If the administration insists you go live while teaching, please show him/her this clarification to principals from the Chancellor. The date on it is April 23, 2020
Clarification on Live Instruction
As outlined in the Guidance and Expectations for Remote Learning in Response to COVID-19, teachers are responsible for, to the extent possible, interacting with students in real-time to deliver lessons, facilitate discussion, and lead other instructional activities during the designated time. This can be done in multiple ways; for example, video taping instruction, responding to student work, or synchronous instruction. As we continue to flexibly meet the needs of all students, families, and school personnel, synchronous instruction is not required at this time. We are confident that each school community will select and continue to adapt the instructional methods that work best for their unique communities. For questions or support, please contact your Superintendent. In addition, there are BCO-designated Remote Learning Champions and support staff that are available to support you, as well.
85 comments:
Thank you James.
Question:
Why hasn't our Union made progress on a MOA such as that secured by UTLA for its teachers?
https://www.utla.net/sites/default/files/utla-lausd_sideletter_for_covid-19_impact_effects_-_final_all_signatures_.pdf
https://www.utla.net/news/member-news-updates
That Union seems far more on top of things and more responsive to its membership.
James,
Thank you for posting this. It needed to be posted.
I agree with mulgrew how teachers are wired to try and do more etc, but I really wish mulgrew would speak more from a union standpoint. What I mean by that is to explain how if you are doing work that is not contractually required, then all you are doing is making your colleagues look bad. Simple as that.
You are only required to work throughout the contractual work day. No more and no less
Yes, it is important to try and do a good job. However, most of the kids do not log in until after 12 or 1 pm. When the work day ends at 220 Wednesday through Friday, that is a formula for being unsuccessful. However, I have done my part.
I wish Uft members(older and younger) subscribed to this.
Also, to all teachers, please do not give your cell phone number to the kids and parents. I hope I don’t need to go on a diatribe explaining how bad of an idea that is.
I met those UTLA people when they were dissidents. They are light years ahead of our Unity folks. They are real unionists.
Thanks TJL!
I read that MOA.
I really liked how explicit it was. The 240 minutes per day was big. Office hours to notify families and how it stated other things are done strictly on a voluntary basis.
One would think mulgrew would use this and present it to city hall or at least tell members not to work 14 hour days.
Mulgrew is not as smart as Alex and the UTLA crowd. Mulgrew has also had his head up de Blasio's ass for so long that he does not know how to operate independently.
UTLA endorsed Bernie Sanders in October. Mulgrew running as Biden delegate. That says it all.
who cares?
We all should care. UTLA is the second largest teacher union, behind UFT, in the country.
I cared for 20 years. No more. No dues. No care. They clearly dont care about me, fraud, corruption, honest grading, etc.
I was talking to someone that was laid off from their job. They are now making twice as much money due to the Fed unemployment on top of the state pmt. They don't seem to be in a big rush for the economy to reopen.
We should all care how UTLA is showing how having a real union is very possible.
Would you suggest we cut everyone off? Let them eat cake 2:32?
I suggest not getting paid more not to work. They wont go back to work.
BREAKING:
@NY1
has learned that
@NYCSchools
will announce its grading policy next week, to include grades for K-8 that are "S" for satisfactory and "N" for needs improvement.
No one will be left behind.
2/For HS students - they'll be graded on whatever policy was at their school, and instead of given failing grades, they'll be given incomplete
3/In a call with citywide elected officials - DOE urges them to "stay on point with messaging that the DOE has been extremely thoughtful and thorough and that this policy is a good balance for realistic expectations and the current situation."
What does incomplete mean as opposed to a failing grade?
If you are told to stay at home, how can you work?
People have turned down jobs to take unemployment.
Typical doe and uft. SO, kids who failed the 1st MP and did nothing the 2nd and 3rd cant get a failing grade?
They can make up the work.
What kind of jobs 3:20: working in infected Amazon warehouses?
Assholes are just going to shout out Fox News talking points. Bet on it, while thes jackasses who are NYC teachers sit at home complaining about the kids while they make $100,000 a year.
who mentioned kids? The previous comments were about excessive unemployment and unable to give proper grades.
Who said I was talking about you? It was a generic comment based on what we too often read here.
Back to the no failing vs must give incomplete...Thoughts?
How are going to fail kids in this atmosphere? We have no idea what hardships they are facing however they need to have real makeup work.
It’s passing vs needs improvement.
Honestly, it makes things easier on us. Most junior high kids will blow off the work now.
Grading and giving feedback is really hard to keep up with under normal circumstances. It’s even harder with google classroom.
I’m relieved.
Each morning, I’ll come up with an assignment, post it and my job is done.
I’m not failing anyone.
We need to focus on us now.
428,
Makeup work? Hahahahahaha.
That’s priceless! Who’s coming up with makeup work and who will do it?
I’m all for passing everyone at this time bc kids have been getting pushed through for as long as we have all been teaching. It is what it is.
My buddy who is retiring as an AP told me in the early 2000’s, he would flat out change answers on summer school exams just to get kids to high school.
We all have jobs. We will all have jobs in the fall. Go along to get along.
What makes you think we all have jobs 4:42? Is there a no layoff agreement we don't know about?
So, as usual, fake grades. This happened way before this year. Another excuse...
How do we justify a student failing 1st MP then doing nothing online then passing?
Fake grades from fake teachers who complain about fake students. I am waiting for Waiting for Support to comment.
Incomplete 5:26. They won't complete the work.
Enough.... Some of these students are playing video games til all hours of the night and there is talk about passing them if they don't do work? Document, document, document.... When you give a failing grade, it is justified.
Give them an incomplete if that is the new 55%. Those kids are not getting into Harvard and don't care anyway.
We are not allowed to give 55 in HS. That is the point. Cant fail, must give incomplete.
The DOE will announce next week that HS students can get a numeric grade only if passing, must get an incomplete and can change the incomplete to a passing grade over the summer.
5:56, That kid who gets an incomplete does not give a shit and won't make up any work so why do you care?
If they dont care about passing, why go to HS?
They go to socialize.
Grading policy is agreed by UFT in CBA. So technically DOE can not change grading policy without union blessing. What about the kids who did quality work. They going to get Pass too in JHS?
Again, just hearing the rumor. Sounds like you can give a number if passing. You just can't give a number if failing, must give incomplete.
15,000 New Yorkers are dead from COVID-19 and this is what you are worried about 6:59? Just give the incomplete and get on with life.
@5:27pm: you called????
What would you Waiting for Support do if you could only give incomplete instead of failing grades? If that was the official city DOE policy?
Good afternoon all,
The following is the DOE’s proposed grading policy for grades 9-12 (as shared during a DOE briefing with NYC electeds):
The proposal is that current High School Grading policies will continue during remote learning. The only difference is that failing grades will be recorded as an incomplete. This will allow students to receive additional supports during the summer (either remotely or if PAUSE is lifted in school).
Regents exams have been cancelled and those students who are currently in a course that culminates with a Regents Exam will be awarded credit for the Regents Exam towards graduation if they pass the class.
If a student, including a current senior, who is scheduled to graduate receives an incomplete in that Regents Class they will be required to attend the additional support. That support to pass the class will run through August. The NYS Education Department & Board of Regents have cancelled the Regents Exams through August.
Therefore, if the student passes the class that requires the Regents Exam by August the passing grade will give the student credit towards graduation under the Regents Exam waiver due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Seniors who pass the class in August for an incomplete grade received in June will have it counted towards receiving their diploma.
Tonight, we planned to celebrate the superstar activists and educators in our division at the 6th Academic High School Awards. Unfortunately, life on PAUSE has preempted our event. Even though we are not together, know that we are grateful for the work you do, every day, to support and encourage our members.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Janella
That's from Janella Hinds the UFT VP for Academic High Schools
Another scam. Hinds should go back to retweeting chris hayes and msnbc.
Is Summer "support" the same as summer school?
No one knows what summer support or summer school will be like this year.
Hinds said if kids get incomplete they can pass with summer support? What does that include?
They put a mirror in front of the kid. If he can fog it up he passes. I got that right from the UFT.
Who can possibly say there are no standards in NYC high schools? The students to make up work in summer have to be able to fog a mirror. They can do it remotely by having a mirror they fog at home. The DOE will be sending out mirrors to the 250,000 students who don't have one. I got that right from a very top level UFT source.
Hey guys,
There is a worldwide pandemic ongoing.
More important issues going on than our lessons.
Kids who we teach definitely have been impacted financially and emotionally.
This year is a wash. If a kid doesn’t learn the quadratic equation but can keep it together mentally and emotionally, I’ll take that.
As a profession, we need a dose of reality.
Listen, if the student has not passed the class then give an incomplete which is the new Fail/55, etc. If they still cannot earn the passing grade with whatever supports the DOE comes up with, there will be documentation from teachers to justify this. If some administrators changes it, it's on them.
There are 50,000 dead Americans. The state and city budgets are billions in the red. You want to worry about some kid who does nothing getting their 55 changed to an incomplete and then changed to a 75? In great scheme of things, does it really matter? Please answer honestly. System is already corrupt.
11:35 and 11:38 have it right. The mirror test will be used for credit recovery. Fog it and it's an 80.
Some act like students were doing their work before this happened. Some act like there were no fake grades before this.
NYC should pass all students amid coronavirus shutdown, advocates demand. Of course, letter brings up oppression
All high school seniors should graduate, all middle school students should receive full credit, elementary schoolers should get no grades and everyone should be promoted, demand 37 education advocates led by City Councilman Mark Treyger.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the ugliest inequities in our society into the glaring light for all to see. We must not continue the same system that resulted in these inequities, but must instead fundamentally change the way we think about our education, our society, and the world,” reads a letter sent Friday to Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza.
“In addition to the enormous number of lives lost and many more having fallen ill, New York City’s most vulnerable families and communities are suffering the ripple effect of harm caused by decades of segregation and systemic disinvestment in historically marginalized communities,” it continues.
Treyger, chairman of the City Council’s education committee, is the letter’s lead signer, followed by nonprofit groups including Advocates for Children, Class Size Matters, NYC Coalition for Educational Justice, along with several Community Education Council members.
While the nation’s largest school system, with 1.1 million students, has launched an at-home instruction program, it has gotten off to a rocky start, with thousands of kids still without laptops or iPads, or Internet service.
NYC launches 'Operation Graduation' to pass as many kids as possible amid coronavirus
The letter says “remaining technical disparities alone warrant complete restructuring of the way students are evaluated towards a more humane grading system.”
The city Department of Education should ease the emphasis on academics, it says, recommending that all elementary school students receive only “narrative reports” for the current marking period — no grades.
“Instruction during the school shutdown should be built around social cohesion, critical consciousness, social-emotional support, belonging, inclusion and wellness.”
Under the proposal for high school seniors, schools would provide “post-graduation and college transition support and planning,” the letter urges.
Students who need to complete work from prior terms would get summer instruction so they can graduate in August.
And 21 year-olds — normally the age when students must leave the public-school system — could return to high school for the 2020-21 academic year.
For lower grades, the curriculum should provide “space for students to reflect on their current reality,” the letter says.
The letter concludes: “This pandemic is an opportunity to dismantle systems of oppression and build a society that honors our collective humanity.”
@9:43pm...I would give a failing grade to ALL students who were failing prior to remote learning and who are continuing to fail. I would document all of my proof. I would give an incomplete to those who were passing before Covid, but only handed in some assignments during Remote. If I
get push back it better be in writing. I would respond back in writing and attach my school's grading policy. My email would include the following statement "based on this conversation, I will change the failing to an incomplete". I would print the email out and keep it as evidence. What would you do???
This is the doe admitting that school means nothing and students dont learn.
Did you read the new grading policy for HS? We must give NX for failing...
@1:30 pm: Doe is the employer who writes the checks,etc. The teachers are supposed to make sure school means something and that students learn. Use your teaching skills and professional tools. If a student does NOT successfully pass your class,
F
A
I
L
the student.
If you do that by yourself, a foot will be in your Arce. If you and your peers do it together: You will take back your power and bring professionalism back to the role of teacher.
Only Incomplete for high schools and Needs Improvement for K-8 are allowed. Fail all you want but it won't be allowed.
Do you not understand? The uft and doe made an agreement. HS can not get a numeric failing grade. MUST BE NX.
I will copy my earlier comment:
There are 50,000 dead Americans. The state and city budgets are billions in the red. You want to worry about some kid who does nothing getting their 55 changed to an incomplete and then changed to a 75? In great scheme of things, does it really matter? Please answer honestly. System is already corrupt.
Point, is, as just stated, always fraud, dont blame a pandemic for it.
Yes. That would be the final grade HOWEVER, I would email.my admin a list of those who failed. When/If the s/×t hits the fan i will have documented proof of the "pushback": the doe issued the grade, not me.
@Waiting for Support - If the official grade, as per DOE during the corona virus pandemic, is to provide students with incomplete instead of fail, how can you give a failing grade if it is not an option? I agree with 10:08 AM.
If you submit an F and the policy is to give a student an Incomplete, it will not be entered and administration will remind you of that.
Waiting for support,
I appreciate the never say die attitude, but this and what is going on now is more important than passing or failing or report cards grade.
This is a life and death pandemic.
Pass everyone this 4th quarter. Families have been impacted tremendously.
Our lessons are meaningless.
Admins have pushed kids along for years.
Shit is not gonna hit the fan Waiting. The no fail policy is right out in the open in public.
@4:56 pm: what i mean is i will email admin before officially submitting. It's my proof of the grades i wanted to give. Admin will respond in writing about the doe policy yada yada yada. My goal is to have proof that the grade is the does not mine. A bit of pushback.
@5:13. You're right.
@4:46: Always. New day. Old Sugar snaps
@9:43 pm: Make no mistake. I agree with what you're saying re: the fakeness. It's infuriating
Just keep documentation everyone to justifying grades as always. Don't let your guard down.
At the end of the day most of these kids will be lucky to get a job at rite aid. Our education is so dumbed down from this generation and these new millennial teachers the future is bleak.
25% of valedictorian drop out of college . Most of the students can barely write coherent sentences. They are worried about tic toc, snap chat, instagram, NBA, MLB etc. Everyone is culpable including middle schools who sent kid through to HS knowing they are going to fail.
If students do no work they deserve the incomplete and go to summer school/remote learning until they turn work in.
@Anon2323: This is true. Unfortunately the Doe/UFT are part of that cohort of businesses who do not respect experience. For them it's economics and appearance versus opportunity. Economic (cheaper teachers) and Appearance (high grad rate) takes precedence over really giving ALL students the opportunity to be great. If given the authentic opportunity to be challenged, held accountable and respected a majority of NYC students will rise to the occasion. We can't just accept the prevailing belief that they can't or won't do well. That's a fallacy that harms these children and our country. Fail those who need to fail. Fight back. Take a stand. Now, the DOE/UFT have put you in danger by telling you to go into possibly infected buildings. Who does that to other human beings? Do you feel respected? Are you okay with how you were treated? I know people are dying. Folks are on line trying to feed their children. It's a hot smoking mess. But taking some form of action now may help all of us start the process of taking back the teaching profession. If you're not ready now to take a stand, then when? It ain't easy but when you look back and see how you stood up for yourself and someone else you will feel peace. IMO. Let me get off this podium.
Stay safe folks!!!
@8:38 pm...You know that's right!
I totally agree with waitingforsupport ... After this is over we need to have protests. No future mayor will ever do this to us again. He put our lives and our family members at risk. He put the whole city at risk. There was not a need for schools to remain open. He is a murderer. He needs to be put on trial. Mulgrew was his accomplice. Mulgrew now knows he is walking on thin ice. He knows he messed up because he was too far up mayor's ass.
Well, folks will either stand for something or fall for everything. We shall see.
Now Shady, I know you are holding back on your stories. They certainly are stress reducers. Stay safe
Not gonna happen. Mulgrew knows he will be president as long as he wants.
Mulgrew on thin ice? De blasio scared? Are you insane? We will be back in schools shortly doing exactly what we have always done, getting abused and giving free grades and getting laughed at. We are sheep. At least i dont pay dues. I would love to see, after the worst uft and doe screw up, after all the abuse and corruption for decades, how many will actually opt out in june?
@11:54 am: Let's say you're right. What's stopping the current educators from banging the proverbial pot? Saturday demonstrations. Forming coalitions with parent organizations. IDK. Whatever is done has to be enmasse because one of the tools the DOE uses is: division: New vs Vets. Teachers vs students.
@12:29 PM - Schools will not open.... Minors will not be utilized as guinea pigs to experiment if phasing in is a good idea.
to be honest, i'm actually surprised the DOE hasn't utilized Incompletes more. Its always been in state and DOE policy that in certain circumstances, a child will be given an incomplete and has till the end of the following semester to make up work associated with the incomplete to receive a passing grade. They are interpreting this event for everyone as this is an unforeseen circumstance. Most of the students will complete the work over 6 weeks in summer and then another percentage of students will have until next January to turn the I into a passing score. They could have just said everyone gets a PASS like many states are doing, so i really think this is the best policy they could have came up with. i can still give numerical grades, and the students doing very well, will continue to have their GPA reflect accurately on their transcript. if you're not doing the work? Ok, i wont assume your situation at home or negatively impact your grade based on whether or not you were able to do a 180 and do all the work for the first time from home.
stay safe everyone, good luck with the last 3rd of the semester.
Post a Comment