@NYCMayor @DOEChancellor @UFT @MOREcaucusUFT @safeschoolsny @MarkTreyger718 @NYCSchools @nycgov Speaking only for myself, as an NYC teacher, I want schools to stay open safely, if that’s possible. I’m even, personally, hoping scientists say the 3% threshold can be safely moved.
But I cannot get over, even more than the other myriad issues with this return to school, the disaster of a school covid testing plan. To see some reporters, parents, etc. regularly mention the testing as a reason schools are safe is infuriating.
The pool of testable kids is only around 15-20%. And only some of those kids have been tested, some repeatedly. Plenty, like at my school, haven’t been tested at all. Testing was supposed to be mandatory, suddenly it wasn’t. WHY?
I want to stay at school. It’s been fantastic to work with our ICT First graders in person. We’ve all read the many reasons being at school is good for most kids. Why wouldn’t we want to protect that by testing the way we should be? The way you said we’d be?
Please restore the testing to what it was supposed to be. And please, put schools before restaurants and gyms. Don’t half ass this, it won’t work. Let’s do this right so our kids can be supported in schools.
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Great, another mention of “monthly testing” without including everything it’s missing or what that can mean for missing outbreaks.
Great, another mention of “monthly testing” without including everything it’s missing or what that can mean for missing outbreaks.
Two months ago, I wrote an anxious plea NOT to open schools at all yet. This was before the agreed upon testing plan was dropped by the DOE and the UFT. I’m astounded sometimes by how differently I feel now.
It’s still on my mind so much what many teachers and admins are going through now to try to make this work. Teacher shortages, teachers teaching blended remote, remote, and in person kids at the same time. I am beyond lucky to teach where I do, with so much support.
But I’ve also come to feel very strongly the value of being back at school, teaching ICT students in person. And, to be honest, I love it. And my own kids love it. Maybe that’s clouding how I think about it. But some of the “keep schools open” ideas are really concerning.
The certainty that cases don’t spread in schools, for one. I see it mentioned often by parents and journalists, but yet there are epidemiologists who hesitate to attach a safe percentage at all. We don’t know schools won’t EVER spread cases, in different conditions.
Despite the uncertainty, I’m hoping we can stay. As I said, I’m even hopeful scientists find data to show we might be able to move our threshold higher. Not everyone agrees with me, and I get it. But why aren’t more people supporting testing??
Why was the dropping of the original agreement largely glossed over (really more like dropped) by the @NYCMayor @DOEChancellor and @UFT? And why are so many parents who want their kids to stay in school seemingly fine with a crappy, negligent testing protocol?
It’s obviously more poor planning. If we really want to keep kids in schools safely, why endanger them or their chances to stay there? And it’s yet more disregard for teachers. Just...what the hell?
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