Dear _______,
We have reached an agreement with City Hall and the Department of Education that meets our demand that the safety of our school communities must come first. Our schools will now reopen in a much better place because of all our work together.
Your willingness to participate in a job action if necessary put pressure on Mayor Bill de Blasio to return to the bargaining table and agree to a new school reopening plan that meets the safety criteria put forth by independent medical experts. New York City will now have the most aggressive policies and the strongest safeguards of any school system in the nation.
Schools will reopen for staff on Tuesday, Sept. 8, and for students on Monday, Sept. 21.
The decision on whether to reopen a school building to students will be based on the UFT’s 50-item safety plan, including the availability of masks and face shields, a room-by-room review of ventilation effectiveness, an isolation room and a COVID-19 building response team. Union reps are visiting every school to check that they have these supplies and procedures in place. School buildings or rooms that do not meet safety standards will remain closed.
The city has also agreed to a robust program of repeated random sampling and COVID-19 testing of adults and students present in schools. This new testing program is one of the major pieces that medical experts told us we needed. A blind representative sample, composed of 10% to 20% of all students and adults from every school, will be selected each month for COVID-19 testing. The percentage of staff tested and the frequency of testing will rise significantly in schools in zip codes with higher levels of the virus. Under the new agreement, any student who refuses to be tested will be required to attend school remotely, and any staff member who fails to comply with mandated testing will be placed on unpaid leave.
Students or staff found to have the virus must quarantine for 14 days. City tracing teams will be dispatched to their school immediately to determine potential contacts. The presence of a COVID-19 case or cases confined to one class will result in the entire class moving to remote instruction; more than one case in a school will mean that the entire school will move to remote instruction until the contact tracing is completed.
As part of this agreement, we are moving back the start of school for all students. The seven-day postponement will give schools time to implement the required safety protocols and give you time for planning and professional learning.
I told you we would not go back into school buildings until independent medical experts had validated the safety plan. That is what we’ve done. Epidemiologists from Northwell and Harvard University have given their stamp of approval to the new agreement. Now it’s our job to be vigilant and ensure that every school is following the required protocols throughout the school year.
The hard work is yet to come. Nothing will be typical or familiar about this new school year. But I am certain you will rise to the new challenge, just as you met the challenge when we suddenly went remote in March.
Stay strong and united.
Sincerely,
Michael Mulgrew
UFT President
🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮☠️
ReplyDeleteIt's all been a show. A charade to appease us and keep workers in line. I wonder what we gave up? My guess is our school calendar will finally come out and amazingly 7 former days off will now be remote teaching days.
ReplyDeleteNo mention about D75 students who wont tolerate a mask or shield.they should stay home or educate them in a center where healthier people dont mind.
ReplyDeleteIf we test positive, will it come from CAR?I isolate. So if I am positive, no doubt it is from school/train, which I have not been on since we left.d75 left in the dust!
So. Now it's random testing. Good job.
ReplyDeleteWhat is also being lost in this entire mess is the fact that DOE has not released the calendar.
ReplyDeleteLast spring we were made to work Spring break and Jewish Holidays. Still waiting for some
form of compensation for that.
In this agreement, we are "given" 4 "school days" above our 2 PD days to prep. There is
no doubt those 4 days will be taken back down the road in some fashion.
Also, Friday, 9/18 (one of remote transition days) is the beginning of Rosh Hashanah...
Real issue here isn’t whether or not you want to strike. It was the whole manner in which it was decided for us. Mulgrew didn’t ask anyone for their input, made a secret deal and then went to the executive board and lied to everyone. To me that whole episode and invalidates the Uft. It’s not a union; it’s Michael Mulgrew. I’m not threatening to drop out of the UFT, I was never in it. I’m putting my retirement papers in and not ever giving them another cent, ever. Four more of my friends are doing the same, SHIPP be damned. I would suggest even if you’re going to keep working you do the same. You have absolutely no representation and you’re paying for it. I don’t understand what will wake you people up. People should be screaming for a vote of no confidence against Mulgrew for usurping our rights. I called my CL and he laughed me, saying Mulgrew saved us.
ReplyDelete