10 NYC SCHOOL BUILDINGS STARTING ALL REMOTE BUT HOW DO WE KNOW THE REST OF THEM ARE SAFE? (Updated)

 From Jillian Jorgensen's twitter. Some DOE buildings are going all remote for Professional Development.

What about the rest of the buildings? What criteria are the DOE and and probably their partners at the UFT using to close buildings? Does anybody know? The information is certainly not fully addressed in the safety reports. Some we have seen are full of gaping holes on air quality.

I wouldn't trust the DOE. Not much benefit of the doubt left toward the UFT either.

There is also the randomness factor. I have already seen reports on social media of principals outside of these ten buildings going all remote for the upcoming Professional Development days. Is this just another issue where the principal gets final say or are these reports mistaken?

Is this going to be a repeat of March 17-19 when UFTers were sent into school buildings at the height of the pandemic in NYC when the UFT knew some school buildings had cases of COVID-19?

In all fairness, we know a great deal more about COVID-19 now compared to March and there are social distancing, PPE, including mask requirements, today.

Nevertheless, is there anything the DOE wants done in these six days of PD that can't be done from home? If UFTers are going to have to social distance in rooms to do remote meetings, then wouldn't it be safer and keep tens of thousands of UFTers out of the public transport system if work could all be done from home? Why not at least ask for volunteers who want to come in first? 

In addition, the UFT email to chapter leaders from Friday (see below) was yet another head-scratcher. There is a six point checklist on what buildings have to have to open for staff that doesn't include anything on air quality when experts say COVID-19 is an airborne disease that can spread rapidly indoors. I am in no way an epidemiologist but this seems like a very strange omission. Ventilation is crucial according to this expert. However, the air quality only has to be fixed by September 21 when the students arrive, not when staff arrive on September 8.  

I will tell you now what I stated in March. If you don't feel it's safe, then don't enter a building. If it doesn't feel right to you, your health is much more important than the Taylor Law, or losing a CAR day or any possible discipline your principal could give you. It is much better to do this as a whole chapter as there is safety in numbers. Have your chapter leader call the UFT hotline at (212)701-9677 right away if you do not believe it is safe. If he/she won't call, call yourself but by no means walk in if you don't feel it is safe to do so. If you feel nauseous, follow DOE regulations and stay home or go home.  

What schools need for tomorrow according to the UFT:

Surgical masks for adults

Surgical masks for children

N95 respirators

Face shields for adults

Electrostatic sprayer

Cleaning supplies for daily and nightly cleaning

Supplies of gloves, disinfecting spray (or wipes), towels, hand sanitizer in each room

No-contact thermometers for temperature screening

Call the UFT hotline immediately at (212)701-9677 if your school is missing anything on this list. 

Mulgrew's Email to Chapter Leaders:

Dear _______,

Now that we have a safety agreement with the strongest COVID-19 protocols in the nation for schools, we must make those protocols real. It's time to put the plan into action to keep you, our members, and our students safe.

Working with medical experts, the UFT created a comprehensive school safety plan, including the presence of a school nurse, a six-foot separation between student desks, sufficient personal protective equipment, adequate ventilation and an isolation room.  More than 100 union safety investigators have visited most of the city’s more than 1,400 school buildings to see what has been accomplished and what work still needs to be done. 

Below, you'll find the results of the UFT COVID-19 safety inspection for your school. Please review it as soon as you can.  

Your school must have personal protective equipment  in place when staff return on Tuesday, Sept. 8. If PPE is not available, immediately discuss the situation with your principal, the custodian or the leader of your school’s COVID-19 building response team. If the issue cannot be resolved immediately, call the union’s hotline at 212-701-9677. The hotline operator will triage your call to a UFT staff member, who will promptly come to your building to confirm your report and take further action. UFT members should leave the building and wait outside. No one may be in a building without wearing a mask and following the social distancing rules.

Between Sept. 8 and Friday, Sept. 18, you, your principal and your school’s COVID-19 building response team will work to address the issues flagged in the UFT school safety inspection. Schools must pass all items itemized in the school safety plan by Monday, Sept. 21, the day students return for in-person instruction. If the school buildings do not pass, staff at that school building must remain remote.  

When you or your designee returns to the school building on Sept. 8, please do a follow-up inspection of outstanding school safety plan items. On or before Sept. 8, we will send you another email with a short survey we’ll ask you to return before or on Friday, Sept. 11. We'll ask you to update us on the conditions in your school.  

These are extraordinary times and I thank you for all your hard work in keeping your school safe.

Sincerely, 

Michael Mulgrew 

UFT President

Update: For those who think having adults only in a building preparing for the kids to come back makes it safe from COVID-19, this is from Newsday. These are Long Island districts:

Two employees in the Southold School District tested positive for the virus, Superintendent Anthony Mauro wrote in a letter to community members Sunday night. The staffers had been in a school building together preparing for the students’ return Tuesday, he wrote. Workers were disinfecting the building.

In another letter Monday, Mauro said the first day of in-person instruction will be pushed back to Sept. 18 so the "majority" of employees can quarantine.

On Sunday, Sewanhaka Central High School District Superintendent James Grossane announced a staffer at New Hyde Park Memorial High School tested positive for the virus, and had been in "close contact" — within six feet for 10 minutes or more — with nine other employees.

The infected staffer "will not be allowed to return to school for ten days and after a negative test result has been provided to the district," Grossane wrote in a statement posted on the district website. Those who had been in close contact with the staff member will quarantine for two weeks, the statement read.