ALBANY, N.Y., July 19, 2020 — New York State United Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers today demanded that school districts follow school reopening guidance issued by the governor and state Department of Health that mandates social distancing, reduced occupancy and the use of masks, among other safety measures.
The unions made the call amid reports of confusion over such requirements at the local level as districts develop their individual reopening plans.
“With the clock ticking for districts to develop and submit reopening plans, there is no time for ambiguity,” NYSUT President Andy Pallotta said. “We’ll say it again: Health and safety, as well as equity, are absolutely essential in planning for the fall. The Department of Health issued clear guidelines regarding social distancing and masks. There’s no reason districts should be guessing at what the safest option for students, staff and the entire school community is.”
“Frankly I was shocked when I saw an interpretation of the minimum guidance on safely reopening schools that suggested that a district could choose masks or physical distancing. Working with fellow members of the governor’s Reimagine Education Advisory Council, we developed strong guidelines for how to keep our schools safe, if districts moved forward with some form of in-person instruction. And that guidance was spelled out in Governor Cuomo’s reopening schools safely plan. It’s not an either/or; physical distancing or physical barriers are absolutely necessary in schools, as are masks. Masks are strongly recommended at all times, and absolutely are required if it is impossible to physically distance, as in hall passing,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said. “Parents need to feel confident that if they send their children back to school it is safe, just as educators need to feel equally as confident that it will be safe for them. We can’t have confusion at this stage. Districts need to get this right.”
According to the DOH guidance:
●Districts must ensure there is proper social distancing on school grounds and in school facilities. “Specifically, appropriate social distancing means six feet of space in all directions between individuals or use of appropriate physical barriers between individuals that do not adversely affect air flow, heating, cooling, or ventilation, or otherwise present a health or safety risk.”
●Even with face coverings in use, occupancy of spaces, such as classrooms and other small spaces, “should not exceed 50% of the maximum capacity of the space, unless it is designed for use by a single occupant.”
●Face coverings must be worn “any time or place that individuals cannot maintain appropriate social distancing.” Further, face coverings are “strongly recommended at all times, except for meals and instruction with appropriate social distancing. However, Responsible Parties can require face coverings at all times, even during instruction; and it is strongly recommended in areas with higher rates of COVID-19 community infection.”
●Other health and safety measures must also be in place.
NYSUT and AFT believe that all of these requirements must be met and are unequivocally necessary before anyone returns to the classroom.
“We must get this right,” Pallotta said. “We will not jeopardize the health and safety of students, educators and families by agreeing it’s safe to go back without these requirements in place.”
New York State United Teachers is a statewide union with more than 600,000 members in education, human services and health care. NYSUT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association and the AFL-CIO.
For additional resources, visit nysut.org/reopening.
23 comments:
Poor air quality in my school existed before covid-19
no a/c-no proper ventilation
impossible to go up and down flights of stairs and not hold railing-impossible to keep clean
-no safe way to conduct fire drills/ lockdowns
-say minorities are at higher risk(85 city schools minorities)-so why expose them?
-Queens got slammed because of large immigrant multigenerational households
Young children-Pre-k, k/1 only mask optional-so the teachers/paras/families won't catch it because the children are too young.
I can't see how Cuomo could take the chance and follow Deblasio insane plan of having children go to school and daycare. Covid will spread again like wild fire. It will be political suicide for Cuomo. NYC MUST OFFER REMOTE ONLY FOR THE FIRST SEMESTER.
The DOE is providing enough sanitizer, PPE, cleaning supplies,etc. for 1 MONTH- that’s straight from Carranza. Then what? The schools don’t have money for these items. Are they expecting the 2nd wave to hit so hard in the 1st month that they don’t need to provide beyond that?
Opening schools will be a hell of a way to discover the reason Covid wasn't too prevalent in kids is because schools were closed.
If anyone tries to ask a question to Mulgrew tomorrow ask a cupcake question when they interview you and when it's time to ask the question go hardball, I think it would be too late and he has to answer.
* ASTRAZENECA'S BIOPHARMA CHIEF SAYS WE ARE OPTIMISTIC OXFORD COVID-19 VACCINE WILL HAVE A LONG-LASTING EFFECT OF 1-2 YEARS
After Allowing Mass Protests, Cuomo Says Large Crowds Are Obstacle to Reopening
Do not get the vaccine! It will not be safe. Read about the human trials at Moderna, a company that has never made a vaccine.
Two boys drop dead in China while wearing masks during gym class.
PE in SEPTEMBER...
@1:04 PM - Read about the unfortunately deaths of Chinese students that were wearing masks dying during gym class.
There is so much that is just not safe. Full remote is the solution.
Gov. Mike Parson: “These kids have got to get back to school.... And if they do get COVID-19, which they will — and they will when they go to school — they’re not going to the hospitals.... They’re going to go home and they’re going to get over it.” https://buff.ly/2WBb8Ye
According to Eyewitness News Channel 7(https://abc7ny.com/texas-covid-ny-nyc-phase-4-indoor-dining/6325469/):
CDC DELAYS NEW GUIDANCE ON SCHOOLS REOPENING
Additional guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on schools reopening won't be released until the end of July, a spokesman confirmed to ABC News.
"CDC's Reopening Schools Safely documents will not be released this week; instead the full set will be published before the end of the month," the spokesman said. "These science- and evidence-based resources and tools will provide additional information for administrators, teachers and staff, parents, caregivers and guardians, as together we work towards the public health-oriented goal of safely opening schools this fall."
President Trump said the existing guidance for schools, which mandated things like masks and 6 feet of distance among students, is too tough and expensive to implement.
So the CDC will be providing additional guidelines. We all know NYC public schools will not be able to implement the additional guidelines.
You trust mayor with our lives? He says crime is no problem, shootings up 340%.
Isn't this freedom of speech?
Queens Teacher Under Investigation For Slur Against BLM Protester
An Astoria public school teacher was caught on video calling a Black Lives Matter protester an "Asian b---h" in Bayside this past weekend.
In Australia they opened schools with every precaution including new air filtration systems and some outdoor learning as well as masks and social distancing. Within twelve days there were 113 Covid-19 infections and they had to close the schools again. The infection rate continued to soar. New York City schools, it need hardly be said, do not even have windows that open or soap in many cases. It would be suicide to go back. In addition, the benefits of in person learning -- collaboration, individual assistance, social/emotional learning -- cannot even be achieved when everyone is forced to social distance, and that will be a losing battle, so again, suicide. The fact that parents need to go back to work is extremely important, but it does not follow that this is the way to do it. I suspect that those who tell us it is our duty to place ourselves and our families, not to mention the families of the students, in harm's way would not do so themselves. I have signed the petition, given money so that it can be widely disseminated, and intend to do more to make sure that reopening doesn't happen until massive infusions of money and or a vaccine make it truly safe.
State guidelines say all teacher and student desks must face in the same direction, and you ought not to speak in the direction of student faces. Why bother with live instruction when students and teachers can't even look at one another? Find it on page 29.
Teacher dies after infected studnets sent to school. This scares me the most. Families sending their children to school even when someone at home has COVID-19. Many people do not treat it seriously enough...
https://www.jweekly.com/2020/07/19/israeli-teacher-dies-of-covid-after-begging-parents-to-keep-infected-kids-home/?fbclid=IwAR2KFon6VbXhzD7v9vq5guMU6_YgbepSRT-k-j90RDlFw8EF8msiqcaXQNI
An Israeli kindergarten teacher has died of the coronavirus, two weeks after she made an emotional appeal for parents to keep home children who had been exposed to the deadly virus. After Shalva Zalfreund, 64, died on July 17, the mayor of her city posted on Facebook the message that she had sent to...
we’ve seen what comes of @NYCSchools promises. NO cleaning in March (nevermind “deep cleaning”) empty google drive folders for April break, resources provided at 10pm the night before Juneteenth—and we’re supposed to believe that they’ll do what they need to to keep us safe?
Cancel regents and look for high school to go more remote. We have had the vaccine for the flu for 80 years and it's still very relevant.
Hopefully we will all be on the call for the UFT meeting tmmrw as we hear the lollipop questions.
PE will be a joke since it's dangerous having kids workout/exercise with masks on, they need exercise and activity and its being stripped as well.
Experts say that the virus is just getting started. The virus is deadly.
School buildings are not safe. Schools will not open.
CNN interviews Dr. Fauci's boss, Dr. Francis Collins (July 17, 2020). Check it out on Youtube: "Hear what Fauci's boss would do if asked by Trump to fire him". Dr. Collins states Fauci is a national treasure.
Also talks about schools and possible date for when there will be a vaccine.
absolutely agree 4:06. Their track record speaks for itself and this is a much bigger undertaking than loading resources to a website.
2:33 No it's not freedom of speech. It's hate speech. The teacher used a racial slur.
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