countless educators across the state who know that canceling this year’s exams is in the best interest of their students. We urge the federal government to hear their voices and grant this request.”

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amNewYork and Metro Join Forces for Daily Giant

amNewYork Metro staff

January 6, 2020

The two free weekly tabloids serving New York City are now one.

Schneps Media, publisher of amNewYork, acquired the assets of Metro New York and Metro Philadelphia, including the popular daily newspapers, websites, and digital media businesses serving New York City and Philadelphia.

As a result, Schneps Media has merged amNewYork and Metro New York to form amNewYork Metro. With 175,000 copies sent to press for Monday’s issues, its circulation is now more than twice than that of any other major daily circulated in the five boroughs.

In addition, Schneps adds more than 350,000 in weekly circulation with its community newspapers serving Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx. Schneps Media also covers the Long Island and Westchester markets.

Schneps’ combined digital reach will now grow to about 3.5 million unique visitors and 5.5 million page views per month with over 300,000 email newsletter subscribers and 500,000 social media followers.

Schneps plans to retain amNY.com as the digital brand for New York and will soon be launching amNY TV providing episodes of content across multiple digital platforms. The first series will be The World’s Fare featuring the best authentic international restaurants and their chefs in New York City.

Philadelphia is a new market for Schneps Media with METRO having the largest circulation in Philadelphia County.

Schneps Media executive Cliff Luster has been named Group Publisher for the New York and Philadelphia markets with former METRO executives Ed Abrams and Susan Pfeiffer acting as Publishers and Associate Publisher for New York City and Philadelphia respectively. Robert Pozarycki, amNewYork‘s current Editor in Chief, will serve in the same role for the combined New York City media.

METRO largely consolidated their Philadelphia newsroom into New York and Schneps Media plans to focus on hiring editorial staff that will be based in the local Philadelphia market for that office.

“I’m very happy that the readers and communities of New York and Philadelphia will get their news from publishers that have been devoted to local news coverage for over 35 years,” said Abrams. “I’m excited to be joining and leading the amNewYork METRO division with a company I competed with and also respected for many years.”

“This is an exciting next step for our entire organization offering a unique opportunity to strengthen our position in the daily newspaper market and increase our readership to over 2.5 million readers in print each week and many more online,” said Schneps Media CEO Joshua Schneps.

“Our expansion to the Philadelphia market is something we look forward to. We will be bringing our business model to this historic City,” said Schneps Media Founder and President Victoria Schneps. METRO Philadelphia is poised to grow tremendously and we look forward to working with the local community.”

Schneps Media is now the publisher and producer of two leading daily newspapers, 33 award-winning community newspapers, 28 magazines and specialty publications, 20 websites and more than 50 annual events throughout New York City, Long Island, Westchester and now Philadelphia.

Editor’s note: Schneps Media is the parent company of the Long Island Press.

amNewYork Metro staff

NY Dept. of Education Petitions To Cancel Spring State Exams

amNewYork and Metro Join Forces for Daily Giant

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