LIVE BLOGGING FROM MULGREW TOWN HALL

I was walking in the yard. My wife called me to remind me this was on.

President Michael Mulgrew:
Finalizing a posting for summer school. Posting should be out tomorrow. It's remote. Being careful. Putting up safeguards for labor-management work. Everything is for during this emergency situation only. Massive summer school. Will children come and will there be enough teachers? We got our raise. We still have Memorial Day off.

Planning on a safe environment for September. Smart betting is on a hybrid model. Part-time in school, part-time remote. Set schools into cohorts A-B is the best scenario. It comes down to how many classrooms we have. Must look at all the space. High School kids more self-directed. Different problems in elementary schools. Many teachers in focus groups. We are the experts emphatically now.

12 kids in a class for the fall will meet with CDC guidelines for our classrooms. If not sure, we should take temperatures. Memorial Day is the first day off since February break. Met with elementary, middle school, and high school focus groups. Also functionals, paras. Trying to get to the end of the school year, set up summer school and have the basic information ready for September. Can't program a school from central. Schools are all different. All have different physical layouts and different numbers of students. Safety is paramount. If a child has a positive test result, how do we quarantine? We learned how to remotely teach, but now we have to plan differently than we did before. We can reach children differently. How to teach with a kid who is in front of you on Monday who may not be there on Tuesday. What about if Cohort A comes one week and then Cohort B comes the next week? Must think it through. Plan and adjust. We are not arrogant people who say something works when we know it isn't working. The September plan is temporary. Operational complaints are working. Safeguards will be in place in September.

The virus is the biggest challenge but the budget is important because we have to fight for our livelihoods. Two teachers testified with Mulgrew at the City Council. Council said the budget will be horrible unless we get Heroes Act money. Can't let state and city try to take away money if it comes. For example, what if we have to give a mask to every kid every day? One million masks will last for one day. Cleaning, they will need extra custodians. That cannot come out of a school budget. We still do not have a nurse in every school. UFT nurses have done a phenomenal job helping through this crisis. We need a nurse in every school. We need a guidance counselor in every school to deal with the social-emotional problems. We need to lower class sizes if we are going to create cohorts. Must lower class sizes if they need a third cohort. We would need more teachers. We need to get the federal Heroes Act passed. Working with the AFT. Huge petition started a conversation on what we need to open schools again. The petition went across the country. Once it got into the news stream, politicians had to react.

NYS budget done April 1. Governor says he will put new cuts out because the economy is losing hundreds of millions of dollars a day. Governor holding off on cuts hoping federal money comes. This is a big, huge, disgusting political game. Not a blue state-red state issue. Most elected officials will do anything they can to win. They want to win and keep positions. Teachers and parents understand we need the federal package. We need the Heroes Act to be a dedicated stream of funding that can't be touched.  No loopholes so money in House package. It will help for next two fiscal years. This is the only thing that gives us a shot at protecting everyone's livelihood. If we don't have this, a lot of people are going to get hurt. Starting next push. Asked AFT. Wall Street and many corporations have been bailed out. Children have never been bailed out. Children need a lifeline. We won't let them forfeit the future of our children who are in our schools right now. Will ask Anthony Harmon who is Staff Director at the UFT to start this push.

Anthony Harmon:

Committee to get Heroes Act passed. Need people to join a campaign with us. Text word "Lifeline to 30644." You will then get a message from the UFT on how to get involved.

Mulgrew again:

They are playing games in DC. They are not even hiding it. Get everyone involved and keep moving and moving and moving.

Industrial hygienists looking at buildings. Doctors and epidemiologists who have worked with us are working with us on this for the future.

UFT legal plan for members only which is free is a robust plan. Make sure you have your health care proxy and basic will done. Make sure to have powers of attorney in place. Families in crisis not thinking about this. This is what doctors, lawyers and bankers are asking you in a crisis. Not having these things in place makes a bad situation worse. Take advantage of the plan; it is free (dues pay for it). Get the papers. Lawfirms will get it done. You don't have to go to an office. Pleading with people to do it now.


Questions:

Question: CDC guidelines are federal recommendations, I work in a school with 3,300 kids and 300 staff. When will teachers know if there will be a hybrid model?
Mulgrew Answer: Getting frustrated with the DOE. We are already a month behind if it was a regular school opening. We started working on different models. Cohorts of kids who would come in at different times. CSA, DC37 and UFT agree we will follow CDC guidelines. The hybrid cohort model is the bet on how will we start. For a big school, we may need a three cohort school. Medically fragile students and staff will need to go fulltime remote. Look at space and how we can use the auditorium and cafeteria (delivering food to classrooms so we won't need the cafeteria for food and can have more classroom space) to see the space we have. It's on the table from teachers to have certain classes be fulltime remote. Good ideas coming from teachers. Hoping model is done by the second or third week of June. We need cooperation from DOE.

Question: Thank you for acknowledging the school nurses. Usually have option to work in the summer and then the caller broke up.

Question: Updated calendar for this year and next.
Answer: We've agreed upon calendar but they still have not put it out because something might change. All they have to do is put out that it may change. We are ready to have votes on SBO's. We have technology in place for SBO and comp time votes. Calendar was agreed to a month ago; we know it's subject to change.

Question: Nurse asks about summer rec center. about possibly working shifts.
Answer: Pulled most folks back from Health and Hospitals. Nurse will be front and center expert in terms of safety. (Someone jumped in: Rec Centers voluntary and per session.) 17,000 on call.

Question: Teacher evaluation and observations? Teachers worrying about tenure?
Answer: No negotiation. State Ed Department said there should be no evaluations this year. Some are being granted tenure. Fewer discontinuances. SED needs an executive order but Governor has not given it yet. It would be next to impossible to do teacher evaluation now if the Governor doesn't sign the executive order.

Question: National day of action to email, text, call and slam on social media Mitch McConnell to shame him to do the right thing by firefighters, cops, teachers, etc.?
Answer: We will do something like this on Tuesdays. No lifeline for children, but more tax breaks for corporations. C'mon man.

Question: District 75 in September, severe low functioning kids. There will not be social distancing; those kids won't use masks and won't share toys. How will D75 look at a reopening?
Answer: That situation has been spoken about and we have to speak to the people who work in those sites about what is realistic and what is not. Early childhood teachers say social distancing isn't happening with 4 and 5-year-olds. Must talk to parents to get their input. This is tough stuff but it is God's work.

Question: Remote learning, seeing checklists, will that be brought to the table?
Answer: DOE asked people to do something they were never trained to do. Synchronous learning is tough to schedule and must get others who can't get in. Working on a definition for summer school. We can't recreate a traditional classroom teacher in remote learning. Checklists don't make sense. Central DOE has never done a remote learning in their lives. Teacher Centers are all over this. Hundreds doing this and they are part of the focus groups. Key is flexibility. Google is an educational platform. Zoom is a meeting tool. Educators in offices throw around terminology but it doesn't mean the same things. Education has changed. Teachers have come up with creative ways to weave this into regular instruction. Teachers shouldn't burn out.

Question: What accommodations will be available for teachers with underlying conditions for the fall?
Answer: Even with social distancing, it is still a gathering of people. Criteria have to come from medical professionals. We are working on it.

Question: Many teachers are parents, how are we going to resolve that?
Answer: We will do the best we can to work something out. Certain times students will be in school and this. Need daycare in place for essential workers which teachers will be when buildings reopen. We don't have enough Y's like some upstate districts. Have to make these decisions but nothing is going to solve all of the problems. Must communicate. Help people get through the challenges.

We will get back to people who asked questions.

Text to fight for the right. Enjoy first three day weekend we have had in a long time. Be proud of what you've done. We did the right thing and people know it.


Please note that once again my wife pressed the zero and as usual her question was not allowed to go through. It's all random, okay.

It is an amazing, just amazing coincidence, that just about every question starts with someone saying what a wonderful job Mulgrew and the UFT is doing.

When will there be a tough question?