UFT President Michael Mulgrew's email on reopening school buildings in September is below. Thanks to the four teachers who forwarded it to me. Mulgrew outlines what a hybrid model of school will look like in the fall. If the Department of Education screws this up (inevitable?), Mulgrew makes an underwhelming promise.
I will work ceaselessly as your union president to make sure policies and procedures are in place in September that allow us to fulfill our professional mission as public school educators while safeguarding the health and safety of our school communities. If I lose confidence at any point, I will not hesitate to speak out. You have my promise.
If he loses confidence that school communities aren't being safeguarded, the best he will promise is to speak out. Who gives a damn? Talk is cheap.
He needs to say if conditions are not safe for our members or the students, we will not work in unhealthy buildings! Case closed. Pull your Chapters together ladies and gentlemen. We may need real militancy. I am very serious. No further UFTers should needlessly catch COVID-19 as happened in March. If physical schools are to be reopened, infected buildings must be closed immediately and everybody who has entered them needs to go back to remote learning. That is what is occurring now in Israel and should be considered here if we reopen buildings.
Two weeks after Israel fully reopened schools, a COVID-19 outbreak sweeping through classrooms — including at least 130 cases at a single school — has led officials to close dozens of schools where students and staff were infected. A new policy orders any school where a virus case emerges to close.
The government decision, announced Wednesday evening, comes after more than 200 cases have been confirmed among students and staff at various schools. At least 244 students and school employees have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the Ministry of Education. At least 42 kindergartens and schools have been shuttered indefinitely. More than 6,800 students and teachers are in home quarantine by government order.
Mulgrew's full email:
Dear,
With this extraordinary school year drawing to a close, we must now turn our attention to planning the next one despite the uncertainty about what the future holds.
The Department of Education, in consultation with the UFT and others, is moving forward with a tentative plan to reopen school buildings in September with an abundance of safety measures in place to protect staff, our students and the families we all go home to.
But it will not be a traditional school year. To follow the social-distancing guidelines established by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the number of people in each school building will have to be significantly lower and we’ll have to establish practices and policies in schools that keep the intermingling of large groups of people to a minimum.
That’s why we have gravitated to a hybrid model of learning in which students are in schools for part of the time and continue learning remotely for the rest. A team approach probably makes the most sense with one set of staff members assigned to work with each cohort of students. The number of cohorts at each school will be determined by how many people your school building can safely accommodate combined with decisions regarding the use of nontraditional space for instruction.
In a school system as large and diverse as ours, no one-size-fits-all model will work for all schools. With tools and guidance from the DOE, each school community will be tasked with designing the program plan that works best for its staff, students and families. We will be asking chapter leaders to initiate these conversations with their principals and quickly engage the entire school community so the best decisions are made.
The virus has put us in an impossible place, so no plan will be perfect. We will all need to be flexible. Things we have taken for granted, such as how and where we do our work, have already been upturned during this remote era. When we return to school buildings, we will not pick up where we left off in mid-March either. These changes must be made for safety’s sake.
How to staff this new hybrid model is one of the challenges ahead of us. Will certain educators be fully remote and others always on-site, or will most staff follow a hybrid model like their students? How will related service providers provide their support services to students with disabilities? Every building will need at least one school nurse, but our students will also need social workers and other mental health professionals who can help them recover from the trauma wrought by this pandemic.
The DOE has committed to offering accommodations to staff members with high-risk medical conditions in accordance with CDC guidelines.
The DOE, in consultation with the UFT, is establishing citywide testing and tracing infrastructure and resources, entry screening, the provision of personal protective equipment including masks for all staff and students, stepped-up daily school cleaning, myriad social-distancing measures and clear protocols for the communication and notification of new virus cases in schools. The UFT has recommended that all students and staff be tested for the coronavirus before the first day of school in September.
I will work ceaselessly as your union president to make sure policies and procedures are in place in September that allow us to fulfill our professional mission as public school educators while safeguarding the health and safety of our school communities. If I lose confidence at any point, I will not hesitate to speak out. You have my promise.
You have done phenomenal work this school year in the toughest of circumstances. I am confident that you will rise to the new challenges ahead. Thank you for your tireless work and dedication to your students.
Stay safe and healthy.
Sincerely,
Michael Mulgrew
UFT President
84 comments:
You have 2 weeks left to pull dues. I would not take a wait and see approach considering what I've seen the last 20 years.
What about the unsafe travel on buses and trains in addition to buildings?
Come on james, following any type of guidelines will be virtually impossible.
How will the gym be run?
10:06, What would you suggest? I am all ears.
The most dangerous aspects
Indoors
Lots of people
Lots of people who have been around many other people
Lots of people who travel on public transportation
Long periods of time with lots of people
No masks
Lots of touching of everything
Shared space and equipment
All apply to schools
I suggest no opening
Got you 10:15. How can we pull that off?
We need to tell the uft to tell the doe that we are not entering buildings unless there is a vaccine. Period. There is no other safe way.
"He needs to say if conditions are not safe for our members or the students, we will not work in unhealthy buildings! Case closed."
If it isn't safe, no kids, no staff.
He hasn't said that. He said he will say something, not have us refuse to enter.
How do you define "safe?" That is why I said We need to tell the uft to tell the doe that we are not entering buildings unless there is a vaccine. Period. There is no other safe way.
Class Size Matters and NYC Kids PAC will be holding a conference via Zoom called Sharing Ideas & Solutions for Reopening Schools: The Path Forward on Saturday, June 20 from 11 AM to 1 PM.
During this conference, we will collect ideas from parents, guardians, teachers, students and concerned New Yorkers about what precautions and programs should be in place next year, if and when schools reopen.
If schools are to reopen in the fall, it should be done the right way to ensure health and safety of students and staff and to maximize academic and emotional support. Though the Mayor and the Governor have their own advisory panels, few parents or educators have been appointed to these panels.
At the end of the conference, we will summarize the ideas of participants and present them to city and state decision-makers.
Speak up now and loudly.
As usual, we will go in like sheep.
I agree with 10:15 and JR not going in without a vaccine, no ventilation , crowds of kids and adults can not social distance even with some kids in the morning shifts afternoon shifts not physically possible, bathrooms, lunch, gym classes. Just won't work. The windows in the building only open 6 inches from the bottom. Will kids wash their hands? adhere to social distancing? How can you enforce the rules ? Just like with the phones - put your phone away ok then 2 seconds later they are back out. Will the kids wear masks all day- I think not.
‘It’s June, bro!’
2 weeks until this farce is over. Go out and get some sunshine, take a walk, barbecue some food, have coffee outside, take a walk on the beach or do whatever we usually can’t do because we are stuck in some sauna wasting away our days.
Post an assignment that nobody will do, pass everyone, make life easy.
Some of you guys are going to die from the self-inflicted stress.
Enjoy life! Don’t let the doe use you. Use the doe to your advantage.
Be well, everyone! I’m off to watch the sun rise at the beach.
I won't join the discussion with Class Size Matters and NYC Kids PAC because it is till using Zoom. Zoom has admitted that it has been cooperating with the Chinese government in its efforts to prevent dissenting voices from being heard. Chinese methods of silencing dissent include mass murder of labor organizers.
The AFT, NYSUT, UFT need to wake up about the abuse of technology by governments.
We can use tech to empower workers or we can use it to weaken workers.
The choice is ours.
But too many are simply using the latest softwares and apps and systems without ever considering the risks to jobs, to learning and teaching.
Before we spend billions on tech (remember Aris, the Clickers?) and automate thousands of NYC workers into unemployment we need a serious examination of all tech companies used in this re-imagining of education. Why are the Unions ignoring, embracing tech without vetting them? How did Zoom get its foot in the door at Tweed?
Also, Class Size Matters and NYC Kids PAC says it "should be done the right way."
This is the same vague and meaningless phrase we get from Albany, NYC, DOE, UFT. Please.
I understand that it's a moving and fluid pandemic that is not understood well by the experts, and that the school system is incredibly dynamic and complex and that they are all trying to construct several possible plans. And, I give credit for inviting real classroom teachers, families, kids to the discussion, but we also need to start blocking proposals and technologies, fighting for all jobs, introducing financial solutions to the budget deficits, like issuing bonds, creating a new Municipal Assistance Corp, supporting Nader's letter to Cuomo on Stock transfer taxes.
We are too focused on the fog of the pandemic and how we can see through it to teaching in classrooms. The current several-possibilities agenda is going to cost us J O B S.
Maybe our pensions. Now I got your attention, right? Remember, no matter what TRS NYC says, our pension are only as secure as the financial solvency of NYC. Our Pensions are underfunded and, while many think their fixed rate TDA is secure, they should know that the fixed monies and pension monies are all commingled and invested in the stock market. Though the markets have recovered from the crash, the volatility should keep us awake to the facts about how insecure our pensions and TDAs are.
While we argue and speculate about things we know little about, like blind people battering blind people about the fog of pandemic and how to lift it, the real crisis is ignored. We need to stick together and focus on jobs and how we force the city and the state to pay us and keep our pensions and benefits funded.
There is no right way. Kids are never going to wear those masks all day long. You will need a million masks per school and masks in the classroom and what happens when the school runs out? Also what will test do, if the child gets the virus after having gotten the test and testing negative. The doe lives in this fantasy land that all the kids will cooperate. We saw during the protests that people don't socially distance. Like the others say I say no going back until there is a vaccine.
Militancy like it has not been seen in a long time is what needs to be done. If it's unsafe and the DOE states we need to go in, nobody will view it negatively. Not parents, not students, not educators, not the media.... NOBODY!
CLs need to gather its membership to achieve this goal. Membership, speak to your CLs and make sure to have their contact information.
There is no mention for those that are 50+ which is a risk factor.
Will any of you do anything to make sure buildings aren't reopened like working with parents? I didn't think so. The sheep will go walking into the buildings and getting sick. I agree with that comment.
You will probably continue complaining here and on facebook because that is all most teachers are capable of.
Viruses don’t have silver bullet shots. The flu shot is always based on a previous flu. As viruses mutate the flu shot may help but isn’t a sure thing. I’ve never got the flu shot or the flu. My brother never had the flu shot or the flu until he got the shot two years ago. Everyone will be back in the classroom in September, they want the thugs off the street. As for little kids, the virus hits more men than women and most elementary teachers are women. Mulgrew won’t do shit, you saw that in March. School chapters have to meet this month and plan accordingly.
From the survey you did
Question 1: I would prefer not to work in the building until…
155 responses
● 41.3% stated until there is a vaccine
● 36.8% stated until medical experts say it is safe
● 8.4% stated they are okay going back as soon as it is opened
● 7.1% stated until they get the sense that there are many fewer people getting sick
● Other responses include until a vaccine has worked for at least 6 months; proper ventilation; regular cleaning;
smaller class sizes; reliable, semi-weekly testing.
Almost 80% don't want to work in schools until it is deemed safe by experts or there is a vaccine. They should have asked a follow up question: What you are willing to do to make it happen?
Answer 98%-Write useless blog comments.
1% Nothing, I am too afraid of my own shadow to even comment.
1% fight like hell for my life and the safety of the students.
Also, if we do split shifts, who gets the late shifts? Will parents of young kids use their kids as an excuse to have to have an early shift? It should go by Seniority. Don't have kids and then use them as an excuse to not do your work.
I don't agree 100% with Shelley's posts but you must pay attention to this:
"Remember, no matter what TRS NYC says, our pension are only as secure as the financial solvency of NYC."
Insisting people barricade themselves indoors for months or years until a vaccine - and by the way, how would you force compliance on that one? - will absolutely lead to the City and State going bankrupt. They're almost at that point as it is now. All pension obligations go *poof* upon a bankruptcy filing.
We've been lucky to be paid and receive benefits while not going to work. The whole NX fiasco reveals that the City does not consider what we've been doing the last 3 months to be school. Be careful what you wish for because the City could very well just call off the next school year and furlough everyone - if we're lucky - or just decide to "defund and abolish" the DOE altogether and pay teachers halfway around the world 10 cents on the dollar to "teach" over Zoom.
Some CL are great. Others are snakes, many are foxes guarding the hens (that's us), others use what little leverage they have to protect themselves, serve themselves and a few, or take revenge or get in with the in-crowd and prepare to be elevated in the Peter Principled System. Some are overwhelmed by powerful Admins and demanding, unreasonable teachers who only care about themselves and their pet project. Get me parking. Get me this, that. It's a tough job. What to do when a Unity boss shows up unannounced and meets with your boss. Put on a red shirt and document. Yeah, right. So run for CL yourself and fight Unity. Been there done that. I'm not gonna put faith in chapter leaders. No. They are mostly focused on SBO BS and Comp Times and who gets a better schedule and parking.
I remember my first DA, I was the delegate and my CL was a monster, a giant man with a booming voice who taught history for over 40 years, he made Mulgrew cower. He was old school power and he knew how to organize the newbies and get everyone on the same side, file grievances and get them through. I learned. Ran and won when he retired. I filed, I battled, I won arbitration against a boss who was king. Closed a dangerous school. Battled a queen of the system and won. But those days are over long ago. We are weaker than we've ever been. We are a facebook social media blogging past time.
There is a huge cultural divide, too, the boomers and millennials are far apart and the gap is widening. To fix things we need to focus on getting the money. 28% in classrooms is a disgrace. 40%, last I checked the average in the US, is a disgrace. What money is left will got to tech & trauma. We need to figure out how to get the money in classrooms and protect jobs. But all we do is type.
But out in the streets the revolution, this revolution will not digitized, is alive with youth and anger and passion, and, wow, even focus.
Maybe we should hitch a ride on the soul train.
No vaccine, no school. We do that already TJL.
@9:59- i think we are closer to that then many realize. For years the DOE has been creating common curriculum. Now with zoom, google meets, ilearn and every other way to provide a live or video feed and core content, i foresee the day when 15 kids sit in a room wth a tablet, and an adult moniter- not teacher watching over them. they can work individually or in groups at their own pace. submit questions through chat to a few select educators sitting who knows where. a common video lesson that they can watch - not even live- so again- you learn at your pace- and label it individualized instruction to sound nice. the future is not going to be nice for educators.
You need a large group of trade union oriented chapter leaders willing to combine their talents for common goals. Never been tried on a wide scale by opposition that usually focuses only on general UFT election and mostly ignores chapter elections. At best, they are a small focus.
According to CNN: The US surpassed 2 million confirmed coronavirus cases as experts predicted Thursday that tens of thousands more people will get infected and die in the months ahead.
More than 113,700 people have died from Covid-19 nationwide, according to Johns Hopkins University.
An influential model cited by the White House issued the dire prediction, saying the US death toll could reach 169,890 by October 1, with a possible range of about 133,000 to 290,000 deaths.
Daily deaths are expected to decrease through June and July, then remain relatively stable through August before rising sharply in September, the model forecasts.
Facts on the ground will indicate what direction this goes. If that model is correct, and models have been way off, how can schools start again?
By what date will Mulgrew "say something" about safety?
Mulgrew leads the sheep to their slaughter again in September, just like March.
June 31 Mulgrew will say something or by February 30 for sure 11:25
Carranza skeptical about sped reopening in person. A tweet
So with all the shifting knowledge of how this virus is spreading ... we now want to experiment with our most vulnerable students...Hmmm��
@10:26 you might be surprised how many students have medical exemptions or just flat out ignore the letters asking them for their records.
Also no teacher or other employee is required to have any immunizations of any kind to work. Frankly I was shocked (well, given the history of capitulation, I shouldn't have been) that Mulgrew "recommended" we be tested before school starts. No thanks! I'm not about to subject myself to an invasive test I don't need or for that matter line up to get a new vaccine if or when the time comes. It shouldn't be a condition of employment and certainly not encouraged by the Union.
What is safe? Who and how?
You all know damn well these are just empty words. They will send us in and shrug their shoulders.
But keep paying dues, right?
So we all know this is a scam, we have awful leadership, now what?
Hitch a ride. These folks are demanding change of the status quo. Who is that naive to believe that everyone will not benefit from this change? Hitch a ride.
TJL, No shots or medical exemption, you don't get in our elementary school. You sound like you are in a middle or high school.
I will volunteer for the vaccine when it is ready.
If you don't think Mulgrew will agree to make mandatory testing and vaccinations a condition of employment, you certainly haven't been paying attention to the UFT.
1) All US cities with population growth are in states where income taxes are 5% or less
2) 5 of 9 US cities (55%) with population growth are in states with zero income taxes
3) Backdrop is only 7 states (14%) in the US have zero income taxes
Get out of NY. Quit this lousy job. I'm going to Vegas.
Vegas where they have an independent teachers union. No Randi or Lili and they backed Bernie.
Agree with 12:06
i know my k-8 school requires paperwork for testing to be allowed admittance
The Hill
Yascha Mounk: “A second wave of the coronavirus is on the way. When it arrives, we will lack the will to deal with it. Despite all the sacrifices of the past months, the virus is likely to win—or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it already has.”
“In absolute terms, the United States has been hit harder than any other country. About a quarter of worldwide deaths have been recorded on these shores. And while the virus is no longer growing at an exponential rate, the threat it poses remains significant: According to a forecasting model by Morgan Stanley, the number of American cases will, if current trends hold, roughly double over the next two months.”
“Even so, the disease is slowly starting to recede from the public’s attention… Perhaps most important, it is now difficult to imagine that anybody could muster the political will to impose a full-scale lockdown for a second time.”
Good. Teachers don't go to school so ATRs can take your jobs from you and you can end up in the ATR job. ATrs can really take advantage of this situation.
12:06/15 Yes I am in HS. I am surprised to hear this coming from ES and K-8 considering most though not all of our kids are not new admits, they are coming in from JHS without records.
How do they get away with disregarding the medical exemption? The religious exemptions were done away with a year or so ago after the measles outbreak, but the medical exemption remains intact. The parents can easily sue the school (and Principal) and say their kid's FAPE is being denied.
Is this an Admin pushed thing or a Chapter pushed thing? In my school neither the Admin nor the Chapter would push for this. They celebrate being "undocumented". Maybe it would change due to Coronavirus, but this is how they approach the "regular" childhood diseases.
UFT gives members and retirees $125 towards Optical services every 2 years. PSCCUNY members get $200 towards Optical benefits. UFT:Cheap Union
The laxness in enforcement is why diseases once basically irradiated are coming back. Get your kids vaccinated.
As stated, if tested as negative, you can pick it up 5 minutes later and infect the whole school.
I heard something else disturbing about excessing. If the teacher being excessed is in a department that has other non-tenured teachers with more seniority, the principal can simply discontinue the teacher with more seniority to keep the excessed teacher especially if the teacher is one of his or her pets. It's not a good time to be untenured.
1:54, Only if you are tenured with less seniority can you bump someone untenured with less seniority
1224,
Atrs are teachers, too. What situation do you feel atrs take advantage of?
I’ll be honest, as an ATR, I have done more work when I was an ATR than some ‘real teachers’.
I’m not an ATR right now, but when I was, believe me, I never took advantage and always asked how I could help out.
My buddy is an ATR and emails his principal each morning asking ‘how can I help?’ He rarely gets a response.
Is this the fault of the ATR? Nope. Weingarten and Bloomberg came up with the ATR pool and the UFT has never fought fsf.
I am sure despite the lip service being paid to the remote learning debacle the doe knows it’s a joke and bears little resemblance to real learning. Therefore, I think it’s extremely unlikely that they will continue paying full salaries for this garbage to continue in the fall. Now, the million dollar question is, are you still adamant about not returning to work even if the alternative is unemployment?
Better unemployment than being on a ventilator from COVID-19.
If the option is covid or unemployment, that means the uft is not doing the job. You have 2 weeks left to opt out. We are in for a world of hurt in september.
Not if teachers organize and act like a union.
Come on now- everyone everyone knows that if the city says come to work or be fourloughed without pay- everyone is going in and making sure that they put food on their table- thats not being a sheep!!
Why should teachers have a different set of rules to play by then any other city worker?
Think outside yourself and imagine being a cop? ems? sanitation-picking up trash at this time.
Check the absenteeism at those agencies. Quite high 4:33. We are not essential and will just make the pandemic worse if we are in buildings.
Which is why the uft needs to stop it. They won't.
Did mulgrew volunteer to go into buildings? How about Amy, Sill and Janella?
They stay at 52 Broadway. We go to crowded schools. Get it dummies. Unless you grow a set and say NO.
Please opt out, just for the time being. July 1 will be too late and you will be sorry.
Opt out and make the Koch people happy. That won't help.
Ok, then keep paying and getting abused.
So all this talk and got nowhere for September.
Nah, they will never learn the lesson. NYs dumbest. Keep complaining. Keep paying dues. Same awful results.
Show you are not NY's dumbest and grow a set teachers. You can do it.
Unbelievable that Mulgrew is the head of our union. Why? Why? Why?
Why ... not put a person with strong leadership qualities on the ballot? He whines, complains, justifies himself, and we are the blind being led by the blind. Only this time it is our lives and the lives of our students and loved ones that hang in the balance.
Let's organize! Let's come together and take our union back! Who can beat Mulgrew?
Unbelievable that Mulgrew is the head of our union. Why? Why? Why?
Why ... not put a person with strong leadership qualities on the ballot? He whines, complains, justifies himself, and we are the blind being led by the blind.
Include a link to a petition that we can sign to have our voices HEARD!!
Unbelievable that Mulgrew is the head of our union. Why? Why? Why?
Why ... not put a person with strong leadership qualities on the ballot? He whines, complains, justifies himself, and we are the blind being led by the blind.
It is not a matter of running, it is a matter of a candidate being known (politics 101), liked and trusted in a union that has almost 200,000 members scattered throughout the country. Not as easy as a petition.
I'm hard-pressed, when I listen to him speak on the telephoned town halls, to be won over. Sometimes I think, my god, how on earth does he lead this union? We, as members, need apply some critical analysis when we listen to the man talk!
I'm hard-pressed, when I listen to him speak on the telephoned town halls, to be won over. Sometimes I think, my god, how on earth does he lead this union? We, as members, need apply some critical analysis when we listen to the man talk!
We do not apply much critical analysis sadly 6:46.
The governor, mayor and DOE have to be particularly careful with re-opening schools because dealing with minors. No one wants to be known for sending in NYC children to their death.
A nurse described what she has experienced with COVID patients. Stated that many know when they will die. Can see it in their eyes as if they were drowning.
There has been an uptick in NYC cases.
Continue to monitor the situation and stay in touch with your CL and email Mulgrew and let him know your thoughts throughout the summer. Members need to keep the union informed.
Listen to this video on Youtube:
"The Second Wave Is Going To Be Much, Much Worse" (w/ Dr. Dena Grayson and Pedro da Costa.
Informative. Listen up!
So, since we need to plan now, what is the outcome of the 80 comments?
Well, anonymous, what's your best guess?
Chapter leaders now more than ever should be having weekly zoom/meet meetings.
UFT reps like Monte from Bronx can sit in and also give ideas, this should have been happening months ago!
Odds are low we will contract the virus even if its 1/100 people, would you take a handful of M&Ms to eat if you knew only one of them had the virus?
Schools have a 250 max in building, going to be a shit show. I would love 15/1 PE clssses would be a dream.
@10:41 according to CNN LOLOLOL!
Again, Trump does not close borders early, you would see 1.2-2 million dead. It is amazing how everyone else got it wrong, Dr Fauci and all the rest. Pelosi and Diblasio begging people in late feb early march go to broadway, come to downtown chinatwon in san fran! Such responsible leadership. Time for DIBLASIO,carraza, cuomo, pelosi, biden, shumer, maxine watters, mcconnell etc to go failed leadership over 40 uears!
You would let them sweat and play basketball?
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