The story below was at the ICEUFT@gmail.com inbox tonight. The Professional Staff Congress, not the UFT, represents the teachers at Hunter College High School. The PSC sued today to get two buildings closed down.
I've said it a thousand times here and I will say it again: We need a better union, not to be without a union.
NEWS RELEASE
Released: Tues., Sept. 22
Contact: Fran Clark, Fclark@pscmail.org, 914-364-8925
CUNY Teachers' Union Files Restraining Order to Bar In-Person Classes at Hunter College Campus Schools until Building is Proven Safe
Prestigious K-12 Public Schools Run by Hunter College Violated Own COVID Safety Plan, Installing Unproven “Air Purifiers” Instead of HEPA Filters
New York—The union representing teachers at the Hunter College Campus Schools (HCCS) petitioned a State Court today to grant a temporary restraining order and injunction against the City University of New York and Hunter College. The Professional Staff Congress (PSC) asked the judge to bar administrators from compelling its members to return in-person teaching at the public elementary and high school until real HEPA filters are installed in every classroom, as required in the school’s reopening plan. The union also asked the judge to direct CUNY to permit an independent inspection of the HCCS building and ventilation system.
The petition covers the fortress-like building with windowless classrooms located at 94th Street and Park Avenue and the Silberman School of Social Work on 119th and 3rd Avenue, where some students will attend class this fall.
“Teachers’ life-and-death concerns have been met with inaction by Hunter College President Jennifer Raab and HCCS Director Lisa Siegmann. Their demands for COVID testing, small classroom pods, independent inspections and other protections provided to students and staff at all other NYC public schools have been denied. And now we have learned Hunter isn’t even following its own, inadequate safety plan,” said Barbara Bowen, president of the PSC, the union representing 150 Hunter teachers and staff and 30,000 other academic staff at CUNY.
Authorities say rooms with ventilation systems inadequate for air filters that can remove COVID-19 virus particles (MERV13 or better) should be equipped with HEPA filters, which have been found to be more that 99.97% efficient at capturing airborne viral particles.
The HCCS Plan says portable HEPA filtration units “will be installed in classrooms which have ventilation systems that use recirculated air.” Instead, the schools have installed untested chemical air purifiers (not even filters) whose efficacy against COVID-19 or other viruses is unknown.
Remote instruction at HCCS began yesterday, September 21. In-person and hybrid instruction will start September 29 for grades K-6 and October 1 for grades 7-10 (grades 11-12 will start the year all-remote). Most of the school’s 1500 students will then begin hybrid instruction at the 94th Street building.
HCCS teachers pressed all summer for a voice in the reopening plan and have called for a delayed reopening of the building. They want to return to in-person teaching in buildings that have been proven safe with adequate health and safety protocols and an independent inspection.
Meanwhile, back at UFT represented k-12 schools, UFTers continue to report to what they believe are unsafe buildings. This picture from Dodge says so much. The PSC, UFT Solidarity and others are fighting back. Don't give up the fight. Find whoever will listen to you and make noise.
13 comments:
Sue this...
“Never waste a good crisis to transform a system,” Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said at the height of the pandemic. As a member of the Queens District 28 Community Education Council, I’ve seen that transformation effort up close. As an investigative reporter, I discovered some big money behind it.
Carranza, progressive activists and operatives linked to City Hall are seeking to ram through a radical agenda before the mayor leaves office.
“We see [the crisis] as an opportunity to finally push and move and be very strategic in a very aggressive way what we know is the equity agenda for our kids,” Carranza said in an April 16 address.
I knew the teachers at Hunter had a different system, but I never realized they weren't UFT members. Does this mean their staff doesn't have the same "perks" as the UFT members - more specifically the TDA and the 55/25 program, and tenure? Do their members have the same hiring protections that UFT does?
PSC still get 8.25% on the fixed TDA.
ABC 7 News has a NYC schools' COVID positivity rate tracker.
'Cause for significant concern:' Health Dept. announces COVID upticks in several Brooklyn, Queens neighborhoods. Don't worry, trust Mulgrew.
I'm a teacher and an adjunct. If you think the PSC is doing a good job, you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. It is absolutely a toothless union. Look at our last 3 contracts to verify. I agree the UFT is not doing enough but to paint the PSC in this light is pure propaganda.
The Mayor forloughed 9000 managers and unrepresented employees for 5 days, saving $21m. Are opted-outs teachers "unrepresented employees"?
The Mayor forloughed 9000 managers and unrepresented employees for 5 days, saving $21m. Are opted-outs teachers "unrepresented employees"?
10:38. No. Terms of current contract still apply. I don't understand the logic but that's the rule.
Even as an opt out, I'm still getting screwed by mulgrew.
At least the CUNY union sued. We have unity which makes Mildew the Marshall Petain of Unfit For Teachers.
I work for CUNY too 9:38. I am treated as a professional and the hourly rate is significantly higher than the DOE per session rate. Nobody said PSC was an ideal union but they are fighting here.
Well just be glad you don't have d.c. 37
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