Six on Schools: Donald Trump's mind-bending logic on school reopenings; New York’s teachers union decides education isn’t really essential — just the paychecks; NYC principals’ union lists 141 ‘imperative’ questions on school reopening; Jumaane Willi
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(CNN) "As he tried to rescue his reelection campaign this week, President Donald Trump seemed to be in full retreat on key coronavirus topics -- from the efficacy of mask-wearing to the risks of holding the GOP convention in Florida. The one exception was school reopenings, which he has insisted must happen in person this fall.
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"United Federation of Teachers chief Mike Mulgrew has apparently decided that his members aren’t essential workers after all: He doesn’t want them going back to work this fall without impossible safety guarantees.
That makes teachers a lot less necessary than all the cops, firefighters, sanitation workers and others who kept on showing up all through the lockdowns — not to mention the health care heroes.
Ah, but teachers can do their job remotely, you say? Maybe they can, at least for higher grades — but the UFT wouldn’t allow principals to require teachers to do anything much when it came to online teaching during the spring. Will it bend at all in the fall?
And, for younger students especially, the experts — the American Academy of Pediatrics; the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — all insist that in-person instruction is vital even as the risks of COVID-19 transmission are small.
Yet Mulgrew is promising a court fight to keep his members from having to show up. He says 3,000 teachers have already filed for medical exemptions for the fall, with many more expected. In all, he insists, “a minimum of 60 percent [of instruction] will be done remotely.”
Again, that’s all about teachers’ preferences. The pediatricians and other experts say continued remote learning is a disaster for kids’ social-emotional well-being.
In a rational world, teachers who refuse to show up to teach — with proper social distance and other precautions — would be replaced. At the very least, teachers who won’t show even for online classes would lose their jobs."
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"The Council of Supervisors and Administrators said the questions underscore the looming problems and dangers that school leaders face.
“These are questions that are imperative for the DOE to answer,” wrote union president Mark Cannizzaro.
The list includes many basic questions on safety and sanitation such as whether every school will have a nurse, who will take temperatures, when will supplies — PPE, thermometers, signage, hand sanitizer and cleaning materials — arrive, and who will staff the “isolation room” for sick kids?
They also ask about rules to handle fights between students, or how to discipline kids who deliberately sneeze or cough on someone.
Among other issues: “What should principals do if he or she “fears and/or confirms that system-wide sanitation protocols aren’t being followed?”
“If a teacher tests positive will all of their students need to quarantine?”
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"New York City’s Public Advocate is proposing a radical new plan for reopening schools this fall, in which students would stay home until at least October and classroom instruction would be phased in by age group.
The plan released Monday by Jumaane Williams would begin with all kids learning remotely in September before allowing students under 10 — who are reportedly less likely to spread the virus — to begin classroom instruction in October.
Williams, who consulted health experts, wants to then assess the safety situation at the end of the fall semester before allowing older kids back into their buildings.
Mayor de Blasio had previously proposed a blended learning plan that would have all students alternate between remote and classroom instruction beginning September 10.
While the mayor acknowledged growing push back to his plan, he said his format remains uncharged for the moment.
“Right now our intention is to open on schedule and to open with all grade levels but again with blended learning,” he said Monday.
Hizzoner has cautioned that pandemic variables will make it impossible to render a final call until the days leading up to the new year.
“It would be irresponsible to make a decision in July or August for something that’s going to happen in September,” he said.
But, as of now, parents should “very clearly” expect an on-time resumption of classroom learning, he said."
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"Amanda Vender’s classroom in Elmhurst, Queens, does not have air conditioning — and for once, that seems like a good thing, given the new understanding that the coronavirus likely lingers and spreads through the air.
But that also means she won’t be able to turn on the fans she uses on hot days, if New York City leaders forge ahead with reopening school buildings in September. Not that she knows where her students would even sit, since they’re expected to stay six feet apart and her classroom has hexagonal tables that fit together like puzzle pieces.
Facing a maze of unknowns about how schools would function in the COVID-19 era, a group of educators within the United Federation of Teachers is pushing back on restarting in-person learning this fall, even floating another sickout and brainstorming ways to get around a state law that prohibits public employees from striking. The Movement of Rank and File Educators, or MORE — a caucus within the teachers union that describes itself as committed to social justice — is organizing its members to get ready for a potentially escalating fight.
“In a way, we feel the safety of our communities is on our shoulders. And if the union and our mayor are not going to be the ones to keep us safe, then we have to do it,” said Vender, a member of the group.
MORE members argue that schools will not be safe until there’s more rapid coronavirus testing, until school budgets grow to cover the staff and other supports students will need, and until teachers themselves have a bigger say in reopening plans.
On Jul 28, 2020, at 10:44 AM, Leonie Haimson <leonie...@gmail.com> wrote:
From: 21st Century School Fund <mfil...@21csf.org>
Date: July 28, 2020 at 9:49:14 AM EDT
To: Leonie Haimson <leo...@classsizematters.org>
Subject: School Districts Need $10 Billion In Emergency Repairs to Reopen Public School Facilities Safely
Reply-To: sodo...@21csf.org
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