Diane Rutherford is reporting for WWNY-TV the state teachers union and other education advocates are expressing concern following Gov. Andrew Cuomo's announcement May 5, that the state is collaborating with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to reimagine public education in New York. Cuomo said as plans are developed to reopen K-12 schools and colleges, the state and the Gates Foundation will consider what education should look like in the future with technology as part of the plan. A group of as yet undesignated individuals will discuss how technology can meet the educational needs of students with disabilities; how the state can provide educators with more tools to use technology; and ways the state can use classroom technology to recreate larger class or lecture hall environments in different locations. The education advocacy group Alliance for Quality Education said the plan "could be a threat to public schools as we know them." Jasmine Gripper, Alliance for Quality Education executive director, said, “Both the Gates Foundation and Andrew Cuomo have a history of pushing privatization and agendas that have the potential to destroy public schools. This collaboration raises a red flag and real questions about what shape our “reimagined” public schools will take post-pandemic, and whether they will be recognizable as public schools at all..." Read the full story at wwnytiv [dot] com.