Tuesday, August 18, 2020

UFT PRESS CONFERENCE WEDNESDAY MORNING TO CALL FOR MORE COVID TESTING WHILE CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION FIGHTS FOR BETTER REMOTE LEARNING

 From Ben Max Twitter:

The UFT is doing something. They are ratcheting up pressure on the Mayor and Chanellor in the way they know how by talking to the press with friendly politicians and others. We will give credit if it works but it could be much a more robust presser if there were tens of thousands of UFTers prepared to work to rule or outright strike.

Update: Even if the UFT gets de Blasio to throw in the towel  on blended learning and he closes school buildings, the Union has dithered and strung everyone along for so long that remote learning will be a last minute mess to implement.

In Chicago where the  Chicago Teachers Union threatened a strike earlier this month and the Mayor then almost instantly backed away from trying to open school buildings, the CTU is now fighting to improve remote learning.

This was in my email in-box this evening. I wish I was part of a real union like the CTU:

CHICAGO, August 18, 2020—Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey issued the following statement following Chicago Public Schools’ release of its Remote Learning Guidance Document for the start of the 2020-2021 school year:

“Mayor Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools were trying their best to have in-person, classroom instruction to start the year, and it is clear that their energy went into designing and selling the hybrid school plan. To them, it was hybrid or nothing.

"So when Black and Latinx families said in great numbers that they were not going to risk their children’s lives in a global pandemic, there was nothing for the mayor and the district to fall back on but what they knew learning already looks like. And that’s what we’re left with today.

“The mayor and CPS made this plan without imagination or input from teachers. They have unveiled a remote learning plan to fit into the mold of in-person school, but have failed to take advantage of the ways that online learning can be made more accessible and engaging. In fact, they refuse to partner on an agreement that reflects lessons learned from last spring and best practices for remote learning.

"We feel like that there should be innovation specific to remote learning that works for a wider swath of educators and families. We’ve accepted that this is a pandemic, and we’ve adapted accordingly to serve our school communities. We’re not sure CPS has done the same. There is a lot of infrastructure to build, and they’ve been reluctant to build that infrastructure with our union.

"Today, we filed the first in a series of grievances against CPS for issuing remote learning guidance that fails to provide our school communities with the instructional tools necessary to deliver proper instruction in a remote context required by the labor contract. The Union is demanding that CPS provide educators and students with the infrastructure necessary to conduct remote learning, and the increase of professional development time to allow for training and collaboration with parents, caregivers and students on remote learning best practices.

“The district believes it has taken care of all its issues since the spring, but the social inequities that existed then haven’t disappeared over the summer. CPS and the mayor failed to address those inequities, so we’re still grappling with that. But parents and educators need answers. How do we do diagnostics with Pre-K? How do we conduct home visits for our special education families? How do nurses and social workers engage? Can our social workers and clinicians provide support similar to how physicians do via Telehealth?

“We also don’t know how this is going to work based on the limitations of the Google Meet platform CPS has, or how many students at this point don’t have access to devices and broadband Internet. We need to hold the district to its promise that every student receives the tools and has the access they need before the start of classes.

"CPS has received $205 million from the CARES Act. There shouldn’t be a student or a family in need of anything right now.

“Where is the flexibility for working parents—including thousands of our own members? Everything we proposed to CPS was rejected, so it’s almost like we’re being punished for our work in helping secure remote learning to start the year, and keep educators, students and their families safe. But CPS needs to collaborate with both families and educators to unpack how we make this work together. What the district issued today isn’t reflective of a partnership, or a positive remote learning experience for parents across the city.

“If we want successful remote learning, the practitioners must have a voice in the curriculum and the design, and CPS and the mayor must put forth the resources to make it happen.

“At the end of the day, the mayor and CPS did everyone a disservice by taking so long to capitulate to the obvious in moving to remote learning. We are confident that educators will figure it out with the help of students and families, but we are disappointed that once again, our members will have to be the innovators in pushing past incompetence and working toward something that will work for Chicago’s families and school communities."

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

I already told my principal I'm not coming in and I don't qualify for the medical accommodation.

jeff said...

What time? Where can it be watched?

Anonymous said...

Mr. Mulgrew, we don't drink your kool-aid.
No Mr. Mulgrew, we are not willing to commit suicide.

Anonymous said...

The chancellor and mayor lie and say they were training Staff All Summer. Which staff exactly were they training?

Anonymous said...

They were training the custodial staff how to deep clean.

Anonymous said...

Falsely claiming families support in-school education because they don’t respond to some half-assed survey is offensive to those struggling with this decision.

Our schools are not ready for in-person learning. Period.

Anonymous said...

1. Teachers have not been trained all summer, 99% of us have no idea what is going on or will happen in September.
2. Custodians have not been trained, Councilman Mark Treyger exposed this on both Twitter and Facebook.
3. Most families are in the dark and don't know where or how to get the surveys, and are not being told the entire story.
4. It is now being exposed that supplies of PPE has not fully been delivered to schools, what 3 weeks before we reopen? How is this safe?
5.Nurses are not allowed to do anything but take a temp, give a bandaide so we are relying on them for????

I heard a conservative on tv speaking about "how we cannot reclaim the education of our young once it is done." Well sir, we cannot reclaim LIVES LOST once they are dead. I cannot teach dead students.

Tell me in a City that is on the brink of bankruptcy how are we affording to open? To staff? To clean?

Shelley said...

As you all know I am the furthest thing from an apologist for the UFT & Unity. And, while I applaud the call for a militant leadership, I am confident that this will not happen here and that the contrast of our leadership with the more militant leaderships in cities like Chicago is at present little more than a pastime. Why does the critique of Mulgrew & Co. not dive deep into what makes our union weak? The focus here on dues and post Janus dues is a waste of time. The importance of dues and opting out has been grossly exaggerated here. While one of our strengths is indeed the size of our union and the money, when we look back as all the hype about Janus, from all sides, and when we look back at when Arthur and Mike joined Unity, when speculation was that Janus fears, in part, prompted that partnership, we can see that those of us who argued that Janus would change little or nothing in NY were right. And it is having little or no impact still. Why? Answering this question we begin to expose the weaknesses of our union in our state. Again, size and money are still, relatively, one of our greatest strengths, but that is because we are so weak in a hundred other ways that our brothers and sisters in Chicago, for example, are not.

Will a militant leadership or militant rank and file overcome these weaknesses and affect real change in NY? What are the risks to a weak union if a militant strategy fails?

Wasting so much time on critiquing current leadership in Albany, City Hall, Tweed, Unity is interesting reading but it won't spur action. Talking about dues is also a waste of time. Action will come from either a crisis, and may be aligned with a greater movement in the Street. This is clearly one advantage of Chicago teachers, who are far weaker than we are on state policies but who have the law on their side, including the right to strike. Or, action will come from an educated leadership who tackles the issues of weakness. This is, of course, the real reason that prompted Unity to bring non-unity members into the fold. Co-option is a conservative strategy and Unity is boos of conservative strategies.

But militants must be honest and wide eyed about what we face here. We can't say, look it's working California, in Illinois, in Red States. It will work here. No, we need to do our homework and understand, as members deserve to know what they are marching into before we take militant action.

Anonymous said...

Yup...8 days into semester, Notre Dame halts in-person classes as 146 students get coronavirus

Anon said...

Again. No news is bad news. How can there only be plans for 100000 students who need supervision during remote learning when this is less than 10 percent of student body. I guess destroying the family is succeeding.

disgusted in Queens said...

What time is the news conference?

James Eterno said...

Shelley, It is good to hear from you again. Some of us were a little concerned.

Chicago can only legally strike over wages. Their threat was for an illegal strike. It worked. Once the militancy ball starts rolling and the membership feels empowered, it is hard to stop it.

Anonymous said...

Why pay dues? Just read the past 200 comments and JPs letter.

James Eterno said...

Presser is at 11:00 AM At UFT HQ. I don't know where to stream it.

Anonymous said...

Live now on abc7ny.com

Anonymous said...

Stream here: https://abc7ny.com/education/nyc-schools-not-ready-to-reopen-union-says-%7C-live/6377487/

Mr.DoneWithUFT said...

Stream on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZm5Uy-mIDc

Anonymous said...

I had to stop watching his conference because it made me so ANGRY! Stop saying what the mayor has to do and what tests need to be done. Say, it is not safe and we are not going in! Simple as that!

Anonymous said...

abc7ny.com

Is transmitting live.

Mr.DoneWithUFT said...

A most wishy-washy stance so far - especially compared with all the other unions.
Just when I thought I couldn't be more disappointed in our leadership...

Sorry everyone - I am just so fed up - and I'm from a Union-Strong family.

Anonymous said...

mil•i•tant (ˈmɪl ɪ tənt)

adj.
1. vigorously active, aggressive, and often combative, esp. in support of a cause: militant reformers.
2. engaged in warfare; fighting.
n.
3. a militant person.
4. a person engaged in combat.
[1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin mīlitant-, s. of mīlitāns, present participle of mīlitāre]

Anonymous said...

waste of time, he is missing the point.

Anonymous said...

Are they ever going to actually make a point? "We are calling for a delay of (Insert time frame here) in order to ensure a transparent, comprehensive plan is in place. During that time, we ask that our children engage in remote learning". Is it that hard?

Anonymous said...


Andrew Cuomo
@NYGovCuomo
COVID is NOT over.

At best it’s half time.

You don’t call it a win at half time no matter the score.

Anonymous said...

UFT sending the wrong message. It should not be that they want a city plan. Even a plan will be unsafe. Unlimited masks would still be unsafe.

Anonymous said...


So as far as we can understand, the UFT seems to be saying it’s not safe to reopen schools yet in the most passive, roundabout way possible... we think?

Anonymous said...

The Uft plan makes it impossible for the Mayor and Chancellor to open schools.

Anonymous said...

I actually thought that was great. Community people spoke about protecting communities of color. Advocates, doctors, parent groups spoke-very smart way to do this.
They won't let their kids die because of mayor's ego...Correct!

Anonymous said...

He wants 1.1 million students tested by September 10. What happens when they refuse? They can't go in. That is at least half the students.

1.1 million students and 200k staff members tested with results in the next 2 weeks? LOL.

Impossible. Smart move.

Anonymous said...

UFT president Michael Mulrgew says he's prepared to take legal action if he believes a school isn't safe and is also prepared to take job action -- and deal with the ramifications of the Taylor Law, which lays out deep penalties for strikes by public workers.

Anonymous said...

"The minute we feel the mayor is trying to force people into a situation that is unsafe, we go to court; we go to job actions."
-UFT President Mulgrew

Anonymous said...

HAHA. Every student getting the covid test repeatedly. Never gonna happen.

Anonymous said...

When will Mr. Mulgrew inform rank-and-file members about job actions? He says he will use them if need be. Doesn’t he need the rank-and-file to make it work? We’re down, but we need to know. Tell us and not the press.

Lydia H. said...

I hope you all will attend UFT Solidarity Zoom conference tomorrow! Let me know if you want me to post

Anonymous said...

I watched and listened to the UFT press conference. Mulgrew is nibbling around the edges attempting to focus on the city’s preparedness for September. He’s currently trying not to antagonize the mayor and refused to speculate on the mayor’s reasons for demanding schools open without an adequate safety plan. He’s petrified of antagonizing him. Again he approaches everything from a position of weakness. It is a human right to withhold your labor. He presented and ratified that human right away. I do not see Mayor deBlasio changing his stance with anything less than coordinated protests and the real possibility (not empty threats) of a strike. Even if every politician in New York City signs on with the Uft, Mayor deBlasio will still open the schools. Mulgrew is not a politician. He is not shrewd, crafty or cagey. He was, is and will always be a person who is remarkably unqualified for the position he holds. This truth should be evident to anyone who lived through the Bloomberg regime, in which Mulgrew completely shut down and refused to talk to the mayor. This was while all of us were vilified, turned into subs and had our schools closed. DeBlasio has already said the gyms will not open even though they legally can. Now if gyms can’t open where is the logic in opening schools? This is all about lowering the extremely high teenage crime rate without having to make arrests. Once they’re in school, they can go hog wild without consequences. As for the young kids, the parents can go back to work. The schools will reopen and close again by mid- November, never underestimate the dual incompetence of the DOE and UFT.

Anonymous said...

And De blassio says there will be enough PPE but the question is for how long, the first week, the first month, the semester, the year? What if we run out? I can picture a high school going through a thousand masks a day because of the kids breaking the straps or accidentally on purpose leaving it in their previous classroom.

Anonymous said...

I just finished attending a Zoom conference with the principal of my daughter's school in the suburbs. The presentation the principal laid out was clear, concise, and transparent. He presented a 20 page power point that basically addressed every major scenario. My daughter's school will be on the hybrid model, however, each classroom will have plexiglass barriers around every desk, and the classes will only be half full physically each day. The other half will be attending remotely. They will be alternating each day where A-L alphabetically will attend physically and M-Z will be remote. The next day, they flip flop. Custodians will be closing bathrooms very frequently to deep clean. Cafeterias will also have the plexiglass barriers with social distancing markers. The school has a modern HVAC system that was installed three years ago in place, and adequate ventilation. The principal assured parents that there will be a continuous and adequate supply of PPE's on hand. There is protocol already set up in the event anybody in the building is positive or is showing symptoms for Covid, and the County has coordinated with all school district for this and the contact tracing. I walked away feeling secure the school knows what the hell they're doing. As far as a staffer in NYC however, I feel there is nothing in the city schools that comes close to what my daughter's school has laid out.

waitingforsupport said...

He should have already been to court. September is around the corner. The mayor IS forcing people. What the hell is Mulgrew talking about?