STAY SAFE’
Parents, teachers protest in-person schooling
COURIER LIFE, JANUARY 14-20, 2022 5
BY BEN BRACHFELD
City offi cials are holding fi rm on
their intentions to keep schools open,
despite still-rising COVID-19 caseloads
and a bevy of protests from parents,
faculty, and students.
Mayor Eric Adams, throughout his
fi rst week in offi ce, has not reneged
on his promise to keep schools open
throughout the Omicron surge, citing
concerns over the inequity involved
in remote learning, along with the detrimental
effect it’s had on the mental
health of students.
“The safest place for a child is in
school,” Adams said on CBS News on
Wednesday. “Little Johnny’s not in
school, he’s not in this room. He’s in
the streets, you know, he doesn’t have
his mask on.”
“And then you go to those communities
where they don’t have highspeed
broadband Wi-Fi, where they
can’t go online and get the education
they need,” Hizzoner continued. “Over
100,000 children are homeless, they
don’t have the same resources.”
In an effort to contain outbreaks,
schools have been randomly PCR testing
a cadre of students that have submitted
permission slips on a weekly
basis. The testing pool includes vaccinated
and unvaccinated students, but
the number tested is only chained to
20 percent of the unvaccinated student
population.
The state has also distributed millions
of at-home tests to public schools.
At present, no schools are closed due to
COVID outbreaks, and only 19 classrooms
throughout the system are
closed, according to DOE data.
As of Jan. 11, the DOE reported 8,670
positive COVID cases among those
in the public school system, including
7,411 students and 1,259 staff members.
As there are over 1 million public
school students in New York City,
the transmission rate is actually lower
than the city at-large — but since only
students who submit consent forms are
being tested, that rate is likely an undercount.
Over 32,043 New Yorkers, including
9,233 Brooklynites, tested positive
for COVID on Jan. 11, according to city
data, which does not include positive
at-home tests, as there is no offi cial
channel to report those results.
DOE’s attendance rate on Jan. 11
was a dismal 72.4 percent, which was
nonetheless an improvement over previous
days, when the attendance rate
hovered in the 60s.
“The mayor is lying when he says
the schools are the safest place for
them to be right now,” said Rosy Clark,
a preschool teacher at PS 58 in Carroll
Gardens, at a Wednesday rally at the
Barclays Center organized by Movement
of Rank and File Educators, a dissident
caucus of the United Federation
of Teachers.
Hospitalizations have risen dramatically
as Omicron rampages through
fi ve boroughs. Of particular concern
has been a marked increase in pediatric
hospitalizations, especially given
the fact that only about 44 percent of
children ages 5-17 have gotten vaccinated.
“The mayor claims that all we need
to beat this pandemic is swagger,” said
Carolyn Tyner, a 7th-grade teacher
at Sunset Park Prep, on Wednesday.
“I think that is a heartless and disrespectful
thing to say to the 60,000 New
Yorkers who have lost their lives to
COVID and the many more who are
hospitalized right now.”
The DOE has not been nearly supportive
enough of educators teaching
through the Omicron wave, attendees
said, arguing that more and better
masks and more testing are needed.
“They gave us fake KN95 masks that
have holes in them,” said Annie Tan,
a special education teacher in Sunset
Park. “That are ineffective. That were
recalled.”
Teachers and parents rally for a remote option at Barclays Center on Jan. 5
Photo by Adrian Childress
edly reiterated his belief that
schools are “safer for children”
than their homes during this
current surge in the pandemic,
going as far as to say in a press
conference Dec. 28 than 1 percent
of students were testing
positive at schools, while 15 percent
of those at home were testing
positive. However, many
parents and educators believe
this to be inaccurate data.
NYC public schools reported
record numbers of student absences
within the past two
weeks since schools reopened
following the winter break.
According to MORE-UFT, research
from as recently as Jan.
9 indicates that in NYC 1 in 5
staff and 1 in 14 students have
tested positive for COVID since
Sept. 13, 2021.
“There have been more
than 10,000 positive test results
for each of the fi ve school days
last week.” said MORE-UFT
in response to Mayor Adams’s
claims on Jan. 10. “Yet, the total
number of tests administered
at schools was never higher
than 13,220 on any given day.
With 1,022,237 students and
school staff (including educators),
this means that medical
teams administered PCR tests
to no more than about 1.3 percent
of enrolled students and
school staff on payroll on any
given day.”
For Zhihan Yao, 14, the
walk out wasn’t just about advocating
for himself, it was
about taking a stand for his
parents and grandparents who
have preexisting medical conditions
that make them very
susceptible to COVID-19.
“I want to stay safe, and I
wish that Eric Adams and the
NYC DOE would actually introduce
a blended program safe
for everyone,” Yao said, adding
that he felt more comfortable
attending classes virtually.
President Michael Mulgrew
of the United Federation
of Teachers (UFT), one of the
largest teacher’s unions in the
city, also disputed the mayor’s
claims of a 1 percent positivity
rate during a press conference
Jan. 3.
“We do not know the percentage,
we do not know,” said
Mulgrew. “Right before the
break the teachers heard every
day how the situation room was
working, and every teacher in
New York City knew that was
not true. Now, we try to work
with this new administration
and we will see what happens
over the next couple of weeks.”
But opposing caucuses believe
that Mulgrew is being
complicit with the Adams administration
in not implementing
or advocating more
strongly for safer learning options.
“We all believe in a democratic
system that Mulgrew –
even though he is the union
president – is not following,”
said Luli Rodríguez, a special
education teacher from East
Harlem and member of United
for Change – another oppositional
caucus, on Jan. 4. “The
Department of Education has
their agenda, and we have our
union leader who does not oppose
these things. He’s really
not supporting the teachers
and he is really not supporting
the families. By not testing everyone,
how can you have an
accurate number of transmissions?”
The Mayor’s offi ce did not
respond for comment.
COVID-19 policies and protocols
High School juniors Rifah Saba, Cruz Warshaw, and Samantha Farrow
helped organize the walkout. Photo by Dean Moses