The Department of Education finally announced the death toll from COVID-19.
This is from NY 1's education reporter Jillian Jorgensen on Twitter:
Very sad news: 50 NYC Department of Education employees have died of the coronavirus, as reported to DOE by their family members.
22 are paraprofessionals. 21 are teachers. 2 are administrators. 1 is a facilities staffer, 1 a guidance counselor, 1 a school service staffer. 2 are central office employees. 1 was also working in a Regional Enrichment Center.
These figures are as of April 10. The DOE will now release these figures weekly, after several weeks of saying compiling the information was more difficult than in the city's uniformed services.
They aren't even counting the 5 School Safety Agents who passed but will be tallied with the NYPD numbers. Safety Agents work in schools.
Thoughts and prayers go out to all of the families and school communities who have lost loved ones.
How many of the 50 died because schools were not closed early enough in March or because DOE didn't follow Department of Health guidelines when COVID-19 was present in school buildings?
How many would not have caught the virus if staff members were not told to report for work in buildings on March 17,18 and 19?
How many died because Michael Mulgrew did not have the spine to tell UFT members in no uncertain terms to stay out of what the UFT knew were unsafe schools?
Right now, I feel sad and angry. The politicians and union leadership failed us. I am a little blogger. Only the mass of union members can hold our leaders accountable.
43 comments:
Waiting for the Unity Caucus spinmeisters to tell us what a great job they are doing.
Let's worry about how they might screw us over next year instead of holding them(deBlasio, Caranza, Coumo) accountable now.
But keep paying dues? You guys really need to wake up.
Got this today from Chicago. They started remote learning today and they are returning from spring break. It is nice to have a union.
As CTU members return from Spring Break for the first official week of Remote Learning, know that we appreciate the great pains you’re taking to support students.
Just a regular teacher, If they aren't held accountable now, when will they ever be?
@4:19PM - Need to add one more name to the list of accountability: Mulgrew.
I know Michael Ortiz a sweetheart of a Custodial Engineer has past.
Yes Mulgrew, my guess is they will never be held accountable.
Sorry for the loss. The custodian is not counted in these numbers, correct?
I am one blogger shouting regularly. I need help just a regular teacher.
Astounding numbers. I've been paying close attention to the news. Yes, I'll say it - haven't heard much at all from the mouths of politicians of how much price has been paid by does who work for the DOE.
NY Times
San Francisco, for example, ordered schools closed on March 12 when that city had 18 confirmed cases; Ohio also ordered its schools closed on the same day, with five confirmed cases. Mr. de Blasio ordered schools in New York to close three days later when the city had 329 cases.
Meanwhile, the wet markets are already re-opened. What happens when those people start getting sick again and traveling?
“Any society that would give up essential liberty to obtain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." Ben Franklin
And we have lost both, as we applaud the diminution of our freedoms and demand even further restrictions.
The NY Times is Fake News. Yes they state the dates when orders were given, but the schools closed in SF and NY the same day, and in Ohio the day after NY.
The PD days are another story. But as far as kids, NY's first day closed was the same as many places including those mentioned as well as LA and Chicago where the Unions are stronger.
Look how many cases Ohio had when they closed schools, 5. NYC already had over 300 before they acted. Those are facts. They also knew about Italy. The virus was just starting in Chicago ,LA, SFO when they shut schools down. Here it was already widespread. Now we are paying the price with the body count, including our own.
The UFT is not downplaying their Culpability in the deaths of its members, they are completely ignoring it. Even Arthur Goldstein, a once vociferous and voluminous critic of Unity and Mulgrew has had a lobotomy since his Unity baptism. I can’t support a union I don’t trust. In the autumn we will need a strong union. We must get together ASAP to make sure that we have that union in place.
Thank you for that James.
Why do all this if everyone must pass anyway?
So my school has decided to emulate a regular school day. We have daily check-ins before 9am EVERY morning, scheduled class periods (25 min/class) and principal regulated co-planning sessions (daily), guidance counselor meetings and check ins with him and the APs.
I do not mind the class schedule so much as I know it can be helpful - mentally and emotionally - for both students and teachers.
We receive the form to self report our weekly attendance at the end of the week. However, I did not attend out morning meeting today and he sent me an emailing stating, "I see you are active on google classroom but we need you in the daily check in" (creepy) and despite being active that if I do not attend these check-ins that are already in the emails he sends out prior to "will mark you absent if there is no notice".
Besides, wondering why I would need notice, if he can see I am clearly doing my work and interacting with my students, what is an appropriate way to respond to this sort of thing? I told a teacher friend and she said I should reach out to my district rep. Any other suggestions?
I shouldn't even have to say this but yes I know there are more pressing matters. But I'm actually out here teaching and not interested in the self-indulgent ego-stroke of attending a meeting that could have and is an email. It's a catch up, i mean, spirit week! Let's keep the spirit alive and not harp on this unnecessary meetings. I'm solely looking for next best steps, not "you could have it worse" advice. I was one of the people impacted by the principal in Brownseville dying - she was the first principal to hire and believe in me. So save that "take it on the chin" for your mama'nem. Much thanks in advance.
8:04, Tell admin that for some reason you cannot understand you are trying but just not able to log into the meetings. Tell DR too to put it on record.
7:21, being an anonymous commenter doesn't hurt but it is not enough to get what you say we need: "We must get together ASAP to make sure that we have that union in place."
@8:04 PM - Your principal sounds like a micro-manager. Everything that is done on google is monitored by admin because they have access. At my school, the superintendant went into remote "classes" and commented in a staff email the work that he saw being done. As far as your principal telling staff that he will mark people absent is just cruel. Follow what James Eterno indicated. Sounds like a jerk. Would give a copy of the "schedule" to the district rep along with information that may not be on the schedule like days and times of meetings. Good luck!
Inbox: Council Member
@BobHoldenNYC
's office reports the Special Commissioner of Investigation for NYC schools has "opened an investigation" into the DOE’s "reported failure to abide" State guidance for responding to cases of COVID-19 & the Chancellor's handling of such matters.
TJK
NYC Schools should have close way before Chicago and LA. WE had many, many more cases.
DEBlasio and Cuomo failed to protect us and families. Cuomo admitted this when he said he is the one that shuts the schools down not the mayor. So then he left us in schools knowing full well that children can be carriers. DeBlasio said that he was't worried about the students because children don't get sick from Corona and it would be a hardship for grandparents to be home with their grandkids. Common sense (which he doesn't have) would have helped him to realize that these kids can carry the virus home to their grandparents and their extended families that they cannot distance themselves from because they live together. Now surprise, surprise, Queens is the epicenter. Why? Because it is the most diverse county in the country. Large amounts of immigrants.
DeBlasio who claims to be for minority and immigrant rights failed them miserably because he lacks common sense. Yes, he failed us too and we will continue to be failed when both the mayor and governor don't view us as highly skilled educators but instead as childcare workers. I am not trying to knock childcare workers if anything they should be viewed as educators as well. It's the comments that we are their to provide child care and not educators is the problem. How many more parents will I have to hear from that their child lost their live in grandparent? Had the major valued both teachers and students lives NYC public school would and should have closed by the first week of March.
lets all stay home forever: we will never get any contagious illness, never get hit by a bus, never get shot in a driveby or struck by lightening maybe...
we will be always and forever yummy safe.
and as @5:54 said, we have lost everything valuable already.
and we did it willingly.
Would you rather have hundreds of thousands dead instead of thousands 11:37?
Russia Chinese guy here. We are winning.
Economic suicide isn't the answer. Educating the public on the necessity of good hygienic practices as well as how to strengthen your immune system might be. But to continue with 50% of the economy idle and the other half just hobbling along will result in a severe recession with MASSIVE LAYOFFS of NYC educators in near future.
So the uft and doe are now calling for no fault grading so students cannot get any lower than their 1st MP grade. So why are we doing remote learning st all? Another scam.
If the doe and uft didnt scam every other year, I wouldn't care. What a joke.
1. Do no harm. Wherever students were at the time schools were closed, we agree not to lower their grades. We cannot penalize students for circumstances beyond their control
Yeah, 221. So if they dont do the remote learning, it doesn't matter. Their grades can only go up? Why do we bother?
Because COVID-19 is not their fault. This shit is way beyond the control of the kids. There are thousands dead. Many from their families. We have to give the benefit of the doubt now.
I'm at bila in brooklyn that woman is crazy. And then I can't fail them?
Ok, so if the kid didnt pass mp 1 and doesn't do the online work they fail?
But it is their choice that they didn't do the remote learning.
Yes but if a kid did nothing before and they do nothing remotely, they should not get credit.
I'm not doing that. If a kid who is in class on the cell phone all the time, now joins google classroom and tells me they refuse to do the work, or simply doesnt do it, they dont get credit from me. How many free laptops, ipads and hotspots did we give out?
I give an assignment, student writes, in Google classroom..."NEXT." Ok, he can take the class again next term. Keep enabling them and then telling me about amazing grad rates.
So let me see if I understand this, we trash our economy and 327 million of us lose all of our freedoms and it's all worth it to have saved just one life?
Would you have kept the schools open 5:54? What would you have done? What would you do now?
@4:04 and 4:14 pm: That's an easy one: Fail the student. That's what supposed to happen. However your admin may target you. Hopefully your colleagues will fail students who deserve to be failed. If not, foot meet a$$ for you.
5:54: What if that one life was your mother's, your spouse, your brother or sister or your child or yourself? Losing one life is too many. I'd hate to have you as a teacher.
7:24 If we close the schools for seasonal flu season (the winter) and open them up in the summer we will save many lives. And one of those lives could be "your mother's, your spouse, your brother or sister or your child or yourself? Losing one life is too many."
Who's in?
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