The city Department of Education won’t say which schools have suffered COVID-19 deaths — but most of them worked in Brooklyn and the Bronx, The Post has found.
The DOE finally revealed last week that 50 employees — including 21 teachers and 22 paraprofessionals — have perished as of April 10.
But the department has refused to release their names or the schools where they worked. The DOE did not count school safety officers — at least eight of whom have died — because they are NYPD employees.
The Post confirmed many names and schools from various sources, including family accounts and tributes posted by the United Federation of Teachers, and the Council of Supervisors and Administrators, which represents principals and assistant principals.
Each passing is a tragedy.
During this pandemic, we are seeing a typical UFT reaction: a feel-good, stay strong commercial.
Maybe I am just a little too cynical. How did all of you feel after watching our latest UFT ad?
For a different public employee view, take a look at this video from TWU dissident Tramell Thompson. It is powerful (please excuse some of the graphic language). Watch at the 53-minute mark when he shows how it is impossible for too many transit workers to possibly social distance and how there is a lack of Personal Protective Equipment for transit workers.
Tramell explains how management in transit in many cases sends workers into unsafe environments where they can get sick and possibly die. We saw that in the middle of March in the schools too when DOE sent educators into dangerous buildings and the UFT didn't tell them to stay out. It is still happening in New York's subways and buses. Where in the hell are our unions?
If this doesn't show you why strikes by public sector workers in NYS must be legalized, I don't know what will convince you. We have to be able to withhold our labor to protect our lives. The Taylor Law must be changed. We need the right to strike. It is a human right. The COVID-19 pandemic just illustrates that so clearly.
Back to the Post piece. They cover the MTA deaths:
The MTA’s death toll has risen to 68 workers, spokeswoman Abbey Collins said Saturday. A total 2,496 workers have tested positive for COVID-19, and 4,365 are currently quarantined due to illness or exposure. Another 4,127 employees have returned to work after quarantines.
The Post then lists some of the names of the DOE workers who have passed. Thoughts and prayers for each of them, their families and colleagues.
Brooklyn
- Sharon Bascom, 61, teacher, PS 306
- Gilbert Constant, 48, paraprofessional, PS K811
- Rulx Dagus, 65, paraprofessional, P369@P67
- Magda Napoleoni, 54, paraprofessional, PS 298
- Kimarlee Nguyen, 33, ELA teacher, Brooklyn Latin
- Dez-Ann Romain, 36, principal, Brooklyn Democracy Academy
- Sandra Santos-Vizcaino, 54, teacher, PS 9
- Claudia Shirley, 67, teacher, PS 377
- Leslie Solius Verneret, 63, paraprofessional, PS 268
- Valerie Wilson, paraprofessional, PS K721
Bronx
- David Behrborn, 47, teacher, PS 55
- Paula Pryce Bremmer, 51, guidance counselor, Careers in Sports HS
- Omara Flores, 55, assistant principal, PS 95
- Carole King-Grant, 58, teacher, Science & Technology Academy
- Christopher Mondal, paraprofessional, PS 46
- Alyssa Pantilieris, 45, special-ed teacher, PS 15,
- Fatima Schmidt, 57, teacher, PS 333
Manhattan
- Rosario Gonzalez, 91, paraprofessional, PS 79
- Linda Pope, paraprofessional, PS 153
Queens
- Joseph Donofrio, school safety agent, PS 233Q
- Suzette Facey, school safety agent, JHS 226.
- Sabrina Jefferson, school safety agent, IS 8.
- Linosee Mosley, school safety agent, Bayside HS.
- Jarrod Sockwell, 38, paraprofessional, P256Q
- Robert Thoering, teacher, IS 125
Staten Island
- Sharon Kaufman, 63, special-ed teacher, PS 31
- Sharon Nearby, 52, teacher, IS 24
- Anton Updale, 53, teacher, IS 34
96 comments:
A NYC student is officially recorded as “present” for the day if there is evidence of a single online action, which could take a kid less than 5 seconds to complete. It’s not an accurate measure of how remote learning is going. Don’t let the 84% fool you.
Just watched the UFT ad. I almost barfed. So many useless deaths because the UFT has no spine.
This is too heartbreaking. May God bless them
First, I am keeping my $1600, no more dues from me. Second, why does this surprise anybody, this ignorance and deceit has been going on for years. Third, what do we do now?
How do you report a mayor that wouldn’t close schools and made teachers come into COVID-19 infested buildings for training that was online?!
"Cashiers & shelf-stockers & delivery-truck drivers aren’t heroes.They’re victims. To call them heroes is to justify their exploitation. By praising the blue-collar worker’s public service, the progressive consumer is assuaged of her cognitive dissonance."
https://t.co/hIvGWYJyud
“We believe that drastic measures must be taken to stop the spread of COVID-19 in our transit system,” the lawmakers — Robert Holden, Eric Ulrich, Mark Gonaj and Peter Koo — say in a letter to Cuomo.
This is what carranza likes and retweets during a pandemic...
Chancellor Richard A. Carranza liked
Christopher Emdin
@chrisemdin
·
15h
Imma need White folks (particularly the “woke” sect) to engage with me about whatever they please but offer critique not wrapped in their thoughts on my ego, arrogance & tone. I’m a Black man who operates within a system designed to break me who refuses to shrink for you. Be mad
@12:26 am. If some of these so-called teachers on this site had the spine to stand up together and denounce passing students who didn't perform, it's possible that many of the cashiers, shelf stockers, delivery personnel, home health aides would have had different opportunities. Selfish
Students arent capable of much more than minimum wage jobs...
LOL. Pelosi said she encouraged people to go into huge gatherings in chinatown in february because trump is anti asian.
Outrageous assaults on cops, an FDNY firefighter, and city jail guards reported by
@sara_dorn
: Spitting criminals are NYPD's new scourge amid coronavirus pandemic https://nypost.com/2020/04/18/nypd-giving-tickets-to-perps-with-coronavirus-who-spit-on-others/?utm_source=twitter_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons via
@nypmetro
When Pelosi said to visit Chinatown, there were zero COVID-19 cases around here. The incompetence came after and it was bipartisan at federal, state and city levels.
@11:40 am:. Correct. We are as strong as our weakest link. What happens if these essential workers got sick or decided to not go in to work. Who would be there? It's horrendous that so many have lost their lives. It's just as horrendous to me the lack of action by some teachers to the "pass everyone" mantra. What are we going to do now? Pull our dues. Change the Taylor Law. All of these options should have been discussed/considered when the DOE via administrators pressured you to forgo your professionalism and integrity. The students weren't worth it I guess. It's not your child. Someone on this site said teachers are dying, that's more important than students getting worthless diplomas. Those same students are your grocery clerks. They can take the virus home to older relatives. Are teachers better than anyone else? Nope. EVERYONE deserves to live. You have one job: Use your professional skills and TEACH. Students should fail if they haven't successfully passed. If your admin is pressuring you as a school to pass a failing student work as a school to push back and say NO. But that's not going to happen. Good luck
HAHA. Pass everybody with this attendance? Hell no.
Missing 20%+ of school days(Severe chronic absence)
96
Missing 10-19.9% of school days(Moderate chronic absence)
7
Missing 5-9.9% of school days(At risk)
5
Missing 0-4.9% of school days(Satisfactory)
4
Pelosi, Trump, de blasio, nyc health leader barbot, cuomo, all wrong.
We lost another teacher in the Bronx this week, still to be determine if it was Covid -19 related. He was sick and died at home. He was age 54 and planning to retire in June. He gave out those computers and iPads on those three days of mandated workshops for teachers to parents. Who knows if this is where he was he infected. A beautiful soul was snuffed out for what????? Shame on the city. Shame on us. Rest in peace Louis Barcleo PS/MS 280.
@12:37: Watch what happens live. When June rolls around, many of the soldiers will do as directed. Some soldiers will pull their dues but the majority will continue "business as usual". Watch what happens. Hard working-class folks (that's you. that's me) often get the shaft because as they (1%) ring the "crazy minority" bell, many of you join up with them. As soon as they can, they toss you out front to get your azz chewed up. Go into an infected school.check. Pass all students check. Blame the students. check. Yep the soldiers will continue being good soldiers. The 1% is banking on you folks. Good luck
Off topic but upcoming:
a) raise in May?
b) October lump sum. Lump sum money was supposed to have been set aside long ago? The public is going to love hearing about that but it's ours. If we postpone it, we'll never see it
So sorry for the loss.
Right now, I'm planning on passing less than 10 people total in the 2nd MP
You are so full of shit 4:09. Tell us your school so we can check out the veracity of your statement.
No, I'm honest.
Name and school? I didn't think so.
How about just school?
No, I don't believe it if you just say the school.
I'm so glad the UFT feels they have no $ worries. Guess they're not worried about the loss of dues when thousands of us get laid off after this school year ends. Must be because of how flush they are after double dipping on our retro payments. Good glad for them. I think we need more useless commercials featuring Mulgrew's name. Mulgrew, has a ring to it like Trump. Hey, maybe we can get the DOE to print his name on our paychecks?
My principal will see it. She can give me a file letter.
You are scared of a file letter? Forget about you doing anything constructive. People are dying now.
Not scared, that is why I'm passing 10 out of 150. And I dont pay dues. If more were like me, maybe the uft wouldn't step on us and maybe students would be able to write a sentence.
Name and school? Inspire us.
How can anyone verify anything you say? You may be a Russian plant stirring up trouble.
If the teacher has 10 out of 150 passing so be it. It's the parents who have to make sure they do their work. How effective can we be on the other side of a computer? It's not the job of the teacher to make sure kids do their work.
Ok, you can keep passing everyone for no showing and doing no work. Then you can be proud of yourself.
Bila
Keep passing everyone, this is what they turn into. Dozens of inmates freed from city jails over fears they were vulnerable to the coronavirus have wasted no time plaguing the city with new crimes, The Post has learned.
Assignments were given. Due dates were given. Daily reminders given. It says missing in red in google classroom. Too bad for them. Retake the class.
10 divided by 150 gives you a 7% passing rate. I would suggest you look a little bit in the mirror for why it is so low and how you managed to get through to so few students. Even in the worst of school settings, a few more than 7% are willing to learn. Don't blame other teachers. You clearly could not motivate a fly.
Yeah, the fault of the teacher that nobody does work. Or...the teachers has standards.
Oh, I see, but nobody should look in the mirror when a school with a 99% grad rate has an average sat score of 800? Or students who dont show up can pass. Or students who cant write a sentence manage an 85 in English.
Don't show me the other extreme. That is always your excuse. If you are not troubled that only 10 out of 150 of your students can complete the work you assign, then maybe just maybe you are part of the problem. I would quit in a heartbeat if I gave 150 kids work and only 10 did it.
No, you just pass everybody for doing nothing. Or give HS students work that is on elementary school level. What subject do you teach?
@5;10pm: Teach an authentic challenging lesson. Pass those who have successfully earned it. Hopefully your colleagues will do the same. As for the parents, that ain't your concern. You were hired as a professional teacher.
Look at this argument. The teacher who grades fairly is wrong because there must be a quota. The teacher who passes high school students who can't read or write is perfectly fine. Typical doe. Maybe the students arent up to par or dont care. How many nba players are there? 360 in the world. Some just arent good enough.
@6:18 pm: Absolutely. Now if your peers follow suit and don't let you stand alone, you will see how standing up is better than kneeling down. Just teach.
@6:31pm: There are many factors as to why the rate is so low. It is possible that this teacher needs more training. It's also possible that the students are NOT engaged in the learning process. However if this teacher took all the necessary steps to reach the students and the students have not done a lick of work than 93% would be failing my class too.
@6:35 pm: i say the teacher has standards.
@6:47pm: enlightened us:what would you do if students are not handing in work, passing tests, participating in class,absent 3 out of 5 days? Please share your skillset in getting these students to learn.
I say the standards are not reasonable if only 7% of kids can meet them. They are too easy if people who never show up are passing but are too difficult if nobody meets them. It is high school or middle school, not graduate school.
You would be fired in an instant for incompetence if nobody passed your class in the burbs. Parents would have your butt.
Or the kids have no morals, no ethics, have criminal backgrounds, dont give a shit and believe in a total entitlement society because they always have gotten away with it.
Waiting for Support, I would fail them if they didn't do any work and were absent three days out of five. However, I would try to get some of them to come to class and do work which showed some growth throughout the term. I always have taught in average schools where attendance kind of sucks but never in some of the horror high schools people here complain about.
The suburbs you would never have 10 out of 150 pass only. The parents are on top of their kids and there is a norm out there that you go to school and do your work. The norm in the city is I'll go to school when I want to and do my work if I feel like it. We are not doing society any good by passing kids that are incompetent and lazy. These are the kids who are going to be running things in the future.
Ok 647, give me your email address, I will contact you. You can send me graded work from your students. I would love to see their age, writing ability, attendance and report card grade. I will then forward that accurate grading to Susan edelmam. I'll wait. Let me know when ready.
743, growth? What does that mean? If they went from a 10 to a 20 on a test? Still failing, right? What school are you in? Had success calling parents?
If they go from illiterate to reading at a third grade level, they have made progress. They still can't interpret Shakespeare but they got somewhere for sure.
Agree with 7:55, not every student is the same, obviously. Effort and attendance and entitlement society are not always issues. We have allowed city students to get away with doing nothing.
8:48, illiterate to 3rd grade should not be passing HS English classes.
If going from truly illiterate to third grade level in a term isn't passing, then I won't even bother. You are a couple of my administrators 8:50. Give me the high school books for kids from other countries who may have gone for a year or two of school back home but here they are in high school because of their age. I throw away the high school stuff and teach them to read but admin tells me I have to do Shakespeare. I refused but those kids learned. Yes, I later transferred. All of them who tried and learned passed. They deserved to.
Oh. What job are they getting reading on a 3rd grade level, with a HS diploma?
@7:39pm: i can use some of the same descriptors for teachers who pass everyone because it's easier:
1. No morals
2. No ethics
3. Don't give a shit
4. Believe in entitlement i.e. want raises despite not teaching, respect from the same students they are screwing over by passing them and believe they are somehow better because that's what they have been told all their life.
@7:43 pm Perfect. But you don't know if this teacher has tried these tactics. You don't know if the teacher works in a "horror school". Horror schools can turn into average or above average schools if all staff in the building stuck together. If admin goes after one, everyone starts complaining to the media.
I'm gonna send the to Edelman. Dont blame you totally, but that is precisely the point, 3rd grade reading level should not be graduating HS.
@7:55 there are many reasons why some students/families do not seem to have education as a priority. However, lack of love or ability isn't always a given.
@8:40 damn from illiterate to reading at a third grade level? That's success. We are not talking about that. We are talking about excessive absences and no attempt to do any assignments.
@8:59 tried and learned should pass
8:48, illiterate to 3rd grade should not be passing HS English classes.
Yes they should pass if they came from another country with what they call an interrupted formal education. Those kids made remarkable progress and are now leading productive lives.
9:20, Send this entire exchange to Sue Edelman. Are you sure you are not my former principal? We are very proud of the work we did with those SIFE kids. They could read and beforehand they could not.
I said i didn't blame you. The point is that standards are so low, 3rd grade reading and writing level is not college level or college ready.
It's also a societal issue and not parents. A system that allows illiterate 18 year olds to get a diploma is a failed system. I once had a student who was 14 and was reading on a pre-kindergarten level. Obviously the system failed this kid. I really can't stand it when I get compared to other teachers who have 80 percent of their kids passing while I have 60 percent. Administrators think just because a teacher has a lot of students passing his/her class he's a good teacher. There are only 3 reasons you will have high percentages in a class. 1. the kids are good and do their work. 2. You're an easy teacher who gives easy and little work and you grade easily or 3. You inflate grades.
Do any of the insensitive assholes who comment know what SIFE students are? Holding a 16 year old kid from South America or Africa who could not afford school in their native land to the same standard as a kid who was born and raised here is beyond insane.
There are plenty born here who have been in the NYC school system up to 18-20 years old, who are reading on 3rd grade level.
Have you ever noticed a teacher never gets called in for passing too many people, only for failing too many people...As if the teacher who fails a lot of people must be wrong.
I see why that guy fails 93 % of students. Totally rigid.
I am not talking about kids who are born her and don't do shit in class or even show up. I am referring to kids who come here as teens from other countries and work hard. Yes, they should pass and they will be productive people who work and pay taxes.
2 cents.....really depends on the class, Kids are taught that "specials" and electives don't count, can fail them all and go to high school, then that mentality stays and they fail all there electives in 9th and 10th, the ones left in school by junior and senior year making up all those courses finally learn but for most it's too late. If it's not a core or regents class the kids will laugh at whatever you try to do. Maybe not everywhere butt in all those schools with no discipline policies and lax admin, no deans, etc, electives and specials and clusters get tortured daily by even some of the good kids. And now whoever up top was talking about not motivating them tell me how my buddy with a full set of MacBooks and iPads trying to teach kids to make beats and become rap stars (thats what they want right? motivating right?) can't get them to do shit. All these kids who want to be in the NBA? Ask my gym teacher buddy if any of them will take any advice or criticism. Nope.They know better. ok boomer? They gonna be laughing at us when they in the NBA or winning that grammy right? When they be talking' like this they gonna get them that job right? The problem as stated many times here and ignored by society is that urban youth idolize the wrong people and ethics and parents and families don't not care, they are the same. Again not all and not everywhere but enough that the children of the NYC doe are what they are and you can deny that as of now. 75 percent on NYC students could give a shit about anything other than social media and how they look.
@10:50 pm: Huh? That's some crystal ball ya got there.
Remember, 80% attendance means they are absent once a week. That should be too way much. Would you allow your child to be absent once per week? I have maybe a couple students per class with 80% or better attendance.
Not a crystal ball Wairing for Support. I know these kids have done just fine after high school. Some stay in touch.
Surely, all NYC schools are not like the one 11:23 describes nor are his stereotypical high school students. Yes, those places exist but so many different types of schools and students exist.
One of my former SIFE students does very well in construction. He is grateful we taught him how to read.
@11:23 pm: You're prejudice. Maybe you work in a tough school. Maybe your entire career was in tough schools. Idk. I do know that "i be talkin" like that sometimes too. Lol. You mentioned so many things but you didn't mention how the doe/uft still treated the professionals like shit. That must sting.
Yes, most are like that. I have many who are there less than 50% of the time. The rest just sit on phones all period. But I should pass what percent?
Mulgrew and crew are breathing a sigh of relief - https://nypost.com/2020/04/19/testicles-may-make-men-more-vulnerable-to-coronavirus-study/?utm_campaign=iphone_nyp&utm_source=pasteboard_app
In 2020, rigid is simply expecting students to show up.
waiting, funny you went there, I made no comment about race. Also funny you ignore the more pertinent aspects. I acknowledge the disparity between societal norms and what goes on in the city schools. I try to change it. You can keep screaming racism and giving everyone an excuse to keep themselves down. I am Black btw and yes I be talking like that too but I also know how to code switch which would be a good thing for our urban youth to understand. But like I said they know more than us, they gonna be fine.
My former school had many SIFE students and the moronic administrators are the ones who expect you to hold them to the same standards as the gen. ed. students. All teaches know these kids are at a disadvantage and shouldn't be held to the same standards but not administration no surprise. They want you to perform miracles.
And some of the morons who comment here expect SIFE students to meet the same standards as everyone else. They might actually be wanna be administrators.
2:01, LOL. Testicles make coronavirus worse. Immunity at 52 Broadway.
@10:59, I have the same experience. Students come who are 15 to 17 years old who have absolutely no experience with English language- btw only ELLs are SIFEs. There education history is sometimes impossible to verify and they score at elementary school levels on the NYS MLS in reading and math in their first language. On average, it takes the student 6 years to learn enough English to pass the ELA Regents so the school already has a negative statistic against their graduation. But the real issue is that since the administrators don't acknowledge the deep, underlying issues they don't offer realistic pedagogical methods to teach these students
@12:07 absolutely
@12:27 am: what % of the "rest" do you think you will pass?
@2:04 pm: your expectations need some work. Giving up because of frustration with the students, parents, admin and uft may seem like the best answer to keep your sanity. I don't believe you entered this profession with your current expectation. We need to take back the profession and regain our integrity. That will take some digging in.
@10:27 am: i didn't mention race. I said you are prejudice.
About SIFE IMO: the only thing that matters to DOE is graduation rates. Get them in and get them out. The DOE doesn't care about educators IMO because they sent you into a possibly bio hazardous environment. You're as much of a victim as the students. As mentioned above "you will be fine ".
For those who don't know SIFE means Students with Interrupted Formal Education.
The union better get its A game together and defend us like other city unions defend their employees.
Retro pay guaranteed
Raise scheduled for May..
Summer vacation.
Compensation.
Mea Culpa on not telling us not to go to work.
I hope many members are already convinced dues should be pulled.
If they fail us about summer break which we will all need...
I'm done hearing about our responsibility to students.We've never faltered for one moment. I. can't maintain my responsibility to the students if they can't maintain their responsibility to protect their members.
The mayor yesterday (in his press conference) finally verbally included us on the "essential " workers list. What took so long?
Selfish...yes....This is the moment for union leadership to shine. It'll cost them if they don't.
UFT defend your teachers.
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