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COVID-19 comments part 6: Another detailed phased reopening plan

8/13/2020

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I happen to think that Movement of Rank-and-File Educators (MORE) caucus is the best progressive part of the United Federation of Teachers. For those of you who don't know, the UFT (my union), is made up of smaller caucuses that try to push for their various agendas. MORE has compatriots across the country (CORE in Chicago, Caucus of WE in Philadelphia) and all of them seem to want more transparency within their respective unions as well as more power put in the hands of individual staff members.

That being said, I received an email on a MORE list about a Phased Reopening Plan crafted by staff at the Urban Assembly Maker Academy. This was published before the principal's letter came out so it is a bit different. But it is very detailed and has provisions for things like providing personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff and students before they have to take public transit to get to school, requiring knowledge of how testing and tracing will work, and that discipline policies for infractions like not wearing a mask do not contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline. I think it's very well thought out and includes steps to slowly get staff and students back into buildings when it is safe. Take a read and if you can, sign on in support. 
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COVID-19 comments part 5: Principals don't want to open either (updated)

8/12/2020

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A group of principals from District 15 wrote and signed a letter in support of keeping school buildings closed and only opening them through a phased reopening plan. Luckily, I am in a school with a principal who signed this letter. As we learn of more and more groups that believe we shouldn't be opening buildings just yet, it is important to identify what are the major criticisms they have and how they mesh together. The subtext (and sometimes real text) that I read in this letter is a lack of trust in the ability of the DOE to make good on its promises. They have been saying they are going to make sure ventilation is taken care of in buildings, yet many of them don't have the fixes yet to building-related issues going back years. Check out these building reports!

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I hope that more groups do things like this and the DOE and the city finally relents so we can actually focus on learning how to make the best remote curriculum possible. 

Here is a petition that you should sign also.
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COVID-19 comments part 4: Nurses don't even want school to open

8/11/2020

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Yesterday, a union representing over 42,000 registered nurses in New York State, made a statement in support of keeping school buildings closed in the Fall. Since they are the frontline workers who would be treating COVID-19 patients, I would recommend trusting in what they have to say. Their main gripe is that we are still unprepared for a spike in cases, even though we are below various thresholds set by Governor Cuomo's health task force:

As a union of frontline nurses, we must also speak up because New York remains unprepared for a resurgence of COVID-19. Our testing and tracing infrastructure is overstretched, with many results delayed by days or even weeks. Our hospitals are still rationing rapid testing reagents, PPE, hand sanitizer, and sanitizing wipes because of federal shortages and persistent supply chain constraints. Frontline nurses, along with other essential workers, suffered the consequences of New York’s lack of preparation for the first COVID-19 surge. We cannot let that happen again.

After five months of battling this disease in hospitals you would think we would have more supplies. But, apparently, we don't. So, even though the health care workers of the US do have more knowledge about how to fight back against COVID-19, they don't have the supplies to do it correctly, especially if we have a spike in cases.
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COVID-19 comments part 3: A plan of action?

8/9/2020

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Some of you know that I am a master teacher with Math For America, an organization whose sole purpose is to keep high-quality math and science teachers in the classroom. They recognize that many of us do not get the resources we need to be more effective at our jobs and so we often leave for other Districts or other career paths. Two teachers from Bronx Science recently crafted a letter to Governor Cuomo urging him to keep NYC schools closed until certain criteria are met. Here is the letter and here is the link to sign onto it.

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One of the important citations in the letter is this research study on COVID-19 viral load among young children. Spoiler alert: it's higher than you think.

I strongly recommend that you sign onto the letter (like I did). 
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Coronavirus thoughts part 2: Will schools act as restaurants?

8/8/2020

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According to an NYC DOE document entitled "Preparing for School Year 2020-2021: Instructions Principles & Programming Guidance," students will be eating lunch in their classrooms while instruction is taking place. I find a few particular problems with this:
  1. At the moment NYC is not allowing indoor dining to take place. One of the key factors of this is a lack of ventilation, which would allow the aerosols produced by individuals with COVID-19 to spread it. The WHO recently agreed with this somewhat after mounting pressure from outside physicians. So, in a classroom with poor ventilation (read: most classrooms in the DOE) how can we allow students to eat, necessitating masks come off?
  2. If instruction is taking place then students need to be talking. If that's happening while they are eating, I can't imagine there won't be spitting, something that would seem to spread COVID-19 even more. 
  3. What happens to the food trash after students are finished eating? Are they going to individually bring it to a trash can? Will a trash can be shared around? That sounds like an awful lot of touching things that have been spit on to me.

Basically, it sounds like another risk to keep in mind.
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Catching up: School buildings should remain closed (part 1)

8/8/2020

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I've decided to share some of my thoughts and research into the current impact of the COVID-19 crisis on NYC schools. Close friends and relatives don't get the same kind of information I get so I wanted to post it here for all to see. Feel free to share as we go along.

The item for today is a blog post from School Custodial Engineers union, Local 891, wherein their President, Robert Troeller, shares that despite the policy announcements from the NYC Department of Education, there is no extra budget to allow for the kind of deep cleaning the schools will need and have been promised. He recommends, "Do not include DSF’s [Division of School Facilities] daily sanitizing protocols in your Annual Plan." He says this because they cannot maintain a balanced budget if they include the daily sanitizing protocols and they do not have more staff to complete the work in time. 

In an article from June, Robert also shared that their budget had remained static despite extra work being mandated. He is quoted as saying, "
It’s basically the same funding levels for staff that we had last fiscal year. Yet the staff is expected to do all this extra work. And I just don't know what's going to happen." 

To me, that alone means schools buildings should not open. 
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UFT Tidbits 2/23/20

2/23/2020

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Hello all,

Ever dreamed of becoming National Board Certified? Well, there is a scholarship for that. Yes, it's due pretty soon but even if you don't do it this year, maybe next year will be better!
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National Board Certification Scholarship for Teachers
Teachers seeking their first National Board Certification may apply for an Albert Shanker Grant to help defray costs associated with the certification process. Candidates for the grant must be employed as a tenured, full-time teacher in a public school; hold a valid New York State teaching certificate; commit to and complete the entirety of the initial National Board for Professional Teaching Standards candidacy effort; and continue to be employed as a full-time teacher in a New York public school for at least one full school year following completion of the initial grant period. The application deadline is Friday, Feb. 28. Find out more information about the Albert Shanker Grant Program  on the New York State Education Department website. To apply for the Albert Shanker Grant and for full eligibility requirements for National Board Certification, see the online application form.
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UFT Tidbits 2/9/2020

2/9/2020

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I'm sure by now in your lives you all recognize that health insurance is a crazy, snake-path-like, paperwork-driven piece of nonsense. That being said, we actually have some pretty good prescription drug benefits as part of the UFT. While health insurance is provided to us by the city of New York, almost all prescription drugs you get are provided in various forms by the UFT Welfare Fund.

We have some spectacular prices (like $1-$15 for drugs picked up at drug stores, generally, and $30 or $70 for 90-day supplies shipped to you from Express Scripts). Yes, the UFT recognizes it is super duper annoying to get the drugs shipped to you and they said they are working on it. But, even with that, they have kept costs down immensely. Also: sometimes you can get a last-minute override by calling the UFT Welfare Fund if you need to the drugs ASAP and can't wait for shipment. 

There are some complications to keep in mind. While most drugs are paid for by the UFT Welfare Fund, there are a few that are paid from different cards that you are given. For example, "the city-administered PICA (Psychotropic, Injectable, Chemotherapy and Asthma) Drug Program" covers injectibles (including the EpiPen) and Chemo drugs (hence the name). And, by state law, diabetes drugs are covered by health insurance directly. 

When in doubt, contact the UFT welfare fund for more information. 
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UFT Tidbits 2/3/2020

2/2/2020

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Hello all,

Normally I send out some link of pieces of information from our Contract or the UFT website. This time I want to take a moment to point out the most important aspect of our union: you. When individual staff talk to one another about the issues that are of concern or positives to share, this allows the UFT to know more about where to allocate resources both inside our building and out. I appreciate all the times you share information with me and hope that you see the benefit of sharing with others as well. The more knowledge we each have about the contract as well as the goings-on inside our building, the better we can make the entire school for us and for our students.

Thank you!
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UFT Tidbits 1/26/2020

1/26/2020

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Hello all,

Did you know there are certain situations in which you can get time off work for medical screenings or procedures? Read below.

UFT members now can receive up to four hours of paid leave during normal work hours for any type of cancer screening and up to three hours of unpaid leave to give blood. This is an expansion of a previous law that allowed excused leave only for mammograms, prostate cancer screening and blood donation. The state Legislature expanded paid leave for cancer screenings of any kind in 2018 at the urging of the UFT and our state affiliate NYSUT. A personnel memo issued by the DOE outlines the procedures for UFT members to follow when requesting these leaves.
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    I am a math teacher in the New York Department of Education. I infuse technology and real-world problems into my curriculum in order to prepare my students for the future. I would love for people across the country to recognize we teachers can't do it alone. If you don't believe me, come visit my classroom!

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