Right now to my knowledge my teachers union @UFT isn't fighting for full remote learning in the fall. They're fighting for classrooms where windows open up four inches for "ventilation." Yeah, when our classes are next to a highway. "Car exhaust or #COVID19?" #OnlyWhenItsSafe 1/
My teachers union @UFT fights for #coronavirus supplies and procedures in place. Haven't heard about bathrooms having enough soap. About school supplies/materials, esp. during a budget crisis where Gov. Cuomo has withheld 20% of state education funding and 2/ #OnlyWhenItsSafe
...Mayor de Blasio says we might have 22k in layoffs October 1st. Our kids are supposed to have their own textbooks- how many schools have enough individual books for all the hundreds of students, without sharing em/#COVID19? "We're not striking over pencils," but no funding 3/
We're not assured we have the tech, plan, logic or care to reopen schools safely. IT'S A GLOBAL PANDEMIC.
This NYC public schools teacher is so tired. No good choices, indeed, wen it comes to the education of our children, because our gov't/"leadership" has utterly failed us. 4/4
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I'm in the @UFT Tier 6 Pension FAQ with Frank Panebianco and Leah Lin: will live-tweet here. Big change in April was that it only takes 5 years now to be vested in our pension: going to learn more now!
Being vested in the pension means you can collect a pension allowance at retirement and possibly collect health insurance benefits. But once vested you can't take your money and put it in another private account. @uft
You can get back pensionable service by working in NY State as a state worker (which is a part of the NY state pension system. This may change your tier if u worked b4 4/12012 (I think), to Tier 4. Everyone after is Tier 6. Can get a cost letter thru TRS. Sub time can count too.
Something happier: a friend's friend has a 2-year-old son who may/not have a speech delay. I remembered my mom told me (in Chinese, she doesn't speak English & I'm not fluent in Cantonese) I didn't speak until about 2 & when I went to a special school. So I decided to ask Mom: 1/
(all in Cantonese)
Me: When did I start speaking?
Mom: 2 years 9 months [which is really late!] You would only scream & cry. So we took you to a nonprofit at 184 Eldridge (home to @UnivSettlement) & they helped us find you a person who does what your cousin does (speech path); 2/
(in Cantonese)
Mom: They said you should go to a 特殊教育學校 [typed to me on WeChat: special education school]. We were dai1 sau1 jap6 [Pleco lookup: 低收入 low income] so the govt paid for the school & the school bus. You would come home everyday with wet (soiled) pants 🤣 3/
My school is about to lose 16 teachers to excessing next year due to budget cuts. Yes, it's due to lowering enrollment in Sunset Park as families move out of the neighborhood, and yes, this is absolutely devastating for our school. So many tears today. Sixteen.
Thank you @alexaforcouncil who represents my school's district for voting against @NYCMayor's budget & to the @NYCCouncil members who voted no on @NYCSchools education cuts. I know enrollments are down but whole school communities/cultures are about to be rocked w/ this cut.
Reorganization, aka where each teacher is next year within a school, should be due today for @NYCSchools: have a feeling we're gonna hear a lot of similar stories today. I believe my school lost $1.5 million in the budget, but I didn't know what that meant until today 😔
I've met so many wonderful people over Twitter, AND during quarantine/thruout the pandemic Twitter has been a lifeline for connection. It's been a gift to build the Twitter community I have. I get sad whenever I hear ppl trash Twitter as a platform cuz Twitter's given me so much.
Ppl ask how you make friends in your thirties: seems I do so over Twitter lol. Extroverted me has also met people over Tumblr, Facebook, email, Discord, Instagram, and thru mutuals. Maybe I'm an extroverted exception lol but I'm all about building intentional community over SM.
You know that feeling where you want to cry all day? Yeah, that's me. I'm so tired. Being anyone involved with @NYCSchools is tiring right now. There's not enough time to vent and grieve and rage and cry over how destructive all this is, while also trying to fend off a pandemic.
Students/staff coming into school with fevers, leaving schools to pick up the pieces. Students/staff across @NYCSchools needlessly exposed. The workload is completely unsustainable made that way by a bad staffing deal by @NYCMayor@UFT.
It didn't have to be this way at all. 2/
Students and parents asking why they only see an educator on days they're in-person, why they don't have instruction 3-4 days a week. Educators having to answer that there's no staff and to call @NYCMayor to change it. Nurses and subs being bribed to workcuz of shortages. 3/
Late night tweet: the reason why teachers are continuing through this is because we know there is an end to this pandemic. If this were to last forever, many of us would have already resigned this month because the workload and fear and almost-hourly changes are unsustainable. 1/
I'm up trying to write down all of the ways teaching is different now, and there's a whole new set of responsibilities that I hdidn't understand until just now. The relationship building and social emotional should be #1 during a pandemic, but everything else is so much. 2/
And to be clear, the main reason teachers are teaching right now is for our students. A fundamental dilemma of our profession is, how much of ourselves are we willing to give to our students, while also being able to sustain ourselves AND create safer, more equitable schools? 3/