Excursions today: museums, but also wastewater treatment plants

Good morning. It is Wednesday. We will see how school trips develop. We’ll also find out what Governor Kathy Hochul said when she signed a bill calling for a state task force to consider reparations for the lasting effects of slavery.

The fifth graders on a field trip entered a large, noisy room. The girls held their noses together. The boys were impressed.

They were in the smelliest part of a wastewater treatment plant on Long Island.

Having schoolchildren in that room was indicative of how field trips have evolved as science curricula have changed. The children from Oceanside School 8 in Oceanside, NY, had been learning about water and what happens when dirty water flows down the drain or toilet at home.

“This gives them a chance to see firsthand something they just read about in class,” said Lauren Sternberg, communications manager at the treatment plant, one of three in Nassau County operated by the conglomerate Veolia under a long-term contract .

The factory, in East Rockaway, NY, is a relatively new field trip destination. The American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan does not.

Field trips to the museum have been a ritual for New York City schoolchildren for generations; As many as 400,000 children visit the museum every year in school and camp groups. Lisa Gugenheim, director of the museum, remembers her first visit to the museum: “I’m pretty sure it was in second grade,” she said.

But since opening a $465 million addition last year, the museum has broadened its offerings — not just what student groups can see, but also how much time they can spend looking. Gugenheim called a pilot program that began last month “the evolution of the excursion.”

The traditional excursion lasts one day. The pilot program allows classes to treat the entire museum as a classroom every day for a week.

“This is not just a meeting with a scientist,” Gugenheim said. “It has a program that connects the classroom, the museum and science. That is the job of a museum today: we want to impact the lives of young people, not just on a day off from school, but for their entire lives.”

Among the first to go to the museum every day for a week were 35 fifth-graders and four teachers from the museum New American Academy at Roberto Clemente State Park. They studied how climate change affects life in the oceans, Gugenheim said. But they also spent time visiting a new elephant exhibit, estimating the size of a dinosaur and learning about the diversity of insects.

“This was unlike anything a single field trip could achieve,” Gugenheim said.

At the wastewater treatment plant – where the plant manager, Joseph Cappetti, led the tour – students watched as wide metal arms removed debris, such as paper towels, that had flowed in with the dirty water. That prompted one student to ask the question: “Do you find dangerous things?”

Walter Dobkowski, the plant’s environmental and health safety specialist, talked about hypodermic needles: “I’ve found one here in nine years,” he said. Cappetti said toys used to appear, but now, “everything is digital, so you don’t see as many plastic toys around here.”

Cappetti said the group asked smart questions, such as one about centrifugal force, after he said it is how grit, rocks and dirt are separated from the water in a giant tank. (These solids are then pumped out of the bottom of the tank.)

“Listen, they love it,” said Laura Cassar-James, one of the teachers. Anthony Rosenberg, 10, clearly did.

“I want to work here,” he declared, “because I know a lot more now.”

Weather

A sunny day with temperatures around 40 degrees. The evening remains clear with temperatures around thirty degrees.

ALTERNATE PARKING

In force until December 25 (Christmas Day).

Have you ever wondered who’s behind the food and souvenir shops in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty and on Ellis Island? My colleague Patrick McGeehan has the answer:

The family of Bradford Hill has been selling souvenirs to visitors to the Statue of Liberty for more than 90 years.

The National Park Service announced Tuesday that the family-owned company, Evelyn Hill Inc., had defeated some of the nation’s largest food service operators to win a new contract for the food and retail concessions at Liberty Island and Ellis Island. The contract runs through 2036, the 150th anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty.

Hill’s business, named after his grandmother, has fallen on hard times since his grandfather put a cart on a dock near the statue in 1931.

Then, as now, Evelyn Hill’s business is entirely dependent on tourists arriving on ferries from Lower Manhattan or New Jersey, so economic crises like the coronavirus pandemic could be disastrous.

The park service recorded 3.1 million visitors last year, up from 4.2 million in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic began. Hill, 67, said business had been better recently than before Covid-19 crippled tourism. In 2019, the concessions generated approximately $32 million. That total dropped to $4.2 million in 2020, park service documents show.

The park service told companies bidding for the contract to expect annual revenue of about $40 million, with the federal government keeping about $8 million before taxes.

The stores are staffed by approximately 120 employees at this time of year. The number rises to nearly 300 during the summer months, Hill said, adding that he was working on ways to expedite purchases during particularly busy times.

“People want to see the sights, not wait in line for food,” he said.

New York considers reparations for descendants of enslaved people

New York will create a task force as part of an ambitious effort to address the state’s history of slavery and racism.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, signed a bill that directs a new commission to study the history of slavery and its harmful effects, including housing discrimination, income inequality and police bias. She called on New Yorkers “to be the patriots and rebuke – not excuse – our role in profiting from the institution of slavery.” New York banned slavery in 1827.

With the task force, New York will join California and Illinois at the forefront of reparations.

My colleagues Grace Ashford and Luis Ferré-Sadurni write that it is too early to say what kind of restitution, if any, the task force might recommend for descendants of enslaved people. In California, a multi-billion dollar price tag threatens to thwart the reparations project.

Hochul acknowledged the political risks of starting a conversation about historical wrongs, though she said standing up against racism “meant more than just giving people a simple apology 150 years later.”

The Rev. Al Sharpton appeared at the bill signing ceremony in Hochul and thanked her for her “boldness and courage” in supporting the bill. Edit and the State Senateboth controlled by Democrats, were passed in June.

But Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt said New York had atoned for slavery with “blood and lives” during the Civil War. Ortt, whose district includes Niagara Falls, also said in a statement that the commission was “divisive” and “unworkable.”

METROPOLITAN diary

Soup is on

Dear Diary:

During a two-week trip to the city, I walked into a corner restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen on a Sunday evening.

Everything on the menu looked good. While I was trying to decide which soup to order, a bowl came for a man sitting alone next to me.

“What soup is that?” I said after he had his first taste.

I immediately regretted asking. This was New York, and my talkativeness felt out of place. Don’t be so annoying, I thought to myself.