School politics unmasked

Daily Point

Mask wars on Long Island

With some students and teachers walking out of class on Long Island and around the country to protest mask mandates, it’s clear that mask politics will stay for a while.

The Point listened in to quite a bit of that debate during livestreamed school board meetings over the last few weeks, highlights of which can be seen in our new video segment on Long Island’s mask wars in districts like Riverhead, Commack, and Locust Valley.

Anti-mask parents and advocates often raised similar points: a wish for more parental choice about masking, questions about the utility of masks, and also just general frustration with changing health guidelines and the challenges of abiding by them.

Often, however, the comments veered into issues that were less about masks and more about left-right political divides, with references to the American Revolution, Thomas Paine, Daniel Webster, the "right of rebellion," the Constitution, and future organizing among like-minded parents — a development worth watching that may impact state and national politics in the coming years.

Watch the video here.

— Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Talking Point

Are Cuomo picks better than no picks?

Will the ghost of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo hover over next week’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority board meetings?

As of Friday afternoon, longtime Cuomo ally Larry Schwartz remained a member of the MTA board and was expected to be present at Monday’s committee meetings and Wednesday’s full board meeting. His name appeared atop the authority’s financial committee report released this week, an indication that he remains the committee’s chairman.

The committee reports included Schwartz’s fellow Cuomo appointees Robert Mujica, Jamey Barbas and Haeda Mihaltses as well.

Cuomo appointee Linda Lacewell resigned her board spot last month.

Advocates had expected Gov. Kathy Hochul might make immediate changes to the MTA board, pointing to the comment she made on her first day, when she said, "No one who was named as doing anything unethical in the [Attorney General] report will remain in my administration."

Schwartz plays a prominent role in the report, particularly for his work as vaccine chief even as he made calls to county executives evaluating whether they still supported Cuomo.

But this week, Hochul shed a different light on her own remark.

"Larry Schwartz is not part of my administration," she said.

Since she made the comment Wednesday, political observers have tried to parse it.

Did Hochul mean that since MTA board members are not technically part of the governor’s administration, Schwartz wouldn’t fit into the guidelines of her initial promise?

Or did she mean he wouldn’t be on the MTA board for much longer?

A Hochul spokeswoman didn’t respond to a request for comment. But at least for now, it seems the first answer might be the right one.

Changes, of course, could still come. Hochul did say she hoped to "professionalize" boards like the MTA’s. And she may be waiting until it’s closer to when the State Legislature returns to session, in January, so lawmakers can confirm her replacement picks quickly. Perhaps Hochul thinks seats occupied by her predecessor’s picks are better than empty ones.

— Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall

Pencil Point

What we lost

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Puzzle Point

In the news

Welcome to this week’s news quiz, based on events that took place this week. As usual, provide the answer for each clue, one letter per blank. The first letter of each answer, taken in order, spells the name of someone whose return to the classroom this week was big news. Answers will appear in Monday’s edition of The Point.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Former close aide of former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo whose corruption conviction was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ European country that opened the world’s largest plant to pull carbon dioxide from the air.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Prominent House of Representatives member targeted by former President Donald Trump’s endorsement of an opponent, Wyoming attorney Harriet Hageman.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Big-city school district that passed a vaccine mandate for all eligible students.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Pop singer whose father filed papers to end his conservatorship of her estate.

_ _ _ _ _ Western state that for the first time in its history moved to start rationing medical care in hospitals overburdened with COVID-19 patients.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Baseball Hall of Fame inductee who fell one vote short of an unanimous induction.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Central American country that became the first to accept bitcoin as legal tender.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Long Island-based hospital system whose nurse choir advanced to the finals of the America’s Got Talent television show.

— Michael Dobie @mwdobie

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