If they ever get around to an "investigation," what will it entail? I'm picturing dogs playing poker, but I'm very partial to dogs. I'm far less partial to the DOE, and I have every expectation things will get worse under Eric Adams, the 6-million dollar man, wholly funded by charter schools.
Now it's tough to imagine exactly how the testing system can be worse. Bill de Blasio's COVID testing system is designed, from top to bottom, to know as little as possible and accomplish nothing. We're doing testing, but only testing those who volunteer. If they come in and don't believe in COVID, well, too bad for everyone. They spread the variant all over the place and there's nothing you can do about it.
I was in close contact with one confirmed case in my school. No one notified me except the person I know. Evidently, in de Blasio world, coming into close contact with someone who tested positive is of no concern whatsoever. The fewer actual cases he or anyone else knows about, the better. Every undiscovered case, evidently, is a feather in his cap. I can't wait to watch him crash and burn in his gubernatorial campaign.
It seemed a good idea to get tested. Now I could wait for the testers to come to my school. However, Mayor de Blasio, in his infinite wisdom, has determined that staff can only be tested after all the students who wish to be tested are. I'm also told that the geniuses who send the testers have only a limited number of tests, so if they're out, too bad for you. The last several times they arrived at my school, I was teaching and by the time I came down, they were done and gone.
Anyway, my friend who tested positive told me there are some trailers by Queens Hospital on 164th St. I
went there after school and spent quite a bit of time trying to find them. When I did, there was a long, long line, but also a trailer that said DOE personnel with no line at all. I went in there, and the "priority testing" was not much of a priority at all. A woman sent me to a short line next to the long line. She said I would have to register there.
There were only five people in front of me, but they were taking people from the long line before the short line, and after a half hour only two people on the short line had made it in. It looked like getting a priority DOE test from Bill de Blasio was gonna take a good while. A guy came out and asked if anyone wanted a home test. He said anyone who took one wouldn't have to wait on line anymore. I raised my hand, and I was the only taker. He then asked how many I wanted, and I took two.
The first one I opened had directions only in Spanish. I can actually handle Spanish, but it costs me more concentration than English. My second kit had instructions in English, so I went with that. I went step by step and waited 15 minutes. I set the kitchen timer and came back to write the blog. 15 minutes later, there was no nasty purple line on the bottom, which is negative. My wife used the Spanish directions, and also tested negative.
Now a science teacher I know tells me this only determines whether or not you are contagious, but that the other test is somehow more reliable. I'll take it if I can, but I'm not altogether interested in waiting on line. I love how de Blasio gives you a "priority test" and makes you wait on a slow line before you're entitled to go wait on another.
I'm sure of one thing, though--by the time the Situation Room conducts its "investigation," 23 cases will be nothing but a fond memory. Every day working teachers are vilified in the press, up to and including the "liberal" NY Times, but we go to work each and every day in a system run by people who are too stupid or self-serving to anticipate the inevitable.
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