UFT goes all in with the State and against de Blasio on the new opt in period for in-person learning.
Happy Friday! I hope you are well today.
As you may have heard, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) today announced that it is updating its recommendations for physical distancing in schools, decreasing from six feet to three feet for most students in most cases.
This is welcome news with respect to in-person learning, allowing us to bring more students back into buildings. In response, we now plan to open another opt-in window beginning next week for all families. Our 3K, Pre-K, Elementary, and District 75 Elementary students who opt-in will begin returning to buildings in April; details to come on middle and high school student start dates.
While this is exciting news that allows us to continue to both best serve our children and lead the nation in in-person learning, it is also a complex undertaking, and I know many of you will have questions about what this means for you. Please trust that we are actively working with our partners at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to evaluate the CDC guidance and provide detailed answers as soon as possible. But in the meantime, here’s what I can tell you for now:
· For our principals, I know you want to give your students the best chance for success. I know this will be hard work, but the reward will be on the faces of our kids when they return to buildings. Being a principal for ten years, I understand that any changes now pose major challenges, but we stand ready to support you, troubleshoot, and help any student who wants to be back in the physical classroom get there.
· For teachers, paraprofessionals and other in person classroom staff, we are going to consider health and safety in every single decision we make. I also understand that each school community is different, and we will be flexible and take into account the specific needs of each school as we work closely with our labor partners every step of the way.
· For school support and all other staff, our hard-working custodial workers, food service employees, school aides, parent coordinators -- thank you. From my 20 years in the DOE, I know you all are the ones who keep it all together. This has been a year unlike any other.
One thing this year has taught us is that any time in the physical classroom is valuable. And because we still have a third of the school year left, the DOE is going to do what we have always done during the pandemic: act in the best interest of our school communities, keeping health and safety front and center.
On a personal note, let me say that my first week as Chancellor has certainly been memorable, eventful, and uplifting! As we look forward to the reopening of our high school buildings on Monday and the opt-in opportunities going forward, I hope you will take a couple of minutes to watch this video of me describing why I am so proud to lead you and what lies ahead for us. Thank you so much, and have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Meisha
61 comments:
I guess she failed to mention that THE CDC SAYS 6 FEET OF DISTANCE IS STILL REQUIRED FOR EATING IN SCHOOLS. This is clearly written in the guidelines released today. What ever happened to Mulgrew's "Gold Standard" for reopening?
And the sheep will go in while paying dues while complaining while getting sick. Smart? Sad!
Mulgrew, Randi all the same. NYT reporting Sen Schumer and Randi Weingarten have secured billions for private schools. Thanks for looking out for dues payers.
Randi compliments biden daily about the school reopening and vaccines and safety.
Changed her mind? Which is it?
Randi Weingarten
@rweingarten
·
18m
What is with
@NYCMayor
.. safety is not a sound bite. The
@cdc
has not done any studies on how it’s new guidance would work in large urban districts w/ crumbling infrastructure like NYC. That’s why most of us are reserving judgment . You need a plan Bill, not a pronouncement!!
Many schools were ghost towns when the rule was 6 feet; I don't see many parents opting in now that it's 3. But, if they do opt in in large numbers - won't that result in testing capacity being overloaded? Twice the kids would mean twice the testing, no? Wouldn't that force high schools and possibly middle schools to close again?
Makes you wonder what else the DOE missed when making this decision.
606, that is why i am not a dues payer. I don't know why anyone is.
If distance restriction guidelines are being relaxed to 3 feet —why isn’t the Mayor inviting the Eva Moskowitz Charters kids back into buildings—instead letting them go of full remote till the fall term.
Randi...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Piq2iCaKGtY&ab_channel=TheJimmyDoreShow
So they are going to allow more students, so they have the testing capacity to keep up? Doesn't sound like they thought this through much. Sure you can have little kids in a room, go from 6ft to 3ft. But then how are they eating lunch? Cause students still need to be 6ft away when eating. Teachers still need to be 6ft from students and teachers. But let's just say we are bringing back more kids with absolutely no plan what so ever.. Let's just try to figure it out as we go. Also loved the email suggesting schools should work over spring break to help with programming. It's becoming borderline harassment with new changes after hours and on weekends and not even a business days notice. Good luck everyone
I don't see how reducing the social distancing to 3 feet will motivate more high school students to return. High school students will milk this as much as they can. They don't care about the social aspect of school.
After going all year as an ATR with no responsibility besides grading and sitting in on classes I was informed at 4pm today that there would be a staff meeting at 7:45 am on Monday morning to discuss the new schedule. At 7pm I received another email letting me know that I would be teaching three classes solo on Monday morning, including economics, a class I haven’t even sat in all semester. Not to mention that the kids don’t know me at all, but it’s about the kids right?
I’m not mentioning this to complain because I have it easy, but to further point out how dysfunctional system is.
I’m sure everyone knows this already though.
I do agree with you 100 percent. There will be less high school students returning as I gather from my students. Even the ones who were in school during blended most are not returning. Why would they want to return when they can sleep at home and still pass the class as per doe recommendation to schools and when regents exams are waived. Bill de Blasio doesn’t have a clue.
9:41: What is allowable under the UFT and what is educationally sound are two different things. I know that you are allowed to teach one class out of license.
Good luck dues payers.
B117 variant is now *dominant* in the US. I’m 99% certain that another surge is on the way in April or May. Why? The more contagious #B117 is surging—now crossed the 50% threshold of all cases, in addition to pockets of others variants. Thread #COVID19
https://washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/
James I made a comment about the union focusing on bread and butter issues instead of social issues and you shut down the comments section on that posting because you said it was getting away from the topic. I think that statement is germane to any educational argument in a larger sense so I hope you weeent referring to my comment when you said we had “gotten off the rails”. That being said, I have always felt that I have much more in common with the Black teacher across the hall ( because we are in relatively the same economic class and economic situation) then the elite rich class, be they white, black, Hispanic, Asian, etc. if we focused as a union on the CLASS issue and not the race issue the union would be better off and it would be addressing economic issues for the teacher. All could unite (or you would hope at least most could unite) over an economic class struggle that disregards race. That is why the “white privilege” is so harmful. It pits race against race and serves our economic elites goal, to conquer and divide.
Randi is doing what’s best to get her to the next level in her ambitions - that isn’t staying AFT president; think governmental, private or even elected appointment. Mulgrew has his eyes on her throne. Everything they do is toward those goals - NYC teachers be damned, same as always. Think and act independently from both of them - they are much worse than useless, they are dangerous.
The majority of workers do not want to go back to offices, ever, and companies are shifting to the changed work environment. The majority of teachers? 6 feet? 3 feet? masks? tests? positivity rates? variant strains? Covid? Accommodations? Vaccines?
Maybe teachers, if only subconsciously, are like other works who prefer to stay working from home. The economic substrate that unconsciously incentivizes these preferences is the Visible Hand of managerial capitalism, its thumb on the scale is the Federal Reserve and its accommodations, now, more than ever, after Yellen's appointment, joined at the hip to the Biden Treasury.
Recall when this all got started and we fell in a hole a mile deep, a global depression, with markets crashing, businesses failing, unemployment quadrupling? Seems like a long time ago. We were talking about a strike. We had memorials posted, of friends and loved ones lost. We could not mourn them together. It was tragic and painful. It was the sharpest economic contraction ever. Yes, ever.
But we've done a amazing job here with the banks, though yesterday the Fed pulled one support out, and we have preserved wealth. We have seen a massive growth in household wealth. People are flush not broke. The markets are at all time highs.
Look at these returns on the TRSNYC Diversified Equity
1/4ly. 8.32% 1 yr. 33.71% 3yr. 12.77% 5yr. 15.39% 10yr. 11.52%
Sitting in front of a computer all day has advantages. Managing my portfolio has never been so easy or so lucrative.
Asset values are sky-high. Your home, your stocks, your money is working harder than ever while you sit there getting things done with the click of a mouse.
Amazon it. Tele-health it. Click click ching ching.
We’ll be back to business as usual in schools soon. Chancellor, mayor, Randi,mike all ny politicians want schools back to normal. COVID cases, maskless kids will be swept under rug just like school violence and grade fraud. They don’t need your 2020 vote anymore. Have we not learned that by now? You heard your progressive racist boss, time to open.
In addition to all the money made sitting in front of my computer, other silver linings in the pandemic shutdown of schools and from the work from home year:
all the money and time saved from commuting costs
the money saved in day-care expenses
reduced commuting stress
the positive family time
eating better at home
getting laundry done and cooking done and shopping done while working at home
going our for long walks between zoom classes
working from the beach house in Florida
not seeing those people and that one I can't stand to be in the same room with
not attending meetings with those people and that one on zoom meetings I turn off the camera and pretend to be there if the meeting is mandatory
no drive-by observations
they actually cleaned the building for the first time in 25-30 years, maybe more, so whe3n I do return it will be cleaner than ever, and we will have soap and running water and toilet paper, again, for the first time ever
A lot of major construction has been done, finished
a lot of old junk, full of dust and filth has been removed and new stuff brought in
some of the new tech will make life easier
Much of this will only impact us for a year or two but I'll be out so I'll take the silver linings.
The dark cloud has been so much discussed here ... and it is very dark indeed, but Mulgrew won't be defeated and Unity will continue to sell us out and make bad deals
so it goes.
I am not going to lie: I love teaching from home. After 20 plus years of dealing with crazy bullshit in schools, this was the first year that I had peace of mind. As the posters above mentioned, there are a ton of benefits to working from home. Of course there are going to be a ton of teachers who want to get back into the classrooms but there are also a lot of silent teachers who prefer working from home. And why not? Ask pretty much any office worker and they would probably also prefer to work from home. Lastly, we should start thinking about the Fall. There will still be a substantial amount of parents who will want to continue with fully remote learning. These fully remote teaching positions MUST BE FILLED BY TEACHER SENIORITY!!! There should be absolutely not favortism in filling these jobs. Most senior teacher who wants the remote job gets it.
Question: What’s the difference between Randi Weingarten and Rand Paul?
Answer: The letter ‘i’.
1143. Good point. Rand Paul advocates for what his voters want. Randi runs wild with her own political agenda ignoring what many dues payers want.
I would like to go back in September when adults will have been vaccinated and hopefully students aged 16 and up. I’m also hoping that all students will be able to get a vaccine.
There are some positives working from home, but I don’t know a teacher who’s eyes haven’t been damaged with all the screen time. My HS students show up (camera off) but they are in class and doing the work- grading, checking HW, etc sucks.
I don’t think schools should be open or have their their student attendance expanded until the DOE, UFT, TRS and NYC GOV are completely open. If the political officials and doctors say that it’s safe enough for teachers and school staffs, then all those other people should have to also to deal that level of safety, too.
@9:40, Except for the ATR, of course. They are the most senior teachers in every school and they are actively discriminated against with full UFT approval. They’ll be back in the school this fall covering and teaching almost entirely out of license.
Lol just retire if you don't wanna really work and do your job the way it's supposed to be done. Of course remote is easier. It's also worse for kids.
Very unlikely there will be much "full remote teachers" in the Fall.
Well at least these peoples' masks have come off (pun intended) and they admit the bleating about safety was a big charade.
Lol. The doe doesn't care about the kids.
Lol. Retire? Teachers have finally found a way. Heavily into 6 figures. No commute. Online for a few minutes. Post assignments. Students were passing anyway while learning nothing. Teachers are already begging to get accommodations extended through next school year. What's gonna happen when students are given a remote option next year?
Well, with friends like mulgrew send randi...don't forget to opt out before they take triple dues from the July retro...and don't forget to ask when arbitration opens for last spring break.
Hey Unknown 12:31, how long have you been teaching? Have you had a bunch of letters put in your file over the years? Have you ever been investigated? Have you ever been brought up on 3021a charges? Have you ever been assaulted by a student? Have you had your car broken into multiple times while it was parked IN FRONT of your school? Have you been mincromanaged and targeted to the point of needing anxiety medication? Do you have insomnia from the stress of the job? I have and so have a lot of other teachers over the many years that we have put in at the DOE. This pandemic will be over soon enough but for the time being, we are quite content on the wonderful mellowness that we have experienced for the first time ever.
Is remote worse for kids? I have not read anything convincing on this. Isolation is obviously not good. Mediated experiences have their advantages and disadvantages, and given little choice but to Zoom with Grandma, it's better than not Zooming with Granma, or teacher, or friends and classmates. So the remote solution to the pandemic has been better than nothing, better than what has happened to students in developing nations where the technical means and the resources are not available, and we have anecdotal evidence that particular populations in rich countries like the US, special needs kids, poorer children, children growing up in more dangerous environments, where there is crime, domestic violence, pollution, poor nutrition ...these students have certainly not faired as well as more affluent kids in the pandemic, and we knew this would happen, and that poverty, economic and cultural poverty is the most important indicator of school success, pandemic or no pandemic, remote or in person, but we have no evidence that remote learning is bad for kids, that it should be trashed now that we returning to buildings. And, there is no plan to trash it. It won't go away with the pandemic. This, because like all technologies it will improve the lives of millions, billions maybe, if one applies it to schools on a global scale.
I have absolute seniority of every kind in my school and I plan to use it to get the best work for me. And right now that looks like remote teaching. And I feel not a bit guilty.
I am better at in person that remote, that is true, but so what? Someone will get the gig. Why not me?
I don't see how having Seniority will ensure you get remote learning. Seniority today in the doe doesn't ensure anything. Even when I had 30 years at my old school I was still given multiple classrooms. I really don't see what Seniority has to do with it.
Dues payers are lucky mulgrew is protecting them.
https://www.radio.com/wcbs880/news/local/ny-state-reports-first-case-of-brazilian-coronavirus-variant?utm_source=WCBS-AM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WCBS-AM%20NEWSLETTER&utm_content=Daily%203%2F20%2F2021
Remote learning must be an excellent mode of instruction since all the Eva Moskowitz Charters staff and students of all ages have been home since last March and are not returning for on site till August.. Are the parents complaining about their children sitting for hours each day by the computer? What has DeBlasio said about this Moskowitz scenario?
Nothing is ensured just because you have the lowest file number in the building. You have to assert your seniority. First, you have to get the UFT to respect your seniority, even if your CL and everyone on up to the President is a Unity sell-out, and get the Admins to respect it, and get your collogues to respect it. The rules are on your side. As for classrooms, sure, they can program you to teach in 5 different classrooms on five different floors of the building, and not give you keys, to the classrooms or the elevator. But you can fight back. The contract has strong language on the number of classrooms: "held to absolute minimum."
You have to willing to upset some people. Others may not like it as before you asserted your seniority they had a great program and so on, but you have seniority and you have to use it.
Article Seven is still in the contract. Use it.
Off topic, but informative: I happened upon the NEW DOE health screening. It seems as though they finally caught up with the CDC and are asking if we are FULLY vaccinated. Once there is a 'yes' response, no follow up questions. This would mean no quarantining after spring break if a vaccinated teacher is traveling domestically. Finally!!
Off topic, but informative: I happened upon the NEW DOE health screening. It seems as though they finally caught up with the CDC and are asking if we are FULLY vaccinated. Once there is a 'yes' response, no follow up questions. This would mean no quarantining after spring break if a vaccinated teacher is traveling domestically. Finally!!
Hi Anon 8:27. You know what I noticed about the new DOE Health Screening? I noticed that it is SCAM. It says that you have to be "fully vaccinated" to avoid travel quarantine even inside the United States. What about the teachers that do not want to be vaccinated? They will still have to quarantine for spring break if they travel. I truly believe that the change to the health screening has the purpose of determining which teachers have been vaccinated since as of now, the DOE has not mandated vaccines for teachers and does not have a full list of who has been vaccinated. Once you admit on the health screening that you have been fully vaccinated, the DOE will know which teachers have had the shot. Soooo, what does this mean? It means that soon the DOE will no longer require fully vaccinated teachers to quarantine if they are exposed to a kid at school who had covid, thus causing less school closures and/or the need for subs.
This is the most honest reply I have seen in awhile. What bothers me is that nobody ever speaks of these things as the reason for NOT wanting to return to the buildings. When there was threat of striking, not ONE teacher mentioned the things above as a reason to strike. These are the reasons I would strike for. I really wish people would stop pretending about the fear of the virus and instead speak the truth like this person and Shelley.
So honest. Love it!
I agree with 831. They're making a list. However, since the spread of Covid as a vaccine recipient is unknown, I think they're jumping the gun. They're definitely up to something. I'm going to keep answering the old way.
I want to go back and I want to do it safely. You selfish assholes publishing publicly that you want to stay home or work from the beach house give us all a bad name.
Ironically, your comments which are read by higher ups at DOE and UFT help lead the open school brigade. Teachers are just lazy. No mention of the variants that are taking hold.
Really? I thought being a teacher was just an awful job led by an awful union. A total lose-lose situation. It was the same in 2019, same in 2005. I thought the contracts were were awful in 2005 and 2014. The virus has nothing to do with that. The problem would be the idiots who keep paying dues, keep accepting bad deals, bad working conditions and an awful mayor and uft president.
If the comments are read by the doe and uft, where is the spring break pay?
And why do we still have grade fraud?
And no show students passing?
And a fake graduation rate?
Why don't you get? If they open high schools fully, students still aren't attending. It will just be resentful teachers sitting there doing nothing. They'd rather us be unsafe? But pay dues, right?
NYC teachers are not lazy. They are just fed up and jaded after years of abuse by the DOE.
The Doe higher ups opinion of me is of no concern. The doe created and continues to use our psychologically and sometimes physically toxic work place as a weapon against teachers. If you don’t work in a toxic school, you’re in the minority. For those of us who do, having doe scumbags think I’m lazy is the last thing I give a flying fuck about. I think the doe higher ups are the biggest scumbags in town. The only thing I have to say to them, is fuck you, pay me.
They read the shit to make us look bad and you assholes give them plenty of material to use.
Make us look bad to whom? Has the NY Post been quoting this blog? If they have, then maybe all the anonymous commenters are really NY Post staffers ginning up a story. Whatever the case...Fuck you, pay me.
You look like a bunch of selfish assholes and the last comment proves it fairly well.
Lol. Look bad. They gave Porter 363k a year with 1 year teaching experience. Leader of an F school. I had long talks with my ap and principal about the grade fraud at my school. TmAfter showing specific grades from specific teachers, they both said they agree with me but won't do anything about it. Why would I be afraid of being exposed? I'm just speaking the truth.
Years ago, I complained to the Executive Assistant to the Superintendent in my district that my principal had threatened, in an angry tone of voice, to put a letter in my file.
The Exec told me, “You should have said to him, ‘So put the letter in my file and call me pisher!’ “
He probably meant something such as this:
http://pissedoffteeacher.blogspot.com/2011/01/call-me-pisher.html
I just read an article in the Post that the CEO of Texas Roadhouse just committed suicide because he could no longer stand the effects he was feeling from Covid 19. This is why I'm sick of people downplaying this thing. YOu can get it and live through it, but still have side effects that can go on for months. Also, they said that Donald Trump was actually a lot sicker than he said he was. He just downplayed it.
So why is mulgrew ok with open schools? Why do you accept it? Why go?
"New York’s homegrown COVID-19 variant may be infecting people who have already had the virus — or even been vaccinated, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration said Sunday."
https://nypost.com/2021/03/21/new-yorks-covid-variant-may-infect-vaccinated-residents/
"“The question is whether [B.1.526] is responsible for some of the increases that we’re seeing in New York right now and whether this is the beginning of a new outbreak inside the city,” he said."
Good Morning Comrades,
I pay close attention to messaging in discourse, particularly when it impacts me directly.
The C.D.C.'s New Guidelines give us statistical predictions on classroom transmission risks predicated on the assumption that they will be implemented and followed under IDEAL conditions and with 100% compliance.
I noted that the new three foot guideline is in the lead paragraph of the report.
Buried deeper in the report is a qualifying statement that addresses the conditions more in line with NYC.
Areas with high levels of new cases and high percentages of transmission, safe distance should remain 6 feet apart.
Note Well how everyone who cites the report -- Admin, Media, Political leaders, etc. ONLY refer to the first, guideline.
Three feet, may be okay for a suburban or rural school with small populations. But NYC buildings are overcrowded, and lack state of the art ventilation.
The guidelines and Administration assume that schools will receive 100% cooperation from students.
Returning students are now in the start of ALLERGY season.
Students cannot manage to wear masks for 6 hours and 20 minutes every day. (I can't.)
Administration and the CDC assume that students will be 100% compliant with classroom rules. (They won't).
12:10, For some reason, your comments didn't show on my email from Google but this was in the comment feed on the administration page. I printed it. I think you make some excellent points.
I can’t speak for all conservative people, 12:10 but I will never work side by side with lefties on a common cause. They crossed a line and there is no going back. I’d rather see every public school turn charter than give lefties any breathing room.
Wonder what line we are talking about. Politics have no lines whatsoever and do whatever they want only to protect their self interest... Left, middle and right
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