This is a national story but I am going to concentrate on the New York portion where UFT President Michael Mulgrew is quoted.
“I would not say that being a teachers’ union leader is a job most people would want to have at this moment,” said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City, the largest local teachers’ union in the country.
Later on:
New York City, the nation’s largest district, is one of the few big systems in the country planning to reopen schools even part time this fall. Mr. Mulgrew, the local teachers’ union leader, helped officials settle on an approach that would allow children to report to classrooms one to three times per week.
But in the weeks since the plan was unveiled, Mr. Trump’s push to reopen classrooms has magnified growing alarm among educators about returning to work, and some have threatened to stage a sick-out.
In a town hall with members last week, Mr. Mulgrew threw the plan he helped create into disarray, telling teachers he does not currently believe it is safe for schools to reopen physically in September, absent a major funding influx to pay for more nurses and upgraded air filtration systems.
“I am preparing to do whatever we need to do if we think the schools are not safe and the city disagrees with us,” Mr. Mulgrew said on the call.
City officials said they were caught off guard when Mr. Mulgrew backed away from reopening, in part because the city had already agreed to a number of safety measures, including requiring masks and social distancing in the classroom, and to allow teachers over 65 and those with pre-existing conditions to work remotely.
Let's look at where we are now. We know that Michael Mulgrew was on the Mayor's Advisory Council on reopening schools. We now learn from the Times and other sources that the city basically agreed to what the UFT asked for with regard to masks and social distancing in the classroom. Apparently, Mulgrew appeared satisfied with what the city had done which is why the city was caught off guard when Mulgrew backed away from buildings reopening.
I gather that when the UFT President went back to his own people, he got an earful about how the rank and file understands perfectly well how these safety measures cannot be properly implemented in most school buildings. Mulgrew was put in a bind where he had to choose between supporting his rank and file or his DOE partners. To the astonishment of many, he made the right call on Friday in his latest email. This was especially surprising because it came only three days after he sent out a concessionary email that was particularly weak.
My educated guess is that rank and file pressure is working. Mulgrew understands much of the membership is angry about what happened in March when schools stayed open too long and we paid a heavy price. Nobody wants to see anything close to a repeat in the fall even if only 1/3 of students are in buildings.
At the height of the pandemic in NYC, Mulgrew would only go as far as threatening a lawsuit. It was too little, too late. He never urged members to stay out of COVID-19 infected buildings. He allowed members to attend three days of useless in-person staff development from March 17-19. 75 school-based DOE employees lost their lives from COVID-19 along with a dozen School Safety Agents. As we stated on several occasions and it is worth repeating, even Mulgrew concedes that logic would dictate that some were infected at work.
In Friday's email to members, Mulgrew took a 180° turn in his tone compared to Tuesday by sounding like a tough labor leader. Here is the most important part of Friday's email:
It's the Department of Education's job to keep us safe, and it’s the union’s job to make sure the DOE does it the right way. That’s why we are fighting for your health and safety each and every day. We will not allow UFT members and our students to be put in danger in unsafe schools.
We don't think most buildings will be safe in the fall. In the best of times, DOE protocols and mandates are, shall we say, loosely adhered to. I don't see that suddenly changing now. Will fighting for your safety mean UFT lawsuits to shut down individual schools on a case-by-case basis for a limited period of time or a wide ranging safety strike-sickout? I would not even call it a strike as UFTers would be more than willing to work from home. I think I know Mulgrew's answer but I also believe it is the rank and file, not the UFT President, who are in the driver's seat. If only all of you understood this.
34 comments:
Jellyfish almost always move in the direction of the current, if they don’t it’s because of a potential reward or risk. Mulgrew is the king jellyfish and the UFT are his jellyfish. The DOE are aquarium caretakers for schools of piranhas and jellyfish. Stay out of the putrid tank, no one is cleaning the filters and no one cares if you live or die.
I think an idea could be to continue with the rec center approach that NY used before the summer break, but expand it to more parents. There are teachers who would volunteer to do in person teaching.
That is a valid suggestion to expand the rec centers and find out how many UFTers want to work in person. That survey should have been done months ago.
We will see. As proven a million times, don expect much.
Uft comment? Money for education?
de Blasio cancels graffiti-removal program: The city can't afford it!
City workers paint “Black Lives Matter in front of Trump Tower: Affordable.
Arrests pro-police women painting over BLM at Trump Tower for graffiti : Affordable.
Dues well spent. Great representation, as usual. Did you expect any less? Mulgrew now has forceful language. Wow.
WaPo
“The dominoes are falling now,” said David Rubin, director of the PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, which has produced a model showing where the virus is likely to spread over the next four weeks.
His team sees ominous trends in big cities, including Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Louisville, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Washington, with Boston and New York not far behind. And Rubin warns that the expected influx of students into college towns at the end of this month will be another epidemiological shock.
I 100% agree with you that the survey should have been done at the beginning of the summer break at minimum. That would have required some forethought though. I know teachers that volunteered for the rec centers, and they weren't called in.
If there are enough who will volunteer without coercion for in person teaching, this could be resolved rather easily.
I expect Mulgrew to fold like a cheap suit. He always does that in the end. Be patient.
It isn't up to Mulgrew. It's up to all of you. You know the stakes.
Oh Punchy Mike, where have you gone?
Members should have a document as to safety concerns in each school. Transparency....
http://chng.it/S6x2QS98BH
Hey Lydia, Where is the petition for Mulgrew to resign?
WaPo
'I’m sorry, but it’s a fantasy’: A superintendent in Arizona worries about safely reopening schools
"I’m worried about everything. Each possibility I come up with is a bad one," says Jeff Gregorich, whose district faces a 5 percent reduction in state funding if it does not hold in-person classes. "I already lost one teacher to this virus. Do I risk opening back up even if it’s going to cost us more lives? Or do we run school remotely and end up depriving these kids?"
We've lost 75 school employees in NYC and nobody on charge gives a shit.
So I was just thinking to myself. Ny state has approximately 1% positivity rate for covid (heard on cnn this morning) (probably higher within nyc and lower in other areas) 1% of 1.1 million students Is 11,000 students with covid. Divided among 1700 school buildings Is about 6.5 student cases per school on average (depending in size of school obviously). (This is not including teachers and other school based adults)
That's to start, before any in school community spread.
Just figured I would share my thoughts. Thanks for listening
We all know that Mulgrew is no Al Shanker- but he's all we've got. We need to keep the pressure on.
No Al Shanker, he's no Al Bundy.
Dont insult Al Bundy like that.
I would say ...all who read this blog: keep emailing mulgrew: mmulgrew@uft.org and tell him how unsafe this is. I also email the governor's office often an diblasio's office.
Who else should we email to have a our voices heard?
Email Al Bundy.
Business Insider
The Maryland private school that Barron Trump attends will not be permitted to open for in-person classes until at least October under a countywide mandate ordering private schools to remain closed.
The analysis ...details an outbreak at a sleep-away camp in Georgia last month in which 260 children and staffers — more than three-quarters of the 344 tested — contracted the virus less than a week after spending time together in close quarters.
I filled out the form for accommodation. If any of the underlying conditions pertain to you, you should sign too.
I did a very simple analysis comparing White school districts to non-White school districts. I looked at a very small sample. Guess which ones plan to open this fall ? Yes, the non-White ones. Why? Possible answers - ‘Lets keep the teen thugs off the street’ , ‘We need our low wage workers, for essentials like lattes and can’t have little kids home alone’ , ‘We need these protests to calm down’ and ‘ We have to get back to normal for the Republican Party’s sake.’
Try to get someone from the UFT to do a through one, my guess is they’ll get the same result. -Jim
Anonymous 6:54 - I'd like to know how long they take to respond. I applied for accommodations last week. No idea how long it will take.
The emperor is definitely wearing clothes. This thread must be activist. Mulgrew reads it. I believe there will be a mass exodus if this is forced on us.
My school district is mostly white, and they’re opening (unless Cuomo says no). The reason? They don’t want kids running around town all day. Get your facts straight, racist.
What sort of message will you be sending to teachers and parents by saying school 7 hours a day is safe but at lunchtime it’s too dangerous to eat a slice in the pizzeria across the street?
The thing to keep in mind for everyone, including NYC, is that it’s all up to Cuomo. Certain non -White districts like Yonkers and Mt. Vernon plan to reopen, but tony districts in Westchester and Long Island are trying to stay mum, intentionally miss Cuomo’s school reopening plan deadline and not reopen the schools. The parents are very busy hiring private tutors for small groups for the fall.
"My educated guess is that rank and file pressure is working. Mulgrew understands much of the membership is angry about what happened in March when schools stayed open too long and we paid a heavy price. Nobody wants to see anything close to a repeat in the fall even if only 1/3 of students are in buildings."
Mulgrew has opened each hot topic since March weakly, and sounded tougher after being corrected by membership reaction. For example this bad email, which was followed by a much better message at the next week's town hall: https://jd2718.org/2020/06/14/im-not-uft-president-but-this-is-what-i-would-have-said/
But yes, he responds when there is a lot of pressure, and right now there is a lot of pressure. Not that his message is all the way where it should be. So one question, how to keep the level of pressure that high?
jd
Someone post Mulgrew’s address and we all do a caravan of cars to his home; respectfully of course, to let him know how we feel. As an ATR, I will quell my natural inclination to dump a bag of horse manure on his lawn.
How do you know? I know 9 families that live in Suffolk and they are not hiring tutors. They’re going to teach their kids themselves if schools do not open.
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