The New Memorandum of Agreement For Proceeding With 3020-a Hearings

                          NYC DOE General Counsel Howard Friedman

I just posted on my  blog "Inside 3020-a Teacher Trials" 

(URL https://rubberroom3020-a.blogspot.com/) the new Memorandum of Agreement signed by NYSUT and the NYC Department of Education on how they will proceed with 3020-a disciplinary hearings while COVID-19 concerns are still being discussed.

See my re-posted article and the full MOA, below.

Betsy Combier

betsy.combier@gmail.com

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Agreement Signed by NYSUT and NYC DOE General Counsel On How To Proceed With 3020-a Hearings During COVID-19 Danger

I am a paralegal who has completed about 110 teacher trials (known as "3020-a arbitration"), settled about 20, got withdrawal of all charges for four educators, and won exoneration for nine educators over the past nine years. Before I started actually working on these trials/arbitrations, I spent eight years sitting in hearings as a volunteer observer in my own time, writing notes on everything that was said and done. I taught myself the ropes.

The UFT legal arm is NYSUT, or New York State United Teachers. In this group are Attorneys who represent educator members throughout New York State whenever charges are filed against an individual member. These Attorneys are free, and you get what you pay for, in my opinion. I know almost all of them, having worked for the UFT and meeting them in the hearing offices. NYSUT attorneys will not work with anyone outside of NYSUT. 

In NYC, both NYSUT Attorneys and the prosecuting Attorneys at the NYC DOE Office of Legal Affairs under the direction of General Counsel Howard Friedman want to remove outside counsel from representing charged educators, basically to maintain control of the hearings themselves and to make sure that the outcome is "agreed" to by the school board/DOE. However, any charged educator may choose anyone he/she wants, to represent him/her at 3020-a arbitration. Many - in fact, increasingly - members choose to remove NYSUT and pursue the defense with a private legal team. Thus, when the pandemic hit NYC and hearings at 100 Gold Street in Manhattan were put on hold, I was wondering what would be the game plan.

Two days ago the hearings went into full start again, but not a single private attorney with whom I work on these cases would agree to go into the building and the small hearing rooms of the Legal Unit at 100 Gold 3rd Floor. Turns out, NYSUT and the NYC DOE had made a deal (that was not sent to any private attorneys) to put all hearings on Zoom until whenever.

This should be interesting. Arbitration by zoom has its' pros and cons. I currently have five cases to put on, and you all know I will let you know what happens after the hearings are over. 

For now, see the MOA signed by Beth Norton, General Counsel of NYSUT, and Howard Friedman, General Counsel of the NYC DOE. Enjoy.

Betsy Combier

betsy.combier@gmail.com

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Memorandum of Agreement between the 

Board of Education of the City School District of the City of New York and the

United Federation of Teachers, Local 2, AFT, AFL-CIO

               1.      3020-a Hearings:

a.       Nothing in this Memorandum of Agreement (“MOA”) shall constitute a waiver or modification of any provision of any memorandum of agreement, collective bargaining agreement (and the documents incorporated therein by reference), letter, or other agreement between the Board of Education of the City School District of the City of New York (“DOE”) and the United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 (“UFT”), or past practice except as expressly set forth herein.

b.      This MOA is intended to address the extraordinary conditions presented by the novel coronavirus pandemic and the risk of COVID-19. This MOA will sunset on June 30, 2021, unless both parties agree to extend, in writing, this MOA no later than May 1, 2021, or upon such time as school resume full in-person instruction, whichever is earlier. Notwithstanding the foregoing, either party may terminate this MOA for cause on 10 days’ notice, provided however that, prior to provision of such notice, the party seeking to terminate must have first raised the issue in question in consultation under Section 1(d) of this MOA and have escalated the issue to the General Counsel of the DOE and the General Counsel of the UFT. If no agreement is reached, the Chancellor and the UFT President will decide. For the purposes of this MOA “cause” is defined as either (a) an order issued by the Governor of New York in which all 3020-a hearings are held in abeyance; (b) an order or directive issued by the Chancellor pursuant to which schools are closed and staff are not working remotely; or (c) the Chancellor and UFT president agree that hearings cannot proceed in a manner consistent with this MOA and Education Law Section 3020-a.

c.       The parties acknowledge that the situation regarding reopening offices is fluid and that New York City began Phase One reopening as described in Governor’s Executive Orders on June 8, 2020, and has proceeded and may proceed through reopening phases, or not, depending on a number of factors including the rate of new infections of the virus. The parties agree that as they transition back to holding hearings in person, there may be a need for one or more of the participants to appear remotely, resulting in a hybrid in-person/remote hearing. To the extent possible and permitted under all existing DOE safety rules as determined by the joint DOE/UFT Central Committee, the parties will proceed with in-person hearings. However, if in-person hearings are not possible then the parties will proceed remotely for the term of this MOA, whether with a hybrid model or completely remote.

d.      The Director of the Administrative Trials Unit (“ATU”) and the Director of the Teacher Performance Unit (“TPU”) shall meet monthly with the UFT, or the UFT’s designee to consult regarding the implementation of this MOA.

2.      Remote Hearings (Process and Protocols)

a.       The parties are committed to having these cases heard in an expeditious manner. The parties agree to conduct remote hearings according to the protocols set forth in this MOA so that all issues are fully and fairly litigated.

b.      If a Respondent requests, the UFT will make every effort to provide a private and secure location for the Respondent to participate in the remote hearing with the appropriate computer equipment and abiding by all health and safety requirements. If the UFT is unable to provide a Respondent with a location on a given hearing date, counsel for the Respondent will make every effort to provide the DOE with two (2) days’ notice and the DOE will make every effort to provide a private and secure location for Respondent to participate in the remote hearing with the appropriate computer equipment and abiding by all health and safety requirements. If UFT and the DOE are unable to provide a location to the Respondent, the hearing will be cancelled, and the parties will split any cancellation fees. If a hearing is scheduled within 48 hours of the hearing date (e.g., as the result of a settlement of another matter), and the UFT is unable to provide Respondent with a location, the UFT will notify the DOE as soon as possible. Under these circumstances, should the DOE be unable to provide a private and secure location the parties agree to mutually reschedule the hearing date.

c.       The parties agree to make every effort to pre-mark exhibits, identify witnesses, stipulate to undisputed facts, and minimize the issues of fact to be tried remotely.

d.      Remote hearings for both ATU and TPU cases will resume and proceed in the order of their case queues/case assignments before their current hearing officers in a manner that is consistent with the Collective Bargaining Agreement. To the maximum extent possible the parties agree to ensure that the cases are managed timely.

e.       In the event a hearing is cancelled or interrupted as a result of an individual party’s technical issues, including but not limited to the party’s failure to have the proper equipment, that party will bear the cost of any cancellation fees for the hearing date. 

3.      Platform:

a.       The parties agree that all remote hearings will occur on a single platform: Zoom Pro.

b.      The Hearing Officer (hereinafter “HO”) will be responsible for the costs of using the Zoom Pro platform. 

4.      Procedures:

a.       Subject to paragraph 2(b), each party shall be responsible for ensuring their own equipment is properly functioning prior to the hearing date.

b.      The HO shall ensure that the court reporter can access the hearing to make the transcript of the hearing.

c.       The HO shall be the only “host” of the proceeding on the chosen platform and will ensure that each party has a confidential virtual break out room.

d.      The HO as host will ensure that the following participants will have access to virtual breakout rooms and that additional breakout rooms are made available for other participants/parties as needed, including:

o   Respondent and Counsel

o   Counsel and Witness

o   Counsel and Counsel

o   Counsel and HO

e.       A party shall be allowed to disconnect from the hearing to attend to administrative matters and the amount of time by a party spent off the record shall be in accordance with the CBA.

f.       Counsel shall make every effort to minimize any delays attributable to inadequate familiarity with the chosen platform or inappropriate equipment.

g.      The parties shall take all practicable steps to ensure the confidentiality of the proceeding. No person should have access to the live video and/or audio feed of the proceeding other than disclosed participants with a right to such access.

h.      The SED official transcription service shall be the sole method of transcribing the proceeding. The SED official transcription company shall only access the audio recording feature of the platform and shall be prohibited from accessing the video recording feed of the platform.

i.        No party, witness, or other participants in the hearing may record via audio or video, transcribe, or photograph the proceeding.

j.        No party, witness, or other participants in the hearing shall use any chat feature of the chosen platform.

           5.      Exhibits:

a.       Proposed exhibits in the format in which the exhibit will be entered shall be emailed, using a secure platform, to opposing counsel five (5) days in advance of the entry of the exhibit.

b.      Counsel for the parties shall confer two (2) days prior to the hearing date to make best efforts to stipulate to the exhibit’s entry. If the parties agree to the entry of an exhibit, the exhibit shall be pre-marked. If the parties are unable to stipulate to the entry of the exhibit, the proposed exhibit shall also be pre-marked.

c.       Prior to the hearing, counsel responsible for entering the exhibit shall email, using a secure platform, to the HO and opposing counsel, any exhibits which have been pre-marked and/or stipulated to. The provision to the HO of a pre-marked exhibit for which the parties have not agreed to entry shall be without prejudice to arguments or objections as to admissibility, weight, and/or relevance. Nothing herein prevents either party from introducing an exhibit or witness that was not pre-marked or identified.

6.      Mediation:

a.       The parties agree to mediate as many cases as possible or appropriate from ATU and TPU.

b.      The mediations shall also be remote and shall be complete by December 21, 2020. A second round of mediation will take place in 2021. Once the first round of mediation has concluded, the DOE will make every effort to identify additional cases for mediation to begin in March 2021.

c.       The arbitrators will be chosen by mutual selection of the parties.

9/22/20 

Beth Norton                                                       
General Counsel                                               
United Federation of Teachers,                       

Local 2                                                                     

AFT, AFL-CIO   

Howard Friedman

General Counsel

Board of Education of the City School District                                                      of the City of New York

NYC and UFT Make A Deal on the $900 Million Payout Cancelled By Mayor

 

                                                                    Mayor Bill de Blasio [photo: Dennis A. Clark]

The news says the UFT wins arbitration and gets half the money (promised and negotiated with the City in 2014) now, and no teacher layoffs this year. Mayor Bill de Blasio just does not 'get' it - or want to - that the United Federation of Teachers is the power behind the throne in New York when you are talking money. 

The City is in a fiscal mess, and de Blasio cannot fix it.

Betsy Combier

betsy.combier@gmail.com

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NYC, teachers union strike deal on $900M deferred payout

Selim Algar and Vincent Barone, NY POST, October 10, 2020

New York City and its teachers' union struck a deal Friday to secure a $900 million back-pay payout the de Blasio administration had attempted to cancel just a day earlier.

The United Federation of Teachers and City Hall agreed to pay out half of the $900 million payment this fiscal year and the second half in the following fiscal year.

The union also extracted a pledge from the city to not layoff any teachers this year and cemented a previously agreed-upon 3 percent pay hike on May 14, 2021.

“In addition, with teachers facing layoffs around New York State and the rest of the nation because of the pandemic’s damage to the economy, we were able to convince the arbitrator to add a no-layoff pledge and a guarantee that the teachers’ next contractual raise — a 3 percent increase set for May — will not be challenged by the city,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew said.

The de Blasio administration on Thursday had called off the massive payout, which was due this month.

It was the last in the series of five back pay payments stemming from union negotiations between 2009 and 2011 — citing the ongoing financial crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan had written to the teachers union that the cancelled payment would help the city avoid potential layoffs.

Mayor de Blasio, on Friday, billed the agreement as a $450 million savings for the city.

“The City faces the gravest fiscal crisis since 9/11, but we will build on our record of strong financial management by making the tough decisions and sacrifices we need to keep the City running,” de Blasio said.

“This agreement allows us to avoid laying off the teachers who’ve done so much for New York City’s schools and students. But make no mistake, the need for the Federal and State governments to step up and provide us with aid is as pressing as ever.”

                                                                           Bill de Blasio
                                                                         Mayoral Photography Office

De Blasio defends $900M teacher payment freeze amid union fury

Julia Marsh and Selim Algar, NYPOST, October 9, 2020

Facing a ferocious union backlash, Mayor Bill de Blasio insisted in an interview Friday that he had no choice but to freeze $900 million in teacher back pay due to coronavirus budget restraints.

He made the comment during his weekly WNYC radio spot with Brian Lehrer when a caller who identified himself as a retired city educator said it “seems like the teachers are always the ones who bail out the city.”

De Blasio stressed that the payments were not canceled outright and would be issued at some indeterminate point.

“Here was something we could do to stave off a crisis and stave off layoffs — to withhold that payment,” he said. “Obviously people should get that money eventually but we can’t afford it right now given that nothing else has come to support us.”

The dispersal was due to be issued this month and stemmed from union negotiations between 2009 and 2011.

“It is the city’s desire to avoid the necessity for layoffs, and to make a retroactive payment at this time would therefore be fiscally irresponsible,” First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan wrote in a letter to Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers.

Arguing that teachers had a right to money they had already earned, Mulgrew angrily blasted the freeze and his union began arbitration proceedings with the city Friday.

De Blasio highlighted that the city has been battered by $9 billion in lost revenue due to the coronavirus shutdown and said that state and federal authorities have failed to replenish municipal coffers.

“We’ve said we’re not in a position to make that payment right now, the union invoked immediately its right to go to arbitration, they do have that legal right and that arbitration is happening immediately,” he said. “The arbitrator will decide what happens with those payments, that is the legally binding right of the arbitrator.”

“We’ve said we’re not in a position to make that payment right now, the union invoked immediately its right to go to arbitration, they do have that legal right and that arbitration is happening immediately,” he said. “The arbitrator will decide what happens with those payments, that is the legally binding right of the arbitrator.”

De Blasio was also quizzed Friday on his rationale for closing schools in COVID-19 hot zones even if they don’t have any coronavirus cases.

Frustrated parents at shuttered private and public schools in these areas have ripped the city’s approach, arguing that the facilities should only be locked down if cases actually materialize.

While he acknowledged minimal COVID-19 cases in city schools, de Blasio said the shutdowns were necessary to guard against wider outbreaks in areas with serious upticks.

“That means shutting down activity across the board,” he said.

De Blasio reported that 2,155 staffers were tested at 44 public schools in hot zones and that only three people tested positive for the coronavirus.

“So we’re not seeing spread in schools, we’re not seeing any unusual number of students or staff anywhere in the city testing positive,” he said.

De Blasio speculated that the closures could end in a matter of weeks if infection rates in impacted areas stabilize.

NYC Says $900M Deferred Compensation Payout To Teachers is Cancelled

 

                             Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers.                                       Robert Miller

NYC cancels $900M deferred payout to teachers, cites financial crisis

Julia Marsh and Vincent Barone, NYPOST, October 8, 2020

The de Blasio administration has canceled a long-scheduled $900 million deferred compensation payout to current and former teachers, citing the coronavirus-induced financial crisis.

The payout due this month — the last in the series of five stemming from union negotiations between 2009 and 2011 — was called off as the city attempts to limit the number of administration-wide layoffs, First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan wrote to the teacher’s union Thursday.

“It is the city’s desire to avoid the necessity for layoffs, and to make a retroactive payment at this time would therefore be fiscally irresponsible,” Fuleihan wrote in a letter to Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers.

“The City regrets having to take this necessary action, particularly in light of the assistance and cooperation of the union and its members in opening schools over the past several weeks,” he added.

The canceled payment comes, as Fuleihan referenced, while teachers put their lives at risk returning to classrooms for blended learning this school year as the pandemic rages on.

Mulgrew said the union will go directly to arbitration to fight for the wages and that an arbitration hearing was scheduled for Friday.

“I will go into arbitration tomorrow. We will present that case, which is very simply: we want the money that you owe us now,” Mulgrew said in a video message to union members.

“We all understand that we’re in a pandemic; that our economy has basically been wrecked–both here in the city, at the state and nationally — but this money is money that we have already earned…from over 10 years ago,” he added, “and the city needs to make good on their obligation.”

City Hall spokesman Bill Neidhardt recognized the work of teachers during a chaotic school year but said the decision was necessary to preserve jobs.

“This action is necessary to avoid painful layoffs,” he said in a statement, “but make no mistake, New York City recognizes our teachers go above and beyond for our students and schools every day.”

Op-Ed: Attorney Bryan Glass, UFT Solidarity, and Francesco Portelos Lead Educators Astray

                                                               Attorney Bryan Glass
 

Team Advocatz believes that UFT Solidarity and Bryan Glass are misleading teachers/educators as well as putting them under scrutiny with the Department of Education, which leads to Discontinuance or 3020-a charges. We present the facts below.

re-posted from ADVOCATZ.com:

Op-Ed: UFT Solidarity Loses The Case To Get COVID-19 Accommodation For Remote Teaching

Considering the amount of press coverage on the PETITION filed by Attorney Bryan Glass for UFT Solidarity members to get accommodations, any reader would think that the case was precedent-setting. In fact, I believe that UFT Solidarity chief Lydia Howrilka even said that it was.  She was quoted in EdSurge:

“Teachers who do not qualify from specific guidelines of medical accommodations—if they do not fall under any of those categories, the only option they have is to take unpaid leave,” Howrilka says. “We are being given a Hobson’s choice of choosing between either our paychecks and livelihood or our own health and safety.”

I support the premise that teachers with disabling conditions, or who have relatives and/or family members whose health is impaired for any number of reasons, or who have particular work responsibilities which require working with children who cannot wear masks or do not keep them on, should obtain remote work accommodations if they apply – with the proper doctors’ notes and support. Many, it is true, are denied for no rational reason. No one trusts what the NYC DOE says about “safety,” either.

Many people – including myself – believe that it would be a terrible idea to trust the New York City Department of Education when promoting “safety” in NYC schools. The definition of safety they rely on is hearsay, often fake, news. Public contractors say that something has been cleaned, and people in the very room that has been “cleaned” can see that it is not clean. I have seen mold, bugs, mice, falling ceilings, and other horrible, unsafe conditions throughout New York City in my many roles as a parent advocate, UFT representative, workplace investigator, and in pictures received from sources who are everywhere. Thank you, all!

Also, as a parent and teacher advocate, I have the facts behind what is really going on in our City schools, stuff that no one wants to know, stuff the NYC DOE keeps lying about, such as two teachers (one general education, the other special education) certified to teach in the content area in every ICT (Integrated Co-teaching) classroom; another is that charges against an educator are always rational. Anyone who really wants information should go to the school, work or walk inside, and see for him/herself, or ask someone inside to take pictures and secretly tape conversations (New York State is a one-party State). I am certainly not alone in this knowledge, we live in a City where everyone should assume that all conversations have someone secretly taping everything, and sharing the tapes online when the "right" time comes along. The "right" time is, I believe, defined by an individual or group; all people everywhere certainly do not have the same definition of "right", or "good", "bad", "wrong", or "fake", etc. 

By the way, I do not secretly tape anyone with whom I work, and have never, nor will I ever, secretly tape anyone in 3020-a hearings or Court. So don't believe anyone, and I mean UFT Solidarity folk if they say I do. 

But I write VERY good notes and read every transcript thoroughly.

I believe that everyone can have their own opinion about anything as long as they do not maliciously and intentionally lie to harm anyone.

That being said, I do not believe that Bryan Glass was the right choice for an Attorney. He did not do an adequate job in the TRO case for remote teaching accommodations. Indeed, after winning the temporary injunction, which the press picked up, he signed up 20 new Petitioners, who may or may not have been aware that the first Judge had vacated the TRO. It seems that the Judge was not satisfied with Bryan Glass’ argument to Amend his original Petition, or withdraw it:

ORDER___TRANSFER_MO_28

Here is the relevant part:

“Accordingly, the imminent harm and balance of the equities presented to the Court in the initial application are no longer the same. This is particularly true because Petitioners have now raised the possibility of a secondary, “comfort” accommodation policy, not mentioned in the Petition, which Petitioner’s counsel was unable-despite numerous Court queries, hundreds of pages of submissions, and two arguments-to discuss as it applied to Petitioners; that is, whether Petitioners had applied, on what basis, and what the result was. 1 

It is therefore

ORDERED that the TRO is vacated.”

Here is the response from the New York Law Department, the Amended Petition, and the final Order of Judge Edmead:

LETTER___CORRESPOND

PETITION__AMENDED

ORDER___INTERIM

FINAL DECISION- CASE DISMISSED

TRANSCRIPT

Francesco Portelos started UFT Solidarity to promote attacks on NYC Department of Education Administrators, despite the fact that he was charged with 38 disciplinary charges and found guilty of 11 of the most serious, including internet misconduct, harassment of personnel, and the girlfriend of the UFT Chapter leader, and videotaping a student without permission. In 2011 the Arbitrator, Delice Busto, did not terminate him but warned him to stop his harassment and abuse of co-workers. He did the exact opposite.

My lack of confidence in Bryan Glass is many years in the making. In 2015, Francesco Portelos and Lydia Howrilka created a video wherein Jim Callaghan, a very disliked former reporter at NY Teacher, speaks about his hatred for the UFT and his former boss, Randi Weingarten. Jim spoke about how Randi believed I was a homophobe but hired me anyway to work on the rubber rooms as part of the UFT SWAT TEAM with him and Ron Isaac. This lie was promoted to make me look bad after discovering that Francesco’s new website “ANOI” and his threats to principals posted online in 2015 was getting his UFT Solidarity members noticed at the NYC DOE, charged, and fired.

You can see my opinion about the wreckage UFT Solidarity and Francesco have done here:

 Editorial: Is Francesco Portelos a Danger to Tenure Law? by Betsy Combier

I posted his 3020-a decision by Felice Busto in that post, but here is the Busto decision in full, sent to me by Francesco Portelos:

Portelos, Franceso advs. New York City Board of Education 

Almost as soon as Francesco received the decision he started UFT Solidarity, to get other people to do what he wanted to do, but couldn't. Let them get in trouble. Lydia Howrilka is just one example. See the Department’s lawsuit against Ms. Howrilka, using Francesco’s ANOI website as evidence of defamation of the Principal who terminated Howrilka in Jue 2013. counter-lawsuit

Jim made my life at the UFT very hard, by everyday emails taunting me, belittling me, and creating a bad place for himself. The UFT did not like him, so Jeff Zahler, former staff Director before Leroy Barr, told me to ignore him. So, I did or tried to. Since that video, which I told Francesco was a lie, Francesco has lied about me, just like he posts defamatory stuff about principals.  Bryan Glass supports Francesco Portelos, defended him in his losing  Federal Court case against IS 49 and the Department of Education, and called me a snake oil salesman, hoping that I would be squashed into silence.

Yet members of UFT Solidarity continue to follow them.

In 2017, I read that Bryan Glass filed a class-action lawsuit for age discrimination on behalf of ATRs (Absent Teacher Reserve). Francesco Portelos posted the Complaint “How 30 ATRs Are Fighting for Over 100,000 on his website and added that he was joining the lawsuit too.

I am not an attorney, as everyone knows. But I don’t believe that a class action can be filed at the Division of Human Rights. Also, Francesco was only 39 years old in 2017, I believe. He had no grounds to be in an age discrimination lawsuit.

So, I filed a Combier FOIL 30-Day letter for the paperwork. The response to me was startling: Bryan Glass never filed this Complaint. I Appealed, thinking that this must be a mistake. Combier FOIL Response. I also received a call from the Human Rights FOIL officer, who told me there was no Complaint filed for ATRs, and she did not care what was written on any websites or blogs. In December 2019 I received all the closed cases at DHR with Bryan Glass as the Attorney, 2016-June 2019, plus:

DHR Complaints 2016-2019

I then sent Bryan an email asking for any information, and he never responded:

“Dear Bryan,

I am sending this second email to add to my request sent yesterday (see below):

I want to inform you that I filed a FOIL request for your Complaint as well as the outcome, and the Division of Human Rights told me that the Complaint was never received. Is this true? If not, please send me the information no later than January 16, 2020. If it is true, did you return any money to the complainants who paid you to file their lawsuit?

Thank you for your attention and cooperation,

Betsy Combier, betsy.combier@gmail.com”

January 11, 2020:

“Dear Bryan,

I am writing an article on your DHR Complaint as publicized in the post below:

How 30 ATRs Are Fighting for Over 100,000 NYCDOE Employees

Please give me your stamped filed Complaint and the decision made by the NYS Division of Human Rights by Thursday, January 16, 2020. I will post my article on Friday, January 17, 2020.

Thank you, I very much appreciate your information and cooperation.”

He did not respond, so I decided to contact Reporter Crystal Lewis at The Chief Leader, who wrote the article praising Bryan and Francesco: ATR Instructors Claim Age, Pay Led to Bias. I asked Ms. Lewis if she had seen the filed lawsuit. She told me no. Then I asked her if she knew if it had been filed, and she told me she believed that it had, as Francesco Portelos had posted on his website the Complaint, and she had interviewed him. I asked her to call Bryan Glass and ask him whether a class action had been actually filed, and she told me that she would do that, and get back to me.

Several days later Ms. Lewis told me that ‘someone in Mr. Glass’ office’ told her that no class action was filed, but 29 individual complaints had been filed. I thanked her.

The information given to Ms. Lewis by "someone in Bryan Glass' office"  was false, according to the Division of Human Rights. But Ms. Lewis wrote her article anyway, without checking the facts.

Betsy Combier

betsy.combier@gmail.com

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Coronavirus Cases Close The John F. Kennedy Jr School in Elmhurst Queens

How many more schools Will Close Before The City Goes Full Remote For Everyone?

Students at St. Francis Preparatory School test positive for COVID-19

Betsy Combier

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Coronavirus News: Queens school is 1st in NYC to shut down over COVID cases

WABCTV- COVID-19 News and Information

ELMHURST, Queens (WABC) -- A school in Queens will be closed for two weeks after two staff members tested positive for COVID-19, becoming the first school in New York City to close due to a potential outbreak.

The John F. Kennedy Jr School in Elmhurst will remain closed through October 13, according to a letter sent home to families on Wednesday.

"As always, the health and safety of our students and staff, and everyone in the DOE family across the city, is our top priority," the letter read. "As you know, our school building was closed for an initial 24 hours because two or more members of our school community tested positive for COVID-19. Today, we are writing to update you that the NYC Test + Trace Corps and the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene have determined that at this time the main site building must remain closed for 14 days."

The Department of Education said the staff members were in different classrooms and are not linked. The incident meets the protocols of a 14-day switch to remote learning, which is what occurred.

Related: 1st day of in-person learning for NYC middle and high schoolers

All teaching and learning will continue remotely, and officials hope to reopen the building on Wednesday, October 14.

"It has 262 students in their blended learning program and 88 staff so that school as of today is shut down for two weeks," Mayor Bill de Blasio said. "That's the only one the entire time that has experienced that."

Anyone with a positive COVID-19 test will not return to the school until they are no longer infectious.

Close contacts of the persons who tested positive have been notified and will continue their 14-day quarantine period.

"If the safety comes first, there might be times when the school community has to flip the switch and go remote," United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew said, "We are not closing our schools. Are we live or are we remote? Those are the two new things that schools operate under."

Related: 10 NYC neighborhoods with COVID-19 positivity rates above 3%

If additional close contacts are identified, they will also be instructed to quarantine for 14 days.

Families are reminded to stay home if you feel sick, monitor your and your child's health, wear a mask and practice social distancing.

"Kids will get instruction remotely, then the school will be back up," de Blasio said. "Everyone who was quarantined will come right back, and will continue with the rest of the school year."

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P.S. 128 Parents Protest Lack of Live Streaming For Students In Blended Learning

Parents at PS 128 and throughout the New York City school district are furious with the fake news coming from the Department of Education.

Here is a quote from an anonymous parent in the QNS.com article posted today: 

"...we don’t know why they aren’t able to do a live stream of the in-person classes for the students in blended learning..."

Chancellor, or Mayor, what's the answer?

Betsy Combier

betsy.combier@gmail.com

Editor, ADVOCATZ.com

Editor, ADVOCATZ Blog

Editor, NYC Rubber Room Reporter
Editor, Parentadvocates.org
Editor, New York Court Corruption
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Middle Village parents protest outside of P.S. 128 over lack of live instruction for blended learning students

By Angélica Acevedo, QNS, October 1, 2020

Approximately three dozen parents and kids gathered outside of P.S./I.S. 128 in Middle Village on Thursday, Oct. 1, to demand the school give students the live instruction they were promised with the blended learning model.

Parents of the K-8 public school, located at 69-10 65th Drive, who enrolled their children in blended learning said they’ve gone days without teachers giving virtual classes — and they’ve had enough.

“The issue is that we don’t know why they aren’t able to do a live stream of the in-person classes for the students in blended learning,” said one parent who asked to remain anonymous.

Some parents told QNS that with the blended model, their children have in-person schooling once or twice a week and the rest of the week they are completing assignments with minimal to no teacher-student virtual interaction.

They worry their kids aren’t getting the education they deserve.

“My child’s a sixth-grader, preparing for high school … there are other parents who have-eighth graders with the same situation. How are they being graded? When it comes time to apply to high school, do they just give up?” the parent said. “Nothing is shared with us.”

Some of the parents at the protest questioned why P.S. 128 was having the issue, saying they haven’t heard of other nearby schools going through the same situation.

P.S. 128, which has 900 students and served as an REC this summer, has a stellar reputation in the surrounding community. But during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of schools in March, some parents said their children weren’t receiving live instruction then either.

During the hour-long protest, parents and kids gathered on the side of the school to talk about their concerns. Several school safety officers and an NYPD van were standing by.

A few minutes into the protest, a parent coordinator came out to speak with the group of parents.

“We have people here that are listening. You have to be patient,” they said, before leaving promptly.

The protest was organized by a concerned parent, who asked to remain anonymous, with a post that quickly gained traction on local Facebook groups.

Shortly after the post made the rounds on social media, parents received a letter from the school’s administration that afternoon saying they are working to remedy the concerns.

But parents said they’re only getting answers because of the protest, that there has been minimal communication from the school and that even the models they were presented with — blended, remote and in-person — weren’t clearly described to them.

“Why didn’t they organize this better? Be truthful to the parents,” one parent, who is an essential worker and asked to remain anonymous, told QNS. “If you decided blended, the rest of the week your child would not have a live instruction. Explain it first, then we could have organized this differently. I had no idea … My son is calling me, home alone, waiting for my 84-year-old mother to come — she has to take two buses to get over here and she doesn’t know how to work the computer.”

The parent, who had their child at the REC at P.S. 128 during the summer, said that if they knew remote learning would mean five days of live instruction, they would have opted for that instead. But childcare during their work day remained a concern.

This week, the Department of Education reported that 48 percent of public school students opted for fully remote learning this fall.

John Pastor, who has a seventh-grader at P.S. 128 doing remote learning, said the school’s principal, Camillo Turriciano, “needs to do a better job.”

“The principal has to voice our concerns to the Board of Ed, he is our liaison, not the teachers. The teachers are our liaisons in learning,” Pastor said. “If the principal comes to me and says, ‘Look John, I went to the Board of Ed and they said no,’ guess what we’re going to do? We’re going to go to the Board of Ed, but he doesn’t tell us anything.”

Pastor and a group of parents will be sending a letter to the city and meeting with local Councilman Robert Holden this week.

Jonathan Kingston, who has two children at P.S. 128 doing blended learning, believes the issue stems from the DOE and UFT.

“I think the fish stinks from the head,” said Kingston. “I don’t think it’s appropriate, the way they’re going about this. This notion that we can jump between a live teacher some days and then some different teacher remotely sending instructions different days. There’s no reason why they can’t live stream the actual class with the same teacher, same day, and have it be seamless.”

Kingston added that while he understands that the argument that schools need more funding, he asks if the DOE is appropriately using the resources they currently have.

“More funding is not always the answer,” he said. “If you’re going to now have one teacher doing the job of what one teacher can and should do, then I would respectfully submit that more funding is not the way to go. I think the teachers union might do a great job of looking out for teachers, [but] I think that the interest of the students always should supersede the concerns of the teachers union.”

The Community Education Council for District 24 sent an email Thursday morning to encourage parents to complete a survey about their concerns and join their Parent To Parent Zoom meeting taking place next week. A date has not yet been announced.

DOE spokesperson Danielle Filson said they are working on ramping up live instruction for blended learners.

“We appreciate everyone’s flexibility and patience at the start of this unprecedented school year and our goal is to have in-person instruction for our blended students on their in-person days, and to ramp up live instruction for blended learners on their remote days,” Filson said. “P.S. 128 was excited to welcome the school community back this week and is offering students rich courses using both in-person and remote methods. The Executive Superintendent and Superintendent are working closely with the principal to add additional staff as quickly as possible.”