Here are the things that are concerning me with the wee a y the schools are behaving right now despite infection rates being so low in nyc. first, until there is a vaccine available in your doctors office - which may not be until closer to next spring- then school will be remote or hybrid for the spring semester as well. So unless someone forced the schools to go back to normal or offer more days in person we might as well accept that we will be doing hybrid/remote for practically this entire school year. Secondly, it seems thAt many employers are having fatigue in terms of people working from home/ requiring more flexibility. the flexibility offered by workplaces back in April is not the expectation at all workplaces now- meaning if there is work that needs to get done by a certain deadline - it just needs to get done by then. also many more people will go back to work this fall. At least I will and my employer has been very flexible. SO - if schools dont open fully - working parents and especially working moms are going to face a very hard situation through the fall and frankly possibly next semester as well...
I somewhat agree (I disagree that vaccine is the only thing that we are waiting for. I think that the rollout of quick testing could be a game changer, for example).
However, I frame the issue differently. Every decision is a risk/benefit analysis. Many people are using a simplistic description of the tradeoffs: school versus getting sick, or school versus staying at home. A better way to describe the trade off is to also include a time frame. Staying at home for 2 weeks is a very different risk/benefit from staying home for 6 months, or even 2 years. For each timeframe, the marginal risk increases and the marginal benefit decreases. The idea of flattening the curve was to gain time. We've done that.
Way to doublespeak the original poster's analysis, which is, the Governor promised that children would go back to school if certain metrics were met. The metrics were met. Now the UFT is trying to weasel out of doing its part to make sure that promise is kept. Also known as "moving the goalposts". Admittedly, what the UFT is doing is so loathsome that its best play was to wait until the last minute to spring it on parents. Which they did. Their head just said he's happy to violate the Taylor Law which prohibits public employees from striking. This is a foreshadowing of a Biden administration.
@Anonymous The Governor promised that children would go back if certain metrics were met, and with reasonable precautionary steps. The Mayor has spent several months telling the public that the necessary arrangements were being made for PPE, ventilation, cleaning supplies, soap and water in bathrooms, etc. Meanwhile, nothing was actually being ordered, prepared, planned by the DOE. The UFT is holding out until the things that were promised are provided. This is not loathsome at all.
Here is the UFT checklist. https://www.uft.org/sites/default/files/attachments/coronavirus-school-checklist.pdf
@a nonymous Agree. I am not a fan of the UFT but in this I would not trust the DOE as far as you can throw Carranza. DOE is flat out lying just like they did in March. Stuff should have been ordered weeks/months ago. . Show us the purchase orders with delivery dates for supplies , show us the hiring taking place for nurses, show us the details on remote learning.
does anyone realize it will affect the city economy by not having private schools reopening in person? if they at least opened, all the people who are at their second homes, etc would be "forced" to come back to the city and spend money..now they will just stay put
THIS! THIS! THIS!
Ding, ding, ding!!! How do we pressure Cuomo and Di Blasio with this? They are literally ruining the city and state by letting teachers get away with this. Why did doctors, store clerks, delivery people, pilots, etc all have to return to work but not teachers? Office buildings have been open since July and some businesses want people back in the fall.
@Anonymous It's not about "letting teachers get away with it. It's about Cuomo and Di Blasio not doing what they said they were doing--ensuring that schools had hand sanitizer, hot water, PPE, cleaning supplies, isolation rooms for kids who turn up sick... etc. When these things are in place, teachers will go back.
I am totally with you. We flattened the curve, we met the metrics. We will never have 0 deaths. Time to move on and open schools. Only with schools open, the economy has a chance to recover.
I agree, but it's not just about the economy. All sorts of bad metrics went up under lockdown -- for adolescents it includes abuse, suicidal thoughts, anxiety and depression. Can you imagine the impact on this generation if they go through another winter (or two) like this! We cannot wait till there is a vaccine it will be at least another year before it's distributed and safe... if we are lucky
@Anonymous 25% of teens/young adults considered suicide per the NYT. Its bad.
I’m with you. I’m in Vermont. Our rates are ridiculously low. Like, lowest in the country per capita. Three positive cases in the state yesterday! That’s roughly average. It doesn’t get much better than that. What exactly are we waiting for?!
Instwas, we have many districts going back ONE day a week, and the governor setting up childcare “pods” around the state to take care of kids on days they aren’t in school. How is this different than just going to school?! (It isn’t. The only difference is that there are no teachers.)
*instead
@anonymous But childcare pods will be manned by personnel as well. Which makes it even clearer that it is just the teachers who refuse to go back.
Wow, that's nuts. You have an even better case for going back than NY.
SN comment revised: may need to do remote within 5 boroughs or risk losing tuition reimbursement claims. And the DOE can request all kinds of documents (taxes, if mail was forwarded etc) as proof.