I’m a NYC teacher. This isn’t our fault. We’ve been reporting to the buildings for two weeks of zoom meetings. The problem is that the city has no money and implemented a hiring freeze in the spring so no vacancies could be filled. Then they announced a plan to give all remote students remote teachers, in person kids a “blended learning” teacher for remote days, and an in person teacher for in school days. Obviously this left us with a terrible staffing shortage and no way to hire more staff. They announced that blended learning teachers could have up to 340 students (!) in their online classes. It was very clear to all of us and the administrators/their union that this model would not work.
Additionally, many of us returned to schools that had been turned upside down since march when we suddenly left. At the end of the year you close the classroom down, take home the things you purchased yourself, organize student work, clean, etc. but last year none of that happened. Some of our buildings were used as regional enrichment centers, which were childcare centers (run by us, for no additional pay, for the duration of the pandemic) and those teachers returned to find old food in their classrooms, books and materials thrown haphazardly on the floor, posters ripped off the walls, and belongings ransacked. None of this is OUR fault. Many of us returned to sites with no cleaning supplies or protective equipment, as was promised to us. There are already 60+ schools with positive cases and students haven’t even walked in the door yet.
If you want to place blame anywhere, place it on our incompetent leadership. We didn’t create this mess, we’re just trying to clean it up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:give all teachers hazmat suits

Home depot wanted to donate our teachers PPE, they said no. It's not about hazmat suits, some of them (not all) just want to be on permanent vacation.

Why would you turn it down?

Because they can either:

a) Accept the PPE and actually go back to do the work we pay them for, or

b) Refuse to go back to work and remain on paid vacation.

Which option would you choose?

Just stop. Most teachers I know are incredibly stressed out and do not want to be in this position. They are not responsible for this pandemic! Nor are they responsible for the crappy buildings and overcrowded schools. Please focus your anger on the right targets.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:give all teachers hazmat suits

Home depot wanted to donate our teachers PPE, they said no. It's not about hazmat suits, some of them (not all) just want to be on permanent vacation.

Why would you turn it down?

Because they can either:

a) Accept the PPE and actually go back to do the work we pay them for, or

b) Refuse to go back to work and remain on paid vacation.

Which option would you choose?

Gee, I can't imagine why the teachers don't trust DiBlasio. He made the decision to close NYC schools 3 days AFTER Maryland and VA announced their closures, when Covid in NYC was already totally out of control and they had thousands of cases and were on an exponential spike. 78 teachers died. The man is incompetent. I don't blame them for digging in their heels as he has made it abundantly clear through his actions that he doesn't care about their safety. If they don't look out for themselves, who will?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They shouldn't have even considered opening.

ITA. I don't know what they were thinking. They would've had to have shut down within a month or so. It's harder to go backward.

Why? The positivity rate in NYC is than 0.7%. They absolutely should be open in some format. This is a disgrace.

Sure. They could try a hybrid approach but that means kids would only go to school one day a week. Why bother?

I am a NYC teacher. This “opening” is so poorly organized; it is pathetic. We had teachers giving virtual orientations to students today and yesterday about school starting next week and what their schedule was.

Principals themselves found out from the press conference and Twitter about this change. They were not notified in person or at all before his presser . It is so unprofessional and disrespectful to the profession. Deblasio and Carranza are idiots

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They shouldn't have even considered opening.

ITA. I don't know what they were thinking. They would've had to have shut down within a month or so. It's harder to go backward.

Why? The positivity rate in NYC is than 0.7%. They absolutely should be open in some format. This is a disgrace.