Tuesday, January 05, 2021

ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, ISRAEL IN FULL LOCK-DOWN INCLUDING SCHOOLS; HALF OF CHICAGO TEACHERS SCHEDULED TO RETURN TO SCHOOL DID NOT REPORT MONDAY; UFT NEGOTIATING EVALUATION SYSTEM

This news comes from The Guardian

England will enter its toughest nationwide lockdown since March, with schools closed and people allowed to leave home once a day for exercise for at least six weeks, Boris Johnson has announced as the numbers of people in hospital reach new highs.

All pupils will switch to remote learning until the February half-term, the prime minister said in an address to the nation, and GCSE and A-level exams are unlikely to go ahead as planned. All non-essential shops will be told to close.

From a different Guardian piece, Johnson kind of explains why he changed his mind on closing schools:

Even in the past 36 hours, the prime minister had insisted schools were safe to open in most areas of the country. “There is no doubt in my mind that schools are safe,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr on Sunday.

However, the prime minister was unable to identify what he believed had changed since the preceding days, when most schools had been told to remain open – only saying in his address that schools were likely to act “as vectors for transmission, causing the virus to spread between households”.

No shit, Boris.

We know the new UK COVID-19 variant is in NY and COVID numbers continue to grow but NY school buildings remain open even as the vaccine rollout is not exactly going smoothly.  

Israel is the most successful country in the world at vaccinating its people so far but they know they have to stay ahead of the spreading virus. From the Times of Israel:

Government ministers voted Tuesday night in favor of tightening the current nationwide lockdown by shuttering schools and nonessential businesses for two full weeks, with the aim of cutting rising daily infections that have passed 8,000 a day.

The increased measures will come into force at midnight between Thursday and Friday and last for at least 14 days, according to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Health Ministry.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it “one final effort” to keep COVID-19 at bay, as contagion spreads alarmingly even as Israel continues its vaccination campaign. Leading the world in per capita vaccinations, Israel had inoculated some 1.5 million of its 9.3 million populace by late Tuesday, including some 55% of its 60-plus age group.

In NYC, the city is reporting a 9.03% positivity rate (the state has it at 6.4%). The UFT is now hiding behind the state numbers as they erase that 9% line in the sand to close schools. According to UFT President Michael Mulgrew via NYC Educator, 45% of schools opened since December 7 have been closed at some point since then. So is the UFT demanding that every building be closed until it's safe? No, they have more important things to do such as negotiating a teacher evaluation agreement (sarcasm alert there).

Reality Based Educator describes today's situation succinctly on Twitter:


The UFT is working with the Department of Education on a MOSL so teachers can be rated in part based on student progress in a pandemic. 

Closing school buildings to keep all safe? Not on the UFT's public agenda until that state positivity rate hits 9%. At that point, it will be too late in my non-scientific opinion. I am no scientist but the trick with shutting down seems to be to do it before COVID-19 is out of control. Watching our leaders make the same mistakes over and over would be laughable if it wasn't so dangerous.

The US is 37th on Bloomberg's COVID Resilience ranking. Countries in the top 5 (New Zealand, Taiwan, Australia, Norway, and Singapore) I believe all had national or regional lockdowns at some point although I wouldn't want to emulate Singapore.  

For those looking for information on the effectiveness of stay at home mandates, this is from capradio:

Experts and several studies show government-imposed shutdowns do work to slow COVID-19 when combined with mask mandates, social distancing and hand hygiene requirements. They also depend on the public’s willingness to comply with the orders.

Here’s one recent example: A state-mandated stay-at-home order in Delaware this spring, combined with public mask mandates and contact tracing, led to an 82% reduction in COVID-19 cases, an 88% drop in hospitalizations and a 100% decline in deaths, according to a November study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

“These strategies are effective in limiting potential exposure to [COVID-19] and reducing community transmission when implemented as part of a multicomponent strategy,” the study concluded.

“No single mitigation strategy is likely to be effective alone,” it added.

For those who are interested in how a real union responds to COVID when an incompetent mayor decides to open schools, look to the Chicago Teachers Union. Monday, some teachers and other staff were supposed to report to schools to prepare to reopen them. This is from the Chicago Teachers Union:

Half of the pre-k and special education cluster teachers in elementary and high schools scheduled to start teaching from school buildings Monday refused to work in-person on January 4, electing instead to continue teaching students safely by remaining remote. Workers who did go in on Monday have also reported serious safety issues at their schools — and a reluctance to return to buildings that lack even the most basic safety protocols that CPS has been promising for months — but has yet to deliver to buildings.

70 percent of Black and Brown families continue to reject sending hundreds of thousands of their children back into unsafe school buildings. At the same time, a growing body of evidence shows that schools in neighborhoods with high COVID rates can increase spread of the virus. That’s a critical issue for families and educators, who fear both contracting the virus and inadvertently passing it along to elders or medically vulnerable household members.

All it will take to close schools here in NYC is for a number of school communities to go remote on their own. Dare de Blasio and Cuomo to invoke the Taylor law strike penalties when you are willing to work remotely. Your health is more important as is the health of the students during the pandemic.

48 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know I can't say it, but what does all this say to you?

Anonymous said...

MULGREW IS A WASTE. ALL TEACHERS SHOULD STAY HOME REFUSE TO WORK.
TEACHERS MUST THINK FOR THEMSELVES.

Not ready to Die said...

A teacher evaluation during a pandemic ? OMG the stupidity never ends . I have no faith in our system as it stands . Even with a vaccine these assholes can not figure out how to dispute it.
At the same time trump is in Georgia trying to over turn the election with the help of the proud boys. ... a group that started as a joke by a Canadian spoofing a Disney movie. What the FUCK !!!

Anonymous said...

So much for the union party. Kamala Harris' brother-in-law and advisor, Tony West, led the campaign for CA's Prop 22, which denies labor protections to Uber drivers.

nerd said...

It was interesting that the December delegate assembly wasn't presented with Resolution #4 (which reject remote teaching observations) or brought to vote.

The meeting was clogged up with BLM motions (which there have already been a ton and the DA has passed.)

Sinister

Anonymous said...

We need a rubric for evaluating UFT officials and staff.

Some of the components would assess how they deal with emails, letters, voicemails, and phone calls.

Pogue said...

Prop 22 - firing union workers to use gig workers instead...

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/01/05/devastating-effects-ca-prop-22-begin-albertsons-stores-move-replace-unionized

Just an endangered & disgusted CL said...

I remember how frantic UFT was in strong-arming chapter leaders to get 100% pledged to "stick with our union" when JANUS hit. I won't go into their strong-arming tactics, but it was criminal and disgusting how they threatened us.

At this point, I think we need to do just the opposite. Let's get our chapters to be 100% pledged to drop kick our union if Mulgrew doesn't stop his *#*@ treatment of us. Now that will make a statement.

I know James, I'd love to see us able to vote out UNITY. I just have no faith that it will ever happen at this point - and what will be left of us by the next election?

Is there any way we can have a "vote of no-confidence" in the leadership of our union???

Not ready to Die said...

What would a no confidence vote mean in the real world ?
It’s clear Mulgrew plans to skate into his retirement sucking our blood.

A remote teacher evaluation based on students that don’t participate....

I would laugh if I was not crying.

Justin said...

BLM motions should be brought up. That, in itself, is not sinister. They could do both though. No need to sacrifice one thing for the other.

Anonymous said...

Why trs trs still closed? And uft?

Anonymous said...

We had testing today. We have about 250 kids in our school and they ONLY tested 14 kids and some staff and then left. They refused to test more kids saying they had to go. WTF...that’s not close to 20%!!!!! This is BS!!!!

Anonymous said...

Funny how they are trying to throw this evaluation system together. They should know by now that teachers backwards plan. How can one plan effectively to be evaluated on a system they do not know? Seems to me that any evaluation can be ripped up right away if challenged

Anonymous said...

Very hard to give valid evaluations when you give kids weeks and extensions to do them and they can do them at home. Also do the teachers grade them themselves? Total nonsense but what else would you expect from the doe?

Anonymous said...

Mulgrew is tone deaf and crazy, just like Trump.
Mulgrew has lost his mind, his morals and his credibility.

Anonymous said...

See the anti white email carranza sent this morning? What he said, mostly, was untrue. No wonder the students can't write a sentence upon graduation. They expect everything to be handed to them. Good luck everybody.

Anonymous said...

When government fails - when real schooling disappears, when cities have massive increases in murders, when bureaucrats destroy businesses while ignoring their own rules - is our rage a surprise?

And the media that has ignored or even cheered all this on is just as guilty.

Anonymous said...

You have nothing to worry about because the UFT is guarding your back.
You should feel safe during this pandemic.

Anonymous said...

Mayor Bill de Blasio
@NYCMayor
·
38s
Today’s #COVID19 indicators:

• 273 hospital admissions
• 3,870 new cases
• 9.21% positivity rate (7-day avg.)

Again, all these numbers are too high. With the vaccine and with our own actions, we can bring down these numbers together.

Anonymous said...

Was carranza's anti white email this morning good enough?

Anonymous said...

Carranza was silent this summer during the race riots, looting and civil unrest. His moral compass is clearly broken. Also, Carranza supports the racist Marxist BLM. So, Carranza does not oppose civil unrest when fits with his delusional social justice agenda.

Carranza is an exemplar for the "Woke Man" with a twisted, inconsistent standard for social justice.

Anonymous said...

when you say anti white please do not forget the end of that phrase -supremacy.

anti white supremacy. it is frightening that such a thing would be upsetting to any person in the education field.

Anonymous said...

919,
No, he was pro riot and crime all summer. On Wednesday, he decided it was bad. What was the difference? Skin color.

Boris said...

It is frightening that riots were ignored all year. By the dems, the doe, the uft and the media. Far more destructive than what happened on Wednesday. They are still happening almost every day in Portland. Dem mayor wheeler was punched in the face by antifa 2 days ago at a restaurant. Check the video. Good luck moving forward. You teachers are gonna need it. I retire Jan 31. I hope the new ed secretary solves all your problems. So I assume all the complaints on here will stop in 2 weeks, right?

Anonymous said...

Please direct me to the carranza email about the death of black police officer David Dorn. Oh, different criminal skin color, so no problem.

Boris said...

Don't worry everyone, we got the blue wave. Now there will be no excuses for the awful education system and the high crime rate and why students in nyc are getting free passes and can't read and write and graduate anyway. Devos is gone, Trump is gone. All will be healed. They started out by endorsing blm crime yesterday while speaking about a 2 tiered crime system, yet never mentioned that almost all charges have been dropped all year against antifa and blm criminals. I will now sit back and watch. Get your excuses ready. Update me about grade fraud in June under the new administration. Update me about crime under the new administration. Check the daily complaints on here and on the teacher facebook page. Let the healing and uniting begin.

Anonymous said...

https://nypost.com/2021/01/08/portland-mayor-reportedly-punched-by-social-justice-activist/

I guess he had it coming. LOL.

Anonymous said...

I think we all agree that what happened Wednesday was bad. All crime is, no matter who did it. However, the response in the summer, starting in May, from everyone was totally different. they are just venting, they have reason to be mad, bail them out by donating, drop all the charges, police stand down, people will pull down statues...On Wednesday, it was immediately called domestic terrorism.

If Trump had written the exact same message as carranza, and said it is unfair because most of the rioters last year were black and they are getting out of jail and charges are being dropped, what would the cnn reaction have been?

Anonymous said...

yup. pro police inciting riots and committing crimes.

Anonymous said...

It is frightening that civil rights have been ignored by the US for so long. It is frightening that murderous polices forces are consistently enabled and praised by the US for so long. Glad you are retiring.

Anonymous said...

Please direct me to the death of hundreds of Americans by police every year. Should be easy. Oh, they kill pets too. Let's not leave anyone out.

Anonymous said...

The more poverty, the more crime. Side effect of capitalism. Trump is just one of the worst symptoms of it, and one of the worst enablers of it as well

Anonymous said...

Poverty because? Uneducated, lowlife people. Criminals make less than college educated. Now check the jail population and tell me what you find.

Anonymous said...

Can you show specifics or just make allegations?

Anonymous said...

Why didn't obama fix all this when dems controlled everything? Obama, alone, had 8 years.

Anonymous said...

I'm confused. Are you saying every person killed by police shouldn't be? Nobody denies criminals get shot and/or killed. Are you saying force is never necessary? The politicians were calling for police on Wednesday. No defunding the police then.

Anonymous said...

I missed the chancellor email on this...Overnight, a mob of antifa from Portland descended on the suburb of Tigard, where they tried to break inside the local police department. When that failed, they proceeded to smash up nearby businesses. This is 4th antifa riot in Portland-area since NYE.

Marc said...

Rioting is never justified, and it cannot be lost on anyone that some of the very same voices currently outraged by mob violence ignored, downplayed or even supported it when it came from political causes they agreed with. That attitude helped create the environment that made the chaos at the Capitol possible.
"Had it been people who look like me, had it been the same amount of people, but had they been black and brown, we wouldn't have made it up those steps," Bush told MSNBC. "We wouldn't have made it to be able to get into the door and bust windows and go put our feet up on the desks of Congress members."
Perhaps then-candidate Cori Bush was too busy campaigning to notice Seattle's "summer of love," when violent Antifa and BLM radicals, many of whom were armed, occupied one of the city's most densely populated neighborhoods. The police quite literally abandoned their precinct under orders from the mayor. The rioters managed to storm their way into the creation of an autonomous zone.
Criminal protesters seldom went to jail this summer, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. And those who did almost never saw charges, despite evidence of wrongdoing. Portland saw more than 100 nights of riots—not peaceful protests—and of the arrests, nearly 70 percent of charges were dropped by a county district attorney who ideologically sided with the cause.

Anonymous said...

Facts.

John Earle Sullivan, who was inside the Capitol building during the siege on Wednesday, previously gave a speech in BLM Plaza in DC in August 2020 where he identifies as being part of an insurgency group & calls for a violent left-wing revolution.

Anonymous said...

American history would support that statement. KKK in the police force to start. This report is also a good start...

https://documented.net/2021/01/republican-attorneys-general-dark-money-group-organized-protest-preceding-capitol-mob-attack/

and an in depth report here...
https://theintercept.com/2015/05/22/atf-report-warned-military-government-membership-outlaw-motorcycle-gangs/

read up!

Anonymous said...

Poverty because a class system requires class inequality. Capitalism requires poverty. I find a police state making money off the backs of the poor.

Anonymous said...

Biden just said that he has the most minority focused administcolor and cabinet. If Trump had wanted the whitest? Doesnt seem you are supposed to pick people based on skin color.

Anonymous said...

Difference i see is that everybody condemns Wednesday. Only one side condemned the blm and atifa riots.

Anonymous said...

Be fair. Crime is crime. Equality. the chancellor picks and chooses what he criticizes. that is racist. No wonder our students can get away with everything and do nothing and still get credit.

https://nypost.com/2021/01/07/liberal-amnesia-about-last-summers-riots/

Boris said...

12:26, Thank you for wishing a nice retirement. The $2 million in TDA and $100k pension will be enjoyed. I hope maybe, for the first time, you can educate someone. You can use your role as teacher to badmouth police and use white people as an excuse for their failures. Don't worry, carranza will back you up.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if carranza will denounce bowman.

Jamaal Bowman
@JamaalBowmanNY

Why was a fascist, white supremacist mob able to overwhelm Capitol Police?

Do ties exist between the white supremacists who launched that attack and members of the police force?

Anonymous said...

Biden announces that he is going to try to destroy a civil rights organization that protects American's Second Amendment rights.

Feel the unity?

Anonymous said...

You think The Capitol was violent? Wait til a hated prez and vp try to take certain people’s guns. Ruby Ridge and Waco will look like a picnic in some parts of this country. That’s the thing about gun enthusiasts....they will never give up their guns and they’ve now been inspired to build an armory of weapons. They’re not the people I want to piss off if I want to avoid violence. Also there’s a ton of guns that were bought before any paperwork was required. The government can’t track them. Biden can talk about it all he wants. He really can’t do shit. For the right amount of money anyone can get a gun anytime they want. More pandering bullshit from a politician that is guaranteed to not have the sought after result which I assume is less gun violence.