Saturday, July 18, 2020

CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION TO TAKE ACTION WITH CARAVAN PUSHING FOR VIRTUAL SCHOOLS WHILE UFT'S MULGREW DITHERS ON UFT DEMANDS FOR REOPENING SCHOOLS IN NYC

UFT President Michael Mulgrew's Thursday appearance on WNYC should be required listening for UFT members who are concerned about reopening in September. Mulgrew rightly was critical of the city/Department of Education for taking too long to plan for the upcoming school year. Mulgrew talked tough but then backed down when asked about a strike. From our commentary on the program:

Lehrer: Should I take it as a strike threat if the city doesn't prepare sufficiently?
Mulgrew: No, we still have a month to go. I would say a 60% chance we will be fully remote. We don't have the funding. Big fight over the Heroes Act. The virus is raging out of control nationally. Governor was smart by putting in clear unambiguous plans. Need to meet numbers and have a safety plan. If they don't have the safety plan, we will do everything in our power to make sure that a school doesn't open and put children and teachers at risk.

The UFT is not stepping up to demand in no uncertain terms that it is children and UFT member safety above all else, particularly during a pandemic.

Meanwhile out in Chicago, where they have a real teachers union, they are taking action. I received an email yesterday from the Chicago Teachers Union on a safe protest planned for Wednesday.

Join our car caravan for a safe demonstration to demand schools open virtually this fall, for the safety of all.

CTU members miss our students and want to teach them in-person as soon as we can safely. Yet safety for our students, their families and our colleagues comes first. Safety first was our watchword before the pandemic, it’s even more important now. 

Further down, as part of their call for action, they note how the Chicago Public Schools have not been up to the task:

CPS failed to provide even the most basic sanitation before the pandemic. They’ve failed to provide adequate staffing or supports for students with special learning needs, much less adequate supports for students facing a pandemic.

Join this car caravan—safely distant and protected in your car from contamination—to show the board meeting we are united for the safety of our students, their families and the educators who serve them.

Back here in NYC, the best we will get from the UFT is another Mulgrew virtual town hall on Tuesday afternoon. I urge everyone to register and demand to get through the screeners so Mulgrew has to answer some tough questions on reopening. There cannot be a repeat of the delays in the spring which unfortunately was part of the reason why so many UFT members working in schools became infected with COVID-19 and over 70 school based workers passed away due to complications.





43 comments:

Anonymous said...

We don't go in without a vaccine. Period. There is no "Well these people can get a note and these people can stay home and these people can go in and get sick because they aren't currently sick"

Anonymous said...

The uft knows how to instill division within their own. Left, right and center, we all agree the uft sucks. This encourages such teacher vs teacher animosity. Teachers will be so pissed if half can spend the year at home. Commute for hours, be in medical peril...Sounds fair.

Anonymous said...

This is why people encourage opt out here. I know it is too late now. Did you expect any different? This is so infuriating.

Anonymous said...

6 weeks into the year we get the last retro payment. After that they can replace me. I'm done. They can keep the money. This is health hazardous.

Anonymous said...

NYC is scheduled to move into Phase IV on Monday.
...A taylored Phase IV for NYC: no indoor dining, no indoor activities, no open malls...

Still, they are making plans to reopen school buildings in less than 60 days (September 10th set as the first day of school for students) and have staff and students spend hours indoors, with poor ventilation systems and lacking hygiene conditions.

How can we trust them when they just keep on saying that safety and health are the priority but they cannot backup their repetitive slogans with actions?

This is complete nonsense.

Anonymous said...

Where can those guidelines be found? It will be unsafe for all teachers. And how are District 75 teachers going to be protected? Social distancing is IMPOSSIBLE and masks wearing will be difficult (near impossible) for most students #distancelearning #remotelearning unit it is ACTUALLY safe

Anonymous said...

Face it, the duespayers got played by the uft again.

Anonymous said...

This virus was too dangerous for privileged criminals to stay in prisons; however, it’s not too dangerous for our children and grandchildren to attend schools and colleges this fall.

Anonymous said...

Teacher lives DON'T matter.

Anonymous said...

More than 80 infants under a year old have tested positive for the coronavirus in one Texas county, a local public health official announced, as the United States set a single-day record in the tally of new cases.

waitingforsupport said...

The leadership has failed the people. Call the media and go out in your cars to protest. Even with a 10-car caravan, you make light the fire under other teachers. The next caravan may have 20 cars and so on. I'm retired. I'm disappointed that so many failed the students by giving them fake grades However, i will participate and stand with you. Right is right and wrong is wrong. Do something to save your own life. I will even ask family to join your caravan

Prehistoric pedagogue said...

Cuomo might be an insensitive tyrant, but he is no dope. Remote learning was a joke and that people can’t go back to work until teachers go back to school. That’s the way it is especially when UFT dealership fold like a cheap suitcase(which is the actual idiom)

Anonymous said...

I wonder why we have problems. While teachers are suffering, big time, and will get sent to die and/or get sick, this is what the aft president is discussing...People are burning portland to the ground and randi blames trump.

Randi Weingarten
@rweingarten
Yep, what happened in Portland at the hands of Trump’s goons is dictatorship 101

Anonymous said...

I am definitely opting out of the DOE and UFT simultaneously. Devastated.

Joe said...

I warned you for months about getting suckered by the uft. So pay another $1600 and think again next June about opting out.

Anonymous said...

I may be dead by then Joe. I would rather stay in the UFT and live.

Evan said...

Just email Mulgrew, I'm sure he will fix the problem. NOT. Arent we NY's brightest?

Evan said...

Stay in the uft and live by them sending us into infected buildings?

Joe said...

How does being in the uft help? What benefit do you get?

Anonymous said...

New York's meekist.

Anonymous said...

Agree with 1:27 PM. Everyone should be remote. It's truly not safe and will not be safe in schools. Let's stop kidding ourselves.

Anonymous said...

637, what benefits do they provide that would keep you alive?

Anonymous said...

Mulgrew can care less about the safety of NYC Teachers that are parents. They are NOT given the option as parents to teach at home so their children can do remote learning at home!! Teachers are being FORCED to send their kids to school...as parents that are NOT teachers are given an option to choose 100% remote learning at home or blended learning. HOW IS THIS FAIR??? Discrimination at its best! This concern is being voiced beyond this blog...organizing of a teacher strike will not be underestimated.

Anonymous said...

If there are accommodations, nobody should be going.

Anonymous said...

I have no intention of going back in person until it is safe to do so. I will use sick days. I will get a doctors note. I will stand up for myself and not wait for Mulgrew to do so. Please don't say "Taylor Law" My life is more valuable. I will not be lead into school buildings to play roulette with my life or the lives of my loved ones as I could carry covid-19 home. I urge other members to think for themselves and protect their lives.

James Eterno said...

Yes 8:49 but if we do this collectively, it will have a better chance of succeeding. There is safety in numbers.

Anonymous said...

There is an opinion piece in the NY Times written by Arthur Goldstein, a must read.

Anonymous said...

The piece is in the NY Post not the Times.

Anonymous said...

8:40: Exactly, they are admitting that it's not safe by offering the accomodations.

James Eterno said...

CDC says it is the highest risk in buildings.

Jeff said...

This is discriminatory. Because I have an appropriate bmi, i can get deathly ill? I can be put at risk? How does that work exactly? You shouldnt put yourself at risk, but I must because I dont qualify for the note from a doctor. How can the uft put us in this position?

Jeff said...

Vitally important study.... as it pertains to #ReopeningSchoolsSafely.. Older Children Spread the Coronavirus Just as Much as Adults, Large Study Finds Older Children Spread the Coronavirus Just as Much as Adults, New Study Finds - The New York Times

Anonymous said...

De blasio has the city running like clockwork. The Black Lives Matter mural in front of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue was vandalized Saturday for the third time this week — this time by a black woman yelling, “refund the police!”

Anonymous said...

Uft is participating in fraud, unsafe working conditions, discrimination. They should not be paid and should be sued.

Anonymous said...

That was staged!..do more research that woman is on youtube you can subscribe to her 0channel..look her up her name.... Police have their agenda set.paid actors

Anonymous said...

http://www.nysed.gov/common/nysed/files/programs/reopening-schools/nys-p12-school-reopening-guidance.pdf

Anonymous said...

mulgrew is laughing, people didnt opt out, he suckered you again, and he knows buy next june you will forget again. If not now, then when?

Anonymous said...

Wrong 10:40. We can fight like the Chicago teachers. It has to come from below.

unknown said...

Just out of curiosity... what if there is never a vaccine?

Anonymous said...

Then, a cure will do if there is no vaccine 8:47.

Anonymous said...

That is for the powerful uft to figure out. They didn't even get a severance package offered, some could take it and quit if they want out. If they have to accommodate some, how is it safe for me?

Anon2323 said...

There has been a vaccine for the flu for 80 years its still here!

Remote would be a disaster and set kids back in a severe detrimental way. WE need to go back in sept smartly and take it from there with how the virus is in october.

Anonymous said...

How many more of us have to die before Republicans admit that not opening schools will save a lot of lives?