Brian Cohen
  • Making the Grade Blog
  • About Me
  • Tutoring
  • Press
  • Resources to Share

Various UFT updates complicate teacher lives

9/18/2021

0 Comments

 
Last week I received two email updates from the UFT sharing various agreements they have crafted with the DOE. Some I think are good and useful (when used correctly) and others I'm not sure sure about.

The first was an official list of escalating consequences for students who do not wear masks. During my first week of school I was very happy that the advisory-type class I had (called Crew) did not have any mask refusers. There were some students who kept forgetting that it fell off their nose, but were very careful to put it back when asked. The consequences they could have received make a fair amount of sense (talk to student, sending a student to talk to a counselor, etc.). The first one on the list: document the incident with OORS (Online Occurrence Reporting System) seems a bit harsh to me as the first thing to do. I would assume we should talk more to the student and family before officially reporting something like this. But, I guess the UFT feels they wanted it that badly. 

The next item I'm not sure how to react to: we can do instructional lunch at schools across the DOE in order to shorten the schedule and have fewer students in a cafeteria eating food together simultaneously. I suppose it is good but I'm not sure how well it will work. Last year at the high school I work at we had instructional lunch and basically used it as a period to show documentaries (sometimes) and try to talk about the news. Much of the time, though, it was just quiet eating. I can't imagine much 'instruction' will take place while students are eating.

Then, any unvaccinated staff member is ordered to get tested between September 13 and 27 when the vaccine mandate goes into effect. I'm not sure if this is still in effect as the vaccinate mandate seems to be on pause for now (this was in a different update sent this week from the UFT). But there is a court date set for September 22 so we will see what happens then.

Finally, there are all kinds of ways for staff to not work for the DOE this year if they want to avoid the vaccine mandate. From taking an unpaid leave to actually leaving the DOE and getting severance pay, this is a pretty extreme part of the negotiations but I suppose necessary for those who feel the need. I wonder how many people will actually leave because of teaching conditions this year.

I am not going to lie, it feels REALLY weird to be in such a large class with masks as if things are sort of back to normal. I haven't taught my academic classes yet (we'll see how that goes next week) but I don't think it'll be much different. Perhaps more anxiety-inducing as I'll be with more kids throughout the day. We'll see.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    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!

    Picture

    Contact Me

    Picture

    Email Updates

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Archives

    March 2022
    September 2021
    August 2021
    September 2020
    August 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.