But I thought what the hell. Sometimes someone that seeks attention needs to be exposed for all to see. 

Last week we shared on these pages what Stephanie Edmonds really thinks of unions and her fellow UFT brothers and sisters. This week we will see what Stephanie Edmonds thinks of the Holocaust and her fellow Jews. 

I first wish to qualify that yes, it has been extremely tough on students the last 10 months. I feel for them immensely. I feel for their parents. In fact, I feel for everyone that has been affected by COVID in one way or another. Mistakes and missteps have been made. But neither do I trust the NYCDOE, DeBlasio, or Cuomo one bit in their plan(s) or guess work.  I have not been happy with the way the UFT has handled things, but at the end of the day I am sticking with my union and my colleagues. 

This tweet is from Stephanie (@classdisrupti0n) from early December (CLICK TO ENLARGE): 

 

 

 

Let's just sit back a moment and let this all sink in. I'll wait. 

OK? Done?

Before getting into the obvious issues with this series of tweets, let's focus on the first line where Stephanie proclaims that she is "standing for all Americans." This little pissant fart in the wind is going to stand for all Americans? With only 1,293 followers on Twitter? Kim Kardashian has 68.6 million. As much as I think Kim is useless and would listen and follow her way before Stephanie. Is Stephanie being hyperbolic or does she have some deranged sense of self?I shan't comment and will leave it for the mental health professionals and those in the psycho-pharmaceutical field to determine. 

Next.

Maybe Stephanie does not realize that over 6 million Jews were murdered during World War II for nothing other than being Jewish (yeah, I know that there were the disabled, gypsies, and gay and lesbians killed but I wish to just focus on what hits home to me).

What is your problem Stephanie? How dare you trivialize the Holocaust! How dare you use what your fellow Jews have gone through to advance your politics. You're not even Jewish! Do you know what it is like to be a Jew? Do you know what it is like to know the history of Jews and the Holocaust? Have you lost any family members to the Holocaust? 

Yeah, what the students are going though sucks. But this is the best we got. People are afraid. Parents are afraid. We have a disease that is out of control. I know people that have died. That have been sick. But people, meaning teachers, are making the best out of a shitty situation and people like you are not helping! You have all this time to tweet, to have a You Tube channel, Instagram, and now, a website that sells merch (CLICK HERE FOR WEBSITE)!  Every social media site is dedicated to one thing and one thing only. Yourself and your "brand" You don't give one damn shit about the kids. Think I am wrong? Then stop showing yourself off especially when you are handing out donations and freebies. 

The students that are learning remote, in NYC (except for middle schools and high schools right now), are remote because their parents/guardians decided that's how they want their children educated. Stay the fuck out of their business. Focus on your job, not yourself. 

To compare students who are learning remote to the Holocaust? Are students being thrown into ovens? Are their parents? Are the students being used for medical experiments? Are the students being ripped away from their parents? What kind of sick person makes this comparison? 

What Stephanie wrote is beyond the pale. And if you notice the 3rd tweet when given a chance to walk it make she just doubles down. It's all about Stephanie. For a Jew to compare remote learning to the Holocaust is just wrong.

But I am willing to give Stephanie a chance. Stephanie, feel free to email anytime you want. We can have a Zoom or Google Meets meeting. I will bring along several Holocaust Survivors. If you are the person that you claim to be, you won't have a problem sharing with these Survivors what you are comparing the Holocaust to. Or you are more than welcome to speak through Zoom at Shabbas services at my step-mother's synagogue. Probably won't be any Survivors but I am pretty sure that everyone at the service has at least one family member that was killed in the Holocaust. 

Own your words. Put money where mouth is. And while your contemplating your decision Stephanie, have a look at this Auschwitz video. You should be well aware of this!

 Sometime last night during my binge watching of Family Guy I got a text from one of the many SBSB groupies. It was shared with me that sign up is available for those who qualifyunder group 1B for the COVID vaccination (I'll post the link at the end of this post).

Finally! This vaccination process, at least in NY State is taking too long. Cuomo has to control it. Why not use all 62 NYS county health departments. Less control for Cuomo one would hazard to guess. Heck, in 1947 NYC vaccinated about 6 million people for smallpox in about a month. Why can't this be done again? 

So for the last week or so we here at SBSB have been hearing rumors that teachers have been moved into 1B and that vaccinations are imminent. Thanks to DeBlaso for finally showing some balls to Cuomo that day has come starting tomorrow. But the rollout has not been exactly smooth. 

This morning on 880 WCBS I heard the tail end of an interview with Mulgrew in which I heard...

"Teachers who are in the classroom will be given priority"

That was a "whatcha talking about Willis" moment for me. It was time to roll up the sleeves. 

I reached out to the SBSB groupie as well as someone in the UFT. I got some decent clarification from the UFT.

If you signed up on the link provided last night with NYCHHC you are still good to go. You don't have to wait for the UFT to do it for you.

You do not need to be a NYC resident to use the NYCHHC link. I am getting my shot at 3rd Ave and 174th St. 

I'm also hearing that each individual must schedule the second shot themselves, but that just doesn't make sense. But waiting to hear confirmation. More likely at wherever you get your shot they will schedule for you.

The UFT has scheduled a paid release time for the vaccination. 

And finally, and this is what is bothersome: That according to Mulgrew's email today members working in school will get priority. But according to what I was told "if you are 1B you won't be turned away." Just those in buildings will kind of have a head start. 

I really must take umbrage. I mean the infection rate nearing 10 percent. With the buildings still open the DOE, and seemingly, the UFT has no issue with such a high rate of infection. Originally the threshold for shutting down the buildings was to be 3 percent. All of the sudden someone gives a shit about the teachers in the building ? Mind you, I am not besmirching these teachers. They are doing a fantastic job under the circumstances and we should support them. But they're mostly healthy. Chances are they do not have a morbidity.

The priority should be those with a morbidity. Whether it is a member or a member's loved one that they live with. These people are the most vulnerable and susceptible to dying.

Right now the way the UFT and DOE are prioritizing the healthy sounds a wee bit like Eugenics with a smile. "Let's take care of the healthy first. As for the weak and the sickly? If we get to them, we'll get to them." Maybe I am being hyperbolic but come on. Talk about wanting to thin the herd, the teachers on accommodation are the most vulnerable.

One more thing. People are getting their underwear into too much of a bunch over the video of the UFT nurse getting vaccinated. Big fucking deal. She's got more guts than Trump. Look at it this way, she's demonstrating the safety and efficacy of the vaccination. Too many anti-vaxxers out there. Let her set an example. Get your undies out of shape for the priority list and other real shit.

Now for the Health and Hospitals link. CLICK HERE  If you see nothing keep coming back. It's like you are getting tickets for opening day on Tivk. If you don't live in NYC check with your doctor, your provider, your local department of health. Be aggressive and be proactive. Most of all be safe and stay healthy. 

 I still don't think the school buildings are opening September 10. Yes, the UFT threatened astrike and/or job action (sick out). I don't think it will get to that point either. But that is a story for another blog post. 

 But Twiddle Dumb and Twiddle Dumber are completely fucking this so called grand reopening up and  losing allies along the way. They have painted themselves into a corner and either too stupid, too incompetent, or just thick headed to see that the ship is sinking around them. That they can only save themselves. Or have someone save them.

That person, Twiddle Dumb and Twiddle Dumber believed was to swoop down from above and save their sorry asses is Governor Andy Cuomo. Governor Cuomo in their little minds was to be there Dark Knight and force the UFT to have teachers report. Guess what? It ain't going to happen. 

Today, on the Today Show, and according to the Post, Cuomo...

..said he had his “fingers crossed” that Big Apple schools are ready to open safely — but admitted he is not sure he’d send his own kids to one in the city.

“I would have a lot of questions,” Cuomo admitted on the “Today” show when asked if he would send his children to New York City public schools amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“This is a risky proposition no matter how you do it, let’s be honest. We’ve seen schools open — we’ve seen colleges open — and get into trouble in one week. So there’s a lot of questions to answer,” he said.

Asked how confident he was that they were actually ready to reopen, he said, “Fingers crossed on all of this.”

Governor Cuomo knows it's over for Twiddle Dumb and Twiddle Dumber. He's prepping them. Or prepping us. But he's getting the bus ready. He's throwing both under. He won't have their incompetence sully his already sullied hands. 

The question is, does Cuomo do this bus throwing publicly, or in private? Let's hope and pray that it is a nice public throwing under the bus. I think this was his plan all along. 

Or, and I just thought of this. Will DeBlasio suck up enough to put the entire blame on Carranza and drive the bus? Either way, someone is going under that bus.

 The following came into the SBSB newsroom earlier in the week. It is a letter and petition directed to our dear governor requesting that he stop the insanity and inanity, as well as De Blasio's and Carranza's incompetence to keep schools from opening on September 10. 

This letter and petition were created by Marisa Wagner and Tracy LaGrassa, both biology teachers, both with PhD's, both with real life educational experiences, at Bronx Science High School. Who do you think we should listen to? These two dolts, or Drs Wagner and LaGrassa? Both deserve all the kudos.

The Crack Team and myself have read this many times over and we like what we read. This letter and petition obviously is the results of people with brains, foresight and most importantly not named Carranza or De Blasio. You can tell the authors put more time and work into their letter how to reopen the schools than Twiddle Dumb and Twiddle Dumber have.

Please sign the petition. And please use the hashtags on Twitter, #notuntilitssafe and #followthescience. 

I still don't believe schools will open on September 10.

Dear Governor Cuomo,                                                          

 

As teachers in the New York City public school system, we are proud of how New York, under your leadership, has handled the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. You and your advisors have made public health decisions based on the science. You advocated for and procured what was needed for the medical community. You spoke frankly to the public about what was happening and what had to be done, and, together, we flattened the curve. You are now guiding us through a cautious, phased reopening of the state, adjusting criteria as needed. All of this is toward ensuring that the curve stays flattened. Your leadership during this crisis has helped to ensure our safety, despite the lingering presence of SARS-CoV-2 in our local communities and the increasing prevalence of the virus in states to our south and west.

 

We now ask that you take that same cautious approach, informed by the best science available, as we consider how to safely reopen our schools. We all want to return to the normalcy of in person learning; HOWEVER, we feel it is irresponsible to reopen our school buildings to children in any capacity until it can be done safely, for the sake of the health of our children, our staff, our families, and New York. We have serious concerns about how we can accomplish this in the NYC public school system with over 1 million students at over 1,600 schools, and in light of impending budget cuts, in time for buildings to reopen in September. Once outbreaks begin to happen in the schools, a second wave of COVID-19 in NYC seems inevitable.

 

Based on the best science available, what needs to be done NOW to make our schools safe to reopen in the age of COVID-19?

 

We MUST have a robust testing and contact tracing system in place that includes frequent testing of ALL students and staff, multiple times per week.1 As more data are collected concerning SARS-CoV-2 and children, the evidence is increasingly clear that children of all ages are capable of contracting and transmitting the virus as well as adults do.2 Upwards of 50% of virus transmission happens pre-symptomatically, from infected individuals who have not yet experienced symptoms.3 Viral transmission happens from asymptomatic individuals, those who are infected but never experience symptoms.4 This evidence informs us that temperature checks and self-reporting of symptoms are ineffective measures to prevent virus spread.

 

If we cannot identify infected pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals in our school communities, there most certainly will be outbreaks that will contribute to community spread throughout the city. Pooled PCR testing to detect viral RNA, recently FDA-approved, could be performed a minimum of twice per week on all cohorts within a school.5 Rapid, inexpensive antigen-based tests for virus present in saliva, akin to home pregnancy tests, could be done at home each day to determine whether or not it is safe for that student or staff member to go to school. Such tests exist but there has not been a push for licensing, manufacturing and distribution.6 We are in this for the long haul, until we achieve the protective herd immunity needed to keep our community safe. We have every confidence that we will eventually have successful vaccines to help us to reach that herd immunity more quickly, but we cannot wait. Frequent testing with rapid turnaround time for all students and staff in the schools needs to be implemented NOW and we would be proud to see New York take the lead on this.

 

Our physical buildings must be made safe. Although most viral transmission happens via larger respiratory droplets and is mitigated by 6 feet physical distancing and wearing masks, there is evidence of transmission via aerosols, smaller droplets that remain in the air longer and can accumulate in rooms with poor ventilation. Thus HVAC systems need to be inspected and upgraded as needed for sufficient air exchange rates in classrooms and offices.7 Cleaning supplies, soap, paper towels, hand sanitizer and the like must be kept in plentiful supply to reduce viral transmission via contact with surfaces. PPE such as masks and gloves must be made available. We need a means to enforce PPE use and proper physical distancing at all times of the day, including arrival, travel to classrooms, lunch, and dismissal.

 

Given the current lack of widespread use of SARS-CoV-2 tests that allow sufficient monitoring of our school communities, as well as budget cuts that will make funding all of the necessary safety measures nearly impossible, we have zero confidence that schools can be safely opened by September. Please make the right decision now. Let us begin the school year with 100% remote learning. Let teachers focus on making remote learning engaging and effective for all our students. Let us invest resources and creativity in making the necessary technology available to all NYC students. This is especially important because remote instruction will continue to be an essential component of education until the pandemic is over.

Once a robust test and trace system is implemented in all schools and all physical buildings are safe, and assuming that COVID-19 cases remain at their current low rate in NYC, then a phased return of students to their schools for physically distanced, 6-feet-apart learning can be considered. To accommodate this phased return under the current budget conditions, the safety measures put forth above should be applied in a way that prioritizes first bringing back the students who need in person learning the most.8 

Younger children (e.g., grades K-8) as well as older students who require in person services should be part of the first phase. Younger children are more susceptible to learning loss, need interaction with peers and their teachers for social-emotional development, and need home supervision to benefit from remote learning.9 Many parents of younger children rely on their children being in school to allow them to work.

 

High school students should be the last to be phased in for school reopening. High schoolers require less parental supervision and can do well with 100% remote learning. In addition, in NYC, while most primary and middle schools are neighborhood schools, requiring a short commute such as a walk to school, most high schoolers travel longer distances, often between boroughs, each day to get to school. Given their longer times on public transportation and their inherently larger social and in-school networks, high school age students have the potential to contribute the most to increased citywide community spread and will be more difficult to contact trace as compared to younger children.

 

Governor Cuomo, we urge you to lead us through a safe ’20-’21 school year for all New Yorkers. We fear for the health of our students, ourselves, and all of our families. We do not want to have to mourn the loss of any more members of our school and home communities due to COVID-19. We do not want to see any more members of our school and home communities suffer permanent organ damage and chronic disability due to COVID-19.10 We want to see the curve in NYC and New York remain flattened.

Respectfully,

New York City Public School Teachers

***

Marisa Wagner, Ph.D. - Biology Teacher, Bronx High School of Science

Tracy LaGrassa, Ph.D. - Biology Teacher, Bronx High School of Science

 

References: 

1. Need for frequent, inexpensive testing with rapid turnaround time

• TWiV 640: Test often, fast turnaround, with Michael Mina | This Week in Virology (Listen from 0:00 to 48:00)
• Test sensitivity is secondary to frequency and turnaround time for COVID-19 surveillance
• SARS-CoV-2 Screening Strategies to Permit the Safe Reopening of College Campuses in the United States
• Radical shift in COVID-19 testing strategy needed to reopen schools and businesses, researchers say
• Failing the Coronavirus-Testing Test, interview with Michael Mina in Harvard Magazine

2. Children contract and transmit SARS-CoV-2

• Age-Related Differences in Nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 Levels in Patients With Mild to Moderate COVID-19
• SARS-CoV-2 Transmission and Infection Among Attendees of an... 
• Contact Tracing during Coronavirus Disease Outbreak, South Korea, 2020
• A large COVID-19 outbreak in a high school 10 days after schools' reopening, Israel, May 2020

3. Pre-symptomatic spread of SARS-CoV-2

• Presymptomatic Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 — Singapore, January 23 …
• The implications of silent transmission for the control of COVID-19 outbreaks 

4. Asymptomatic spread of  SARS-CoV-2

•  SARS-CoV-2 Infections and Serologic Responses from a Sample ...

 

5. Pooled RT-PCR testing for SARS-CoV-2 RNA is FDA-approved

• Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Authorizes First Diagnostic Test for Screening of People Without Known or Suspected COVID-19 Infection

6. Rapid at home antigen tests exist and are sensitive enough to detect transmissible virus

• TWiV 640: Test often, fast turnaround, with Michael Mina | This Week in Virology (Listen from 0:00 to 48:00)
• Opinion | Coronavirus Testing the Cheap, Simple Way
• TWiV 648: Life is for learning, with Daniel Griffin | This Week in Virology (Listen from 2:30 to 17:20)

7. Aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV2

• Airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2: The world should face the reality
• The airborne lifetime of small speech droplets and their potential importance in SARS-CoV-2 transmission
• Opinion | Yes, the Coronavirus Is in the Air,

8. Alternative NYC plans for phased re-opening, prioritizing younger grades first

• Jumaane D. Williams, NYC Public Advocate, White paper on reopening schools, July 27, 2020 
• Mark Treyger, City Council Member, NYC, Chair of the Committee on Education, "Public Health Data Needs to Guide the Safe Reopening of Our Schools" accessed 8/4/20

9. Younger children need in person learning more than older children

• Reopening Primary Schools during the Pandemic,

10. COVID-19 morbidity for even mild cases

• From "brain fog" to heart damage, COVID-19's lingering problems alarm scientists

Just a few days ago on these pages, June 9, we here at SBSB asked the question, "But what about the ATRs?"  This was in reference to that Governor Andrew decreed that teachers that fall under APPR will not be evaluated for the 2019-20 school year. Oh joy. There was dancing in the streets. Celebrations enveloped Coruscant.

I was skeptical. ATRs do not fall under APPR. And neither do others who work in the schools and offices of the DOE. What about these people? At press time on Tuesday, there had yet to be any clarification.

The Crack Team got the clarification.

As of now, ATRs, guidance counselors, school social workers, deans, etc... any one that does not fall under APPR will still be given a year end evaluation.

Of course.

The UFT is awaiting word from the lawyers whether Governor Andrew's gracious offer is extended to The Others. The UFT should be getting an answer soon. This is the best information that The Crack Team got and will pass along more when it is known.

You know what? This is a swift kick to the crotch of ATR and all that do not fall under APPR. None of us were properly observed this year. None of us were properly supervised during the last three months. How can this be?

If the UFT doesn't fix this it yet again amplifies how uneven the playing surface is for ATRs. Yes, The Others are just as affected as well but having an evaluation. But The Others are not on the precipice of losing their careers every year for farting in a non DOE manner, or getting written up for leaving a toilet seat up.

The school year ends on June 26. Two weeks from today. We need an answer. Soon.

You can't change the spots on a jaguar. A scorpion is always going to sting. You can't
change the stripes on a tiger. You can't make shit from shinola. You can't make chicken salad from chicken shit.

And you can't keep Andrew Cuomo from being a dick.

He just can't help himself. Must be in his DNA. He didn't get it from his father. Maybe he is adopted or was dropped on his head as a boy.

Compared to the 5 year old, we have as a president I was giving kudos to Cuomo in the job he was doing the last 6-7 weeks. Yes, he was slow in coming around. He fucked up with the nursing homes, but he came across knowledgeable and compassionate.

He was earning rock star status. I know many people who were like, "Ohhhh, he's so kewl. He's the best." I did everything I could to throw cold water and saying that yes, I will give him credit for doing something undickish, let's go over what he has done in the past in which he was a dick, especially to teachers. He basically wanted to destroy our profession and destroy education in New York State.

But maybe, just maybe, he would rest on his laurels of the last 6-7 weeks. Maybe he would say to himself, "Self, I have rock star status, I don't need to be a dick." No he couldn't help himself. He is a wolf in sheep's clothing, a dog that can't be taught new tricks.

"I want to work with Bill Gates to re-imagine education in New York State."

Dear God, he said that. Why? After all we been through, why? And why now?

Oh yeah, remote learning so he says has changed how we should see learning. Where's the facepalm emoji on this blogger thing? (Read Arthur for a more detailed and mature take on Cuomo's dickiness.)

I agree with what Mulgrew said at the most recent UFT town hall that this remote stuff is here to stay. It is. But how is it going to stay?

If it is replacement. Bad. If it supports and supplements learning, then no problem. But Cuomo can't do that especially when he's reenlisting his partner in crime, Bill Gates.

Why Gates? Please, hasn't that ship sailed? Look at Cuomo's task force for the Corona Virus task force....

• Linda Lacewell, Department of Financial Services, Superintendent
• Dr. Howard Zucker, Department of Health, Commissioner
• Melissa DeRosa, Secretary to the Governor
• Beth Garvey, Special Counsel
• Gareth Rhodes, Department of Financial Services, Deputy Superintendent
• Simonida Subotic, Deputy Secretary for Economic Development
• Kelly Cummings, Director of State Operations and Infrastructure
• Michael Kopy, Director of Emergency Management
• Patrick Murphy, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, Commissioner
• RoAnn Destito, Office of General Services, Commissioner
• Pat Foye, MTA, Chairman & CEO
• Rick Cotton, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Executive Director
• Dan Fuller, Deputy Secretary for Education
• Sandra Beattie, Division of Budget, Deputy Director

I'm not going to get into the competency of any of the above mentioned people, but looking at their job descriptions one can adequately surmise that each brings knowledge of their area of expertise to the larger undertaking of this virus. That's what is needed.

If I am going to get advice on how to run a bakery I am not going to ask a gardener.

So why is Cuomo going back to what has failed in the past, what we are seeing now was never needed and a complete waste of money?

Want to re-imagine education in New York State, Andy? Go to the stakeholders. The teachers of New York State. Not the E4E types, not the charter school type, the real teachers. The teachers that work for a living. Heck even retirees. And NO EVA MOSKOWITZ!!!!!

What about parents? Why can't they help out Cuomo? How about high school and college students. Maybe a gardener or two?

It really doesn't take that much to re-imagine education. It's quite simple. Use the words I said to my son when I dropped him off at college, "Don't be stupid." That simple.

 This is all about money, power, and Cuomo being a dick because he is not happy with his dick. Just leave well enough alone Chris' brother.

Last week I stopped at Stew Leonard's in Yonkers to pick up a few things for dinner. There
was about a 30-45 minute line to get in. A few minutes after I got on the line Stew Leonard's employee shouted, "All essential workers (first responders, health care workers, etc..) can go enter." I turned and asked, "What about teachers?" She said to go on ahead.

But thanks to the this New York Times article from April 21, some might be thinking we are no appreciative of what we have, think we are complaining too much, or both.

Off course the Times has to begin the article with snark.

According to the Times, teachers... work under meticulously negotiated contracts that detail their work hours and break times, and the rules for how they engage with administrators — contracts that now seem all but irrelevant with students and teachers confined to their homes.

Uh, yeah. We do. There is a reason we do. Just like First Responders do, just like MTA workers do, just most healthcare workers do (At least in New York City owned hospitals), even nurses in private hospitals. Sanitation workers are unionized, highway workers as well. But of course the Times must make it out to seem that only the teachers are hiding behind a collectively bargained contract. 

Irrelevant? So the contract goes out the window because we are working from home? We are therefore not entitled to a 50 minute lunch? A six hour and fifty minute day? A prep? Sick days? 

Administrators must not follow rules? Mustn't supervisors in NYPD follow rules? FDNY? Any other essential workers that work under a CBA (For those that aren't aware the C in CBA stands for COLLECTIVE which is an adjective meaning "done by people acting as a group.") The UFT collectively enters into a contract with another party, the City of New York."

 But some of these teachers are working longer hours without being compensated. According to the Times...Unions in some of America’s largest school districts have called for restrictions on the number of hours and days that teachers would be required to work from home during the pandemic.

That's because some of these teachers, many in fact, are working longer hours. All the time from home while juggling taking care of their own children.

Maybe they just want to be compensated for their extra time, or what is known as OVERTIME. NYPD cops are still afforded OVERTIME, In fact the plan is if 5k cops call in sick NYPD will go to 12 hour shifts which will include OVERTIME. Does the Times have issues with other public service employees taking advantage of the fruits of OVERTIME?

Is it possible that teachers, due to our CBA also wish for relief from supervisors that break the agreed CBA, go against agreements negotiated by the UFT and the chancellor?

From yesterday's UFT Delegate Assembly (courtesy of Arthur Goldstein) during the Q&A...

Q.How much work can principals mandate, now being told to record voice over PowerPoint. Pushing us to be onscreen as much as possible. In Kindergarten.
A--If they're mandating you be live, go to operational complaint form. Chancellor not requiring it. Why are they changing things all of a sudden? Perhaps being directed. I will check what's going on in your district. If this goes to my consultation with chancellor, will be inconvenient for AP

That's just an example.

Of course the Times has this; New York City has seen perhaps the most drastic display of unions pushing back against the new expectations placed on teachers.

Yeah, because we have been shat upon for too long and we don't trust those making decisions even though the teachers of NYC put together remote learning for 1.1 million students in 3 days.  

Think it's easy for us? How does one think it is for an average 7 year old? How does one think it is for any child old whose only escape from their home is that time spent in school? How does one think it is for four school aged children under one roof with only one laptop or just an iPad or iPhone? We know. We feel it. 

We push back because we are not generally supervised by competency or even have a background in education. I'll guarantee that any cop is supervised by someone who has been a cop and has more than 3 years of service. I will also say the same that one can't become a health care professional with only 50 hours of training. And I know if I walk into McDonald's tomorrow morning that the manager has experience working for McDonald's.

But the Times went full snark with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that spring break, scheduled to begin in early April, would be canceled for schools across the state. (Many other places did the opposite, keeping or even extending their breaks.)

Here we go again.

In yesterday's Post there is a story about an ATR, who escaped war in Bosnia only to walk into another one within the NYCDOE.

This, according to the Post, is some of what happened to Aida Sehic...

"...rampaging pupils broke her nose with a bag of metal rulers, stabbed her with a mechanical pencil, demanded sex acts, trashed her classroom and hurled epithets at her including “white bitch.’’

Of course, guess whose fault this was? The system? The DOE? The schools in which she taught? The administrators? The students? The students parents? Nah.

It was, of course, the teacher herself. Heck, Aida even tried to take the high road in attempting to appeal to one student's mother only to have the student retort back...

“...When my mother comes in tomorrow, she’ll deck you,”

Aida reached out to anyone and everyone she could. The DOE, NYPD, and the UFT. She got nowhere other than being brought up on 3020-a charges in 2016 for incompetence.

Isn't it possible, that the constant threat to one's physical well being, the constant fear for one's safety, just might have an affect on one's pedagogy?

Aida was excessed in 2011. She has been teaching since 1999. Three schools, IS 218 in the Bronx, MS 322 in Manhattan (School site and Inside Schools), IS 143 (Which was closed for poor performance according to Inside Schools) in the Bronx were the schools where she was abused.

Anyway, Aida was lucky. I guess. She kept her job. She was fined, $7,500. But she could have lost her life at any moment and left her two children without a mom. As one colleague shared with me who had been through something very similar to what Aida had been through...

"Wait until a teacher is killed. It's coming, people."

I don't think so. I hope not! But sadly, if it did happen, I would not be surprised.

But something is bothering me more. I am not upset at the lack of any action by the DOE or the NYPD.What I'm upset about and sadly not surprised at all is the lack of any action by the UFT. 

Why would the UFT ignore this teacher's desperate pleas for help? Where was an action team from the UFT when Aida needed one? Where were her chapter leaders? District leaders? 

This story was in in yesterday's Post. It was on the Post's website Tuesday night. Today is Thursday, September 13.Where is a statement, a communique, and email to the rank and file in support of Aida and calling for outrage against the DOE for the way her situation was handled? Something. Anything?

But I'm able to get a robocall last night at 7 PM from the UFT imploring me to vote for Cuomo and his crew. And then, guess what? I got another robocall this afternoon (As did many other teachers) again requesting that I sell my soul for Cuomo. WTF????

The UFT has time for this inane electioneering for Cuomo but doesn't have the inclination nor the time to have a teacher's back? What the F*** gives? If Aida were a cop, Patrick Lynch (as much as I think he is a turd) would be front and center having her back!!

But not our union. Not the union we no longer have to pay $100 a month to (even though I will).

Well, Aida has filed a federal lawsuit. Good for her. Even better, she has hired Bryan Glass as her attorney. She can't go wrong there. She is damn good hands. Get some fuck you money from the DOE.

We, each and every teacher, must fight back in a united method against the UFT.

It's June 20. The school year is about over. What's happening in the world of the NYCDOE?

We got family leave. I will write more about this tomorrow. ATRs are getting the rating sheets in. Some are not very happy. I had to counsel one very pissed off ATR the last few days. The Open Market is out but as we know it's a scam. Regularly assigned teachers are find out whether or not they are ineffective, developing, effective, or highly effective. Teachers are being denied tenure or having their probation extended. Teachers city wide are taking copious amounts of anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications. ATRs are concerned if the next contract will be their end. Teachers are facing abusive principals. Teachers see incompetent and crooked principals get away with everything. The list can go on and on and on and on.

But where there should have been leadership, a light to guide the rank and file by, to grab the bull buy the proverbial testicles has once again taken an opportunity to miss the opportunity.

MORE again stretches a triple into a single.

At tonight's Delegate Assembly MORE is bringing up a resolution (in which none of the above, nor anything that was not mentioned that would be 100% beneficial to the rank and file) matters one iota to putting food on a teacher's table, putting a teacher's children through college, or just having a teacher not dread going to school in the morning.

What is this resolution? It's all about the upcoming New York State gubernatorial election y in September. More so, in my opinion, it is more to get Howie Hawkins name out there.

Look, I think Andrew Cuomo is a complete putz. As for Cynthia Nixon, I want more information. I think she is a stalking horse and put in there by De Blasio to piss off and pull Cuomo to the left. But Hawkins? He's turning into Lyndon LaRouche or Gus Hall. Just running for the sake of running. Besides, his policies are fantasy land.

It really needs to be realized that a teeny, tiny, percentage of the rank and file has true Socialist inclinations. Most have nice egalitarian lives and those are fine. Then there are the Evangelical Socialists that are completely out of touch with reality and seek out young impressionable teachers that still live on mommy and daddy's dime to convert. I get it with these kids. They move to New York City Brooklyn, they are own their own for the first time, they want to save the world. But they are missing the bigger picture.

Any UFT caucus must do right for the ENTIRE rank and file, not just their little corner of the DOE world. MORE in essence has become a top down organization just like the UFT and it's agenda now only benefits a select few.

 All of us get lost in the darkness/Dreamers learn to steer by the stars/All of us do time in the gutter/Dreamers turn to look at the cars--Peart, Neil 1989

I have this habit of waking up at 5 AM and checking my phone for the latest emails and news. When I clicked on the NY Post app on my phone I saw and read a story about Jeanene Worrell-Breeden, the principal of the Teachers College Community School had killed herself back in April on the same day that someone at her school reported her she had cheated on the standardized tests.

The first thoughts on my mind, as well as condolences, go out to her family and friends. This was a needless, senseless death that never should have been. She is someone's wife, mother, daughter, grand-daughter, niece, friend, principal, teacher, etc... No one has won here except Governor Cuomo and Chancellor Fariña.

As I lay in bed thinking of this, my thoughts went back five years to a teacher in Los Angeles, Rigoberto Ruelas, a teacher that suddenly found himself ineffective due to a Los Angeles Times reporter, Jason Felch becoming the story and not reporting on the story. Rigoberto after he was outed by Felch, committed suicide.

I know there are some out there who no matter what would see this death as some type of vindication towards their goals but I do not. This death if nothing should bring all educators in New York City and New York State closer together and fight as one against the marauders of education in Albany and at Tweed. For whatever Ms Worrell-Breeden has been accused of doing it did not happen in a vacuum and was completely avoidable.

The pressure from Albany as well as from Tweed to more or less tie everyone's job, their pay, their  own self worth to whether or not that person can be the next coming of someone's fantasy teacher that only exists in the movies is an impossible ladder to climb for almost anyone. God only knows what was going through Ms Worrell-Breeden. Not only to allegedly cheat, but worse, once confronted with this information, to jump in front of an oncoming B train and kill herself.

This sick, unrealistic method, test, test, test, punish, punish, terminate, embarrass, ostracize, method of educating children and evaluating teachers must end and end soon or we will have many more Jeanene Worrell-Breeden's.

Last Sunday night we were in Corning NY and had dinner with another couple. The wife, who I won't mention, is very prominent in BATs and the AFT. Both her and her husband on two of the most real people I have ever met in my life. In the many topics of discussion that evening we touched on what teachers need and what can or should be done for them.

There are false prophets seeking false profits preying off the backs of teachers that are down to their last act of strength in fighting back against the same forces that Jeanene Worrell-Breeden was fighting.

What support are they given? "Oh here, this is how you file this." Or, "This is what you do when this happens to you." Maybe they get a, "You need to do this." But this is the simple advice.

Now mind you I am all for fighting back and blowing the whistle. But the trick that I learned so long ago is not everyone when they need to fight back can or wants to.

Sometimes the best thing one can do is just to be there. Someone to be there for that teacher to have a shoulder to cry on, someone for that teacher to vent to, someone for that teacher to divert their mind from their troubles. I doubt Jeanene Worrell-Breeden had someone like this. Or someone who could tell her she could have fought back. But the trick between being supportive and being one who can lead someone to fight is a fine line and one must have the EQ to know what is the difference and which one to use.

Teachers and principals are sick if this. Yeah, I said principals. How about this? Educators are sick of this pressure. If we, not them, but WE, do not start supporting one another the best way we can for each and every educator and stop from projecting our ways of settling old scores onto them we will be just as guilty to their emotional and physical demise as the powers that be in both Albany and Tweed.

False hope needs to end immediately to teachers walking the precipice. The testing pressure, the culture needs to end.

The whistleblower did the right thing. For some reason Ms Worrell-Breeden thought she was doing the right thing. But neither of them are to blame for her death. The people to blame are the ones hiding behind the dollars and the sense of self-importance and self-righteousness they have.

I do not want to hear of anymore educator suicides. Enough is enough.

It will and can get better.