Friday, September 11, 2020

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

 The picture and caption below were taken and written by a young teacher. What gives me hope for the future is the young teachers seem to get it that the UFT is basically just another arm of the DOE. 

                  UFT-DOE Approved Ventilation

Meanwhile, the Chancellor addresses principals. Looks like he's at home. Only the plebeians have to report to schools it seems.




53 comments:

  1. Dont worry, mulgrew is making threats...ny post

    UFT threatens to delay school opening if COVID-19 testing doesn’t improve

    ReplyDelete
  2. The UFT making threats?

    Didn't the UFT agree to this?
    Didn't the city expedite testing for all teachers?
    Aren't the teachers responsible for their own testing?
    Aren't the teachers the ones we are reporting are sitting together in classes without masks?
    Aren't the teachers the ones coming to school without testing or waiting for test results?

    I can blame the city for a lot of things but not this one.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Why are people not walking out? Ive only gone in once this week.

    ReplyDelete
  4. There is asymptomatic virus in the buildings. We are all going to get sick. We should not be in buildings.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It is another fake from mulgrew.he wont do anything.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Walk out...In a summer full of spectacular incompetence and total lack of planning, it's harder and harder for things to stand out, but this suggestion is really rather startling:

    Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday that there is no real plan to disclose positive tests because students are not back in school yet.
    Wow. We have 16 positive cases we know of, and there was no plan to let us know about them. It's not important. It's not relevant. Think about that.

    In Bill de Blasio's plan, 16 positive cases at square one ought not even to be considered moving forward. I can only suppose the mayor would just as soon have us not know about them. Lack of knowledge is power, perhaps.

    I'm always put off by the argument of, "Children first, always," that the DOE used to use as a motto. It always suggested, "We don't give a crap about teachers or working people," to me. That was a flawed motto because the very children we place first would, we very much hoped, grow up to be adults. But de Blasio seems to have taken this statement and added steroids or something.

    The fact is we are a substantial sample of the school population, and if the students outnumber us by a factor of about ten to one, you could assume ten times as many cases with students in the buildings. You know, they are human and we are human, even though word may not have reached the mayor. This poses a problem in that humans meeting humans in school buildings did not work well last March.

    How sure is the mayor the virus will spread?

    "Of course there will be days where you find a case in a classroom and classroom will have to be shut down, sometimes a school will have to be shut down," he said. "But it’s a temporary reality."

    From what I can tell, he's absolutely sure. And he appears to have no problem whatsoever with it. I don't know who's advising the mayor, or whether he listens to his advisors, but I get three messages loud and clear here:

    1. It doesn't matter who gets COVID before students are in attendance,

    2. No one needs to find out about it, and

    3. The mayor is okay with its spread once they arrive.

    In the mayor's defense, at least he doesn't bother lying about it. This notwithstanding, it doesn't make him precisely the working class hero he'd like us to think he is. Consider this--if we know of 16 cases, how many do we not know about? I always wonder about these low percentages. I tested negative for COVID a few weeks ago, but the only reason I got tested was because I had a medical procedure and the doctor made me do it.

    How many people are walking around asymptomatic and don't get tested? How many of them are our students? How many people just don't like to see doctors? How many people haven't got medical insurance and have a substantial incentive to avoid them?

    The problem with the percentages de Blasio and Cuomo like to trot out is we have no real denominator unless we test everyone. It's good that we're moving in with a plan for aggressive testing, and that's the only reason we know what we know. Had we not pushed the mayor, we wouldn't have even that. De Blasio is all in on opening in ten days, but maybe he should listen to himself and reconsider.

    Also, while I'm not a political advisor or anything, maybe he should think twice before opening his mouth.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 10:08...
      Children first is also BS. Anyone who cares about the lives of children wouldn't issue diplomas that are worse than toilet paper. We all know that they don't care about children. If you didn't know how they felt about educators, you know now.

      Delete
  7. I know that view. I used Pearson books for what that pencil sharpener is doing. I truly think teachers are going to revolt and that’s a great thing. This is so much more than about Covid ...
    Mulgrew will pull promises out of his ass all day long and the frighteningly comic Randi will be flailing and screeching like a possessed marionette, but don’t fall for their side show act.

    ReplyDelete
  8. UFT supporting educators at IS 230 in Jackson Heights. They will work outside until they know it is safe to go back into their school after a reported positive covid case. Results reported but no same day test and trace outreach. Unacceptable.

    Wow, thanks for the support.

    ReplyDelete
  9. If only we had a union whose job it was to, say, prevent their members from having to work in unsafe working conditions.

    I mean,
    @UFT
    let me know if such a union exist cause I don’t see or recognize one.

    ReplyDelete
  10. You're insulting us! Shut it down! This is a disaster! You are putting our lives, our students', the city's working class all at risk to protect your dysfunctional relationship with the bosses. ENOUGH! We cannot reopen on the 21st. Listen to your members!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Our schools staff reported to the building today and sat on a 3-hour Zoom meeting from our classrooms. We had to stop streaming our videos because the bandwidth of our school WiFi couldn't support it.

    There are so many issues with this

    ReplyDelete
  12. nothing to worry about...

    "Given the sharply rising rates of COVID-19 infection in young adults, these findings underscore the importance of infection prevention measures in this age group," the authors wrote.

    In a study of 3,222 hospitalized coronavirus patients aged 18 to 34 years, 21% required intensive care, 10% needed a ventilator, 2.7% died, and 3% required further care after hospitalization. The mortality rate was higher among those who had obesity, hypertension, as well as among males.

    Consistent with prior demographic findings, more than half of these patients requiring hospitalization were Black or Hispanic.

    The research establishes that "COVID-19 does not spare young people," wrote Dr. Dr. Mitchell Katz, a deputy editor at JAMA Internal Medicine who is also the head of New York City's public hospital system, in an editorial.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ha! A possessed marionette! I love that analogy 10:21!

    ReplyDelete
  14. You were wrong, the uft cares...

    UFT Unity
    @UFTUnity
    We don't know what things look like from city hall or tweed but it ain't like what you're telling people at press conferences or in slick commercials.
    @NYCMayor
    trust is earned. We made a deal: We showed up but you haven't delivered.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Too little, way too late. Unity cares about themselves

    ReplyDelete
  16. Unity sends people to schools to catch COVID-19. That's their caring.

    ReplyDelete
  17. So fun to do required virtual PD led by DOE employees who get to work from home while school staff are required to be in school buildings to be on zoom all day.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Not for nothing, but what’s up with Carranza? He’s barely recognizable. He's obviously working from home and has overcome some type severe illness. It would be the height of hypocrisy if he himself caught Covid 19 last spring, like many quietly suspect.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Working for the DOE is like being in a really really bad relationship. They treat teachers like our lives and health don’t matter. It is wearing me out, and I’m a tough resilient New Yorker who loves teaching

    ReplyDelete
  20. We are in an abusive relationship with the DOE and UFT.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Do more research. French schools opened 2nd week of August. At that time, daily new cases was 2,500. Yesterday they had 9,843. It can take weeks to a month before that leads to hospitalizations & deaths. But all of our terrible experience of the last 6 months shows that it will.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I believe the correct thing to do would be to wait out the Fall using remote learning. By doing this we can hope that a vaccine hits the market and then sometime next Spring begin to phase into buildings.

    Slowly but surely move students and teachers back into the buildings some time in the Spring 2021. Why the panic? Look at the pandemic in a broader picture like five years or so meaning that in five years we can all look back and say hey we had to remain out of our buildings for several months when the pandemic hit us. .

    It seems as though everyone is panicking and diblasio could care less about anyone or anything he is only concerned about his political well being and where he will be in the future and that is what he is planning for. Diblasio must prepare himself for the future rest assure he is concerned about his next step lest anyone fool you. So then he can say see I opened the schools for you all parents so you did not have to pay for baby sitting...Remember people its all one big game and i do realize that covid is serious but it remains a game for people in the political sphere.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Sure,
    @NYCMayor
    and
    @DOEChancellor
    are showing depraved indifference in forcing schools open. But having a sociopathic ruling class is standard in any big city. So why are the rest of them all-remote but not us? Because in NYC — and only NYC — the union is on THEIR side.

    ReplyDelete
  24. 124,

    I’ve said the same thing all along. De blasio doesn’t care if UFT staff gets sick. Carranza would push us off a Cliff if he could and weingarten would sell us out any chance she gets.

    But where is mulgrew? He talked a big game a few weeks back.

    He is silent. Nowhere to be found.

    I’ve been reading books and watching Netflix all week. I would rather have the kids here.

    De blasio, cuomo and carranza and weingarten are all pro politicians hoping for a gig in Biden’s cabinet.

    We need public servants and not politicians.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Mulgrew was asked if he thinks Sept. 21 reopening in-building is at risk. "If I had to go off of what happened in the first three days? Yeah."
    @UFT
    Words on the record matter.

    ReplyDelete
  26. AFT and UFT leadership dont care, continually reinforce that they see themselves as co-managers of the education system, not advocates for their members.

    There will be more schools like this. And Randi/Mikey will continue to dither on calls for full-remote.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Still picketing...
    Teachers, staff to rally for 3rd day over unsafe conditions at Grace Dodge Campus in Belmont

    http://bronx.news12.com/teachers-staff-to-rally-for-3rd-day-over-unsafe-conditions-at-grace-dodge-campus-in-belmont-42617467

    ReplyDelete
  28. It was October 1975. I was in room 400, 65 court Street with about 80 other laid off teachers who held social studies licenses. There were no chairs, no way to open the windows and ineffectual air-conditioning. We spent the day pacing around each other waiting for someone to acknowledge our existence after being summoned to this bogus hiring hall. We began to talk with each other and finally we made a list of all our names and years of experience and discovered that the Board was completely ignoring over 1,000 years of teaching.
    Since that day I have expected the DOE to treat me and my colleagues with callous indifference. They have never disappointed me

    ReplyDelete
  29. Hey Mike@2:14,
    Hate to say it—But a Biden Cabinet unfortunately —is far from a done deal—But if it does happen—DeBlasio and Carranza would never get a gig —Cuomo already served as a Cabinet member in a previous administration—he likes being in New York. That leaves Weingarten who without question is the biggest Washington politician of them all. Could see her being chosen to replace DeVos as she would bring plenty of diversity to a Biden Cabinet.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Abandon ship! Alison Hirsh, a top aide to Mayor de Blasio who left his administration in protest in June, is leaving her new post as top adviser in the Education Department’s efforts to restart city schools, multiple DOE sources confirmed Friday.

    Hirsh had been out of touch with colleagues for close to two weeks, according to one Education Department source, and had been removed from some email chains, raising suspicions of her impending departure, the source said.

    The source said Hirsh’s last day was Friday.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Thx to the teachers who are vigilant and took this initiative that now the
    @UFT
    is "supporting". Simultaneously enraged that rank & file teachers have to fight tooth & nail for every crumb of protection & in awe of the people doing that work (all while preparing for school)

    ReplyDelete
  32. Yes, Prehistoric pedagogue—it was September 1975–that over 10,000 teachers were laid off—including myself—and thousands were excessed—but were placed in neighboring district schools—based on seniority—with none of the nonsense ATR crap—that Weingarten help create with Bloomberg//Klein. I did get re-certified as a JHS math teacher in 1976 with support from the UFT and I did find a job in 1976. But I do remember every June—at least 1 or 2 Social Studies teachers with 15 or more years of experience at my school always being excessed.
    It took almost a decade—for the entire system to settle down. However, if the threatened teacher layoffs should happen in October—along with the uncertainty of Covid—it would again take years for the system to recover.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 3:38 BINGO. This is why we must open, and so must Mulgrew and Carranza. No more Zoom. You're all right these meetings should be face to face. JPMorgan stopping remote work on the 21st. NYC restaurants on the 30th. This needs to be across the board. Everyone needs to be putting gas in their cars, buying lunch at the delis and pizzerias, etc. Our lives depend on it. The few thousand jobs in October will just be the beginning if this bunker mentality persists. No schools, no jobs, no benefits, no pensions.

      Delete
    2. Agreed. We need to open 100%. Anyone who is fearful
      Should take the unpaid leave. Going remote will truly cost jobs and change education. Closings of schools should be done on a case by case basis. Should not be entire city!!!!!

      Delete
  33. More teacher walkouts in a Queens MS, Teachers were not informed about Covid-19 in the building.

    See the Ed Notes blog.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Parent: school said today they will do random testing starting 10/1 and if you don't, it's remote. Why wait?

    ReplyDelete
  35. Great job uft lol.. We stand in solidarity with the staff of IS 230 in Jackson Heights who are working outside until it's safe! Yesterday there was a confirmed positive covid case and staff are only just now being contacted by NYC Test &Trace.
    @NYCMayor
    we've stepped up and shown up - get to work!
    UFT Unity
    @UFTUnity
    ·
    1m
    ...And now we're hearing that only one person has been contacted by NYC Test & Trace (and it was the person that tested positive).

    ReplyDelete
  36. Is it me, or does Carranza look like hell?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He’s getting too skinny. There was an article about him and his weight loss.

      Delete
  37. Carranza is wearing his”smart” glasses that don’t disguise what a treacherous cretin he is.

    ReplyDelete
  38. A Bronx High School just shut down after 17 teachers tested positive for Covid.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Many top people in the DOE have been leaving. What's going on with top administrators fleeing NYC DOE?

    ReplyDelete
  40. TJL is a real MAGA. Open everything up and pretty much guarantee a second wave of COVID-19. Remote until it's safe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It IS safe in some schools. What do we do? Close schools for 3 years? 4 years? Perfect amount of tome to have the city create artificial intelligence teaching programs like the trauma online course we took today. Kids will click their way through learning. In person!!!!!

      Delete
  41. mulgrew speech on uft fb page. says he is pissed, but go in on monday.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Top admins are leaving because massive cuts are just around the corner. Massive layoffs for teachers also. It doesn’t matter whether you go home to teach or go in, it’s coming. I wish Cuomo would remove deBlasio, everyday he’s in office there will be more layoffs - businesses and residents are running out of the city, and it’s not because of Covid.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes. I’m assuming people with up to 7-8 years will lose their jobs.

      Delete
  43. Mr TJL—@6:25–-you have misinterpreted my comments and I totally disagree with your comment- which is basically the talking points of MAGA . Things were much different in 1975 -especially with the Shanker UFT leadership. In 1993, all city schools were closed due to asbestos dangers found in a Manhattan school and just 5 days later—the word was given all 800 plus city school buildings were cleared to reopen —except 5 —really? So, feel free to keep reporting to your school and take the word of DeBlasio, Carranza and even Mulgrew-that all safety protocols, checkpoints etc. have been met—Just stay healthy and safe.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Its amazing they want me in at 8am for this remote planning when we can do that by phone, I have childcare issues coming from long island to bronx. IT's PE too, like seriously? IN 19th year 102 CAR days never late.

    Think holding something over my head bc I did not go into infinity groups for race talks. Even though she sent a book to staff to read over summer which we have been already dissecting, "so you want to talk about race."

    ReplyDelete
  45. How many teachers who did not qualify medically want to teach remotely? Why hasn't the union asked? Also, remote learning will have to include a lot of live or recorded direct instruction if it becomes a constant. Is that what teachers want?. I've heard more than one pundit say a really good teacher could teach millions of kids by video. Be careful. I'm retired. No dog in this fight. Just wondering what active teachers think about this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, because I DO think there are plenty of teachers that want to be there. My whole building does with the exception of a few. Maybe it would work out.

      Delete

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