Yet another last minute DOE revision of their school reopening plan & even less live teaching for NYC kids
Meanwhile, last week, 55 NYC teachers tested positive for COVID, raising some alarm, though as the Mayor pointed out, the figure is only .23% of the 17,000 or so teachers who were tested. Still, staff at many schools are resisting entering their buildings, because of inadequate cleaning, PPE supplies, and/or ventilation.
One of the biggest problems is that principals say they still don’t have enough teachers to make the blend of in-person and remote classes work – as the system devised by DOE requires three times as many full-time staffers as previously: one to teach full-time remote students; one to teach the part-time blended learning students when they’re at home, and one for the part-time in-person students. A
Although the DOE now claims that they’ve hired and/or reassigned 2,000 more teachers and administrators to schools, the CSA, the principals union, said that schools require at least 10,000 additional teachers to make the scheduling work. What’s especially perverse is because of constrained budgets and funding cuts, many schools have been forced to excess some of the teachers and other counselors and librarians they so desperately need who were already on staff.
In order to compensate for the staffing shortages, the UFT agreed that class sizes for the blended, remote learning could double to as much as 64-68 students per class, which totally undermines any chance that these classes could be successful.
Then, last night, the night before remote orientation was to begin, the DOE announced that when they're at home, blended learning students would not be guaranteed of CONTINUE READING: NYC Public School Parents: Yet another last minute DOE revision of their school reopening plan & even less live teaching for NYC kids