Monday, July 27, 2020

CUNY UNION PRESIDENT HAS ZERO CONFIDENCE IN CUNY'S ABILITY TO MAKE IN PERSON LEARNING SAFE

Barbara Bowen is the President of the Professional Staff Congres, the CUNY faculty union. She is cited in a Chief Leader piece reacting to CUNY's plan to have some in person learning for the fall term:

“I have absolutely no confidence that the CUNY administration will keep our members safe during on-campus work. CUNY's record to date does not justify confidence,” she said in a statement.

Why can't UFT President Michael Mulgrew make this kind of statement?

Does anyone out there have any confidence that the DOE will have the capability to make in person learning safe in many of our public school buildings?

For more details on the PSC concerns about CUNY reopening campuses, read on.

In a letter to CUNY’s Coronavirus Planning Task Force written late last month, Ms. Bowen noted previous health and safety hazards across CUNY campuses that had either been left unaddressed or which CUNY administration failed to notify staff and students about, including a lack of running water in bathrooms at City College and a rat infestation at York College.

She also pointed to years of disinvestment at Brooklyn College and Lehman College that had resulted in missing floor and ceiling tiles, exposed wires, out-of-order bathroom stalls, and peeling paint becoming common sights.

Ms. Bowen also said that CUNY had failed to comply with a state requirement for employers to develop and conspicuously post a COVID-19 Health and Safety Plan that included details about what was being done to comply with safety guidelines, including capacity limits, providing personal protective equipment and social-distancing requirements. So far, the plan hasn’t been posted on any campuses, according to the PSC.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately I am not the President of the UFT, but I have no confidence that the DOE will keep staff, students and families safe.

Now I need for my Union President, Michael Mulgrew, to verbalize it.
Announce it to the world.

Anonymous said...

Who cares at what percent it is. The DOE cannot keep us safe.

The DOE do not have a solid plan.

Administration, educators, staff members and families need to unite and fight to keep everyone safe.

It is easy for Cuomo to say 5% when he gives his briefings in a well thought out environment with a high level of safety for him - The King of New York State.

Anonymous said...

My young adult child just graduated from CUNY (not from any of the colleges mentioned) with an excellent degree. Thank goodness does not have to attend this Fall because I would be very concerned, especially now that there's been an increase in COVID-19 cases among young adults in their twenties.

This virus has made its way through older people. Now it's increasing more and more among the younger age groups.

Wish you all well and hopefully we may all come out of this healthy and safe.

Anonymous said...

Why is free lunch going up like this? Percentage of people eligible for free and reduced lunch in CCSD has nearly doubled in 15 years.

2003-2004 35.6
2004-2005 44.39
2005-2006 45.54
2006-2007 39.76
2007-2008 42.54
2008-2009 42.63
2009-2010 43.67
2010-2011 50.78
2011-2012 56.57
2012-2013 53.45
2013-2014 56.79
2014-2015 57.52
2015-2016 56.05
2016-2017 69.68
2017-2018 67.02
2018-2019 69.2

Anonymous said...

PSC is a decent union. UFT sucks. I am in both union, I know.

Anonymous said...

I just received an unsolicited email from the DOE asking if I'd like to be a substitute teacher this fall. I can only assume that they are emailing everyone who got fingerprinted for fieldwork and got their BA? Clearly they are concerned about not having enough teachers.

Anonymous said...

I wanted to be in school in September, if only to be able to meet students in "real school" at least for a few weeks before flu season probably drove us remote. But this is clearly not going to happen. So, we'll do the best we can w/ the tools we have. But a big fail for BdB.

Anonymous said...

It is not possible for the NYC DOE or the UFT to guarantee your health and safety if we return to any kind of in-person teaching.

I believe that the majority of NYC DOE administrators, from assistant principals up to those in Tweed, are too incompetent and intellectually deficient to submit any kind of plausible plan to re-open the schools no matter what model.

The thought than anyone would have any confidence in DeBlasio, Carranza, Cuomo, the DOE or the UFT is laughable. They are all clowns. They do not care about your health and safety; just remember to pass all your students before you get sick.

Anonymous said...

The administrative bloat is coming back to haunt the DOE. There are too many superintendents, principals and central administrators. They cannot come up with a comprehensive plan. Let's see how they respond to the principal union's 150 questions.

Before, there was one principal per building, one superintendent per borough and central was contained. Let them figure it out.

The principal union did the right thing by submitting a document with all concerns that need to be addressed by the DOE because the DOE will make principals their scapegoat. That is being proactive.

Before, when someone was excessed that staff member would be provided with a choice of schools. Once placed, that staff member would resume their responsibilities as if nothing happened.

Smooth.......

Now - CHAOS!!!! It gets worse, De Blasio and Carranza are the leaders.

Anonymous said...

Former VP Joe Biden will unveil his racial economic equity plan today.
@EamonJavers
has the details. https://cnb.cx/3g2AQwx

What is a racial economic equity plan?

Anonymous said...

BREAKING: The American Federation of Teachers has authorized local and state strikes if schools reopen without certain safety measures in place. https://nytimes.com/2020/07/28/world/coronavirus-covid-19.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Anonymous said...

Another question, if you visited one of the states on the quarantine list right before school starts and you return to NY and have to quarantine for 2 weeks will you be allowed to take off for 2 weeks and not lose days in your CAR?