Dear _________,
Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced this morning that high school buildings will reopen for in-person classes on Monday, March 22. High school staff with in-person assignments will report to their buildings on Thursday, March 18 and Friday, March 19 to set up for the safe return of students. We will continue to work with the Department of Education to make it as smooth an opening as possible.
The amount of hard work you have put in this year is awe-inspiring. We know just how challenging it has been for you to keep your high school students focused and engaged in remote learning. Many of you have had to use all the creativity and ingenuity you could muster to teach hands-on skills through a computer screen. You cannot be thanked enough for being the dedicated professionals you are and doing everything you can to help our students succeed during a time of personal stress and uncertainty for all of us.
To reopen high schools, the mayor had to demonstrate that the city could conduct randomized weekly testing of 20% of staff and students in every high school building without any diminishment in testing in elementary, middle and District 75 schools. Thanks to additional federal funding for public schools, the mayor has the resources to increase and sustain that level of testing in all of the city’s 1,800 schools.
This level of testing is what has kept our school communities safe. No high school student will be allowed to stay in school for in-person learning without a COVID-19 testing consent form signed by their parent or guardian.
Our goal is to ensure that all high school educators with in-person assignments have the opportunity to be vaccinated through the union’s vaccine program or the city’s new vaccination sites dedicated to DOE employees. Please fill out the vaccine enrollment form the UFT sent you via email on March 5 if you wish to be immunized through the union’s vaccine program before in-person classes resume. For help and more information, call the UFT Vaccine Hotline at 212-701-9677.
In-person high school educators will have the next two weeks to plan for the transition. The city will use that time to relocate vaccination centers now located in high school buildings. Medical accommodations that were granted earlier this year will continue to be honored through June.
As school buildings that have not been used in months are reopened, our commitment to the safety standards that have kept us safe must not waver. Social distancing, personal protective gear, handwashing and adequate ventilation are just as important as randomized COVID testing. Every high school must follow the comprehensive building safety plan we established in the fall. Please report immediately any issues so we can resolve them.
We are here for each other. Please call us at 212-331-6311 if you have any questions and concerns.
Sincerely,
Michael Mulgrew, UFT President
Janella Hinds, UFT Vice President for Academic High Schools
Sterling Roberson, UFT Vice President for CTE High Schools
80 comments:
The uft lets de blasio keep saying the gold standard when schools open and shut all the time with virus inside the building.
It is so safe for psal that parents aren't allowed to go. What a scam.
If it is so safe, why is porter remotely at this meeting?
so the 18 and 19 are parent conference days...im guessing they want to add to the level of complexity just for fun.
And we go in for a week then off for spring break.
Makes sense for nyc doe
So safe that trs, uft, doe are closed, arbitration is supposedly closed and all of these people with mayor are remote.
I stopped reading after Dear...
There’s so much money flying around now. My school is doling out per session like there’s no tomorrow. They’re even offering a gaming afterschool course!!! That’s exactly what these kids need, an incentive to play more games!
What a joke this system is. Next they’ll say they don’t have money for raises. 0% forever!!!
Or spring break pay
Exactly. They have all the money in the world for pointless per session and coaching but when it comes to giving us our money for previous time worked they push it off. I just want a raise in the next contract. And not 1%!
The PSAL wants to start with sports in April through the summer? What the hell, no coach or even athlete would commit to that. Would make sense to allocate 1/2 coaching hours to prepare for next year and do small training with 4-6 at a time if anything.
Cuomo is like yesssss send them back to school now get heat off me!! 😂😂😂😂
It sounds like our summer vacation is also gone
David, they're going to paint a pay freeze as a huge victory for us.
lots of the stimulus money is tied to getting students back on track, after-school programs, summer programs, Saturday programs etc......get ready for per session up the wazoo!
What do you mean summer vacation is gone?
The mayor clearly said the school sports will go on to August. This promise can't be accommodated if schools end in June and only some needy students go to a few summer-school sites, as it has been before. He also said Juniors and Seniors will use July and August for college readiness. I see high schools go on to August.
I’m sure they will. We’re lucky to have a job. And I’m lucky to be an ATR. Yada Yada Yada.
They can keep their blood money. I’ll spend my Summer with my son.
Don’t think that’s legal. Where did you hear that?
How many HS students will report for on site instruction? Do they still have the option to stay remote? How many teachers are allowed to stay remote? Will students be tested? Will they be allowed in buildings with no masks?
The summer school thing is just a rumor. Don't believe anything until it officially happens. What I think is the biggest joke is that they are saying only 20 percent of kids are going back to in person learning, so how many students will that be in a high school with already poor attendance. I guess you can have group work if you use cut outs and mirrors. Good luck to all. I still think if it is so safe, they shouldn't allow for any accommodations for teachers because many of them are just going to milk it.
Only students who opted into blended in November can come back to school. Students who are remote, stay remote. There is no opt in period for rest of the year. Blended students can go to survey and switch to remote at anytime. If a student does not fill out consent form for testing, they go remote. 20 percent will be tested weekly. Masks and distancing will be required. Teachers who are on accommodation, stay remote for rest of year. If a school has in person teachers teaching remote classes, the principal can let them stay home remotely, but can request up to 20 percent of those teachers to come in on any day to help with coverages.
Anon the baseball coaches already formed their own league working for free so that the upperclassmen get to play varsity baseball. They're playing at other fields (not at schools) where parents can attend, etc. similar to how girls soccer worked in the fall.
I think they'll mess with the school yer somehow but not take summers off away anytime soon
They can't force teachers to work in the summer. There is already summer school for per session. They will just register more students who won't show up.
So safe that trs, uft, doe are closed, arbitration is supposedly closed and all of these people with mayor are remote. Porter was remote this morning, as wasn't Dr Varma and Dr Katz. Even Janet Yellen is remote.
They will tell us to work in this summer without per session pay. Most teachers would not even bother to protest because they are happy to even have jobs.
new teacher here- what does summer school look like? How many hours a day?
5 hours. Days differ based on what school. Can make between 6k and 8k, roughly.
They learn better when not in groups. Maybe they’ll enjoy working independently. Now is the time to really catch them up. Have some great discussions as a class. You’ll get them there! Part of the problem is the obsession with making kids always work in pairs or groups....
The last thing a kid, parent or teacher wants for a student is for them to spend the summer in a classroom or online. They need to be kids.
Only people who want to work will work summer school.
Trying to figure out how people are going to grade regents safely… hahaha.
The facts:
—$2B will be sent to 1.4M criminals in the Dems’ bill
—only $6B will be spent to reopen schools for America’s 50.7M public school students
6:54: I worked summer school last year and it was a disaster. My school used a program called Edmonton on-line which makes students work independently. All we were used for was taking attendance, grading assignments and doing asynchronous instructions for the few students who attended. I would conference with each student for about 5 minutes letting them know what they had to do and asking if they needed help. Most declined the help. The program allowed students to work at their own pace. Needless to say, almost nobody passed throughout the city, but it was the easiest money I made.
Oh man. That sounds so damn impersonal. I hope this isn’t the way education is headed. Good for you with the easy money, but that is something straight outta a Ray Bradbury story. Yikes!
Yup, ilearn and edmentum. Typical doe.
Just in time for variant exponential spread.
4,500+ new cases in NYC yesterday. 34% of new cases are B1526, the NYC variant that undercuts vaccines and spreads easier than older strains.
This is hubris to do this now.
Is it true that school staff who have accommodations cannot return to teach in-person if the reason for the accommodation no longer exists and the staff member wants to teach in-person?
Another book recommendation:
Larry Cuban. Teachers and Machines: The Classroom Use of Technology since 1920. New York: Teachers College Press, 1986.
Although I disagree with Cuban's recent turn, this little book is the best of its kind.
https://www.tcpress.com/teachers-and-machines-9780807775974
Accommodations are still in effect. A teacher who "wants" to return to in school teaching can inform the administration and payroll secretary who will have you sign a "hold harmless" stipulation with the DOE stating that you are knowingly returning to in school teaching despite being granted a waiver by DOE medical earlier last summer.
Hi everyone. This is off topic but if I could get some guidance I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm up for tenure this year but now I'm being told by my admin that they would like to extend me. I've been rated effective every year with no evidence provided to justify extending probation, especially amidst this unforgettable year. Any recommendations to who I can reach out to? My CL says she's trying and the the UFT DR has been mostly mute as well. Can this really happen? Should I seek legal advice? Any recommendations for an attorney? So much for "tenure cannot be affected due to covid." Why pay dues?
Thanks in advance.
For anyone who cares... the president just hired a labor advisor with a history of stomping on workers rights. Tell me again why this senile corrupt old fuck is a better man than Trump.
LOL. Lawsuit about nyc school admissions...
https://www.radio.com/wcbs880/news/local/lawsuit-accuses-nyc-schools-of-racist-admissions-practices?utm_source=WCBS-AM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WCBS-AM%20NEWSLETTER&utm_content=3%2F9%2F21%20WCBs%20Daily
To @5:03 pm
Once again, 5 key takeaways...this one is an exemplar for key #4
These are the five key takeaways to understand UFT collaboration with the DOE:
1) Unity is a one way street.
2) Teacher harassment using weaponized observations is a symptom of a repressive organization.
3) Systemic teacher inadequacy is the "common core" of a delusional conspiracy theory.
4) New racists pose as anti-racists.
5) Double standards are justified for the greater good of promoting corporate privatization.
Hope everyone who LOVES remote teaching saw that one speech by a NYC mayor candidate. He was saying why have in-person learning with 30 kids a teacher when you have the best of the best teaching 400 kids at once over a computer. Yup. This where we are headed. Several of the potential mayors want to “cut down” the NYC workforce. Well, that is one way. Remote teaching could cut the teacher workforce in half. Probably more.
"'We don’t call them Newton’s laws anymore,' an upperclassman at the school informs me. 'We call them the three fundamental laws of physics... to ‘decenter whiteness,’ and we need to acknowledge that there’s more than just Newton in physics.'” —
@bariweiss
6:48, that reminds me of the time Bloomberg was on record as saying, "If it was up to me, I'd dump half the NYC teachers, and I would have the best ones teaching 70 students at a time."
It is obvious to me that the end of public education as we know it, at least in NYC anyway, is coming.
James, you really don't see what's going on in this country? Or you just don't care? Or you approve of it?
@NYCMayor reiterates that city officials are re-thinking the 2 case rule for shutting down school buildings and will announce more details "in the coming days"
SO, as infections happen in schools, schools will stay open. Nice work, uft.
The 2 case rule is a joke anyway. How can you have a school with 100 students close after 2 cases and then a school with 2,000 cases close after 2 cases as well? None of this makes any sense and has nothing to do with what’s best for kids.
This guy is a real joker. Thanks for paying dues for me. I hope all of you are proud.
Mulgrew outlines the 5-point UFT plan:
- Mental Health/Academic Intervention Teams
- Reduce Class Size By One-Third for 100 Neediest Title 1 Schools
- Extended Summer Learning Programs
- Targeted Help For High School Students
- UFT Training Professional Development for Teachers
Asians are being attacked because they were viewed as "Whites"- value education, family, hardworking, personal responsibility & high income. Think about what the lefties are really trying to destroy in the name of CRT.
How come nothing ever changes with all these billions of dollars?
Freezing pay will force many to retire with or without an early retirement incentive. Look what happened to the NYPD. Many are retiring. Not because of antipolice rhetoric but in the removal of excess overtime. Their pensions would decrease dramatically so they have to get out. If they freeze teacher pay and top salary stays at 120K adding in latest retro will be the only way to maximize pension. You could go from a 3 year average of 135k to 120K. Simple way to get rid of higher earning teachers.
Dues well spent.
"Closing school buildings after 2 cases is completely disruptive"
You know what's actually disruptive (and worse)? COVID19 itself. Being sick. Catching/spreading the virus. Wondering if you got others sick. Spreading in not just school communities but home communities. Deaths.
retro isnt included in fas.
You got it Teach. Eric Adams also wants 12-month-a-year school.
This whole charade has been about politics, Big Tech, Big Media and Big Pharma.
The latest from Biden* is a $250 per month welfare check for each child someone has. Then said children sit at home (too often in some PJ/Sec 8/AFFH mess) on a tablet "learning" from Edmentum, Apex, etc. If they don't understand they can call for support (with 400 other kids) from a "teacher" reading a script somewhere in the Third World for a penny on the dollar.
These people at home in their pajamas wasting away don't understand that their signing their own pink slips as their careers and pensions evaporate into oblivion. They're like a frog being slowly boiled in a pot.
I remembered retro pay of 12.5%, 12.5%, 25%, 25%, 25% wouldn't be pensionable.
James, could you clarify this?
Retro was included in FAS as if you made the money based on the raises that should have gone into effect from 2009-11.
So it has no effect on us now.
I will continue in my pajamas till September.
re: 12:01 Any teacher at/near retirement needs to pay close attention. They should have gotten out while they could once it was apparent in the Spring that school wasn't going to open and future budgets were going to be shot. Now their FAS is going to have a big dent in it from the past 12 months of no per session.
The only saving grace could be the upcoming 3% and the possibility of a per session bonanza (especially this summer) with the latest infusion of Monopoly money from the Feds. Even then, your FAS still is going to have a hole in it from last Spring and this past Fall. Even assuming you'll be back to a regular earning capacity (as in per session opportunity) this fall, you're still looking at not being able to retire with a good FAS until June 2024.
Hopefully for people who can't fathom sticking it out until then you can take advantage of whatever the City is cooking up for the Summer.
James, are you sure about this? During a preliminary consultation I was told retros would not be included in FAS since they were earned over a decade prior.
6:48: I actually predicted this about 5-10 years ago that teaching in the future is going to be big networks. I still think it's a ways off. Kids would have to start really young. Also, we wouldn't be able to tell if kids are being abused or neglected, so it has a lot of bugs to work out but I think teaching is safe in the classroom for the at least the next 10 years, but I don't know 20-30 years from now what it will look like.
Looks like James denied publishing my post seeking help from our network. You. Why is that, James? Can your blog not be utilized in support for one another? Or is it merely an echo chamber of complaints? Maybe this post will make it through...
My fellow teachers. I am unfairly being denied tenure. No reason or evidence why. Only effective ratings. Likely just nepotism and during the unprecedented working conditions of this work year, how can this even happen? UFT has been mostly quiet when I reached out. Can I seek legal advice? Aside from Glass whom I may contact, does anyone have an attorney to recommend? I have nowhere else to turn. Thank you, my fellow teachers.
Just a clarification on evaluations. I am a blended in school teacher and choose the video option. My ap is requesting a recording of my google meet with remote students. I am of the opinion that if I am teaching in school I am not to be responsible for remote students but our school never hired a remote teacher for the class. Any thoughts on this James or anyone else... thanks
So Retro is included in the years when the raises should happen, not in the years people actually received the lump sum money?
People retired in 2014 or 2015 should have seen their pensions adjusted?
Per session? What’s that? Asking for an ATR!
Yes 123. It counts for 2009, 10, 11, etc. Nothing for the last few years.
Based on what you've shared its hard to say. Do you also teach an in person class? If so, your administration had to, at their best ability, assign you one position at the start of the year - in person, blended or remote. If they failed to do so that is a grievance you can file if you feel that they are taking advantage. In this case, they shouldn't be observing you on Google meet while you blend with kids at home because you're doing them a favor. Are you blending for 1 period, sometimes less or more? In my opinion, they are taking advantage. If you teach in person then I would advise you to inform them you desire to send a video of you doing just that.
It’s insane to me. I mean, if that DOES happen, I have enough years in where I’ll knock people out with seniority...but good luck to anyone with less that 15 years in....and the remaining...have fun teaching 400 kids a class 12 months a year. I hope people have read up on this man who wants to run for mayor.
I got a 6th class, $7k. Plus my school just emailed about tutoring per session.
Thanks.... I thought the same that I am doing the school a favor to teach the remote kids also. I teach 5 classes in school and I never made any arrangements for doing remote. But thanks for sharing.... I had the same opinion but just trying to help a new teacher.
This Adams candidate is a total muck.
Wants to cut 3-5% of staff from each city agency.
Read this from one of the commenters of the Bloomberg piece:
"As a state legislator, Adams voted for one retroactive pension increase after another for his generation. And higher debts at agencies like the MTA.
These have been followed by service cuts (despite more money), higher taxes, and lower pay and benefits for later-hired public employees.
I will not vote for a former New York State legislator of either party for any office. Including state legislator. He is promising all kinds of goodies, but in order to benefit the already privileged, his generation has already cashed in the resourced that would be needed to pay for them."
Vote for this guy is a vote for being screwed as a NYC Public Employee.
Walks the thin line between democrat and republican and is acting out a total facade.
Futhermore, this whole data driven push to education. Is it needed - sure. Is it indicative of a child's success in life - absolutely not!
I was a straight A student in HS and college. I'm a good teacher. However, underneath all the data was a broken girl. I was anorexic, I was depressed, I was anxious, I then went on the other extreme and became bulimic. But one would look at the data and say - wow, she is going to be fine in life.
I am. But at a huge cost to my mental health. The only reason I'm fine is because of the fear of failure. But everyday, I suffer. I self-harm. I scratch myself when I get anxious and tear at my hear when I get upset.
This Adams dude thinks that 200-300 kids in a class is going to solve the problem. Actually, it will make it worse. Because kids like me whose only saving grace was the relationships they had with their teacher will lose that and regress to their mental health.
My teachers never knew about my problems. But they were kind and they built really good relationships with their student. That served as a temporary distraction from my f-ed brain.
How can he say that this is a solution?
Data is interesting because you get to pick and chose what to include in your analysis and what you will show to the public.
We need to go back old-school where teachers had time to plan and build relationships with their class, where kids have a chance to go outside and play and go on trips, where phones are collected at homeroom, and where kids get to be kids.
This guy is nuts!
https://nypost.com/2021/03/10/de-blasio-mulling-change-to-covid-19-school-closure-protocols/
Right? I don’t even know if he has a chance. The business guys like him. I’m not sure who’s popular. Can’t seem to find much information yet.
Move the goal posts.
Bait and switch.
etc. etc. etc.
5) Double standards are justified for the greater good of promoting corporate privatization.
Eva's charters are not subjected to the capricious and arbitrary poor judgment of Bill
DeBlasio.
Fall lump retro payments not pensionable. I think James was referring to retro salary. If you look at your lump retro statements available on the portal it shows your actual salary and what your salary should have been over the course of many years. They even calculate the difference per paycheck for you. That difference is added in for pension if you retire. In other words, The ‘what should have been’ is used for pension calculations. However If you’re retiring in July, I don’t think retro matters anymore because our actual salaries have matched the ‘what should have been’ starting June 2018. Last 3 years salary for pension calculations no longer affected by what nyc owed us. Don’t take my word for anything. Get a pension consultation at UFT but before you go, look at your retro statement and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
That retro salary was calculated for me as if it was in my pay all along since 2009 and 2010. It wasn't totally included in actual checks until 2018. I am referring to the two 4% increases from Nov 2009 and Nov 2010. Lump sum not included in calculation of Final Average Salary.I totally agree with 8:21 that you should get a pension consultation and take classes and not take pension advice from a blog comment thread. T
A word of advice on pensions.... be as informed as you can be prior to attending consultation or clinic. It can be overwhelming getting hit with info for the first time. Being prepared for consultation includes asking questions. You’ll be better prepared to ask questions if you have some knowledge prior to going for consult. I read everything on pensions and retirement on Chaz’s blog and the retiree companion from trs before my consult 2 years ago and left there feeling confident I was now pretty much well informed. Do not solely rely on this blog or any single source for information. Get a UFT consult. Then when ready get a UFT final consult. One final consult allowed but regular consults you can do multiple times.
If I’m an in person high school teacher, which damn observation rubric are the APs using now ? Are in person high school teachers still responsible only for the kids in front of them that day? Do I have to cater to the fully remote kid who logs on for 5 minutes why I have students in front of me? Why didn’t they waive the stupid observations
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