Some New York City teachers are calling for a “mass sickout” mutiny in defiance of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s refusal to close public schools to stem the coronavirus outbreak.
With Twitter postings and emails urging a revolt, worried teachers are consulting colleagues about taking the drastic action to protect themselves and their families.
“We’ve talked about it,” one educator told The Post, adding that his union chapter is holding a meeting on Monday to vote to join the sickout. “Other teachers I know have said they will call out.
MORE-UFT, a faction of the teacher’s union, blasted de Blasio for ignoring warnings that keeping schools open puts students and staff at risk.
If de Blasio won’t #closenycpublicschools to protect students and their families, teachers will #sickout https://t.co/VEloYt7cx3 pic.twitter.com/diDbnnC2o1
— MORE-UFT (@MOREcaucusNYC) March 14, 2020
“Because of this irresponsibility, teachers will need to take action to protect the health of our students and their families by calling in sick on Monday,” said a bulletin sent to members Saturday.
Fueling the debate, teachers’ union president Michael Mulgrew declared, “The mayor’s reckless refusal to close the schools has created a climate of fear. Public health demands the closure of our schools now.”
On Saturday night, Mulgrew upped the ante. He urged parents to call 311 to demand schools be closed.
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and City Comptroller Scott Stringer have also called on the Department of Education to shutter schools, but to also continue to distribute meals to needy youngsters and provide online academics.
Already, amid mounting demands that the city close schools to stem the spread of infection, a growing number of teachers are staying away.
On average, as least 3,100 teachers a day, or 3.9 percent of the system’s 79,000 teachers, shunned school last week, the city Department of Education said Friday.
A DOE spokeswomen could not give the teacher absenteeism rate for Friday — when student attendance plummeted to 68%, down from 89% on Monday.
However, the number is likely to skyrocket because teachers can enter absences into the attendance system days after they are out.
On Saturday, Mayor de Blasio stuck to his guns about keeping schools open.
Closure would cause “a cascading effect,” negatively impacting the subways and hospitals because transit and health-care workers would stay home with their kids, de Blasio said.
He also noted that hundreds of thousands of teenagers would be left unsupervised, and could be unsafe or get in trouble on the street.
The sickout has already affected kids. One student at East Side Middle School in Manhattan said 14 teachers were absent Friday, including math and science instructors.
With the humanities teacher out, students got a work sheet and watched another movie.
“And people just hung out. It wasn’t anything rigorous or academic,” the teen said.
Sources told The Post that several teachers at PS 107 in Park Slope — where a parent tested positive for coronavirus — did not come to work Friday and student attendance plunged.
Each NYC teacher gets 10 paid sick days where a doctor’s note isn’t necessary.
Some parents are angry that schools remain open. The father of a Brooklyn Technical High School student said his son’s friend attended school all week — before learning his dad had tested positive for the coronavirus-caused COVID-19.
After notifying the school Thursday, administrators simply told him to self-quarantine for two weeks.
“It’s crazy, because they’re on top of each other here,” the dad said, referring to the school’s 5,900 students and several hundred staffers.
“Schools should be disinfected by the Center for Disease Control, not just cleaned by school custodians.”
- Staten Island parent
Meanwhile, the DOE confirmed that a student who attends IS 27 in Staten Island has tested positive for COVID-19.
“The student was not in school last week while symptomatic,” said spokeswoman Miranda Barbot.
The building is being “deep-cleaned,” she said. “We expect it to be open on Monday, pending Health Department confirmation.”
Other schools where staff or students have tested positive include the Hungerford School at the New Dorp HS campus on Staten Island, and the Brooklyn Occupational Training Center on Avenue X. The DOE will notify families today whether the schools will reopen Monday, Barbot said..
“Schools should be disinfected by the Center for Disease Control, not just cleaned by school custodians,” one Staten Island parent fumed.
“Parents are outraged. You would have thought people would be there in hazmat suits, but no,” he said.
Additional reporting by Selim Algar.