KIDS & EDUCATION
UFT: Give us an option
NYC teachers union boss says remote choice is necessary
BY ISABEL SONG BEER
As New York City schools
reopened following the
winter break on Jan. 3,
President of the United Federation
of Teachers (UFT)
Michael Mulgrew spoke at
the American Sign Language
and English Lower school in
Manhattan on Monday and
addressed questions and concerns
about classes resuming
during the recent COVID-19
surge.
Among new safety measures
enacted last week by
former Mayor Bill de Blasio
before he left offi ce are regular
testing for both vaccinated
and unvaccinated students
in New York City schools.
Mulgrew stressed at the press
conference that it was of the
utmost importance for students
and faculty to adhere
to these guidelines in order to
minimize infection or contact
with infected individuals.
However, Mulgrew also stated
that unless schools offer a
virtual instruction option, it is
not possible to force students
or faculty to get tested, and
that only the state can force
testing consent at that time.
“If we do not have a remote
option, the state is the only
one that can mandate the testing,”
said Mulgrew. “Without
a remote option we cannot,
that is the law.”
According to an email sent
out by the UFT on Jan. 2, inschool
COVID-19 testing and
surveillance will be doubled
from what it was last year.
Over the winter break, about
2 million take-home tests were
given to students and faculty,
and in the month of January
each week school staff and
faculty members will be given
at-home testing kits approved
by the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA).
These kits include tests that
determine whether or not an
individual is infectious at that
time. The goal is to ensure
that there is minimal transmission
of the virus within
NYC schools and to provide
quick and accurate results.
With this new policy, kits
will also be distributed to all
students and staff in classes
where a positive COVID-19
case is suspected or identifi ed.
Kits will also be distributed
to anyone within the school
system who exhibits symptoms
such as coughing, fever,
new loss of taste or smell, or
shortness of breath.
While the UFT and many
parents and guardians believe
that moving to remote
learning would be safest, new
Mayor Eric Adams maintained
that schools need to remain
open.
“Virus levels within schools
are low,” said Mayor Adams
in a press conference Dec. 28,
though he didn’t provide evidence
indicating this. “Your
children are safer in school
than anywhere else.”
When questioned about the
prevalence of the virus within
schools, Mulgrew reiterated
that currently there was no
way to tell.
“We do not know the percentage,
we do not know,” said
Mulgrew at Monday’s press
conference. “It comes down to
a school by school basis.”
School command center aims to prevent infections, shutdowns
BY ISABEL SONG BEER
The Department of Education
launched a COVID
19 command center
to improve communication
between school districts and
principals to help minimize
infections and prevent school
shutdowns, Mayor Eric Adams
and Schools Chancellor
David Banks said Monday
morning.
During an appearance in
the Bronx, Adams said the
command center would be in
operation in order to combat
the Omicron variant and to
keep schools open in accordance
with the “Stay Safe and
Stay Open” policy introduced
by former Mayor Bill de Blasio
last year.
“We want to be very clear,”
said Adams as he spoke at
Concourse Village Elementary
School in the Bronx on Monday.
“The safest place for our
children is in a school building.”
United Federation of Teachers President Mulgrew
addressed press outside the American Sign Language and
English Lower School.
The command center also
works to allow all school staff
to report pandemic-related issues,
including lack of staff or
issues with school testing protocols.
“All indications are that we
are in a pretty good place right
now and we will be prepared
to make whatever adjustments
are needed,” said Banks.
Jan. 3 marked the start of
new in-class regulation including
doubling testing for
students both vaccinated and
unvaccinated, with teachers
and faculty also being eligible
and encouraged to test as well.
Mayor Adams also stressed
that he wants to mandate inschool
testing, but that approval
needs to come from the
federal government in order to
be approved and that he is currently
working wit Governor
Kathy Hochul to negotiate the
change in testing protocol.
Speaking at the American
Sign Language and English
Lower School in Manhattan,
President Michael Mulgrew
of the United Federation of
Teachers (UFT) expressed
some hesitation and concern
with schools reopening after
the holidays with record high
numbers of COVID-19 infections.
“Right now there is no protocol
for students who do contract
the virus and have parents
or guardians who work
full time, are immunocompromised
or otherwise unable
to tend to their sick children,”
Mulgrew told amNewYork
Metro. “The city needs to
come up with a program for
that and I told the mayor and
the chancellor that these are
situations we need contingencies
in place for.”
However, Adams reiterated
that schools are safer places
for children that homes stating
that “less than one percent
of children are infected,”
whereas “at home, over 15%,”
although it was unclear where
he received those statistics.
PHOTO BY ISABEL SONG BEER
NYC MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY UNIT
Mayor Eric Adams visits Concourse Village Elementary
School in the Bronx with Schools Chancellor David Banks
and local elected leaders as they greet students and
parents who are returning from holiday break on Monday,
Jan. 3, 2022.
20 January 6, 2022 Schneps Media