WATERTOWN â While some north country school districts have figured out ways to bring more students back for in-person instruction each day, many have cited challenges, including transportation and distancing during lunch periods.
In a letter Monday, 45 school district superintendents in the St. Lawrence-Lewis, Jefferson-Lewis-Hamilton and Franklin-Essex-Hamilton BOCES regions appealed to state legislators to advocate for additional guidance to allow all students to return to school in person each day beginning in the fall.
The letter states that while the most recent guidance from April 9 is helpful in many regards, there continue to be many restrictions that will ultimately make a complete return to school impossible: cohorts at the secondary level; social distancing on school buses; social distancing in classrooms and cafeterias where students are eating; and guidance on in-person, virtual and hybrid learning.
GOP continues to press for probe of New York s nursing home COVID response
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Assembly Minority Leader William Barclay continues to push for the Legislature to issue subpoenas to the state Department of Health for its handling of coronavirus in nursing homes. (Paul Buckowski/Times Union)Paul Buckowski/Albany Times Union
ALBANY Assembly Republicans continued to press for an investigation into the state s COVID-19 policies in nursing homes in a Thursday morning press conference, highlighting their efforts to peel off Democratic committee votes to issue subpoenas to the Department of Health.
“People like to talk the talk about getting accountability and answers, and it’s time now to walk the walk, said Assemblyman Kevin Byrne, a Brewster Republican. The Legislature is a co-equal branch of government and we should start acting like it.”
WATERTOWN — In opposition to the governor and his emergency powers during the COVID-19 pandemic, Assemblyman Mark C. Walczyk has started a movement dedicated to “kicking the crown.”
While farmers throughout the state recently got a breather when it comes to having to pay more overtime to their workers, this issue will hang over them unless authorities come to their senses.
Last year, the state Department of Labor created a Farm Wage Board to determine if the threshold for overtime should be adjusted. Initiating this board was part of a law passed in 2019 to address farmworker concerns about various working conditions.
The Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act created a Farm Wage Board, consisting of one representative each from the Farm Bureau, state AFL-CIO and member of the public. Board members are authorized to hold hearings to determine if they wish to recommend a lower cap on overtime hours. It established the threshold for overtime at 60 hours, but the wage board could decide to lower it to 40 hours.