Wednesday, January 27, 2021

INADEQUATE U.S. TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS DUE TO CONCERN OVER NEW COVID -19 VARIANTS IS VERY TROUBLING; NY POST SAYS 4% DECLINE IN ENROLLMENT IS "MARKED"

The media response to the COVID-19 pandemic has not exactly been stellar. While calling out President Donald Trump's pathetic pandemic job performance, the mainstream media has been unjustifiably kinder to Governor Andrew Cuomo. Ross Barkan has been the main exception here.  Will they give Joe Biden a pass too?

When it comes to covering President Joe Biden's new travel restrictions, I was a little surprised to read a piece critical of the new restrictions in the NY Times.

This is from the Times, The Morning, by David Leonhardt:

Good morning. Travel restrictions have been one of the most effective pandemic responses — if they’re strict.

‘Viruses don’t care what passport you carry’

One of the biggest lessons of the pandemic has been the success of travel restrictions at reducing its spread. And this is a moment when they have the potential to be particularly effective in the U.S., given the emergence of even more dangerous coronavirus variants in other countries.

President Biden seems to realize this, and has reinstated some travel restrictions that President Donald Trump lifted just before leaving office.

It’s not yet clear whether Biden will impose the kind of strict rules that have worked best elsewhere. So far, he has chosen a middle ground between Trump’s approach and the approaches with the best global track record.

Many of the places that have contained the virus have relied on travel restrictions. The list includes Australia, Ghana, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam and Canada’s four Atlantic provinces. At key points, they imposed severe restrictions on who could enter.

There is a crucial word in that sentence: severe. Travel bans work only when countries don’t allow a lot of exceptions.

Barring citizens of other countries while freely allowing your own citizens to return, for example, is ineffectual. “Viruses don’t care what passport you carry,” my colleague Donald G. McNeil Jr., who’s been covering infectious diseases since the 1990s, told me.

Voluntary quarantines generally don’t work either, since many people don’t adhere to them. Some take mild precautions and still describe themselves as “quarantining.” As Donald says: “For it to work, it has to be mandatory — and actually enforced. And not at home.”

Australia versus the U.S.

Australia crushed the spread of the virus in the spring partly by ending its voluntary quarantine and requiring all arrivals, including Australian citizens, to spend two weeks in a hotel. The military then helped enforce the rules. China and some other Asian countries took similar steps. In eastern Canada, tough entry rules were “one of the most successful things we’ve done,” Dr. Susan Kirkland, a Nova Scotia official, has said.

Travel bans had such a big effect, Dr. Jared Baeten, a prominent epidemiologist, told me last year, that public-health experts should re-examine their longtime skepticism of them. “Travel,” he said, “is the hallmark of the spread of this virus around the world.”

Last year, the U.S. became a case study in the ineffectiveness of limited travel rules after Trump announced a ban on entry from China. Because it didn’t apply to U.S. citizens or their immediate family members, among others, and because Trump did little to restrict entry from Europe, the measures had little effect.

The Biden administration now risks a repeat.

Infectious variants of the virus that are spreading in Brazil and South Africa could be even more dangerous than a strong new variant found in Britain, scientists say. In response, Biden is restricting entry from Europe, Brazil and South Africa, but the policy has multiple exceptions: Americans can return home from these places if they have recently tested negative, even though the test result may not be current.

The politics of travel bans are certainly thorny. Businesses worry about the economic impact (as The New Yorker’s Lawrence Wright noted in a fascinating radio interview with Terry Gross). Progressives worry about stoking anti-immigration views. And it’s already too late to keep the variants out of the U.S. entirely.

Yet travel restrictions can still save lives. The U.S. is in a race to vaccinate as many people as possible before they contract the virus, and the new variants are the biggest new challenge in doing so. “I am worried about these variants,” Dr. Vivek Murthy, the co-chair of Biden’s virus task force, said on the first episode of Ezra Klein’s Times podcast.

The U.S. travel restrictions will almost certainly have some impact by keeping out some infected people. But Biden’s policy stops short of minimizing the virus’s spread.

Contrast this to New Zealand where two possible community cases (not confirmed because the two were travellers staying in a quarantine facility upon arriving back in New Zealand) sparks major action.

Am I to understand that the US is incapable of having all travellers who come into our country spend two weeks in quarantine in nice hotels? Can't our military be used to control our ports and borders?  

It looks to me like the US half-assed response is continuing although maybe getting a bit better under Biden. We can call it a three-fifths-assed reaction now. 

With regard to the pandemic's impact on the public schools in NYC, the NY Post looks like it wants public schools open no matter what but they don't have any criticisms of charter school buildings that stay closed. Today, the spin of the Post coverage of lower NYC enrollment this year seems to be that the sky is falling because there is a 4% enrollment drop during the pandemic. 

From the NY Post:

The city Department of Education has long hailed its pandemic performance as a “gold standard” — but an increasing number of parents appear to disagree.

The nation’s largest school district shed 43,000 kids this year — or 4 percent of overall enrollment, according to preliminary DOE figures.

With birth rates shrinking and charter popularity rising, city school enrollment has been eroding for years.

But this year’s drop — accelerated by ongoing coronavirus upheaval — has been marked.

Some parents have opted for city private or charter schools with more stable schedules while others bolted the boroughs completely.

Family flight was sharpest among those with younger kids just beginning their education.

City kindergartens saw a decline of 9 percent this year, while pre-K enrollment fell by 13 percent.

No mention that these two grades are non-mandatory school attendance grades so it would be natural they would have the biggest decline during a pandemic but also not a word on how NYC is not unique in facing declining enrollment. 

Gothamist at least gave a more complete picture in their coverage:

While New York City still has the largest school district in the country, enrollment now stands at 960,000 students compared to the reported 1.1 million students in the 2018-2019 school year. Other school districts have seen similar declines in enrollment -- Dallas public schools were down 4% in December, according to the New York Times. In October, Washington state reported a 2.82% decrease in enrollment statewide, with a 14% drop in kindergarten, NPR reported.

Media reporting of just about everything has to be in the context of the pandemic. 


58 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't worry. Trump is gone. Teachers will soon be respected. James promised. And we are all safe now. Don't worry about no stinkin virus. MI, IL, CA, NY said it is safe to now re-open.

Anonymous said...

This virus will not be controlled here unless we have hard border restrictions AND a near total lockdown. The variants are more much than troubling. Things will get better for a while until we start catching the variants en masse. Then 2020 will be replayed in slow motion. Nothing Biden, Cuomo or Faucci says has dissuaded the grim reaper.

Anonymous said...

Middle schools are reopening? Any further info on Deblasios guidines and timeline?

Anonymous said...

Face it Joe Biden is a xenophobic racist. Travel bans were xenophobic and racist in 2020 and remain xenophobic and racist in 2021. Nazi in the WH.

Anonymous said...

NYC school student enrollment numbers are declining because PARENTS ARE MOVING OUT OF NY!

Moose said...

The hypocrisy about CoVid 19 is daunting and disgusting. Everything from Day 1 has been a disaster and seems like it will continue to be. I am NOT a Democrat by any means BUT I am also NOT a Trump supporter (save your RINO comments please clowns). For Biden to say, "There is nothing we can do about our situation" is downright scary. The government failed the American people. They didn't fail the American people due to a "fake election". I just wanted to clarify how the people who stormed the Capitol and the people looting, rioting, occupying territory are all criminals and should be put in jail.

The hypocrisy of all of a sudden being able to "open" up is crazy. Hey Democrats; How about not focusing on a Second Impeachment of a ex President and focus on distributing vaccines to the public? Then the Republicans don't even want to send an extra $1400 to people. The Democrats know how to spend money alright. The Republicans can't do people making less than $75,000 a solid. Maybe they fear most of the stimulus will go to other nations again? I don't know.

I do know that I'm afraid to speak my mind at work. I do know that DeBlasio and Carranza are doing exactly what they want. They want you to suffer, not have the passion to teach anymore, and get with the Liberal policies or you're gone. They don't want you to get that Pension for 30 years. They want you gone after 10 years. I do what I have to do; take one in the keyster and go home to my family.

The CTLE nonsense they make us do now to pay and make-up for people opting out is a further way to divide us. You have every right not to pay dues. I will never tell you what to do with your money. God Bless you if you don't pay. That's your American right. The UFT and DOE want division. They do it from within. How many of us here are Tier 6? I'm Tier 4 by two days. Anyone Tier 5 and beyond is in another world compared to us. They won't vote how we will, they don't have the rights we do. They have to work til 62 years old to collect a pension. 40 fucking years!

Shout out to Golf guy, Joe, and all the people who get it. I just read now here. No change will happen because there is too much dissent. James seems like a great guy with hope and passion. I'm sorry though; he's retired and has more passion than everyone in here. That is a problem.

On that note, Shout out to the Mutants at Table 9. Off to another day of serving meals and letting children learn through the internet.

Anonymous said...

Re 1027 Middle schools are reopening? Any further info on Deblasios guidines and timeline?

Nobody supported D75 and Elementary... Divide and conquer the union. Year apart any cohesiveness. Good job

TeachNY said...

Yes.Thank GOD.
https://champ.gothamist.com/champ/gothamist/news/nyc-will-announce-middle-school-reopening-plans-next-month

Anonymous said...

Yes, the district reps reps, beholden to mulgrew...they cant help unless they jeopardize their lucrative positions...sad

Anonymous said...

https://www.montclairlocal.news/2021/01/27/union-montclair-school-district-taking-us-to-court/

Anonymous said...

Moose. I would argue that the ones taking it in the keyster are the good kids and the teachers who try to buck the system. I don’t look at it as being afraid to speak my mind. I’m playing these mutherfuckers. I’m telling them what they want to hear, going along with their farce and passing kids who can’t read and nodding in agreement at unconscious bias training and other bullshit for a pretty healthy salary and good benefits. My soul might be damaged but my keyster is intact. As an atheist I don’t care much about my soul but I’ve always taken good care of my ass. DOE Progressives are carnival freaks. I just marvel at their freakishness when they speak and smile knowing I’m conning them for DOE perks while I return to the real world in my home far away from nyc.

James Eterno said...

It is not xenophobic 3:59 when you apply the travel ban to US citizens coming into the country too. My wife's cousin is a New Zealand citizen who went to visit his grandmother in the UK. When he went back home, he had to spend two weeks quarantine in a hotel.

Anonymous said...

So New Zealand isn’t xenophobic. Biden is.

Anonymous said...

Is anyone having this issue? I just learned while doing my final grades that as long as a student achieved a 65 in one marking period, that student gets a 65 as NX does not count as an average. So if a student earns 65 for 3 marking periods would get the same grade as a student who earned 65 marking period one and did nothing the last 2 marking periods. We were told we could not override it. We are all being made fools of. I'd cry academic fraud but nobody really cares. I feel bad for the student who works hard all semester and gets 65 while a kid who gets 80 in one marking period and gets NX the other 2 receives and 80. What are we teaching them? You get less when you work hard and more when you work less. What is this country coming to?

Anonymous said...

Nazi, right wing. Biden, left. Read up a little on history?

Restrictions should apply to even citizens and gc holders. The virus doesn't know nationality.

Anonymous said...

The overly liberal policies are driving out younger people as well. I am a Tier 6 teacher and teaching isn't something I plan to do as a career based on my experiences and current trajectory of the field.

I am a person of color who is not considered a person of color because I have so called "privilege." Never mind the fact that I grew up in an illegal basement because that was what my parents could afford to send me to good school district, or that my parents worked multiple jobs.

I am from a South Asian country. However, because my features of quite light and I pass off as ethnically ambiguous, I have had people look at me and say "You just don't understand your privilege."

Uh, so much for an open mind. You just assumed I'm something without even asking.

I can't live in NYC if this is what is happening. I'm looking to move to Texas (though, kind of hot, but family likes the warm) or somewhere in the North Midwest (more my kind of climate and the COL is low there).

Definitely to a purple state that's for sure. Overly blue and overly red is just a clustermess.

However, I will say it is frightening to see people my age be so reckless in their decision making and just joining movements for the sake of it. Even if it means have an unethical view towards people who you suppose to be "privileged" or whatever that means.

The people protesting about BLM are fighting the wrong people. Heck, they fight against each other about who should be saying sorry to who. They really should be fighting against the politicians who pass laws and agendas that allow the greatest amount of money to go to corporations who pay no tax to better the development of this nation. Those people are the ones taking undue advantage of their privilege. Not us common folk who can't pick what we are born as or what we are born into.

Anonymous said...

Maybe in the next edition of
andrewcuomo's leadership book, we can get an updated chapter? Perhaps his follow up could be on spin and cover ups? Probably will win the Pulitzer.
Quote Tweet
Brian M. Rosenthal
@brianmrosenthal
· 43m
Whoa. New York state has been dramatically undercounting Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes, according to an investigation by the attorney general. The actual number of deaths may be 50% higher than Gov. Andrew Cuomo has told the public: https://nytimes.com/2021/01/28/nyregion/nursing-home-deaths-cuomo.html (by @jessemckinley)

Anonymous said...

1008, that is false. Who told you that?

Anonymous said...

10:28 Those in the middle have to pick a side or get the fringe to come toward the middle. I would have agreed with trying to find common ground a couple of years ago but when Twitter and friends and the democrats started getting people cancelled, fired from their jobs and when the mainstream media decided to ignore violence against Trump supporters I pretty much declared the left my enemy. I’m not joining any team they’re on. I’m not making peace. I’ll just sit back, get paid well to pass kids democrats pander too but really screw over on a regular and wait to see how it all plays out. Once the lunatics on the left got away with violence it was only a matter of time before the lunatics on the right got violent. So now we wait. How much violence in our future? Who knows? But I certainly won’t be unifying with anyone on the left anytime soon.

Anonymous said...

Any hardship. Lol.

So much for those honest grades.

Now, education officials are allowing students to appeal for more time to complete their coursework if they faced internet connectivity issues, did not have access to a device for remote learning, had a death or “traumatic illness” in the family, or faced any other hardship that hampered their academic progress.

Anonymous said...

10:08

Many teachers in my school are complaining about the same thing. The Report Card Grades from all 3 marking periods are automatically averaged for a MP 4 Grade. The NX grade is not included in numeric form and does not average into the grade. Example: MP 1 NX, MP 2 65, MP 3 NX are averaged into MP 4 (Semester Grade) 65. We were told NX has no point value, therefore only numeric grades can be averaged. We need to change to NX only for the Final Semester grade. Graduation rates will go up with FRAUD. We are doing our students an extreme disservice. Why do we spend so much time creating Lesson Plans, Activities, and Written Assignments every day if students can pass doing almost nothing?

Anonymous said...

@1:12 PM - totally hear you. I don't think any president is perfect. However, I do believe that there was a strong bias against Trump (some for right reasons, others without cause). He was under a greater microscope than past presidents.

I am not really a political person. The only reason I say purple state is because the middle ground is having two parties with equal foothold. I don't agree with all Democratic policies and I don't agree to all Republican policies. But I do agree to some on both sides and being a purple state is nice because it isn't just on parties policies being pushed on the table. I think that having to pick one side is kind of the reason why we are in the current predicament we are in. Every election, we only have the choice of picking between two parties and two people. Any independent person never makes it through because they don't garner enough votes due to people feeling like they have to pick one side. Why not pick someone that's on neither side? We see how this two party system is playing out and I think it is time for some innovation to happen on that end.

A the end of the day though, to me, all politicians are the same. They come in with their agendas and very rarely are those agendas meant to help the working class who voted them in. However, I think there is benefits to having equal foothold between the parties.

The only thing that I care about is living my life as happily as I can with those that I care about. I think that is really all we can do at the end of the day. And also making my best effort to be a kind and respectful person. Just a simple life with not too many asks.

That is second major reason for leaving NYS. It is expensive. Upstate has high property taxes. LI has high property taxes. Some places in Queens have both high home prices and taxes.

I don't want to live in a condo because we all know how bad the infestation is in shared spaces in NYC.

Also, the city (at least before COVID) is just too fast paced. But we aren't planning to move until Summer of 2022. So we are scouting, hence why I ask here about places some others have moved to.

Not will to die yet said...

James ,
Why don’t you block TeachNY ?
This person anti teacher.

James Eterno said...

Stay on topic (mostly) and we let you say what you want for the most part unless it gets out of control with the personal insults, racism, sexism, etc. Some of what is said here is totally insulting. One day maybe a sample of what doesn't get through to show what I put up with to try to be fair to everyone.

Anonymous said...

HERE IS THE MILLION DOLLAR POINT: Let's assume that most teachers get both vaccinations by the spring. This fact alone will not enable NYC schools to magically open up. Science and the medical profession say that even with herd status and vaccinations, that we will still need to social distance. I do not see how that is even remotely possible due to our huge class sizes and the multiple Bloomberg, "Boutique Schools" all shoved into one building. My crystal ball says that the city is simply not going to give a shit about social distancing they will just pack us in as if everything is back to normal. The UFT won't fight it and we will be even more miserable than we are right now.

Anonymous said...

About TeachNY ....

It is a trolling bot with a sociopathic agenda.

James Eterno said...

Teach NY claims he is a middle school teacher.

Anonymous said...

The NYC bubble is popping.

Brace yourselves.

Mulgrew , Carranza and De Blasio are strange bedfellows.

Anonymous said...

@ 5:46 pm

James,

So it claims!

Anonymous said...

2:51 I like your ideas.purple, compromise.alas, we just have mud now.i know this is crazy, but I ponder who people are so crazed and irrational en masse.is it chemicals in food and meds?planned mind control.remember lsd med experiments in mind control.hope it is just crazy thinking.people are turned against each other...so sad.wanna live cheaper but then you just get farmland...

Anonymous said...

Did you find out if the arbitration from last april opened yet?

Not will to die yet said...

TeachNY has a totally twisted view.
No need for all the negativity.

Anonymous said...

The solution to not liking what TeachNY says shouldn’t be censorship. Counter his arguments. Censorship is for the intellectually lazy who can’t be bothered to form a counter argument. Calling him a sociopath is also lazy thinking. My impression of TeachNY is not complimentary yet here I am defending him because the left can’t handle opposing viewpoints and my disgust for snowflakes who think their ears will bleed if they hear opposing views is greater than my disgust for anything TeachNY has said.

Anonymous said...

Article from edweek.org about reopening schools for in-person instruction:

www.edweek.org/leadership/cdc-research-backs-biden-push-for-return-to-in-person-schooling/2021/01

Anonymous said...


With the New York State Attorney General’s audit of the NYS Health Dept’s undercounting of the Covid death rate involving long term care patients by nearly 50%—how about an actual true transparent account of how many NYC teachers, administrators and all other on site school workers— that have died or been infected since last March.

Moose said...

Some of you have to be kidding me about Teach NY.

I will be the first one to admit I am wrong, but can any of you quote "Teach NY" for acting/speaking in a way that would resort to "blocking his content"? In my opinion, if he used racial tones or threatened lives (as examples), I would have no problem blocking his content.

That being said, God forbid he was nasty and had a warped opinion that you don't agree with. Even if I didn't agree with it (which I'm not sure because I don't remember his postings), I would let the person SPEAK. You are all grown adults. This is a problem in America. People on the Internet can't not allow someone to write something without their egos being torn to shreds. Maybe the people are Generation Z and can't handle anything. Maybe these people complaining are in cahoots with the DOE.

People like those complaining are the reason people voted for Trump. You just don't get it. I am NOT a Trump supporter BUT I understand why The D in Democrat is so toxic. Just ask Bill Maher (the only Democrat I watch on a weekly basis). Utterly disgusting.

Once again, this post goes to naught and I will apologize if you can show me where Teach NY acts in a manner that should get his posts removed from this blog. Until then, maybe his dissenting opinion is something needed here that can help us as teachers come to better solutions to fix our broken system.

TeachNY said...

I have never said disparaging about race, religion, or gender. I have never said disparaging things about anyone specific on here. Yet, other teachers have. I have a thick skin, so whatever. People are upset with me because I did not want to strike. It bothered me that we have been treated like crap for YEARS (shitty observations, kids getting sent back to class after abusing teachers) and only NOW are people uttering crap about striking. And nowhere in the strike threat did people mention working conditions other than working during a pandemic. I received a lot of heat for that. And yes, I DO think schools should be open. However, I will not post my reasons here. Long Island seems to have it together in that aspect. Yes...I am a male, yes I have 19 years in the system, and I work very very very hard. I still find it funny that people are brag about not working hard, yet they receive no negative judgement about that. That’s a crime. I’m not anti-teacher. I was a delegate for some time at one point. I voted for Biden. I don’t consider myself a liberal, conservative, nor extremist from either side. Unfortunately we are living during a time period where if you don’t agree with what the majority of people believe, you are written off immediately. I’m not trolling, but I am repetitive so that my voice is heard. Call me an “it,” call me “bestial,” write that you hope my offspring “are not like me,” etc...the cruel words used by the people that read this blog amaze me. That comes from within. I spoke out against evaluating teachers, did not support the strike, and I support the opening of schools. There are solutions to NOT teach in-person. They may not be to your liking, but the options/solutions are there. I refuse to allow anyone to goad me into a verbal fight of name calling.

nerd said...

If high schools are going to be vaccination sites, we're not reopening.

Anonymous said...

I respect most of everything that TeachNY wrote. However, he states, "There are solutions to NOT teach in-person". Actually that statement is not entirely true. The only ways to not teach in person are if you have a documented medical condition, are caring for a sick family member, or take an unpaid leave of absence. Simply being afraid of working in person is not an excusable reason that a teacher will be allowed to work at home. Be that as it may, I am not afraid to work in person. However, I am sick and tired that the UFT and the DOE never even bothered to ask about how I feel about working in person. You want to know what I am most pissed off about? I'm livid that I can't enjoy a full Christmas or mid-winter Florida vacation because I have to quarantine back in NY for 4 days. All the at home teachers can go wherever they want for the entire duration of their vacation. (The DOE recently changed it to where you could quarantine at home and work remotely, but now you have to use CAR days to quarantine) It's total bullshit that I must follow these rules and either loose quality vacation days or be forced to use my CAR days due to travel quarantine. And, yes plenty of teachers that I have talked to are pissed about this just as much as me. We bust our asses in person and deserve every friggin' second of our vacation.

Shelley said...

Good for you TeachNY. We are New Yorkers, so thick skin is common enough here, but there is no reason for teachers to attack you with ugly language, taunts and insults. James should do a better job of censoring the ugly, nasty, racist, stupid, ignorant garbage he too often permits to be posted here anonymously. It's his blog. He can do it. Why does he permit such garbage to be posted on his blog? And he quickly shuts down anyone who argues against paying dues by labeling them anti-union and by trotting out his dubious assumptions about how a movement to stop paying dues would only make matters worse. Provide one historical example where a union benefitted from halting dues payments to a corrupt union he says. Oh please. TeachNY, you are honest, have been consistent, care deeply about your cohort, the middle school kids who are falling behind, but for teacher of 19 years you seem unaware of what teaching is like in other classrooms, other schools, you constantly claim that your methods, your approach, your experiences, your work ethic is what is nee4ded to restore dignity to the profession and improve teaching and learning and you are simply wrong about this. You have little or no compassion, no patience, no understanding of the brutality out there for so many teachers who post on this blog and, and this is more important, you are convinced of something that makes you blockheaded, that is, that there is a right way to teach, that there is right way to be a teacher. This is a dumb idea. And when you attack the goldbricker or the lazy or incompetents, you sound like an assassin, you know, those evaluators who go around observing teachers and making their lives miserable, you sound like an administrator no one wants to work for. There is no educational value in the abstract. There is no model, no rubric, no method, none. There are great teachers who teach sitting down and great teachers who float in space. You don't need a DO NOW if your students don't need one. Or if they don't respond positively to one. 19 years, so you remember AIM on the Board, Date ...you have seen so much Deform in education, and yet you want to tell others how to do their jobs, jobs you have never done, jobs you couldn't do, certainly couldn't do well. Put me a first grade class and I'm in deep water. I respect teachers, love them. And yes, the goldbrickers and the golfers and burned out, all of them. Ands you too, teach NY. But you have to open you eyes to how difficult this job can be, hard work ain't all that's needed here. We need dignity and trust and we need solidarity. And we ain't got none of those right now. To get it we need to strike. But we won't. we had our chance and we missed it. So it goes.

TeachNY said...

And that is COMPLETELY inequitable. Even if a remote teacher feels under the weather, but can get their butt to the computer to teach, they can save a sick day. An in-person teacher has to waste a sick day. Let’s be real. It takes much more physical effort to wake up early, drive in traffic, take public transportation, and then go teach in a building.

Anonymous said...

James, with your connections, can you find out about pay or whatever we are going to get for last spring break and when we can expect it?

jeff said...

Shelley,

The only criminals are white supremacists and far right wing people. Didn't you hear?

Anonymous said...

Teach NY,
Just desserts. I’m overjoyed that you feel hurt by the comments concerning your breeding, Beastial is an accurate description of your callous one size fits all critical and objectionable comments regarding your teaching and how all others are crap. It’s that kind of thinking that has others calling you a sociopathic troll. So suck it up big boy.

Anonymous said...

I ain't gonna lie. I am an in person teacher and I am jealous as hell of all the middle and high school teachers who are working from home. I do not blame them nor am I mad at them. I am just jealous. I already got two flat tires from hitting pot holes while driving to the Bronx every day. I gotta teach in a cold classroom with the windows open. I gotta deal with messy kids with no masks eating lunch. I wish I could sleep in. Yeah, I know that remote teachers got it tough in their own way, but I am just saying there are some serious benefits to working at home right now. And the poster above is right about in person teachers having to cut short their vacations if they travel. All the while the UFT is silent to our struggles.

eric said...

A student just emailed me, 5 pm, on the last day of the term, 0% attendance, 0 assignments completed. Guidance told her to email me to see what she can do to pass.

Anonymous said...

President Biden’s oil and gas lease moratorium on federal lands will erase billions of dollars in revenue that states use to fund education. https://on.wsj.com/2Mz3cof

Anon2323 said...

sorry, this cancel culture is sickening, teachny has not been spewing garbage that should kick him out because of sensitive people who lack skills in debating sides. Very surprised voted for Biden ( we also both have 19 years in).

Purple states/ texas, florida make sense. ALL tier 6 teachers are beyond screwed since tier 1 teachers.literally got away with murder.

Cuomo gets an emmy which was already a joke, than he hides 50% of the deaths at nursing home!!!!!!!!

Biden 33 executive orders and Trump is the dictator!!!! Women's sports in peril with this transgender order.

Anonymous said...

Got told today

Kids show up for 5 minutes Remotely they get attendance.

Directive from NYC

Prior to today Principal talked tough and had us mark absent if students were not on cam every period.

What a joke

Anonymous said...

I’ve been team teaching in a great high school since September. Zooming and in person with another teacher. Things were pretty smooth until December when many of us caught the virus. Now it’s one day back and then closed two to four days for contact tracing and then the week starts all over again. None of the teachers here want to stay home and neither do I. Most of the staff here are in their 50s. If I was still teaching in the Bronx, I would be Zooming from New Zealand and praying daily never to go back in person. It’s not really the virus that’s the main issue with (not) teaching in the NYC during this pandemic - it’s all the other of hundreds of soul crushing indignities . The unprofessionalism, the corruption, the indifference, the filth, the facade of education, the crime, the lack of supplies, the moral isolation, the abusive disrespect, deBlasio, Cuomo, the media and Mulgrew’s UFT. (I suspect it’s much the same in Chicago.) Stay out as long as possible, this virus is the best thing that could have possibly happened for your (babysitting) career - if it doesn’t kill you. Enjoy the Apocalypse and ride it like the Trojan horse it is. Cheers.

TeachNY said...

Absolutely. Though I want to open up, I do think many teachers love being home and want things to stay like this forever. The DOE created that mindset. One of the reasons I did not support a strike is because many of the reasons you listed above are not on the list of reasons to strike. Just the pandemic. People always complained about working conditions, but never once mentioned striking.

Anonymous said...

Forgot about Spring break pay?

Anonymous said...

TeachNY. What teacher who gets verbally and physically assaulted on a regular basis wouldn't love not having to be in the same room as her abuser? What teacher doesn't love the fact that these same losers don't show up for remote? They only attend school to abuse people. When they can't abuse, they don't participate. These are the conditions many teachers face in school buildings. They deserve the break. I sympathize with good kids and teachers who want to be in school but I totally get why many NYC teachers don't want to return.

Anonymous said...

Why would I bust my balls, or even want to travel to the building when nobody gives a shit, I get disrespected daily and students can no show, do zero work and pass

Shelley said...

Good point TeachNY. When the opportunity to strike, presented itself to the UFT, the Union had no plan, and, as you note, no list of ongoing grievances, no demands to change the decades long decline into the miserable conditions of workers. All it had was a list of dead workers and a list of pandemic protocols.

On this Blog, James impulsively applauded the President of our union's new-found, nascent militancy when the President dared to use the word STRIKE in public. And when the President walked back his words, James marched in reverse, explaining that this "strike" was not a real strike, not even a safety strike, or job action, but something unlike anything we might consider a strike.

The President and the Union establishment (this Blog included), the "Reformers" have always maintained that they get more from bargaining and negotiating than from job action. At the school level, they see grievances as a method to avoid. Meanwhile, the majority of teachers suffer.

The pandemic was not a reason to strike. It, the loss of worker lives and health were the catalysts, but the list of grievances and demands were all the things that we read about on this Blog from teachers. Those things have only gotten worse, only now, many have a reprieve, a respite from the madness, stress and abuse while the pandemic keeps them working from home. Now, you say this is inequitable, but again, your ignorance undermines your argument. When and how can we have equity? In any union? The job is so spread out over the city's 5 boroughs, and to teach in an affluent neighborhood in Staten Island is a very different job from teaching in an impoverished one in the Bronx. To teach in a safe, well organized school, where teachers are respected and even admired by students and teachers, and yes, even by administrators, say at Townsend Harris in Queens, is quite a different job from teaching at Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn. There is no equity. Can't be. There are great job is poor schools in bad neighborhoods and miserable ones in affluent ones in good neighborhoods. There is parking and commute, there is funding and space, there is population and staffing, there is a myriad of factors that make teaching so different from school to school, classroom to classroom. The Contract is an attempt to level things, but, and each new contract has made it worse, the Contract can't make for an equitable experience. Recent attritions of seniority should be addressed in the new contract and the senior teachers should agitate to close Tier 6. That would be a good foundation for solidarity. But it won't make things equitable. That's not possible. And teachers need to stop bashing other teachers because they have it easier, but instead, act like a Union and make things better for all.

James Eterno said...

Shelley, You have some decent arguments but you lose me here:

"The President and the Union establishment (this Blog included), the "Reformers" have always maintained that they get more from bargaining and negotiating than from job action. At the school level, they see grievances as a method to avoid. Meanwhile, the majority of teachers suffer."

Union establishment and this blog? Maybe not.

I do not see grievances as a method to avoid. They should be filed when the contract isn't adhered to.

A Union that can't pull a strike or a credible threat to strike is fundamentally in a weak state.

Criticize us all you like but get your facts straight, please.

TeachNY said...

I think they’re focusing on paying teachers who have oversized classes first. It’s good pay!

Anonymous said...

Oh, cool. Did they file the grievance for spring break pay yet?