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. 

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!

​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.

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.

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.

​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). 

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.

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.

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!

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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