DOE SCHOOL HEALTH POLICY ALMOST MANDATES A SICKOUT

We once again are indebted to Jonathan Halabi for posting a New York City Department of Education document. This one is called the COVID-19 School Health Policy. We can scream and yell at UFT President Michael Mulgrew for giving away our Contract without a vote, but no, I want to look at what the DOE and UFT negotiated in terms of health positively right now. If we analyze the COVID-19 School Health Policy very carefully, it is practically mandating that UFTers and students stay home unless they are feeling 100% perfectly well. What do I mean?

From the middle of page 1: 

Daily Health Screenings                                                                                                                              Daily health screenings, including temperature checks, must be completed at home by families and by school-based staff. 

If I read this properly, students and staff must complete a home screening before going to school. What should we check for according to the DOE?

School-based staff and students cannot report to school if they have:

• Been knowingly in close or proximate contact in the past 14 days with anyone who has tested positive through a diagnostic test for COVID-19 or who has or had symptoms of COVID-19.

• Tested positive through a diagnostic test for COVID-19 in the past 14 days.

• Experienced any symptoms of COVID-19, including a temperature of greater than 100.0°F, in the past 14 days. 

• Traveled internationally or from a state with widespread community transmission of COVID-19 per the New York State Travel Advisory in the past 14 days. 

You are not permitted to report to school if you traveled to a state with widespread community transmission. If New Jersey is on that list as of Labor Day, I volunteer to lead a caravan of UFTers to NJ. You will then all be mandated to stay home for 14 days. Is anybody up for the trip?

If all of you don't want to go to the Garden State, Bullet 3 might be of interest to you. It states that staff and students "cannot report to school if they have...experienced any symptoms of COVID-19..." What are those symptoms? Later in the School Health Policy on page 3, the DOE elaborates:

The nurse or health professional will evaluate the student for symptoms of COVID-19, such as fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, lack of sense of taste or smell, and other symptoms. 

Let me see if I have this straight: If you have a fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat or loss of sense of taste or smell, then you cannot report to school (DOE's words, not mine). Bullet 1 states that you only have to be in close contact with someone who has had symptoms of COVID-19. You may be fine but someone close to you may have exhibited some symptoms so stay home for two weeks. 

If the DOE definition of the symptoms doesn't grab you, look to the Centers for Disease Control. They have a list of COVID-19 symptoms: 

Watch for symptoms

People with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. People with these symptoms may have COVID-19:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

This list does not include all possible symptoms.

CDC even has a Self-Checker that everyone needs to do to assess themselves the night before school starts. I believe CDC will recommend you quarantine yourself for 14 days if you have any of the above symptoms.  The DOE will not allow you into a school building with any of the symptoms. Because nausea is one of them, I can truthfully say there weren't too many days in some stressful years that I didn't experience nausea before and during school. Now, who knows if it's COVID-19? That headache could be COVID-19 too, as could that loss of smell even though my wife and I spraying so much Lysol the last few months may be the cause of that symptom.   

The DOE and CDC are recommending you isolate yourself if you have symptoms. We agree. If you are feeling any symptoms, you are violating DOE guidance if you report to work. I wouldn't want to get anyone in trouble for not following DOE School Health Policy. Contract Article 20 attaches the School Health Policy to the Contract. I'm reasonably confident all of your health care practitioners would concur that you should isolate yourself for two weeks if you have any symptoms.

I'm reading back this posting and it seems a bit absurd. That said, we are in a crazy time and we may have to resort to drastic measures like a sickout although as I stated previously, it is not a sickout if we are all willing to work remotely from home. We are not refusing to work. My advice here in this posting is more like what is called Work to Rule. It is a fitting way to respond to the DOE's outrageous School Health Policy.

In the end, I do not wish COVID-19 on anyone and wish all of you the best of health. That is why we need to start the term remotely. We are just wasting time with these plans for blended learning that are completely unrealistic in most schools and will put students, staff, and their families in danger.