STATE CANCELS SPRING BREAK; MULGREW TELLS EXECUTIVE BOARD WE MAY HAVE STAYED OPEN FOR ANOTHER WEEK IN MARCH (Updated with NYSUT memo on spring break)

This comes from CNYCentral:

School leaders across New York are beginning to share news about a change to April Break in light of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The latest guidance from the State Education Department is that school districts are expected to provide “continuity of learning,” which means continued instruction and distribution of meals during what had long been declared as time off on the school calendars.

Meanwhile, Michael Mulgrew held an Executive Board meeting via phone last evening. Unity-Mulgrew supporter Arthur Goldstein (at least he still publishes his minutes) wrote that Mulgrew said this among many other things:

How many UFT members tested positive?—Couldn’t guess at this point. Will say they are expecting a 40-50% positive rate in NYC, but many have had it and don’t know it. Will be an antibody test, and that will be pivotal. We will make sure when schools open that DOE and DOH may not sabotage their own process.

When we were going to court on Monday to close schools Mayor closed them. We may have stayed open another week. DOH failed to follow own process. We will take action before we return to make sure DOH and mayor’s office understand this is not a game. If there is an order, schools close. That’s it. We will take action before schools open.

What if they don't follow the process? UFT was willing to send us into infected buildings. They needed to protect their dues. Here is a repeat of what was in the Daily News that we copied last week:

UFT officials told union representatives Saturday to "advise against" a planned call out on Monday.

“A coordinated sick-out will be interpreted by the DOE as an organized effort in violation of the Taylor Law and the Triborough Law,” union officials wrote its leaders.

“They will perceive it as a labor action and strike. Each participant is subject to a fine of two days’ pay for every missed day and arrest. However, even worse, the UFT will suffer greatly with fines and penalties. Please advise against.”

How many more UFT members would have been infected had members not taken it into their own hands and called out sick en masse on Sunday, March 15 for the 16th? A  source told me that the Department of Education was considering clearing out the central offices and sending people into the schools for that Monday because so many people were calling out sick.

It was all of you in my opinion, not Mulgrew, that got the schools closed. Parent outrage helped too of course. Mulgrew's job was publicizing the need for closure. UFT members stepped up when the UFT was more interested in their dues than member health.

There is an exchange in the comments section of NYC Educator between Arthur and New Action's Jonathan Halabi that is revealing:

Jonathan:
"When we were going to court on Monday to close schools "

To be clear, the UFT went to court to close schools where there had been positive tests, not to close all the schools.

That distinction may turn out to be quite important. Makes me wonder if someone in our union knew that teachers were walking into unsafe conditions.

Jonathan

Arthur's reply:
It sounds like everyone knew, the city was doing nothing about it, and UFT tried to force their hand. What did I miss?

Jonathan:
If members were walking into dangerous schools, and the UFT knew, I guess they should have said something to the members. Does that seem wrong to you?

Arthur:
What makes you think they didn't? How do you think leadership became aware? Also, I'd be hard pressed to imagine that any school didn't have cases. Almost no one was tested. ALL the schools should've been closed earlier, and by the time they were closed UFT was lobbying for just that. I work in the most overcrowded school in the city, and it's hard for me to imagine we weren't exposed to it for weeks.

Jonathan:
We might assume that it was everywhere, but apparently there were some schools with confirmed cases where they did not have to assume. I don't think either of our schools had confirmed cases.

Look, an easy one. Teacher at Grace Dodge reported to anyone who would listen that he tested positive. Thursday March 12. DoE refused to close the school. But none of the articles mention what the UFT said. I don't understand how that happens.

Arthur:
There are two in my school, as a matter of fact. I'm sure that's a drop in the bucket.

We can guess the UFT knew there were cases so why didn't they tell the members in no uncertain terms to stay out of unsafe buildings? Because they wanted to protect their damn dues money.

How can the current UFT leadership ever be trusted on anything again? Isn't it time for some accountability, for Mulgrew to go?