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.
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.
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