NYC Educator: DOE Death Panels

NYC Educator: DOE Death Panels

DOE Death Panels

I'm getting a lot of email about reasonable accommodations this week. The DOE is finally responding to requests they got a month ago, and what people are really surprised about is that they're getting answers out before school starts.


There's so little reason in the world to begin with. Just for starters, I see young women everywhere wearing thinks that say PINK in big letters. Almost none of them are pink. I'm befuddled, of course. And it's not only young women. My principal, for example, is not a young woman at all, and he's always wearing a hat that says BROWN on it. The hat is black, though. 

With that sort of thing going on in the world, it's hard to expect the DOE to be reasonable. It's not, after all, what they're known for. How many times have you gone to Court St. only to find your transcripts are on the fourth floor, not the sixth, and you therefore have to resubmit them?

Reasonable at the DOE? Mayor de Blasio is jumping up and down, after having wasted April through July, and saying he's got a whole month to figure out how to open the schools safely. I'd argue, especially lately. that the DOE is known for precisely the opposite of being reasonable. I mean, who thinks it's a good idea for students to eat lunch together in a classroom during a pandemic when even talking is restricted? Not me. Not you. But DOE thinks it's the bestest thing ever. 

Then we come to the concept of reasonable accommodations. This is the notion that, if you have certain conditions, you may not wish to get sick and die from COVID. Over 65? Don't get it. Type 2 diabetes? Smoking? High blood pressure? Don't get COVID. Asthma? Also a bad idea, but I hear it depends upon how bad your asthma really is. The genius doctors at DOE, or whoever they have deciding these things, will say, oh, your asthma only comes up to HERE, but her asthma goes up to THERE. YOU smoke one CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: DOE Death Panels