NYC schools roll out plan for reacting to positive COVID cases in reopened buildings
By MICHAEL ELSEN-ROONEY
Positive coronavirus tests in city schools this fall will trigger closures of classrooms or whole school buildings while investigators from the city’s Test and Trace Corps probe for evidence of a wider outbreak, officials announced Thursday night.
“We are doing everything in our power to keep kids healthy while ensuring they are getting the education they deserve. These rigorous test and trace protocols will keep our students and staff safe as we start off this new school year,” said Mayor de Blasio.
How city schools will respond to positive COVID cases is a lingering question in the city’s complex reopening plan. The plan, if approved by state officials, would send kids to school in-person on some days while maintaining remote learning on the other days.
Officials say the new regulations will provide clear ground rules for schools dealing with positive cases. Parents, students and staff can self-report positive coronavirus tests to school officials, who will relay the information to the test and trace corps.
If students or staff in the same classroom get sick, that classroom will shut down and transfer to remote learning while disease detectives investigate, and the classroom will remain closed for 14 days after the investigation.
If at least two people in different classes but the same school get sick, the entire building will be shut down for an investigation. The buildings will remain shut for 14 days if investigators can’t pinpoint where and how the cases were transmitted. If they do track down the links, only the classrooms of the infected students or staff will close for two weeks.
Education Department officials said the Test and Trace investigations usually last between one and three days. Families will be contacted by 6 p.m. each night about whether the school will be open the next day, officials added.
City schools staffers are expected to get a COVID test in the days leading up to the September 10 start of classes, and will get priority at the city’s 34 public hospitals, which offer free testing, officials said.
Each school building will be required to create an “isolation room” for kids or staffers who are feeling sick. Not all city schools have full-time nurses, but officials said the rooms will be staffed either by “health professionals” or a “dedicated staff member."
Why does this plan not instill me with confidence that students and staff will be safe?
Get those free wills ready.
ReplyDelete17 Miami Marlins positive. No problem for schools.
ReplyDeleteThis is completely unacceptable. Didn't these blithering idiots in the DOE implement this EXACT SAME PLAN back in March, which resulted in a complete disaster?
ReplyDeleteGet ready folks, September is going to be the sequel to March.
The DOE argument is it won't be the same because in September there will be far fewer kids in schools.That argument falls apart because so many kids were absent the last few days when school was in session in March and then it was only staff those last three days and so many were still sickened. It almost seems as if de Blasio wants it to come back.
ReplyDeleteA 'dedicated staff' to cover the isolation room.
ReplyDeleteThis is a volunteer position. Not I....
Go read the MORE-UFT Twitter feed. You'll want to slit your throat.
ReplyDeleteSome idiot from the Post Editorial Board said in an opinion piece that we ought to put kids first and at the end said that teachers are forgetting what their main priority is to teach the children. Sorry my main priority is keeping myself healthy. That's like saying a grocer's main priority in life is to make sure shoppers get fresh eggs.
ReplyDeleteDead teachers teach no classes.
ReplyDeleteKeep paying dues. And they also made the school day longer, shortened prep time and we have to teach remotely too. Yep sounds like
ReplyDelete@UFT
is really fighting for its members. Face with rolling eyes
Thanks uft. NYC schools "could remain open if a student or teacher tests positive for coronavirus in the fall, but their specific classrooms will be closed"
ReplyDeleteWhat are you waiting for? Go out and protest in front of Gracie Mansion and then move down to 52 Broadway. DeBlasio has Mulgrew in his back pocket.
ReplyDeleteMayor and chancellor now talking about procedure if student/teacher tests positive for Covid-19.
ReplyDeleteNo details on:
> whether individual's temperature will be taken before they enter the building
> how and when students/teachers are being tested: on their own time or in the building?
My school building has 6 schools, why can't there be a testing site on the premises where people are tested on a regular basis?
All seems very nebulous.
Is anyone watching the mayor/chancellor now? Teachers need to strike for safety
ReplyDeleteSo, according to the Mayor, testing for teachers and students will only be recommended NOT required...
ReplyDeleteYesterday, I resigned from my teaching job. This morning I woke up no longer an employee of the district where I spent the last 19-years of my life, spilled 19-years of my heart, loved thousands of students & through that loving, learned to be a better version of myself. Not interested in sacrificing my life for mulgrew and de blasio.
ReplyDeletekeeping students in pods is not effective because all students share the bathrooms and sinks. Only Pre/k have bathrooms and sinks in their classrooms. Not all of us teach in new buildings.
ReplyDeleteHello James:
ReplyDeleteHopefully we can add this to the conversation and get it to the front of the discussion with UFT leadership and other stakeholders:
I wrote some emails this am to NIH and CDC, but I have no illusions about them being read or used.
Here is what I wrote:
Dear Dr, Fauci and NIH:
Let me start by saying THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for being a trustworthy voice in this crisis.
Could you begin to publicize the problems of indoor ventilation and the mitigation strategies and equipment that is recommended for indoor activities, such as school classrooms in particular?
I am a NYC school teacher who will be returning to, perhaps, 5 days a week of indoor instruction. So far, the conversation is about masks, distance, washing and wiping - all good.
But, nothing about the risk factors of speaking/talking, strategies and best practices for ventilation and filtration, usefulness of plexiglass or other clear barriers, clear faceshields, HEPA filtration [esp portable ones teachers can buy], and other related issues,
There is a real lack of clarity, for example:
I read an article in the Atlantic today, as an example, which discusses the differences between ballistic [larger] and short-range aerosol [smaller, lingering] particles that accumulate indoors. There is very little public awareness of this issue and it is not being discussed clearly in the school reopening plans.
Contrast this to, a statement from the NYC Mayor's office - that students will be able to engage in small group work with talking and discussion in classrooms upon return.
I asked my administration what equipment [barriers, filtration] will be in our designated classrooms, the answer I got was basically nothing. One Admin said, the NYCDOE consider barriers to be a sham - but I see that barriers are being ordered for offices and security.
My concerns are global, not personal - we can't say talking in an enclosed space is safe and dangerous at the same time - that there are ventilation and filtration strategies but our systems don't want to purchase them, that group work is expected and is safe/unsafe, that barriers are important and useful.barriers are a sham.
Indoor activities are clearly the most dangerous. Please help, literally, the nation, as we transition back to indoor activities, such as schools, with more clear guidance.
Thank you,
So, James, can we get these questions about indoor classrooms and classroom activities to the front?
Thanks!
NYCSchools are asking over a million people to voluntarily get tested before school reopens when testing sites are at capacity & it takes 2 weeks to get results. Just let that sink in. This is how insufficient health & safety measures will be in school too.
ReplyDeleteThe DOE is not making the buildings safe for anyone.
ReplyDeleteThey will say that the buildings are safe until folks get sick and die.
They are transitioning from high stakes testing to high stakes experimentation.
I just watched a caravan of Connecticut teachers protesting. Check out https://actionnetwork.org/groups/national-educators-united-neu
ReplyDeleteMulgrew is going to sit back and watch you shuffle back into schools. Even on a good day many schools are like an X rated cartoon starring Fritz the Cat. Fritz doesn’t wear a condom or a face mask. Protest or stop worrying because you’ve relinquished your free will to deBlasio and Mulgrew. Do you fear deBlasio and Mulgrew more that a potentially painful death? I guess so. Happy St. Patrick’s Day, again.
UFT agreed to instruction during lunch? While kids have masks down and are eating? You agreed to 30 minute preps?
ReplyDeleteUFT, you’re supposed to protect teachers. What are you doing? Where is Mulgrew on this?
UFT is caving on unsafe conditions.
Spring break compensation?
Why am I being ignored on open market?
Why do people pay dues?
According to the Post, the magic number now is under 3%. They mayor and chancellor think all we have to worry about is the number. They still aren't clear about how all these regulations are going to be enforced. They just gave a lot of bs blah blah about their plan on reopening schools which is really nothing new.
ReplyDeleteJames, did you see the following article?
ReplyDeleteSchool closures linked to fewer COVID-19 infections, deaths — but experts say it's complicated: Study
www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/school-closures-linked-fewer-covid19-infections-deaths-experts-complicated-study-164646202.html
With this ‘Fritz The Cat’ comparison—some staff members and maybe even some older high school students could develop: COVIDVD.
ReplyDeleteAny truth to extended school day, and reduction in preps?
ReplyDeleteThe financial consequences of teacher morbidity are very favorable for the DOE.
ReplyDeleteWhen An older teacher dies from the COVID virus, they are replaced by a younger teacher.
The pension is never paid and the city saves on pension funding.
What, if any, are the actual facts on these issues [esp. for high school]
ReplyDeleteDo we still have the mandated PD meetings? Will they be online?
What is going on with our lunch and prep time?
What is going on with admin assignments [the old circular 6]?
Is there an extended, or longer, day?
Is the day going to violate the contract, and is the contract in effect if we are in Phase 4 re-opening, or not?
Do we have to supervise lunch [this will be one of the riskiest parts of a risky day]?
Can we use actual books/pens/pencils/paper, or are they "off limits?"
And more ...