Friday, May 29, 2020

EDUCATION WEEK VIDEO EXPLAINS CDC GUIDELINES ON REOPENING SCHOOL BUILDINGS

We put up the Centers for Disease Control guidelines earlier this month on reopening school buildings.

Here is a video that a reader sent us from Education Week examining the CDC guidelines.


You need to have the reopening discussions at the school level while waiting for city and statewide guidelines.

35 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh ok, they say the best way for it to spread is indoors, with many people, for 15 minutes plus...Well, that is us all day, every day.

Anonymous said...

If she were a teacher, her class would be bored to death with her droll voice. As for the recommendations, recommendations are easy, it's the execution of those recommendations that are a problem. Hard to do turn and talk when the kids are 6 feet apart. They'll have to rename it turn and shout. Also do you think it's any easier for older kids or adults to wear those masks all day long?

Anonymous said...

The mta has already announced that they will table social distancing on trains and buses because it is impossible. Just wear a mask. Well, as a teacher who travels 3-4 hours a day via public transportation, that isnt very safe for me.

Anonymous said...

248pm, cant shout, shouting actually pushes out more particles to travel further. We can't open. End of story.

TJL said...

All the above (as of 3:20) is hard to argue with.
My question is how do you get food and other necessities? What do you do when you go to ShopRite, BJ's, Home Depot, etc.? Pizzeria/Chinese food? You don't usually wait 15 minutes to pick up food but it's also much more confined. Your kid's doctor's and dentist's office?
What do you tell parents about how they're going to manage work? I've always said "What do you do in July and August" but my discussions with neighbors and 2 repairmen I've had in my house said they had to miss work during the school shutdown. And maybe they can swing July and August but not months on end.
Also will they just withdraw from school all together? If they're homeschooling anyway why not? Do you think the City will continue to pay us to "work" from home? I'd be lying if I said I'm not enjoying saving on commuting expenses but is it sustainable?

James Eterno said...

Do you think the City will continue to pay us to "work" from home?

Great question TJL. Opening buildings safely is a very important issue now.

Anonymous said...

So give me the safe way to open buildings that would actually work and be enforced.

Anonymous said...

Well then this is the time for the transfer process to work properly. I live in staten island. I cant be made to travel to manhattan, 4-5 hour round trip on public. That is unfair and unsafe. it has always been unfair. Give me a staten island school i can drive to...

Anonymous said...

How will the gym work? I am a PE teacher.

Anonymous said...

Oh, how are students eating? Who is monitoring the halls, the steps, the bathrooms, the cafe, the gym, the walking in and out of the building, the walking in and of of classes? How are you going to know who is covid positive? How are you going to know you just was made sick on their trip to school?

Anonymous said...

I know we will get screwed at every turn. Will they regret it when thousands or hundreds of "children" get infected in 1 school? How about older staff members?

Anonymous said...

Lower suspensions=let students do whatever they want.

jeff said...

They can keep High Schools closed and use those buildings to spread out middle schools and elem schools.

Anonymous said...

de blasio can use the billion dollars he wasted with his wife to pay us to work from home.

Anonymous said...

On day #1 there will be many students who simply refuse to comply with cdc regulations. What do we do at that point? walk out?

Anonymous said...

No our schools will not and cannot follow these recommendations.

Shelley said...

Of course the city will pay us if we continue to educate the students, however that gets done.
And, by-and-by, some teachers prefer this distance learning gig. Consider the teacher who keeps bitching that he needs a transfer to a SI school, and countless others who live far away and pay $500 or more a month to commute to work.

The NYT has piece on the prospect of short term debt issuance I raised with both the Governor and the Mayor. The mayor seems keen to do it. The governor not so sure. Well, say what you want about the Mayor, he puts workers and students and the regular resident of NYC ahead of the suburbanites and wall street every day of the week.

Anonymous said...

Here ya go...


BBC News (World)
@BBCWorld

South Korea closes schools again, a few days after reopening them, due to biggest coronavirus spike in weeks https://bbc.in/2TPqNlz

James Eterno said...

Yes, you have to be prepared to walk out. Much better if you can do it as a group. To hell with the Taylor law, it is your life.

Once there is COVID-19 in a building, it spreads fast. Dienfecting might not help much as close contact looks like the main means of transmission.

Let's put this out there as a possible suggestion: if there is one positive case in a school building, everyone leaves. We know everyone in the building was possibly in close contact with that person. No need for much contact tracing. We quarantine and we'll be back in two weeks. In the interim, school does remote learning.

Is this crazy?

Your ideas please.

Anonymous said...

It is crazy, why, because once you find out someone tested positive, 1200 people could have been infected.

Anonymous said...

Once we find out??? Who will tell us? At what point? They covered it up last time. Did you forget?

James Eterno said...

Thanks for sending the South Korea story. They closed because a parent of a kid had it. That I think is what I am trying to get at here. The government is emphasizing testing and contact tracing.

I get what they are doing in SKorea. Not sure if we can do that here.

James Eterno said...

Right so test and send everyone home at the first sign of trouble.

Anonymous said...

Why would any sensible person listen to the CDC? They've been wrong from the start. Of course those of you on the left welcome big government telling you what to do rather than thinking for yourselves. Just as you welcome the government giving you free money while you sit on your ass.

Anonymous said...

1)Seems like immunity may last only up to six months after getting the virus.

https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/25785/20200522/study-reveals-coronavirus-immunity-lasts-6-months-casting-doubts-passports.htm

2)Israel, which has opened schools, has been seeing spikes.
"He said that the majority of new infections emanated from schools - 7% from middle schools and 35% from high schools."

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/coronavirus-update-64-new-cases-284-dead-36-on-ventilators-629628

Anonymous said...

More about spikes in Israel.

"The outbreak was initially traced when a ninth-grade student at the school was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Tuesday, upon which 210 fellow pupils and teachers were sent to quarantine for 14 days. Subsequently, two seventh-grade students and then three teachers were also diagnosed. "

https://www.timesofisrael.com/18-students-staff-members-at-shuttered-jerusalem-school-diagnosed-with-virus/

Anonymous said...

I know off topic, but, when buyout is offered, why only atrs? It is unfair, and in SOME cases, you are rewarding people who have poor ratings/attendance. Now that we are at the final retro, and I am only 40 years old, I am not an atr, but I would take a buyout.

James Eterno said...

ATR severance is in the contract. It is a strict cash payout to leave. A buyout by giving pension credit is a change in state law. That requires approval of the State Legislature and Cuomo's signature.

James Eterno said...

The ATR severance was a compromise. Joel Klein wanted to fire ATRs who did not find a new position within a year. UFT to their credit drew the line at a time limit for ATRs and held on that. The severance was put in the contract in 2006 and has been offered a couple of times since then.

Anonymous said...

I dont want any sevice credit, I am willing to leave at 40 years old. I will take the payment. I think it is unfair that they get $50k offered every year and I dont.

Anonymous said...

How do we expect the DOE to do the right thing for us when in one 24 hour time period, June 4th went from being a day off for the kids/PD day for us - and now it's an instructional day? They have no clue what they're doing!

Anonymous said...

Where did you hear June 4th is an instructional day?

Anonymous said...

Brooklyn Day is now an instructional day. Nice job negotiating spring break, by the way.

Disgusted in Queens said...

Sorry to post this here not intending to high jack this post. Maybe you can do a different post about it? Just got this texted to me from a friend. More teaching days-no say.


May 29, 2020
Update on Staff Conference Days
Dear Families,

Thank you for your continued patience and flexibility in response to this ever-evolving crisis. We are writing today to share some important updates and reminders about the end of year school calendar.

We have two days coming up in June that were originally scheduled as times when students would be out of school. However, due to the pandemic, students will be expected to participate in remote learning on both of these days:

Thursday, June 4 was originally scheduled as a holiday for all students in observance of Brooklyn / Queens Day (also known as Anniversary Day).
Tuesday, June 9 was originally scheduled as a non-attendance day for students in schools with grade bands K–12, K–5, K–6, K–8, and 6–8, as well as District 75 school programs.
Both June 4 and June 9 are instructional days for students. All students are expected to engage in remote learning on both of these days. Teachers will continue to share engaging instructional materials with students on those days.

Anonymous said...

Washington Post

Between March 1 and May 9, the nation recorded an estimated 101,600 excess deaths, or deaths beyond the number that would normally be expected for that time of year, according to an analysis conducted for The Washington Post by a research team led by the Yale School of Public Health.

That figure reflects about 26,000 more fatalities than were attributed to covid-19 on death certificates during that period, according to federal data.