God, please no more.
The Department of Education, if you read through to the bottom of the Chalkbeat NY piece, is still defending having staff in schools saying there was no greater risk than had employees been in the general community. No, it was safer to be at home in a pandemic.
‘A tremendous loss’: Brooklyn third grade teacher dies from coronavirus
A Brooklyn elementary school teacher described as an “amazing hugger,” and who pushed to make sure her students always had interesting books to read, died from complications of the new coronavirus, according to relatives.Sandra Santos-Vizcaino, taught third grade at Brooklyn’s P.S. 9, according to the school’s website. She died Tuesday evening.
“Yesterday was a challenging day for the community as we faced the devastating reality of losing a teacher and a challenging night, as we faced the sounds of our thoughts and fears,” wrote Fatimah Ali, the school’s principal, in a letter to the community.
News of Santos-Vizcaino’s passing spread quickly through the Brooklyn community. Jessamyn Lee said the teacher still stayed in touch about three years after her daughter was in Santos-Vizcaino’s second grade dual language class at another school, P.S. 84.
In fact, Santos-Vizcaino kept up with many of her former students, and just a month ago visited one while he underwent cancer treatment, Lee said.
“She was an amazing hugger and really generous soul and really a talented teacher,” Lee said.
Lee said that Santos-Vizcaino had been in the classroom for at least 20 years and was “very much looking forward to retirement.” She had been building her dream home with her husband in the Dominican Republic, Lee said.
“This is a tremendous loss.”
On an online fundraising page, Santos-Vizcaino said her students “work hard,” and said she wanted to provide them with a “creative and collaborative” classroom that met each of their unique needs. In some of her donation requests, she said she hand-picked books for students based on their interests, and successfully raised money to buy graphic novels and stories about math.
“I have a class of voracious readers,” Santos-Vizcaino said in a thank you note posted to donors.
Unlike other city agencies, including the police department, the education department has declined to say how many of its employees have died due to the coronavirus or are infected. A principal, paraprofessional, and school safety agent are among those whose deaths have been publicly reported.
Asked Wednesday about why the education department has not confirmed infection or fatality rates, schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said: “You have to keep in mind that the police and fire department are out right now serving the public.” He added that “there is no mechanism” for the department to track how many teachers have tested positive.
Santos-Vizcaino last reported to P.S. 9 on March 19, the final day of professional development before school buildings shut down. She was hospitalized on the 26th and passed away five days later. Education department officials said the school informed the community that there was a self-reported positive coronavirus case on March 29.
Still, some educators have criticized the department for its shift in policy to no longer confirm coronavirus infections, leaving it to educators to inform each other if they are concerned the infection is spreading within their school community.
Department officials have countered that because the coronavirus is widespread in New York City, educators were not at greater risk when reporting to school than they were elsewhere in the community.
Wow, another. If this doesn't cause teachers to do something, nothing will.
ReplyDeleteWe NEED to know if this teacher was at school for the 3 days of training. This is a crucial question.
ReplyDeleteSo another teacher died and teachers are worrying about how to fill 6 hours and 50 minutes of instruction everyday over Spring Break? Are all of you fucking crazy? Don't do it. That's what you do. Or, as people wrote in the previous thread, post 1 assignment on Monday, and leave it up for the week, due Friday. Give series of essays. Don't even read them. Who cares? 90% of the students aren't even doing the work. Give the respect to the doe that they gave to us. Don't do anything over spring break. Fail those who deserve to fail. Case closed.
ReplyDeleteBest case scenario for the uft, they knew that older or previously ill people were subject to serious health issues and/or death from the virus. We now see that younger people die from it. they still sent EVERYONE in. There should be a criminal investigation as well as almost everybody, at least temporarily, pulling dues. Unity should be immediately removed. We will see what membership does.
ReplyDeleteI live in Staten Island. I take the bus, ferry and train, both ways, every day to get to my school in Manhattan. How many infected people do you think i came in contact with that last week alone? And that isn't even counting the staff in the building. I will never pay dues again.
ReplyDelete3:28, Read the full article.
ReplyDeleteSantos-Vizcaino last reported to P.S. 9 on March 19, the final day of professional development before school buildings shut down. She was hospitalized on the 26th and passed away five days later. Education department officials said the school informed the community that there was a self-reported positive coronavirus case on March 29.
Yes, the DOE may be liable for this teacher’s death, especially if others at the training have fallen ill. This is why the City isn't releasing the numbers of sick or dead. The UFT is also complicit for allowing teachers to attend those trainings. Last time I saw that rag, The NY Teacher, I saw wholesale caskets for UFT members in the classified section. UFT membership has its perks after all. May G-d bless Ms. Vizcaino and her family.
ReplyDelete400 kids shoulder to shoulder in the lunchroom, none with a sense of social distancing.....than the next week dozens arriving to get laptops....and in an absolute shocker the principal called is into lunchroom about 70 staff members all trying the best they can to distance. When I returned to my room it was the staging area for the laptop loaners. Unreal.
ReplyDeleteI got a hundred bucks that says the chancellor will not even bother to send flowers to this teachers funeral. Fuck him.
ReplyDeleteRIP Ms. Santos-Vizcaino.
ReplyDeleteThere are many people that are dying, and I'm not sure that teachers will make up the largest percentage of deaths in terms of professions. There are also people still getting out there and working every day until now. The UFT should have been better prepared and fought harder to have us begin remote learning a week or two before they did, but honestly, don't think there would have been no educator deaths even if that were the case.
After de blasio sent us to die...breakingnews @NYCMayor is advising all New Yorkers to wear a face covering. A #scarf #mask or material to cover your nose and mouth #coronavirus #facemasks #facecovering
ReplyDeleteIt says that she was at work on the last staff development day.
ReplyDeleteI hope her family contacts the newspapers and sues the DOE, Mayor and Chancellor personally. Mike Mulgrew failed all of us. I am done paying dues. I will opt out in June. The UFT under the current leadership is not what a labor union is supposed to be. I have always been in favor of unions but the UFT failed all of us. I cannot sit back and pretend that we were warned that our health and lives were at risk by going into work March 16,17 and 18th. THE UFT FAILED US.
Members are dying because Mike Mulgrew failed to Protect us. I cannot be a contributor to this joke of a union any longer.
Folks, to the DOE you are just a File Number! If the DOE could , they would brand your File Number with a branding iron on your right forearm and throw your dead carcass into a freezer
ReplyDeletetruck at Elmhurst Hospitol with the rest of them deadd bodies! How do you like them dead bodies???
Fuck the doe and uft. I will never work 1 second extra for them. This is the ultimate betrayal and still not a word of reasoning.
ReplyDeleteFolks, to the DOE you are just a File Number! If the DOE could , they would brand your File Number with a branding iron on your right forearm and throw your dead carcass into a freezer
ReplyDeletetruck at Elmhurst Hospital with the rest of them dead bodies! How do you like them dead bodies???
I hate to even think this, but this is like a purge to get rid of older higher paid teachers or staff members. It sounds morbid but I'd put nothing past the doe.
ReplyDeleteStop 5:47. I don't know why I let that comment through. DOE didn't do that.
ReplyDeleteYup, in a freezer truck with your File Number iron branded onto your right forearms.
ReplyDeleteAnd now you can go on ow to your eternal resting place with the markings of the DOE seared to you rotting flesh. Yo teacher, how do like the rest of them frozen dead bodies? the ones without File Numbers ?
Working for the DOE has always felt like a game of Russian Roulette. The COVID - 19 virus
ReplyDeletevalidates that...
Ya know what amazes me? Even in the most dire conditions, maybe ever, students still give the attitude. I'm not doing this or I'm not writing a whole page or you bugging or c'mon son. I can list other statements that they have written in google classroom. And they is with the principal and AP present in the class. The entitlement and disrespect never ends. But they want the credit. Not from me.
ReplyDeleteJames, if the DOE won't make a record of the teachers and school staff who have died from coronavirus, I think you should make one on your blog. We can't let their names be forgotten.
ReplyDeleteYou know DOE and Carranza hope that when this winds down that the total teacher death toll will be forgotten so they claim none of these deaths had anything to do with their decision making. You KNOW they will try to absolve themselves of any responsibility.
ReplyDeleteDOEcorruption
@DoEcorruption
INBOX: Teacher reactions to death of Brooklyn third-grade teacher from COVID-19: "A custodian and a para passed away from the same school in Far Rockaway.." "Is our chancellor nuts... he just doesn't want us to know [how many died] because they made us go in?"
@perdidostschool
DOA. Because of the DOE. Let's track the names and dates of DOE personnel who died between March 15 and April 2nd.
ReplyDeleteThere sacrifice must not be forgotten. The Office of Education must not be allowed to revision and edit out their life histories.
Any chance of a buyout?
ReplyDelete1:22 AM. Why would they buy you out when they could just send you back into contaminated buildings and kill you off?
ReplyDelete