We heard from the UFT this morning in the first round of our August 19 doubleheader. The second match is coming up with Chancellor Richard Carranza's Town Hall with employees.
For those wondering what could be asked, here is a petition started by High School Executive Board member Mike Schirtzer that has questions a team of 257 educators want answers to. Let's see if he runs away from tough questions like Mulgrew usually does at Town Halls but he did not this morning.
My wife asked for Carranza'sreaction to Mulgrew's strike threat.
Here are Mike's group's questions that were on a Change.org petition:
How will school staff be notified of a positive COVID case?
How can eating in classrooms be considered safe when there is no indoor dining in NYC?
How do you address the janitorial union’s statement that they did not have enough time for their duties before the pandemic and certainly will not have enough time for additional duties?
If someone tests positive and we need to quarantine for 14 days, are we then responsible for teaching remotely, or are we just “out” for that time? If we switch to remote, how will that transition be handled?
Last Spring, we launched into a new teaching model, called “Remote Learning” with only three days of training. This year, we may be launching into another brand-new system, now called “Blended Learning” and, as of yet, we have had no training. School is scheduled to begin in 22 days. When will the DOE offer professional development on remote and hybrid/blended models? To this date, to our knowledge, DOE has not communicated at all with teachers pertaining to training for the upcoming school year.
What are the expectations for how in-person classroom activities and materials will be handled? Many teachers are concerned about handling or exchanging work on paper, using class sets of textbooks, sharing computers and other devices, etc.
Will we be supplied with masks and face shields as we will need to face students as we give instruction? What kind of masks? Will we receive n95 or just a medical mask?
Teacher planning is an important cornerstone of a strong, stable educational experience. As teachers, we plan ahead. This is what we do. When will the school calendar be released so that we can begin planning our semester?
What safety measures for social distancing is the city making for kids who have to take public transportation? How will that affect contact tracing?
What are the outcomes for students who do not wear a mask and/or violate social distancing?
How long will it take to appropriately address the situation and how will we do that?
Will cleaning wipes and spray be distributed to all staff? If so, what will we be supplied?
A number of neighborhoods, including East New York and Sunset Park, have infection rates higher than 5%, at least as of August 14. Is any consideration being given to keeping schools in high positivity rate neighborhoods remote? There are also concerns about people who live in higher rate areas commuting to lower rate ones.
Will there be a public database listing positive cases and locations?
September is typically a very hot month. We do not have air conditioning in all city schools and have been recommended to not use fans. How can children safely wear masks in extreme heat?
Why is regular COVID testing for students and faculty not mandatory?
Who is cleaning up after unmasked children?
How can we continue to teach in classrooms after lunchtime when the airspace is now potentially contaminated?
How will ICT classrooms look in a remote setting? How will they will in a blended setting considering that students must be learning for all five days?
When will staff receive training for our trauma-informed start?
Ventilation is a big problem in so many of our older buildings. How will bathrooms without windows be made safe? What about classrooms that are windowless or nearly windowless? And what specific protocols are being followed to measure and maintain levels of ventilation?
The turnaround date from getting tested to getting results is around 7 days. In order to open schools, like all the major professional sports leagues, can we mandate testing with a 24-hour turnaround on results?
If a student in my class tests positive, the class, including myself, have to quarantine for 2 weeks, does my family also have to quarantine? What about the children in my child’s class? If my child/children were exposed to me, and their class was exposed to them, don’t we all then have to quarantine? And what about the siblings in their classes?
What will happen if a student comes to school on the wrong assigned day? We have heard that there is supposed to be a room for these students to stay but how will we have the staff for that?
We have been told by the union and others that there will be two teachers for every in-person class: one for the in-person part and one to teach those kids on the days that are remote. Even with ATRs, administrators, and others teaching, there may not be enough teachers. What happens then?
If there are more remote students in a school, will some teachers who do not have medical accommodations be asked to teach remote classes? If so, where will they teach from?
9 comments:
Stunning to me how none of these questions are about layoffs and what they will mean and how they will impact us going forward. I can adapt to any situation, but without a job to come back to, its kind of moot.
Carranza is not at the town halll.
The new first deputy Chancellor is.
I’m sorry but I would not strike. Call me a scab if you want. You don’t pay my mortgage or child’s college education.
I have been pushing for the UFT to become militant for 20 years and now that they finally have moved in that direction, if not quite convincingly, I ask that anyone who is not willing to stay out of work for their own safety, the safety of their colleagues and the safety of the students to please go to another blog. Kindly go away. This is a pro-union blog. It always has been. If you are in a labor union and are not willing to stand up for yourself and your colleagues, YOU ARE A BIG PART OF THE PROBLEM. If there is a strike, I will stand by Mulgrew 100% and you need to also. No bullshit excuses, please.
THAT'S WHAT SAVINGS IS FOR. WE ALL WALK TOGETHER. THAT'S WHY WE ARE IN A UNION. DO NOT CROSS A PICKET LINE. TAKE A STUDENT LOAN OR TRY CITY COLLEGE 4:17PM
I hope you would reconsider. We all have families and financial commitments. If we don't make a stand for the health and safety of our students, colleagues and communities, then what do we stand for? And let's be real, any time we refuse to stand up for what's right we diminish ourselves, our profession, and our children's future.
The key is to challenge the Taylor Law simultaneously with a strike focusing on safety measures that are not being met and that workers have the right to strike for safety at the workplace. It is in our contract. We have the right to work in a safe environment.
I agree 10:23.
We encourage as a nation work in a safe environment. We feel outraged when we know about workers in unsafe conditions and yet we, as educators, cannot stand up for our lives? It is our right. We, as educators, need to exercise that right because in doing so others will benefit (our families, students and their families, the community). This is not an unsafe condition that will stay within the walls of a building. The unsafe conditions have an enormous ramification on others that transcends the walls of a school building.
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