Below is an email a chapter leader sent to the chapter in a co-located school followed by an email President Mulgrew sent out to chapter leaders along with a copy of this particular school's Safety Report. Apparently UFT members are supposed to be the canaries in a coalmine next week.
For those wondering what must be in place by September 8 when staff arrive, there is a list from the UFT copied below. Other items on the 50 point safety checklist I guess are only for when the students arrive on September 21. Many of those items are exclusively for students but some of the other items do look like they impact adults. It needs to be clear what has to be in place when staff arrive besides equipment.
Schools need the following equipment and supplies on Sept. 8, 2020.
- 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
I received the UFT Safety Report last night. You will find it below in an email from Mulgrew. As you'll see it is not great but the inspection team did not speak with our admin so some information is incorrect. For example, we have protocols for entry, dismissal, circulation, isolation room, etc. There are some concerning issues. For example #11, 13 and 26. According to [the UFT District Rep] the signage is for the kids so that needs to be in place by the 21st. The broken windows don't seem to impact us as the classrooms listed are not ours [different school in the same building]. #26 is most concerning to me because that was the same issue in the report from 2018-19 so in 3 years the exhauster fan hasn't been fixed. So is it safe? Again according to [the UFT District Rep] for Tuesday we need enough masks, social distancing, small meeting with teachers 6 feet apart, bathrooms that work, entry procedures for staff and properly ventilated rooms. I believe we have all that but again the exhauster is concerning so [the UFT District Rep] is checking on that. [The UFT District Rep's] initial response was that with windows and doors open the rooms will be properly ventilated. I know nothing about ventilation so I don't know if that is true. I'll continue to try and get information and keep everyone updated.
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
Your School Safety Report:
1. How will waste be removed?
Unsure
2. Isolation room (waiting room for students with fever and symptoms) (Page 8 of 16) Is there a designated isolation room?
Custodian and/or principal is unsure
3. Are there supplies of the following in the school? (Page 2 of 16)
Supplies of gloves, disinfecting spray (or wipes), towels, hand sanitizer in each room
4. Is the main office properly ventilated?
Yes
5. Is the main office large enough to provide 6 feet distance between multiple people?
Yes
6. Protocol for breakfast and lunch (Page 6 of 16) How will meals be delivered to the classroom?
Unsure
7. Staff Eating Area (Page 15 of 16) Does the school have an area designated for staff meals?
Yes
8. Is there signage for placement of desks or tables in the classroom?
No
9. Are the sinks operational in the bathrooms?
Yes
10. Is there a dismissal protocol?
Custodian and/or principal is unsure
11. On signage, placement of furniture, directionals... (Page 5 of 16) Has signage been placed in all places students and staff will be, including, but not limited to, hallways, elevators, outside the building, staircases, main offices, lobbies and nurses office (inside and out) to help enforce social distancing?
No
12. Please provide the name and contact information of the school's custodial engineer.
Name Removed
13. Please add any additional notes you feel are relevant (Page 16 of 16)
No member of CSA present No chemicals for the ionizer; no one has been trained There are roughly 12-18 classroom windows that need to be repaired and they have been marked/identified in blue There are no batteries to operate the thermometers Several offices cannot be utilized due to social distancing guidelines: Rooms 105, 202, 212, 219, 272, 310, 312 The staff cafeteria is small and the school is quite large. Maybe social distancing for up to 5 adults. Nurse's Office may be problematic for social distancing, but there are numerous exam rooms. The nurse's office is managed by Northwell Health and serve all four schools If the blowers are to be used, every classroom locker must be left open However, that will be inaccessible because all additional classroom furniture will be left in the back of the classroom, as per the DSF directive.
14. Ventilation (Page 4 of 16) (Consult with the custodial engineer. The intent is not for us to certify the building's ventilation system but to verify the following questions with the custodial engineers.) Does the building have windows?
Yes
15. Is there proper ventilation in the nurses' office?
Yes
16. Is there protocol in place for when students need to wash hands?
No
17. Does the school have a centralized system?
No
18. Please confirm the date you completed the school walk through. (Page 1 of 16)
28-Aug-20
19. Are there any windowless rooms that rely on the mechanical ventilation system?
Yes
20. Is the staff eating area large enough to provide 6 feet distance between multiple people?
Yes
21. Are there supplies of the following in the school? (Page 2 of 16)
No-contact thermometers for temperature screening
22. Are there supplies of the following in the school? (Page 2 of 16)
Face shields for adults
23. Building Response Team (BRT) (Page 13 of 16) Do you have a BRT?
Yes
24. Is there signage for maintaining social distance?
Custodian and/or principal is unsure
25. Is there a functioning and supplied sink available for hand washing?
Yes
26. Are the exhausters working?
No
27. Have you designated a waiting area for the nurses' office that allows for social distancing if more than one child arrives?
Custodian and/or principal is unsure
28. On the items that were unavailable during the walkthrough, have the items been earmarked for ordering and/or are shipments incoming?
No Applicable
29. Are there supplies of the following in the school? (Page 2 of 16)
Cleaning supplies for daily and nightly cleaning
30. Save room (A room which we call the SAVE room must be designated for counseling or disciplinary issues) (Page 9 of 16) Is there a designated SAVE room?
Custodian and/or principal is unsure
31. Hand washing in bathrooms (Page 3 of 16) Is there soap and paper towels in the bathrooms?
Yes
32. Entry / Dismissal Protocol (Page 14 of 16) Is there an entry protocol for staff and students?
Custodian and/or principal is unsure
33. Nurses' office (Page 7 of 16) Does the school have a full time nurse on site?
Yes
34. Please provide the name and contact information of the school's principal.
Once again, no CSA present
35. Does the nurse have access to a computer with access to the ASHR system?
Custodian and/or principal is unsure
36. Are there supplies of the following in the school? (Page 2 of 16)
Surgical mask for adults
37. Does the nurses' office have a phone capable of calling outside lines?
Yes
38. Hallway movement / student circulation (Page 10 of 16) While we recommend passing be limited, is there a plan for passing time?
Custodian and/or principal is unsure
39. Are there supplies of the following in the school? (Page 2 of 16)
Surgical mask for children
40. Are there supplies of the following in the school? (Page 2 of 16)
N95 respirators
41. Is there an established protocol for taking students to the nurse?
Custodian and/or principal is unsure
42. The BRT must now include the school nurse, custodial engineer and school safety agents (SSA). Have they been added to the BRT?
Custodian and/or principal is unsure
43. Is there a visitor protocol (for parents, deliveries, construction contractors, etc)?
Custodian and/or principal is unsure
44. Do all classrooms have access to operable windows?
Yes
45. Is there a protocol for daily cleaning of classrooms that ensures no food waste?
Custodian and/or principal is unsure
46. Are there supplies of the following in the school? (Page 2 of 16)
Electrostatic sprayer
47. Main office (Page 12 of 16) Has the plexiglass partition been installed?
Yes
48. Is the staff eating area properly ventilated?
Yes
49. Does the nurses' office have enough space to socially distance?
Custodian and/or principal is unsure
23 comments:
James, how can I apply for the virtual Academic Content Specialist position? Sorry to post on a different post. I can't seem to find any info and would think they need to hire ASAP.
Sorry, I don't know.
$1600+ per year for this garbage. James, you need to say something NOW, and don't change your mind in June again. This is the most pathetic union around. So we can get sick for the next 2 weeks, until 9/21. Everyone cool with that?
Vote every Unity person out starting in next year's chapter elections. That is the answer.
If the indicators on the School Safety Report were rigorously evaluated just like the indicators of the School Quality Reviews or the Danielson Classroom Observations—it’s very likely that the majority of the schools would be clearly rated ‘developing’ at this point in time—and no one in their right mind—should even consider entering these schools until they are rated at least ‘ Effective’ or probably more like ‘Highly Effective’.
@5:15 pm
Is James the UFT president? If you want to see a different union vote in a different union leader/line. Apathy has no place when lives are on the line. Try being appreciative to James and his family for sacrificing their time to run this blog. Come on. Fair is fair.
Now THAT is an awesome comment. So true!
NYC adviser on reopening allegedly hasn’t set foot in a school yet
New York City schools Chancellor Richard Carranza’s chief point person on reopening schools has yet to set foot in one, a source told The Post.
Alison Hirsh, who cut bait with Mayor de Blasio just nine months after joining City Hall as a senior adviser for strategic planning, has been working remotely “the entire time” since getting the city Department of Education gig in June — and won’t even report to agency headquarters, the insider revealed.
“He [Carranza] brought her on to be the senior adviser on school reopening even though she has no history of working with schools,” the source said. “The most senior person, the point person, refuses to come into Tweed [Courthouse, DOE HQ]
100% James has been advocating and putting tireless work for us especially since Chaz is no longer with us. We all know chaz would have been all over this with James.
Any moron who votes for Mulgrew is a complete and utter ass turd. We must rise up together and make some real changes. Excuses are like assholes everyone has one and they all stink!
I think there's something truly nefarious going on with the voting in the UFT. Why do retirees get to vote for the union president? Why does Mulgrew keep getting voted in when he's shown that he couldn't care less about most members or the state of the profession?
Definitely agree with Anon-5:23, there is minimal to no rigor in these evals. Especially concerned about ventilation - what exactly does adequate ventilation mean if we're relying on "natural" venting - how much ventilation is adequate, in a specific numerical measurement, who determined that was adequate, how was its adequacy determined, and who measured to verify that the venting in the room actually meets that standard?
The point of referring to MERV-13, or to a central HVAC system with 6 full air-cycles per hour, or whatever, is that it's an objective, quantified standard such that its effects on the spread of viral particles can be measured empirically. "The window opens" isn't even an empirical measurement, just an observation (binary data not numeric); "the window opens 3 inches" is an empirical measurement, but not an empirical measurement of anything to do with COVID, unless someone is now arguing that viral particles have eyes or some other sensory organ (organelle!) that detects the positioning of windows. Only something like "air movement > 2 mph >=90% of the observation period" or "4 complete air cycles per hour" is an empirical measurement of relevance to aerosol transmission of COVID. It seems utterly implausible that these measurements are being taken, never mind that they have already been taken.
Is it plausible to vote out Unity delegates and CLs, though? The previous school I was in was a HS with fewer than 400 students, so only ~30 teachers; when the longtime union rep had been on medical leave some years ago to recover from a stroke, my understanding is that no one even stepped up to cover the duties on an interim basis. When he retired June 2019, the staff eventually managed to find someone to accept the position, but it was really unclear if anyone would actually step up, and she absolutely ran unopposed. Aren't there a lot of places like that - isn't that a fairly common result of the small schools structure?
Yes, CLs run unopposed. New leaders gotta step up for change to take place.
Apathy. We had a CL who really looked out for the best interests of the teachers against a dictator style admin. He didn't want to be CL but the cowards encouraged him to do so and promised to support him. LIES. As soon as the CL started voicing staff concerns the cowards denied any problems. They left him out to dry. He became persona non grata. He was shunned by colleagues. Nobody would sit with or be seen with the guy out of fear of being the next target of the dictators. Ha. You know i was with old dude all the time. Bump that. Right is right. Sure i was targeted afterwards but oh well. I prefer standing for right than kneeling for bullies. Vote in strong CL and support your CL.
Mulgrew folded like a cheap suit. On mandated testing for everyone for the virus and On sticking to the 50 points on the list to make it safe for teachers on September 8th,
Mulgrew does not represent your safety and financial interests.
Mulgrew folded like a cheap suit that he is.
Let's all call it like it is and stop the BS. There was never going to be a strike. This deal was hatched and signed off on in late July. The kids were always starting on the 21st. It was all theatrics to give the illusion that Mulgrew was fighting for us. Then, as if things weren't bad enough, this 50 point checklist only had to be adhered to in full for when the kids showed up. I would love to know what they have on Mulgrew, or what he was promised. This is worse than March.
I feel sorry for schools who have weak CLs who will let things slide this year.
Just wait and see all the financial givebacks Mulgrew is planning for October. You will all, including James, regret that you did not opt out.
A smarter approach is fro everyone to opt out until Mulgrew and Solidarity are force out. Then re-join the union.
4:28: I think you just made up that narrative in your head. A lot of you people don't know what union negotiations means, you negotiate. Each side has to give a little until you come up with an agreement. Do you ever watch Shark Tank? You never get fully what you want. You go in with demands and you negotiate. Do you think people ever get the asking price when they sell their homes? I don't think Mike is that great but I really don't think any of you could have done any better.
It is irresponsible to rely on staff to report if there is no or not enough PPE, if there is not enough ventilation, etc. It should be there - PERIOD.
But, this is the DOE and city so, therefore, if you are not provided with the necessary PPE, etc. stay outside and call the union. Do exactly what is recommended. Don't complain and just do it. Everyone together.
Hello James,
I am not a Chapter Leader, but is there a way I can see my school's safety inspection results online, or do I need to request it when we return to the building?
CL should have it. It is not a state secret. No reason why you shouldn't have access now.
James, how can I get in contact with you? I fear that I don't have anyone to reach out to in the Union for significant, unbiased advice. Admin and chapter leader and district reps are all friends.
ICEUFT@gmail.com.
Thank you. Please check your email.
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