“Folks are smart, they understand we’re still dealing with a lot of unknowns,” de Blasio said Tuesday.
The mayor stressed that the DOE is hoping to provide something close to full-time onsite schooling and that no plans have been finalized.
“The goal is to have the maximum number of kids in their classrooms for the maximum number of days,” he said. “So, if we have a situation where kids can be constantly in the classroom every single day, that’s the ideal. If it has to be some kind of alternating system, we’ll do that.”
De Blasio also held out hope that a coronavirus vaccine could prod a rapid turnaround across the board.
“When we have a vaccine, very rapidly you’re going to see a quick resurgence in so many parts of this city,” he said. “We don’t have it yet. Some people say it’s this year. Some people say it’s next year. But that will be the ultimate difference maker.”
The mayor ended with a hopeful note, urging shaken residents to take solace in the city’s improving COVID numbers.
“Look at these indicators, thank God they’ve been moving in the right direction,” he said. “And that means to me, we’ll have a lot of kids in their school buildings in September.”
Here is a not so bold ICEUFT blog prediction: It will be one giant mess in the NYC public schools in September.
That said, like the mayor, I too am hopeful an effective vaccine could be ready sooner rather than later. Doctor Anthony Fauci was in front of a Congressional committee earlier today.
The U.S. government's top infectious disease expert told a House committee on Tuesday he believes "it will be when and not if" there will be a COVID-19 vaccine and that he remains "cautiously optimistic" that some will be ready at the end of the year.
A note of caution:
Fauci said he'd be "very disappointed if we jumped to a conclusion before we know a vaccine was truly safe and effective."
As for what to do now, from AP:
Fauci told lawmakers he understands the pent-up desire to get back to normal as the U.S. begins emerging from months of stay-at-home orders and business shutdowns. But that has “to be a gradual step-by-step process and not throwing caution to the wind,” he said.
“Plan A, don’t go in a crowd. Plan B, if you do, make sure you wear a mask,” Fauci said.
26 comments:
Translation...I dont give a fuck about the health of teachers.
Uft: Crickets in March. We will see what happens in September.
5 days left to opt out. Think carefully.
We are going to need to be a strong union as much as ever in September.
What will your excuse be in 2021? I think you will be disappointed in September again.
Always pro union. Up to rank and file to take it over.
Does mayor comment on this?
Class-1st mp attendance
Art 33%
Drawing 20%
Eng 2 42%
Eng 3 20%
Eng 5 43%
SS 15%
US 9%
Eco-50%
1st mp-failed most classes, somehow got 82 in Eco and 70 in Eng 2
2nd mp-NX in everything except eng 2
magically, passed every class in the 3rd, except mine.
Instead of asking how she failed mine, which she deserved in every way, i would love someone to explain how she had a term average of 65 or better in every other class after no showing the 1st and failing the 2nd.
Do teachers not understand the 3rd mp is a cumulative term grade? It isn't just may and june.
"When we have a vaccine." But we dont...So...
Dont count on uft protection.
1126,
Most of my friends in teaching passed everyone quarter 4 and has moved on to booking beach days or golf time. Life’s too short to care about report cards.
Enjoy the weather!
Be well
It's going to be an absolute shit show(pardon my language) in September. DeBlasio and Carannza consistently show how ineffective they are at leadership both of the city and of the schools.
Making promises or comments to parents that in all likelihood will not happen OR are not in the best interest of keeping people safe and alive. DeBlasio should have said we have to keep people safe first and foremost. Priority is not packing the classrooms. We are not babysitters. The only way we can operate close to full in school time would be to completely disregard what the health experts are saying. If this is the case, we yes we need to think for ourselves and not go into work. We can say no to unsafe conditions and demand to work from home like other professionals are allowed.
We need proper ventilation, cleaning supplies and people to clean the buildings. We have enough to do with planning lessons and planning social distancing. I am not going crazy planning for this mess until our "leaders' provide an organized plan for September. Why should I waste my time planning when it will change over and over again?
School principals and union reps better be smart and air on the side of caution. Bill and Carannza are setting it up this time so that the principals will take the fall if people get sick and the buildings are unsafe. I hope their president is smarter than ours and realizes the huge responsibility that is being dumped on them.
We have no schedules, no plan, no calendar for September. We could not clean up our classrooms as we were only granted 30 minutes each. We get 2 days in September before classes start one of which is staff development. We do not get paid to work in the summer.
When and how are we supposed to plan? I am not doing it on my time. My summer is for me and my family.
We should not be made to plan or work unpaid in the summer because the mayor and
Carranza don't know how to organize and plan. Shame on the mayor. I don't know how he thought he was qualified to run for President.
The July/August NYSUT issue is out. On the cover, "Reimagining education; NYSUT members join SED task force on reopening schools (18). The article by Sylvia Saunders is so typical of almost everything we read from educators in these publications: group think statements that say nothing. Consider this: "Computer instruction may not be developmentally appropriate for all ...." A typical truism. And there is the eduspeak phrases like "protect the whole child" and "trauma-informed instruction" but the word **re-imagine**, the word the Autocratic Governor of NY has linked to Gates, and that has Google drooling was not only co-opted by the group thinkers and the task force but by Andy Pallotta who has "urged the task force to reimagine how the state invests in public schools."
In addition to parroting the Autocratic Governor's phrases the paper, in Ned Hoskin's look at the Legislative session, repeats the lie, one MM, Carranza and De Blasio are all repeating now, that the projected revenue shortfall is now $61 billion. This is Cuomo's New Math. He slides the dismal decimal from 6.1 billion to 61 billion with a slight of hand and everyone gets behind his zeroes.
This is business as usual. Our union is business as usual.
Knowing the DOE can't even organize easy things under the best of circumstances, like installing ACs, rolling out curriculum and training, supporting struggling students, providing mandated services, etc, and the high likelihood that UFT will go along with it:
Predictions:
Teachers will all be in our buildings in Sept, except in the more extreme cases of medical risk.
Most of us will not know our programs or rooms but will be asked to plan for any eventuality.
Kids will attend if their parents want them to.
There will be no added support beyond, or in addition to, the resources of one's own school, and schools will have cut budgets because DOE Central is not about to take cuts, and money from other agencies will not be transferred to education.
Students will not really be required to mask up or socially distance.
Danielson will be in effect with no modification. Testing will be in effect but there will be no details.
Staff will be regularly reminded that students are traumatized and that grades are an example of systemic racism, so all students should pass. Preferably with a high grade.
This will be worse if there is no Federal aid package.
That's the general idea.
Of course the mayor and chancellor will blame the individual schools for a Covid outbreak. They will say the school didn't follow proper guidelines and social distancing and cleaning regulations. This will take the blame off them. As for passing everyone, the teachers are fools. All you're doing is spraying perfume on a bad odor. You're not address in the students' bad behavior by passing him/her for doing nothing. You're just passing the buck and saying well now he/she is someone else's problem now. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. If you think passing the students will motivate them to do better next year, you need to join the cast of Looney Tunes.
What's up doc?
What are you going to do about it? Complain anonymously on a blog.
Cuomo says education sites are already going up to 33% capacity. Think uft is stopping him. LOL. See you in september. Bring a mask, gloves, etc.
1127, what did you do other than criticize other staff?
So uft leadership, the people we pay, have no responsibility? Got it. You pay dues for that. I wont.
Not the point, you, me and everyone else will just meekly do as they're told.
decide if that is worth $62 per check.
That's on us, not the UFT.
Yeah, i chose not to pay
Ok, so, you will go into infected buildings and pay dues? Is that what you are saying?
I just hope people will read the blog and maybe see themselves in it and feel a sense of shame. I know I can't change anything. Rhetoric is rhetoric.
Which part?
@11:10am: I second your announcement.
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