NEW UNITY VIDEO CLAIMS UNITY IS MOVING THE UNION FORWARD

 Please watch the latest Unity-UFT promo video. For those who do not know, Unity is the invitation-only caucus (political party) that has controlled the UFT since the 1960s.

I commented at youtube and so should you.

My comment:

Moving our Union forward. Are you serious? 

-Unity surrendered our seniority rights in 2005 by agreeing to the creation of Absent Teacher Reserves (there is no such thing as Absent Firefighter Reserves; when firehouses are closed, firefighters are placed permanently; most unions respect seniority rights); 

-Unity let the interest on the fixed TDA go down from 8.25% to 7% (CSA [principal's union] and PSC [CUNY Teachers union] still get 8.25%); 

-Unity weakened tenure rights where the burden of proof is now on teachers when charged for incompetence; 

-Unity allowed the law to change so there is an extra year to achieve tenure for new teachers; 

-Unity did nothing to stop the creation of the vastly inferior Tier VI pension system for teachers hired in 2012 and after; 

-Unity allowed anti-public school state education commissioner John King to impose the horrible Danielson teacher evaluation system on us;

-Unity agreed to a contract with 18 months of zero raises in 2014 and they lied to us by saying the city's cupboard was bare when the city's financial situation was improving and moving ahead was better than ever;

-Unity agreed in 2014 to set the worst pattern for raises for municipal unions in NYC history by agreeing to increases totaling 10% over 7 years and then Unity extended the contract for almost another half year of zeros.

-Unity leadership did not pull UFT members out of school buildings the UFT knew were infected with Covid-19 in March 2020 (subsequently over 70 DOE employees died in the spring from COVID-19 and even President Mulgrew admitted it's logical to assume some were infected at work); 

-Unity leadership sent out a memo worrying more about losing union dues than protecting member lives in March where they discouraged UFT members from engaging in a life saving sickout;

-Unity forfeited spring break in the pandemic; 

-Unity suspended the grievance process since the pandemic started, leaving individual members at the mercy of administrators (courts are open via Zoom so why not virtual grievances?);

-Unity is as responsible as the mayor for allowing the city to reopen schools in the fall when the majority of parents are opting for remote learning and many buildings are not safe; 

-Unity agreed to let the city withhold the final payment of the interest-free loan we made to NYC in the 2014 Contract so now we will be waiting 12 years before we will be paid back in full for work we did from 2009-2011 (and by the way, the city is not so broke https://iceuftblog.blogspot.com/2020/10/comptrollers-report-shows-city-not.html);

-Unity will not stand up publicly to most of the many principals who abuse UFT members; 

-Unity enthusiastically supported Bill de Blasio's reelection in 2017 when we knew after four years, he was Bloomberg lite on education.  

-Unity ended even rudimentary democracy at union meetings so now all questions are screened in advance and now basically only softballs are asked to the president;

-Unity rigs elections by allowing retirees scattered all over the country to vote for who will represent active teachers. (In what other union can a retiree in Florida vote on who will be the high school vice president for NYC?)

I can go on and on. 

I ask one question: Is the teaching profession in NYC better off now than it was before Michael Mulgrew and Randi Weingarten took over the UFT? It's time to repair or replace the UFT with a real union.

EARLY RETIREMENT INCENTIVE BILL INTRODUCED THAT HAS CITY LETTER OF SUPPORT

The Delegate Assembly actually was not a total waste of time as it was announced that an early retirement bill has been introduced in the State Senate by Brooklyn Senator Andrew Gounardes that has a letter of support from NYC. 

Here are the parts of the summary of Senate Bill S9041 that I think most of you would be interested in:

A member is eligible to participate in Part A of the ERI Program if he or she:

   * Is otherwise eligible for service retirement;

   * Is at least age 50 with 10 or more years of service and is not in  a plan which permits retirement at half-pay with 25 or fewer years of service without regard to age 

MPACT ON BENEFITS: Part A would provide one-twelfth of a year of additional retirement service credit for each year of pension service, up to a maximum of three years of additional retirement service credit.

Part B would allow members to retire with an unreduced benefit if they are at least age 55 with 25 or more years of service.

I welcome someone who is more versed at these matters than me to simplify it for us. 

LIVE BLOGGING FROM OCTOBER VIRTUAL DELEGATE ASSEMBLY

Moment of silence for Elizabeth Languilli and Edie Shanker (wife of Al Shanker) who both passed away.

President's Report

 Only school system that had mandatory testing until statedesignated certain other districts to test. Pushed back the opening of school twice because we weren't ready. DOE guidance on how to program a school changed a number of times. Plan was in place. First postponement because PPE wasn't in place in schools. Reports from chapter leaders important, also building response teams. We learned 900 schools not ready. Days of superintendents saying everything is okay are over. We moved DOE and city hall. Thanks everyone who sent in information. Thanks everyone who went to training. We are still short on staff. Still have problems to solve. Too many schools where UFT members doing multiple jobs. We need to resolve problems in the next week or two. The phased opening is a great benefit for us despite some chaos. Now it is about implementation. Supply people at DOE have been extremely responsive to UFT. PPE's or cleaning problems we can get fixed. 24 hour turnaround on UFT staff members for test results. It wasn't happening. It was taking four or five days to get those results. Went back to city hall and asked if they had a remedy. City made a central situation room that was a hub for all of the agencies. We have been happy with the results. We get a report every night from the DOE on positive test results for any individual connected to schools. We don't bother with DOE on testing. We went to city hall to get situation room set up. Our agreement said zipcodes over 3%, have to have immediate testing in that school. Only 25 out of over 100 schools and sites were tested. We were ready to go to court to file to get an injunction to get schools. We were ready to go on Monday but on Sunday we got a phone call from city hall that schools in those zipcodes were going remote on Wednesday. Governor became involved. He met with Mulgrew and the mayor.  Governor wanted to use areas and closed schools on Tuesday. Governor came out with red, orange remote, yellow zones 20% have to be tested. We like that plan. Yellow plan goes into effect next week. 2,400 tested yesterday. That will go up. Every school has to have a certain percentage tested. Everyone is on board with massive testing. Country is at the beginning of the second wave that we have all heard about. Challenge is to keep city safe. It's about data, not politics. Problem with PPE, cleaning or following procedures, you must let UFT know. We have to know about it to fix it. 

City, state and federal economies are wrecked. We tried to get cares act passed. It gave us a lifeline but it ended Sept 30. No stimulus since then so there are no massive layoffs. Teachers being laid off in different parts of NYS. It will be a big problem even with the stimulus package. Economy is wrecked. City preparing layoff notices. Notices not sent out. Layoffs still on the table. City would be enticed to do layoffs if we were fully remote. Systems in full remote more prone to layoffs. Economies are wrecked. Even with stimulus package, it will be difficult over the next couple of years. Nobody has faced borrowing $30 billion like the state and would still be in debt. Economy can't cover basic operating expenses. Hearing better news about the virus. Covid crisis for this entire school year probably. Next school year they should have a vaccine ready. We can worry about who wants it then.

Lump-sum payment: Anticipating bad things. We didn't talk to the city at all about it. On October 2, city would not give confirmation they were processing the payment. A week later, Mulgrew called the city about members checking on payroll a week before. Information not processed. We had prepared legal papers. Got notice that they would not process lump-sum payment due to fiscal situation with the coronavirus. Papers were ready for arbitration. Mediator for Contract ready that was Martin Scheinman. City not happy that we went to arbitration right away. Premise of city's argument is that it is a difficult fiscal time so they can't make a payment. City can then say any time they are in a difficult fiscal situation, they don't have to make their payments. Arbitrator started mediating the two parties. I would prefer we get it. Half end of the month and half at the end of July. Artibtrator gave the no layoff clause which will be there for another year if we get fiscal stimulus.

Working on early retirement incentive with MLC. We got legislation introduced on Friday. Senator Andrew Gounardes introduced bill. City has given us a letter of support. No early retirement incentive yet but we have taken the first of many steps in the process. 

We don't want the system to go fully remote because that would mean COVID-19 has come through the city and state again. Still a lot of work to do. Day-to-day working conditions and scheduling problems now. Can't have a teacher being the in-person and blended teacher unless teacher wants it. Hiring many folks. Principals were saying they are ready to open because they didn't want to deal with central DOE but they really needed more teachers. Chapter leaders will get phone calls on operational complaints. We need to find out how much staff we need at each school. Willing to take DOE on over the staffing.  Case for each individual operational complaint. SBO UFT staff has to want, not the principal. Your tool, your power.  Afraid some schools would have things jammed through. Don't want an SBO, don't do it. Principals being told that they can't hire. Our agreement is based on short budget. Big push in the next two weeks to resolve this. Attendance doesn't matter at this point. We got system going. Central level management are the problem. Told the chancellor it's his fault. Election Day a remote learning day. Needed to meet obligation to State of New York. Some principals think it's up to them if staff has to come to buildings on remote learning Election Day. First thing we will ask mayoral candidates what their plans are to fix DOE bureaucracy so schools are supported. Unbelievable, why they would want schools to be open for staff on election Day. We figure it out. Keep focused on safety protocols. No 30 day supply of masks, let us know. Instructional side of DOE not working well.  

Nationally, you all watch news, doing a lot on elections. Doing phone banking through NYSUT. Two races we are concerned with. Max Rose on Staten Island and Andrew Andrew Gounardes in Brooklyn. Retired teachers out there trying to protect us. Very active chapter. Thank them. 

Staff Director's Report

Fill out the census. 2020 census.gov. Hispanic heritage month. Election November 3. Get out the vote. Breast cancer awareness month is October. Consider making a donation to American Cancer Society.

30 Minute Question Period

Question: Thanks you to Michael Mulgrew. Principal not releasing people from working from the building who are working remotely? Principal wants it in writing.

Mulgrew Answer: She received it in writing. Inform district representative. File operational complaint or have a conversation with the superintendent. Resolve in a day or file operational complaint.

Question: D6 CL asks about SBO on evening and afternoon conferences on Friday night. Can we undo SBO?

Answer: Contact Debbie Poulos. We didn't have a calendar when we did the SBO.

Question: Delegate coerced by CL to work in person and remotely. Out of compliance with gym teacher teaching remote and in person?

Answer: Operational issues. If not getting cooperation, directly contact district rep.

Question: HS CL asks with state in fiscal crisis, are our pensions safe?

Answer: Pensions are fine. Tied to stock market. In very good shape. We pay into pension. Extreme conservatives like Manhattan Institute want to take pensions away. Long term, how do we get through without a layoff. Medical benefits, MLC hasn't sat down with city.  Assuming massive hikes in medical plans. Okay on pensions.

Question: D27 CL-Staff not doing SBO. Principal asked for SBO. Staff didn't want it. No vote. Principal says there is a problem. CL said she would file an operational complaint. Principal says it's a black mark on the school. Principal said she would hire from budget hasn't done it.

Answer: Some principals are asking CL's to file operational complaints. Nobody gets proper support from DOE. Good principals solve problems with CL's. Amy Arundell will follow up.

Question: CL D30 Queens-Students sent home by nurse, return the next day with no medical note or test for coronavirus. Allowed to stay in building. Have you heard of this?

Answer: Tell district rep to file under safety. Issue is keeping each other safe. Can't play the game of trying to appease parents.

Question: D2 High School delegate-What's our position on passing legislation to tax the rich?

Answer: State union running campaign to tax the rich, millionaires tax. Stimulus package will get us a little help. State approaching $36 billion in debt. Even with a stimulus, when is our economy going to get going? Wall Street is working. Go through neighborhoods throughout city, stores are boarding up. Tourism stopped. We don't want people coming to NYC from other states now. Election, one candidate wants to really hurt NYS. We recommend to people who to vote for. 

Question: D6-Question about spring break pay. Why hasn't this been decided in arbitration like lump-sums?

Answer: Issue with lump sum went quickly to arbitration because of what was in contract. We will get to it when it's time on spring break.

Question: Manhattan PSMS CL-People who don't fill out absentee ballot who want to vote in-person?

Answer: Law in NYS changed since we have more than four hours after school, we can vote. Vote in-person with full PPE and hand sanitizer. Will vote early to make sure ballot is counted.

Question: Thank you for good work. Other districts in the state going remote having layoffs. If we go remote, can we have layoffs? Is COVID testing mandated?

Answer: No on layoffs if we go remote. DOE said it was not mandated. This is a health emergency. New guidance is that testing is mandated if you want to work or be a student in a NYC school. Come November, it's mandatory. Nobody's DNA is being collected for nefarious purposes.

Question: CL alternate schools-Policy on writing up people redeployed?

Answer: No policy, can be written up if not doing job properly. If you disagree, exercise due process rights.

Question: CL D19-PROSE school. Ballots out the window. Should PROSE schools be doing SBO's for this year?

Answer: PROSE schools having a problem because of the COVID crisis. Initial response is to do something for this year. Like DA, change rules on covering you for the health emergency.

New Motion Period

Motions sent in

For next month which requires a majority vote: Preface by saying retiree chapter supports in service members. Motion in honor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She was a James Madison HS graduate.

Nobody spoke against. 97% yes, 3% no

Motion 2 for this month which requires a 2/3 vote to get on agenda. Hispanic heritage month for UFT to support Hispanic hiring and doing more for Hispanic community. 91% yes and 8% no.

Motion 3-Jeff Andreusen- Mulgrew says he will form a committee on using technology in UFT voting so Jeff doesn't present his motion.

Special Orders of Business

Move an agenda item up on a special election: 93% yes.

UFT supports Kevin Reilly for District 12. Mary Atkinson spoke in favor. Peter Lamphere wanted to know if Reilly was in favor of taxing the rich. Mulgrew says members from district make the recommendation. Calls question out of order. Two speakers thank Mulgrew for everything and one supports him and the other says something about something else. 90% vote to support Riley.

Black Lives Matter people have three resolutions. Mulgrew wants them to get together to make one. 

Meeting is adjourned based on time but Mulgrew emphasizes operational complaints.

Leroy Barr asks for an extension of the meeting. 80% vote to extend.

Resolution to support United States Postal Service. 91% support.

COMPTROLLER'S REPORT SHOWS CITY REVENUE COMING IN BETTER THAN EXPECTED; UNION WORKERS IN ONE NYC UNION JUST CHANGED THE UNION REPRESENTING THEM

Comptroller Scott Stringer released a report on the city's finances. Guess what: the financial situation is not as dire as the mayor's budget was forecasting just a few short months back.

For those who say the city could not afford to pay UFTers the $900 million they owed us on October 1 for work we did from 2009-2011 that Michael Mulgrew inexplicably agreed to postpone in part to the end of July, please consider this from the Comptroller:

The City’s central treasury balance (funds available for expenditure) stood at $7.90 billion as of Wednesday, October 7. At the same time last year, the City had $6.73 billion (Chart 7).

I'm no accountant but it looks to me like the city could have paid us in full and still had more money available than last year at this time.

There were substantial declines in city tax revenues in certain sectors but there was "A 3.9% increase in the city’s property tax – the City’s largest single tax source..." 

Then, there is the conclusion from Stringer that while there has been a decline in tax revenue:

Overall, however, the loss in revenue has been more contained than initially expected. For the fiscal year just ended in June, tax revenues exceeded both our Office’s and the City’s projections by about $1 billion.

Before we get 20 comments about how you opted out of paying union dues, I would like to remind readers that we can choose a different union to represent us as the Carriage Horse Drivers recently did. 

  From the Chief Leader:

Since 2008, the close-to 100 carriage drivers had been affiliated with Teamsters Local 533, but they recently opted to join Local 100, which represents most Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers and a growing number of employees in the tourism industry at Big Bus Tours and New York Waterway.

"It just seemed a better fit, and the consensus was the TWU was the way to go," said Colm McKeever, a spokesman for the group who has been driving for 31 years. "We were the pioneers in transit. It was the horses that paved the roads here in New York City, and we will pave the return of this great city."

McKeever's conclusion:

During a phone interview, Mr. McKeever said the carriage operators and drivers were actually "68 mom-and-pop businesses" that needed to coalesce into a union that gives them "the power with one direction and one voice."

"You know how it is with politicians—they listen to unions," Mr. McKeever said. "If you are not unionized, you are on your own. You are chaff to the wind."

I know, I know you are going to say teachers in NYC are in a union that is a thousand times bigger than this tiny union for the drivers. All that means is we need to take all of the anger we are feeling over being completely abandoned by the UFT and use it to organize to repair or replace the UFT. We need a real union and not the Michael Mulgrew version.

MANY NYC SCHOOLS BECOMING ALMOST "PHANTOM" SCHOOLS

 Back when I was at Jamaica High School, there were always classes for the Long Term Absentee students. We called them "phantom classes" because they had listed as their room the assistant principal's office and there were never any students there attending class. The only exception was when one of the LTA's came back to school in which case he/she would show up at the AP's office and get a real program for real classes. 

In the current NYC blended learning environment created by Bill de Blasio, Richard Carranza, and Michael Mulgrew, we now have schools that soon will be approaching the status of "phantom schools" as there are so few students in attendance. Sue Edelman wrote about this in a NY Post article the other day. She called some NYC schools ghost towns.

In-person attendance at some Big Apple schools is so low, instead of students, teachers expect to see tumbleweeds rolling down the hallways, staffers told The Post.

Three weeks after Mayor de Blasio trumpeted the reopening of schoolhouse doors to kids from 3-K to high school, the city Department of Education refuses to publicly report any daily attendance data.

But insiders working in largely deserted buildings revealed last week just how bad attendance has become.

“Ghost town is definitely the right word for it,” a Brooklyn high school teacher said. “It’s very quiet.”

The teacher said only a handful of students — if any — show up daily for class. But it’s not the kind of class de Blasio and Chancellor Richard Carranza have touted.

The few students in the room log onto laptops or iPads for lessons broadcast to the majority of kids in the class — remotely. One teen who lacks a device takes the class on his cell phone.

“It makes the mayor feel good about himself to say the schools are open, while kids literally shiver in rooms, bored and isolated, in front of screens,” the teacher said.

Sue goes on to give other examples. She even cites an elementary school.

At the Fresh Creek School, PS 325, in East New York, a staffer told The Post the 200-student school had only 10 kids show up on Sept. 30, the second day of in-person classes, and 12 on Oct. 1.

“This is disgraceful,” the staffer said, calling the presence of two administrators, teachers and paraprofessionals “wasteful.”

Crystal Lewis has a similar article in the Chief Leader.

Our friend UFT Solidarity leader Lydia Howrilka, who teaches at Clara Barton High School, is featured in this piece.

The first day of classes turned out to be the last time Ms. Howrilka went to school—soon after, she began experiencing symptoms associated with coronavirus, including a fever, a loss of taste and smell, body aches and fatigue. Although a rapid COVID test came up negative, she has been quarantining at home.

Unbalanced Class Sizes

A myriad of issues have also come up because of blended-learning, including a Teacher shortage. Ms. Howrilka said the largest class she taught in-person was six students. “Meanwhile, other Teachers have 40 students in their online classes, which is above contract,” she said. “If we went fully remote, we could share the load, and make things more equitable.”

Lydia has applied for an accommodation to work from home. Remote teaching would make sense since most of the students are learning remotely but so far, even though she is part of the lawsuit that she inspired and she has worked hard for so many others to get accommodations, she has not yet succeeded in getting an accommodation.

She sent this to me earlier today:

WHY CAN'T THE GODDAMN CITY OF NY AND THE NYC DOE PUT ME AS A FULLY REMOTE TEACHER?

My colleagues who are teaching remote are seeing their classes grow as more parents pull their kids out of hybrid learning and my hybrid classes are shrinking. I have lost so far 5 kids from my hybrid classes (5 kids across 5 sections when you have sections no bigger than 6 kids is very substantial)

This kid is a likable child too. She stands up for herself, she's the mother hen who teaches younger siblings at home, and she wrote the most badass email to the AP for programming when her schedule was changed 3 times over 2 weeks.

I wish Lydia the best for a speedy recovery. Lydia's class size of six is not unusual. I actually know someone who has phantom classes where no students are present most days and this teacher tells me it is not unusual.

It's still the same old, same old at the DOE. Games and politics first with students and teachers last always.

There are three people who are most responsible for this mess in staffing and unbalanced class sizes: Bill de Blasio, Richard Carranza, and their great enabler: Michael Mulgrew. 

I dedicate "Ghost Town" by the Specials to these three giants of blended learning educational malpractice.

READ THE ARBITRATION CONSENT AWARD FOR YOURSELF TO KNOW THIS WAS A UFT-CITY DEAL TO DELAY OUR MONEY AND NOT A RULING BY AN ARBITRATOR

I continue to be suspicious by how quickly the UFT and the City were able to come to an agreement to delay payment for work we did up to 11 years ago that was due to be paid this week. Half of that money will not come until the end of this month and the other half will have to wait until the end of July 2021 to be received. The delay will be almost twelve years by then from the time we did some of the work.

No other city union has agreed to postpone their back pay. If the UFT said to Mayor de Blasio, "Go ahead, make my day," when the mayor tried to withhold money the city owed us, the city would have had to back down. There would be consequences for the city's credit rating if the city refused to pay one of its bills. In court, we could demand interest. We would have had a very strong case.

Michael Mulgrew is trying to say that independent Arbitrator Martin Scheinman made the decision to split the lump sum payments due this month in half.

 Mulgrew stated on Friday:

An independent arbitrator has overturned the city’s attempt to avoid paying the final lump-sum payments for wages you earned going back to 2009 and 2010.

The arbitrator has ordered the city to pay half of the money owed now and the other half next July.

The arbitrator ordered nothing. Arbitrator Scheinman's own words:

I implored and pressured the parties to explore a possible resolution to this matter. 

The parties then negotiated a deal and asked Scheinman to write it up as a "consent award."

For those seeking legalize wording:

Consent Award – Usually the parties have reached a settlement and agreed to terms which are then incorporated into an award which can be enforced similar to a Judgment by consent. 

Why is this important?

I am sick and tired of being deceived by Michael Mulgrew, who is now trying to deflect blame to an arbitrator for a deal that Mulgrew himself was present at the hearing to negotiate and the UFT President agreed to. Mulgrew is either the architect or enabler of much of the disastrous and often deadly Department of Education policies and practices that have been implemented in the NYC schools since March. He needs to finally be held accountable now.

For those interested in reading the consent award, it's all there and we copied it below as it will sooner or later probably disappear from the UFT website.

                 

 

TRS WAS ENCOURAGING UFTERS TO INCREASE TDA CONTRIBUTIONS FOR LUMP SUM PAYMENT

Below is a letter the  Teachers Retirement System sent to active UFTers urging them to increase their TDA contributions for the final lump sum contribution that was expected for October 15:

Dear TRS Member:

Even during these uncertain times, investing in your own retirement is always a smart decision. And TRS' Tax-Deferred Annuity (TDA) Program is a great tool for you to use. In October, you have the rare opportunity to make a "painless" one-time deposit into your TDA account.

Our records show that you may be receiving the upcoming retroactive payment under the United Federation of Teachers contract. The payment is scheduled for October 15, 2020, according to the Department of Education.

The larger paycheck means a larger investment in your TDA account, if you are actively making TDA contributions. But you can invest even more for your retirement by increasing your TDA contribution rate (the percentage of your pay that you invest in TDA) in advance.

Changes to your TDA contribution rate normally take effect about 30-45 days after you elect the change on our website, so here are the dates to remember:

When to go online to increase your rate:

9/1-9/15

When to go online again to change your rate back:

9/16 or later

These two steps will allow you to put a bigger chunk of that one big paycheck into TDA—and then to resume contributing at your regular rate on future paychecks.

Changing your TDA contribution rate online is easy: Just enter your username and password at www.trsnyc.org, choose TDA in the main menu bar, and then use the Change Rate feature.

If you have any difficulties logging in, the how-to videos on our website may help you.

If you continue to have issues, we suggest you try again during TRS business hours, so that you can call a Member Services Representative for assistance if needed.

Once you complete the rate change, TRS will send you a confirmation email and letter. But keep in mind that the new rate won't be shown on your TDA page until the change is made on payroll.

We hope you'll take advantage of this opportunity to boost your retirement savings. And, if you're not yet contributing to TDA, now's a great time to start!

For more information, please refer to our TDA Program Summary.

Sincerely,

TRS Member Services

Some UFTers listened and upped their contribution.

Then after Bill de Blasio and his union partner Michael Mulgrew finished playing their silly little arbitration game this week by agreeing to delay the lump sum payment (half until the end of the month, the other half until the end of July 2021), this was the resulting take home pay:

Thank you very much Mr. Mulgrew for always looking out for the city. Plenty of UFTers, many who are single moms, are having trouble paying bills this month because of their spineless UFT President. 

Has anyone heard of NYPD, Sanitation, FDNY, CSA, DC37, or any other city union deferring money they were owed? 

Repair or replace the UFT. We can do it.

ARBITRATION DEAL TO GIVE US HALF RETRO AT THE END OF OCTOBER, HALF IN JULY AND NO LAYOFFS

There is an arbitration agreement between the UFT and the City that was reached today. Arbitrators don't rule in a few hours.

Jeff Kaufman and I are calling BS on this being a ruling (see Michael Mulgrew email below). Since when does the city "pledge" and "guarantee " in a ruling from an arbitrator? Mulgrew must think we are beyond stupid. This is obviously an agreement.

The details:

• 50% of the Lump Sum payments we should have received by Contract on October 1 will be distributed at the end of October 2020
• 50% of the lump sum payments we should have received by Contract on October 1 will be distributed in July 2021
• The city has agreed to no layoffs in the 2020-2021 school year
• The 3% raise scheduled for next May is guaranteed.

This is a little too cute and way too fast to leave me more than a little bit suspicious.

I am told by informed sources that the only reason it took so long to announce the deal is that the UFT had to figure out how to spin that getting the city to agree to delay giving us what we already were contractually entitled to is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

As for no layoffs being a huge gain in this agreement, it is way too late in the school term to lay teachers off. Positions must be abolished within the first five days of a school term. Please read this part of Section 2588 of NYS Education law closely.

 5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no classroom teaching position may be abolished after the fifth school day of the fall school term or after the fifth school day of the spring school term and all transfers or personnel changes resulting from such abolitions which would cause the displacement of a classroom teacher shall be completed prior to the fifteenth school day of such terms, provided that the chancellor, after counsulting with any affected community school board, may waive the aforesaid limitations in a specific instance because of emergency conditions or for reasons of special hardship.

The burden of proof is on the Department of Education-City to prove there is an emergency or special hardship. I have a definition of an emergency from Circular 6R, a Board of Ed, now Department of Education, document from 1998.

It says on page 10, "An emergency is not only an unforseen condition but one which is beyond the reasonable powers of the Board to foresee and to prevent." Since school budgets are now annualized and were finalized last summer, I would like our chances in court if the City-DOE tried layoffs in the middle of the school year, particularly if Joe Biden wins the presidential election and the dollars start to come flowing back to the states and cities. 

Teacher layoffs are what the Mayor said he would be compelled to do if we didn't postpone the lump sum payments. Listen to the mayor's appearance on today's Brian Lehrer show carefully if you want more evidence that this agreement is just a little more than a bit suspicious.

Dear James,

An independent arbitrator has overturned the city’s attempt to avoid paying the final lump-sum payments for wages you earned going back to 2009 and 2010.

The arbitrator has ordered the city to pay half of the money owed now and the other half next July. The arbitrator also awarded a no-layoff pledge for the rest of the school year and a guarantee that the city will not challenge our 3% contractual wage increase coming next May.

Here are the highlights:

●Eligible UFT-represented employees will receive 50% of their final lump-sum payment by Oct. 31, 2020.

●They will receive the remaining 50% by the end of July 2021.

●Anyone eligible on Oct. 1, 2020, for the final lump-sum payment will receive the July payment regardless of any change in employment status.

●The city guarantees that UFT-represented employees will receive the 3% contractual wage increase due to take effect on May 14, 2021.

●The city pledges that no UFT-represented employee will be laid off for the rest of this school year.

This is far from a perfect solution for our members who are still owed deferred wages going back as far as 10 years. The decision recognizes the city's dire financial straits because of the pandemic, but makes clear that the city must meet its financial obligations to our members.

Sincerely,

Michael Mulgrew

UFT President

CITY STIFFS US ON MONEY THEY OWED US SINCE 2009

The City is refusing to pay the last lump sum retro payment they owe us for work that we did from 2009-2011. Why we agreed to this arrangement to make nice with Mayor deBlasio has alluded me since 2014. That's  when we warned about this subpar arrangement while Mulgrew was erroneously claiming the city's cupboard was bare as the UFT accepted that awful contract that was twice extended. Now, we are still paying the price.

Now that we are getting screwed out of money we have been owed for 11 years, are the Mulgrew-Unity hacks going to tell us how important it is for us to have a close relationship with City Hall? 

Are we now going to hear about Mulgrew's great negotiating skills by getting that clause in there so we can go right to arbitration? We might prevail before the arbitrator but if the city refuses to implement the award, we will be in court anyway.

Dear ______,

Citing the fiscal emergency and a budget deficit of nearly $9 billion, the city has sent a letter giving us notice that it will not be able at this time to make the final lump-sum payments, due this month.

This is unacceptable.

Those payments are overdue wages that go back to 2009 and 2010, when then-Mayor Bloomberg refused to grant educators the same wage increases other municipal workers received.

We are entitled to this money, and the city is obligated to make us whole.

Because of a clause we insisted on including in the 2014 contract for just such a possibility, we are taking the city to immediate arbitration. With arbitration, we don’t have to file a grievance or go to court, which could take months or years.

Our hearing before an independent arbitrator is already scheduled for tomorrow. At that hearing, we will demand that the city uphold the agreement it made with us.

The city needs to keep its promises, particularly to its educators, who have done so much to keep our schools moving forward during this pandemic.

I’ll let you know what the arbitrator rules.

Sincerely,

Michael Mulgrew

UFT President

The letter from the Deputy Mayor to Mulgrew:

Please comment on Mulgrew's video message on YouTube over at YouTube.

NYC TEACHERS WIN STRIKE

Once again the headline is a little misleading, just as when we covered the start of the Brooklyn Friends School strike, but it is accurate. Having a real union like the UAW behind you, instead of the feckless UFT, can make a real difference. 

From Gothamist:

After striking faculty and staff caused the Brooklyn Friends School to close for three days this week, the administration at the Quaker private school finally ceded to the BFS union’s demands Wednesday evening. Head of School Crissy Cáceres and the school’s Board of Trustees promised to withdraw the petition they had filed with the National Labor Relations Board in August seeking to get the BFS union disbanded on religious grounds. 

In turn, school employees unionized with UAW Local 2110 said they would call off their strike.

“At the moment, all that matters is reopening our doors (virtual and physical) for our students,” Cáceres said in a statement on the decision. “They need school and the care that it offers. They need closure and an opportunity for a renewed beginning.” 

She added, “We will continue working towards a Collective Bargaining Agreement contract with the UAW that will allow us to open the lines of communication with the purposes of providing better care for our colleagues. That was always our aim and is consistent with our Quaker practices.”

When Cáceres and the school’s board filed the petition to decertify the union in August, they argued that negotiating with a “third party” would go against the school’s Quaker values—a statement members of the school and broader Quaker community have spoken out against in recent months.

In the three days that teachers and staff rallied outside the school, they have been  joined by parents, students, and other community members. A GoFundMe started by parents at the school to support the strike fund raised more than $58,000 and some parents even said that if classes did continue during the strike, they would keep their children from attending in solidarity.

“I think this speaks to our solidarity and our strength and I’m just very happy they’ve done the right thing,” Sarah Gordon, a third grade teacher at the school and member of the union negotiating committee, told Gothamist Wednesday night.

Efforts to reach a resolution earlier Wednesday evening were touch-and-go, teachers at BFS told Gothamist. At first, the administration offered to rescind the petition only if the union signed a contract that included several provisions that were “no-go’s” for union members. One teacher said the contract that was presented had no guarantee of basic benefits such as retirement and sick days.

After the union rejected that offer, the administration agreed to withdraw the petition and start contract negotiations anew...

Congratulations BFS Teachers!

Union power really can  work when you actually use it properly.

No to opting out of a union; YES to ousting the UFT leadership or replacing the UFT as the NYC public school teachers' bargaining agent with a real union. I'll help but all of you need to organize. A couple of teachers have contacted me. 

SCHOOLS GET EXTRA MONEY FOR IN-PERSON TEACHING

The piece below is from the Principal's Digest. It is dated October 5. There is more money to cover in-person staffing needs.

I have a question: My circle is limited so does anyone have a need for more in-person teachers? 

My understanding is that it is more like daycare for a few students in the school buildings with some exceptions but remote is becoming very crowded. 

Add to this we have the 169 newly closed schools because there is an increase in COVID-19 in many areas. Chalkbeat has the list of these schools. The system should be all remote with the REC Centers opened for families that need them and maybe something for certain specialized classes that require in-person learning that should be staffed by volunteers. What are they waiting for? What are your school's in-person numbers?

BUDGET

Update to COVID-19 Related Staffing Request and SAM No. 56

As a follow-up to the COVID-19-related staffing request update and School Allocation Memorandum (SAM) No. 56 announcement shared in the September 17 edition of Principals Digest, please note that schools will now be receiving an additional allocation to support in-person staffing needs. To ensure in-person staffing coverage, schools with in-person staffing needs should continue planning to use this allocation, including arranging for per diem substitutes, prep-period coverage, sixth-period shortage, and F-status service.

As with the initial SAM allocation, school budgets will be evaluated to ensure that schools have sufficiently prioritized staffing for student needs. Instances where schools are deemed to have sufficient on-site staff, including Central or ATR staff, who have been deployed but are not on the school’s Table of Organization (TO), this allocation may be recouped in part, or in full, at any point in the future.

For questions on using these resources, contact your BCO director of budget and HR or your HR director for District 75. If you have additional in-person staffing needs that have not been met, please reach out to your superintendent. 

TWITTER CONVERSATION ON DECERTIFYING UFT AND STARTING OVER WITH THE REAL UNION NYC TEACHERS DESERVE

I saw that there was actually some noise made on Twitter about decertifying the UFT as the NYC teachers' bargaining agent and then starting over with a real union. A union that actually represents and strongly defends teachers. 

Okay, this is not quite a movement at this point but you gotta start somewhere. We'll say it yet again that we would happy to help any pro-union group that is looking to fix the UFT or replace it with another union.

The right decision that is being refered to in the first tweet below is Mayor de Blasio's move to close schools in certain hotspot zip codes.  We should close buildings citywide so we do our best to prevent the probable second wave of COVID-19.  I only can hope that more and more teachers have had enough of Michael Mulgrew and his stalling and instead want a strong union whose primary goal is to defend its members and public education rather than looking out for itself and its dues.

I do not know these two UFTer but would certainly like to. We are covered under NYS PERB law, not the NLRB but the sentiment here is in the right place.

UFTERS WILLING TO GO TO COURT ARE STILL GETTING ACCOMMODATIONS TO WORK REMOTELY (Updated)

 The UFT Solidarity inspired court case that three judges refused to rule on its merits has not yet reached judge four but the City-Department of Education lawyers continue to try to reach agreements with individual plaintiffs to grant accommodations to work remotely. Tonight, we learned that the one person that I know of who sued for an accommodation exclusively for child care purposes has succeeded in receiving one. This is uplifting news.

In figuring out how to write an affidavit and apply for a remote teaching accommodation for this friend of ours, we had a problem because this teacher is in good health (thank God) and her parents don't live with her. She applied to work from home solely because she was a parent who had nowhere to place her child due to her child's school being mostly closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. She used as her basis for legal action the Federal Family First Coronavirus Response Act and the NYC Department of Education's accommodation policy for "those who do not feel comfortable returning to an in-person educational environment" which can be found on page 22 of the NYC School Reopening Plan. Here is the relevant portion:

Requests for reasonable accommodations to work from home will be considered in accordance with relevant disability laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and consistent with applicable health guidance, CDC guidance. Staff will be required to provide supporting medical documentation with their application.

Schools and offices may consider the needs of individuals who may not feel comfortable returning to an in-person educational environment when making assignments and modifying work settings and/or schedules where possible.

As far as I have been told, this was the only UFT member who sued using the federal Family First Coronavirus Response Act in addition to the DOE policy to gain an accommodation to work full time remotely from home for child care. We spent many hours working with this parent on her affidavit and we were totally pleased to hear the results this evening. A lawyer had advised me that the federal laws were the way to proceed in this area.

The UFT loves to brag about all they do for working parents but in reality, they have done nothing that I know of to help working parents get accommodations to work from home during this pandemic if the parent's main reason for needing to teach remotely is child care responsibilities. Did you get one of those Michael Mulgrew emails about the FFCRA? Even when federal law is on the side of the parent, the UFT  certainly has not insisted on accommodations to care for children. It is good to see that the City-DOE attorneys saw things differently for at least one working mom. 

There might be other parents who come forward quickly to get accommodations to work remotely because they need childcare. I can't imagine how there isn't a need for remote work as now over half the parents in the system have opted for full-time remote learning for their children according to what I saw today. Students who choose to go into buildings are still learning remotely at least half of the time. I hear class sizes for remote learning are going through the roof while in-person classes are tiny generally. 

Update from Lydia Howrilka:

From 28 petitioners to 18!

Our 10th petitioner has received a remote work accommodation last night. 

Bryan and I are kind of surprised. The City attorneys have been keeping their word and have been calling DOE Legal and prompting DOE Legal to work with principals to grant teachers a remote accommodation.

City has until 6pm on Friday to grant the remaining 18 petitioners a remote work accommodation or we re-file our petition and spin the wheel to see who will Judge #4 be!

Can't stop, won't stop until we are fully remote!

COVID symptoms cannot stop me from fighting for my UFT members!

UNIONIZED TEACHERS IN NYC ON STRIKE TODAY

I know, it's kind of a deceptive headline. Obviously, it isn't teachers represented by the UFT who are going on strike today. Teachers at The Brooklyn Friends School wisely chose the United Auto Workers to represent them.

From Gothamist  yesterday:

Teachers and staff at the Brooklyn Friends School are getting ready to strike starting on Monday in response to administrators' ongoing opposition to their decision to unionize the Quaker private school.

The UAW Local 2110 -- representing school faculty and staff -- has urged parents to show their support by not sending their children to school during the strike, either in person or remotely. It’s unclear how many will take part, but some parents launched a GoFundMe page to support the union strike fund this week that raised more than $45,000 as of Sunday afternoon.

Katie Bednard, who has a 5th grader and an 8th grader at the school, said her children won’t be attending their remote classes on Monday. “Our teachers are what makes BFS,” Bednard said. “They are the ones who deliver the curriculum. They give meaning to the mission and I think that’s why there’s so much support.”

Further down:

BFS staff said they intend to picket in front of the school during the strike. Administrators released a Safety and Security Plan on Friday that included hiring additional security and enlisting NYPD officers to come to the school, a move that alarmed some teachers and parents.

“You’re turning the police on teachers?” said Rachel Mazor, an English teacher and parent at BFS, incredulously. “Have you missed the entire BLM movement?”

The vote to authorize a strike was 120-5 according to the article.

There is much more background to this story. Please read all of the details. In addition, Gothamist has more this morning:

Update Monday, October 5th: Brooklyn Friends School leadership are closing the school on Monday and Tuesday "as negotiations are ongoing," according to a spokesperson for the school. However, the union is still striking and rallying each morning outside the school.

After assuring parents Friday that the school would remain open with substitute teachers during the strike, Head of School Crissy Cáceres sent out another email Sunday reversing course.

“We have made the extremely difficult decision to close school this Monday and Tuesday," Cáceres wrote. "This decision will allow for these conversations to take place and simultaneously avoid the stressful impact of a strike on our students, families, and colleagues.”

BFS leadership also sent out a statement Sunday saying that, over the weekend, "Brooklyn Friends School and the UAW, through counsel, began discussions about a potential resolution to the current situation with the hopes of preventing a strike beginning Monday, October 5."

A member of the union negotiating committee told Gothamist that there have not been negotiations between school leadership and the union. 

The administration has been actively fighting the teachers' legal right to unionize. They are doing this through the Trump controlled National Labor Relations Board. The teachers are striking for their collective bargaining rights. 

You see UFT opt-outers, having a union is crucial for workers. NYC public school teachers just need the right union or better union leadership that will support the rank and file. 

850 AUSTIN TEACHERS THREATEN TO RESIGN RATHER THAN WORK IN UNSAFE SCHOOLS; MY ADVICE TO TEACHERS IS TO WALK OUT IF STUDENTS WON'T WEAR MASK

 We've been attempting to help teachers and other educators survive in the COVID-19 era. In Austin Texas, they have the right idea.

From the Statesman News Network:

About 850 Austin district teachers have pledged not to return to their campuses Monday when school buildings reopen for learning.

Concerned about the threat of the coronavirus to both their students and themselves, the educators said they remain committed to teaching their students, but will do so only in a virtual setting.

A little further down, the teachers explain their stance:

“I will not return on Monday nor do I plan to under any circumstances,” said Patrick Stinson, who teaches chemistry and integrated physics and chemistry at Northeast Early College High School. The district two weeks ago denied his request for accommodations, which he sought because his wife has a chronic heart condition. Stinson said he might lose his teaching position with his stance, but he said he is unwilling to expose his wife to risk by being in the classroom setting, where teachers already are exposed to a variety of germs, as school-age children often are carriers.

“Lots of us can’t afford to make this choice and have to do the wrong thing in order to eat,” he said.

Kiker Elementary librarian Sonya Butler notified campus families she’s leaving her position..

“I do not qualify for the accommodations or family leave and due to family situations and health, I am not returning to face to face learning,” she wrote in a letter to the school community. “I am truly heartbroken to leave a job I love so much and people I care about so deeply. However my family must come first and there, since I cannot work remotely, I must resign.”

The union in "right to work" Texas is acting tougher than the so-called mighty UFT:

Education Austin, the district’s largest union, remains in negotiations with district leaders on reopening plans, union President Ken Zarifis said. The pledge among the teachers who won’t return in person is not a strike, he said, because they will continue delivering instruction.

The group held a virtual news conference Thursday and reiterated educators’ concerns, calling again for changes to the reopening plan. The group cites a code of ethics that says educators will not knowingly or recklessly endanger the health of a student. Campus site-specific plans have been fluid, some changing weekly, which some educators say has contributed to the feeling that returning is unsafe.

A caravan of about 150 educators last weekend went to the district’s headquarters and taped to the building signs and messages: “COVID is airborne,” “Put our teachers and students first,” “How is face to face ‘best practices’ during a pandemic?”

I'm starting to think that the UFT may be the last teacher union in the country to still be in a concessionary frame of mind with their members. Up to all of you to change that by changing your union representation.

You can initiate change by standing up for yourself tomorrow if you are an in-person teacher. I read Sue Edelman's NY Post piece on a teacher not being able to get help when students refused to wear masks in the classroom.

Some details:

It’s a teacher’s worst nightmare in the age of COVID-19.

Misbehaving high school students take off their masks in class and dare anyone to stop them, a South Bronx English teacher told The Post.

“The virus is not real. That’s why my parents are sending me,” one student declared, the teacher said. Many kids call the virus “fake.”

Some students clown around, removing their masks and pretending to cough or sneeze: “They think it’s funny.”

Others complain “I can’t breathe” because they say their masks are too tight.

Each class has around 9 to 11 students in person and then another 30 or so remotely.

Having to enforce safety rules such as face coverings and social distancing is a constant battle, the teacher said.

“I’m telling one, ‘Hey, put your mask on.’ I turn my head and boom, there’s another one maskless.”

The teacher, who simultaneously live-streams lessons to students learning remotely, said rowdy kids in the room cause constant disruptions.

“You have to mute your mike because you’re yelling at kids,” the teacher said. “Repeatedly this week, I had to stop the lesson because kids took off their masks.”

The interruptions rob the students, both in class and at home, who want to learn, he said.

As for DOE-NYC-UFT assurances that such offending students will be sent home:

“Nothing is happening. School safety is not removing them from the classroom,” he said.

Instead, administrators simply try to persuade students to comply.

In his school, students are assigned to the same classroom all day, while different subject teachers come and go. Kids may be left alone in the room for a minute or two during the transition.

“They get the freedom of that 90 seconds with no adult in the room, and they’re all over the place. They take their masks off. They’re close together having conversations. It’s a s–t show,” the teacher said.

Teens hate sitting at their desks all day, even for lunch when they are allowed to remove their masks for 20 minutes to eat. Some kids take longer than necessary on restroom visits. Or they just get up and leave the room, the teacher said.

DOE says it's three requests to put on a mask and then the student is sent home for remote only learning. I believe that is the UFT's position too.

I have a very simple solution if this mask rule is not adhered to: The students without masks are making you as a teacher ill. If they don't follow the rules, you are too sick to teach and you need to go home and will consider teaching remotely from there if you are up to it. As the Chicago arbitrator said in closing down school buildings in that city in a grievance decision: 

On this record, it cannot be determined that each school building is safe and healthful to work in and in accordance with the Precautionary Principle, it is better to err on the side of allowing remote work, where feasible, since the extent of the inherently hazardous conditions presented by COVID-19 in each school building is unknown.

Protect your health first ladies and gentlemen and the rule-abiding students too; worry about the consequences for your job later. 

MAJOR TEACHERS UNION WINS GRIEVANCE THAT SCHOOL BUILDINGS ARE UNSAFE TO WORK IN

I have been arguing since March that because UFT members are contractually entitled to a safe work environment (Article 10F), there is nothing to fear if people stay out of unsafe buildings. A major teachers union has agreed with that position and filed a grievance on the matter. That union is not the UFT, of course, but the Chicago Teachers Union.

The Chicago Public Schools started the 2020-2021 school year remotely for students and most teachers but forced certain CPS clerks to return to school buildings. The CTU immediately grieved that the schools were not safe and an arbitrator issued a decision yesterday siding with the union. This is part of the email from CTU announcing the ruling:

The arbitrator’s ruling that CPS buildings are “not safe and healthful” was built on extensive evidence of grave deficiencies in school buildings, 60 percent of which have no central HVAC system. Less than 5 percent of schools have any air purification system installed, 50 percent have non-functional critical components of their air circulation systems, and only 9 percent of CPS schools have air filtration systems that meet public health recommendations for COVID-19 safety (i.e., MERV 13 or portable HEPA filters).

I don't know what the statistics for buildings with MERV 13 filters are for NYC but I gather they have not been installed in most schools.

Here is a major part of the Chicago ruling:

  SUMMARY FINDINGS AND ORDER

This expedited arbitration proceeding arose from an August 21, 2020 Union grievance asserting that compulsory, full-time work inside CPS school buildings violates Article 14-1 of the parties’ labor contract, which states: “14-1. Safe and Healthful Working Conditions. Bargaining unit employees shall work under safe and healthful conditions.” A hearing was conducted remotely on September 15 and 16, 2020, and the parties have submitted post-hearing briefs which have been reviewed and considered in this ruling.

For the reasons stated in a separate Opinion, I make the following findings:

1. Reporting to work inside CPS school buildings increases the danger of infection by COVID-19, an airborne, highly communicable, deadly, and still not fully understood disease;

2. The only way to eliminate the risk of COVID-19 infection and death is for School Clerks, School Clerk Assistants, and Technology Coordinators to work remotely;

3. Although the Board has made efforts to mitigate the risk, subjecting these employees to increased risk of COVID-19 infection for work that can be performed remotely does not fulfill CPS’s contractual promise that its employees work in “safe and healthful conditions”;

4. On this record, it cannot be determined that each school building is safe and healthful to work in and in accordance with the Precautionary Principle, it is better to err on the side of allowing remote work, where feasible, since the extent of the inherently hazardous conditions presented by COVID-19 in each school building is unknown.

5. Allowing these employees to work remotely, where it is feasible to do so, properly balances employer and employee needs that are necessary to fulfill CPS’s contractual promise to provide a safe and healthful workplace for its employees.

Based on the foregoing, I find insufficient evidence that the Board’s school buildings are safe and healthful for these employees to work in; that the Board does not sufficiently mitigate the risk to these employees by directing them to work full time inside school buildings when certain duties can be performed remotely; and that CPS has therefore violated Article 14-1.

Although I think the CTU did right by their members by filing this grievance while the UFT just dithers and delays, the CTU didn't pull all of their members out of unsafe buildings, and one teacher who worked in a building to distribute supplies to students died from COVID-19.

Once again, from the CTU email:

The Union also learned this week of COVID-19 cases at a total of four schools — Lane Tech High School, and Canty, Mt. Greenwood and Funston elementary schools.

Funston teacher Olga Quiroga had gone into her building just before the beginning of the school year and worked through Sept. 10 to help distribute supplies to families and complete other duties. Her family took her to the emergency room on September 11. She passed away on Thursday, Oct. 1.

“It’s tragic that this ruling — which irrevocably establishes that CPS schools are not yet safe to reopen — has come too late to have helped protect Olga’s life or protect other workers from COVID infection,” CTU President Jesse Sharkey said. “We expect CPS to move immediately to protect the rest of our members in buildings by allowing them to begin working remotely today, as those workers did effectively from March through August.”

In NYC, we have different contractual language and it might be better to head right to court. We haven't done that. We do have language from the Chapter Leader Handbook (I believe based on arbitration precedent) that allows UFT members to take what is called self-help to disobey an administrator's orders under certain very limited conditions.

This is what we said on the matter in March and it is worth repeating again:

If any insane administrator questions someone [refusing to go into an unsafe building], I consulted the UFT Chapter Leader Handbook about self-help. Self-help is when an employee is insubordinate by defying an order from a supervisor. Normally, a teacher should obey an order that violates the Contract and then grieve.  However, the Handbook provides three justifications for an employee to be insubordinate. Two of them apply to our current situation:

First, the employee has a reasonable belief that carrying out the order will endanger the employee's health.

Second, carrying out the order will threaten the safety of others.

Entering buildings that may have coronavirus would seem to apply to both justifications.

Please stay safe everyone and think long and hard before you enter any DOE building during the current COVID-19 pandemic until they are truly safe.

MULGREW'S LATEST EMAIL WON'T ADMIT COVID-19 IS IN SCHOOLS AND HE'S GIVING CITY ONE LAST CHANCE TO FIX BLENDED LEARNING

I was just going to print the latest Michael Mulgrew email to members (see below) and leave it at that. However, sometimes I just can't believe what I am reading.

This part left my jaw dropping:

The virus has recently surged in nine city ZIP codes — seven in Brooklyn and two in Queens. We will be calling on the mayor to close all the schools and other public facilities in those zip codes if the positive rate on virus tests in those neighborhoods does not start to come down. At this point, the virus is concentrated in the community in those areas, but independent medical experts warn us that it is only a matter of time before the virus spreads to our schools.

Mulgrew thinks it is a matter of time before the virus spreads to our schools. Wake up Mike; COVID-19 is already in loads of schools all over the place. Can Mulgrew read a map or does he just think we are too uninformed so we won't notice?

President Mulgrew also tells us the city cannot get testing to all of the COVID-19 hotspots.

At our urging, the city has sent mobile testing vans to schools in those ZIP codes, but it doesn’t have the capacity to reach all 80-plus schools quickly.

If they can't reach the 80+ schools in the hotspots, how are they managing to come Monday to Eastern Queens at P.S. 191? This is a part of an email Chancellor Carranza sent to families tonight:

Free, Fast COVID-19 Testing at PS 191

October 5^th 2020

8am – 11am

          85-15 258^th street

Floral Park NY 11001

 

For PS 191 Staff and Students

Parents/Guardians of students under the age of 18 must be present and must consent to student testing at these mobile sites

I don't know if we're that high on the hotspot list in Floral Park. Lack of access to testing isn't the biggest problem right now for the UFT. It's the UFT still not pushing to close all school buildings  during increasing community spread of COVID-19.

In the actual school buildings, Mulgrew concedes there are hundreds of operational complaints "at the ready." Why hasn't he already filed them and demanded the system go full remote as the remedy? What the hell is he waiting for? The city is getting their hundredth last chance to repair a blended learning system that will never work.

Giving the City-DOE more time to fix what we all know is not repairable is yet another Mulgrew disgrace. It's dither and delay again. He believes if he just keeps stalling, maybe the mayor will eventually work it out in his thick head that blended learning is unworkable or perhaps he feels the schools will get used to this chaos. City Councilman Mark Treyger, a former city high school teacher, figured it out. This is from an interview with Treyger in The Intelligencer done on Wednesday, a day before secondary schools started in-person learning:

Mark Treyger: To this day, we are experiencing continued staff shortages in our school system and in all grades. But the high-school grades are going to be particularly affected by the staffing shortage because in high school — and I’m a former high-school history teacher, so I know a bit about this — you are required to have a license to teach the specific content subject. If a high school has, let’s say, three chemistry teachers, and they’re all out on medical accommodations working from home, you can’t just put a history teacher to teach a chemistry class.

And there is no infinite pool of substitute science teachers in the school system. So what’s happening is that they are simply just shifting personnel to supervise students who are receiving remote instruction from their teacher who’s working from home. I call this “supervised remote instruction.” This is not in-person instruction. When high-school students return for in-person school, they will not be getting in-person teaching. They will be getting an adult who is not licensed to teach them. Or not even licensed to supervise them, because I’m being told now that paraprofessionals are being asked to supervise students in classes, which is against state regulations.

Further down:

Given the issues you’ve mentioned, do you think it’s feasible to continue with blended learning or would all remote instruction be preferable?

I think that the blended-learning model is a failure and that it was designed to fail. It was not designed to succeed because the city was never realistic about the severe challenges that come with the blended-learning model. Again, it’s very simple to me.

Your model calls for three sets of teachers, but it also requires you to hire thousands more people when many of your existing staff is requesting medical accommodations to work from home. So I don’t understand how they reached this conclusion. I don’t understand why they thought that this was feasible. But it’s just not happening.

The kids have worked this out. They are smarter than some here believe. Reports of 0 attendance in classes are not rare as remote class sizes soar into the 50's and even higher. The parents, some in the media who choose to open their eyes, teachers, and other educators all know blended learning won't work. Only Mulgrew waits a little longer, probably hoping you will all be intimidated to vote for School Based Options to make remote class sizes 50. Don't do it folks.

I cannot comprehend why there is not yet a full scale teacher rebellion. Get beyond the Battered Staff Syndrome-Mass Learned Helplessness. Don't give in. Propose all remote in SBOs. Force the DOE and their UFT partners  to refuse to sign off on them so they have the blood on their hands for putting you in harm's way and totally messing up the education of a million kids. We need to do what's right.

Mulgrew's email:

Dear __________,

It has been an intense week as you welcomed back students that you have not seen in more than six months. At the schools I visited, I watched you greet students — some timid, some excited — on opening day. Even with all the fear, sadness and anxiety you must have been feeling inside, I saw your natural gift as educators on display as you offered these children your elbows and your friendly words.

This school year has thrown up challenge after challenge. There is no playbook to follow. But you are showing up, whether virtually or in person, every day for your students and figuring out how to be the best educator you can be at this strange and daunting moment. I am proud to represent you.

Because the DOE has been unable to meet its hiring goals, some of you have bulging remote class sizes while others must juggle both remote and in-person classes. I know these assignments make it impossible for you to do your best work. We are going to have to make principals readjust their schedules in accordance with the blended learning agreements if the DOE does not fill these vacancies quickly. We have hundreds of operational issue complaints about staffing filed by your chapter leaders at the ready. We can’t have our members stuck with ridiculous programs and workloads for months on end.

Your health and safety come first. We continue to monitor instances of positive cases in our schools to ensure that the city is following the rigorous contact testing and tracing protocol established in the Sept. 1 DOE-UFT testing agreement. Mandatory random testing of 10% or more of the staff and students in every school building every month begins next week. Please report any safety or testing issues to your chapter leader or the UFT Call Center at 212-331-6311 if your chapter leader is unavailable. We are in a much better place than we were in March because of your advocacy, but we need to remain vigilant.

The virus has recently surged in nine city ZIP codes — seven in Brooklyn and two in Queens. We will be calling on the mayor to close all the schools and other public facilities in those zip codes if the positive rate on virus tests in those neighborhoods does not start to come down. At this point, the virus is concentrated in the community in those areas, but independent medical experts warn us that it is only a matter of time before the virus spreads to our schools. At our urging, the city has sent mobile testing vans to schools in those ZIP codes, but it doesn’t have the capacity to reach all 80-plus schools quickly.

If the city is unable to contain these outbreaks in the next few days, we will take stronger action. We cannot put these school communities in jeopardy because the city does not have the common sense or courage to do what needs to be done. Its failure to take aggressive action could endanger public health throughout New York City because the residents in those nine ZIP codes do not live on an island.

I had the honor to stand next to Curtis Buckner, a teacher at University Neighborhood HS in Manhattan, at this Thursday’s press conference. His words speak to our core values: “All we ask — because we are the ones who are doing this work in schools every day — is that whatever decisions are made, they’re not based on politics, they’re not based on economics, they’re based on preserving lives. We’re going to continue to give 110 percent, but we do ask that those making the decisions keep preserving life at the forefront of the conversation.”

Our next serious challenge is the economic collapse. The pandemic-triggered shutdowns have wrecked the city, state and national economies. Yesterday was the last day that the CARES Act, the stimulus bill passed by Congress in March, was in effect. Now, large corporations nationwide are shedding jobs at a fearsome pace.

New York City and New York State are saddled with enormous budget deficits. With each passing day, those deficits grow bigger. We made a promise in the spring to do everything in our power to protect our safety and our livelihoods. We now have to come up with a strategy to protect all of us from possible layoffs. The strongest shield we have is showing our value and worth as educators at every opportunity.

Stay safe and healthy.

Sincerely,

Michael Mulgrew

UFT President

CHAPTER LEADER QUINN ZANNONI'S STAFF QUARANTINED AND SOME OTHER SECONDARY SCHOOL IN-PERSON OPENING DAY NEWS

Reports I heard on the first day of in person classes for secondary schools included huge class sizes for remote classes, dirty buildings, few live students, severe shortages of teachers, no nurse in one school, kids moving around without masks in another, some high schools all remote, and, inspite of it all, teachers still happy to greet students. 

For my daughter, having students in the middle school building she attends meant very little live interactions for the all remote students, just long diagnostic tests. Kids all got new programs too.

This account from a District 75 Chapter Leader Quinn Zannoni from the comments on yesterday's ICEBLOG post explains why nobody can let up on watching everything closely.

I had a student in my class test positive today. We're are all quarantined for 14 days now. The majority of my students have medically fragile guardians at home -- all of my students have severe disabilities -- and those care takers are the bedrock of their lives.

If you're just returning now (I'm D75 and I've been back two weeks) and are feeling hopeful that things work out, consider when you get caught off guard and find out a student had been in your class for multiple days with asymptomatic infection. Try to avoid the rosy thinking -- it's really not safe and we're placing our students' at incredible risk.

For more on opening day for in-person secondary schools, this is part of a Chalkbeat article:

New Design, like many other high schools across the city, solved their staffing problem by having all their students learn online, even those who show up to the building, as teachers instruct students learning from their homes or from classrooms. One 10th grader decided in the middle of the school day that he no longer wanted to be in the building and was released early after the school called one of his parents, she said. She’s unsure why, but wondered if a rash of technical problems with school-based laptops in the morning was a factor.

In contrast, one of Dorcemus’ more vocal students excitedly told her he was in the building and offered to show her his classroom of five or six others — all while donning a mask.

“I just think it’s not for everybody, and people respond very differently,” Dorcemus said about returning to school.

Students at Stuyvesant High School, which enrolls more than 3,300 students, will also learn online even when they’re inside of the building.

Meril Mousoom, a 16-year-old senior at Stuyvesant who participated in the student rally, preferred to learn from home but chose the blended option so she could receive a MetroCard, which allows students three swipes a day to get to and from school and related activities. She wants to use the MetroCard to travel to multiple paid internships that she hopes will allow her to save up for college.

If you are so inclined, demand remote learning for your entire school based on equitable and fair treatment which you are contractually entitled to. 

Finally, I plead with all of you not to agree to any School Based Option that raises class sizes. 34 is too high already for high schools.

FAIL THE HEALTH SCREENING TEST IF YOU DON'T FEEL WELL ENOUGH TO DO IN-PERSON TEACHING

We put this information out there twice in the last few days but it is worth repeating for secondary school UFTers. School is opening tomorrow for in-person learning in the middle and high schools in the midst of an alarming spike in neighborhoods throughout the city that are having rising infection rates of COVID-19. It's up to you if you want to be there in person.

If you do not pass the daily health screening test, you are mandated to stay home. If it is COVID-19  symptoms, you can stay home for two weeks, even if it isn't COVID-19, without any days taken from your Cumulative Absence Reserve.

Please note you can take the days with COVID-19 symptoms that can be as simple as a runny nose causing you to lose some sense of smell. In addition, if God forbid you later come down with COVID-19, you are still covered without any loss of CAR days. (You can telework)

If the NYC positivity rate goes above 3% for a week, you won't be able to use those ten free days because the system will go all remote. Go get a telemedicine medical note if you are a worrier.

If you are waiting for Michael Mulgrew to look out for your health, you are most likely going to be waiting a while. When Mulgrew talks these days, I usually shake my head or scream out loud in disgust.

I put out the theory on Saturday that many UFTers have been beaten down so much by the hostile DOE and their own dues first union so they have been rendered incapable of fighting back. We termed it mass learned helplessness.  Former UFT Vice President Carmen Alvarez used to term rank and file lack of resistance to the DOE "Battered Staff Syndrome."  She of course only blamed the DOE. I feel the UFT is a big part of the problem. We need to restructure our union representation so that it serves the rank and file as its main objective, not itself.

It is a personal decision on entering school buildings. If you believe the DOE-UFT reports are legitimate and that your building is safe, then by all means go in.  If you think you have to be there for the children, they are in most cases probably safer at home. Still, we truly respect everyone's dedication whether working in person or remotely.

THAT MANDATORY STUDENT COVID-19 TESTING ISN'T SO MANDATORY ANY LONGER

 From the DOE:

Monthly testing of randomly selected staff and students is a vital part of our efforts to prevent COVID-19 transmission in our buildings, because it helps identify positive COVID-19 cases when symptoms are not present. As with other health and safety measures we are requiring to keep our staff and students safe, the success of this testing initiative relies on the partnership and cooperation of staff and students.  

While consent to testing is not mandatory, providing our testing partners with a sufficient monthly sample size to identify the prevalence of COVID-19 is critical in our ongoing fight against this virus and to ensure we can keep school communities in school buildings for in-person learning. For the safety of our school community, students who do not have consent forms on file may be required to learn remotely if we do not receive forms from enough students in the school. 

We want to assure you that if your child is selected for testing but is uncomfortable or unable to be tested, we will not test your child and will work with you to address any concerns so that they can participate in future testing. We are focused on making this a brief, and gentle experience for our students, led by trained testers.

Some reaction on Twitter: