Dear Mr. Chancellor:
I
cannot find words to express my disappointment. It is outrageous that
anyone would do this concurrently with pulling Zoom as a tool. While
there are good reasons to have done that, doing it concurrently with the
loss of what few days we had to regroup is nothing less than an
outrage.
I
was taught how to use Zoom on the last day of our last week. I have no
idea how I'm going to teach on Monday. I expect no support whatsoever
from DOE, and I'm sure that's what I'll receive. In fact, in the
unlikely event the DOE could help at all, I wouldn't cooperate. I'm no
longer working weekends for people who sent me, my members, and my
students into the most overcrowded school in New York City during a
pandemic in which the city determined it was too risky to open Broadway
theaters.
I
hear a lot of talk from DOE about equity. How on earth is it equitable
that people who pay $800 for a seat to Hamilton are too fragile to
interact with one another, but 1.1 million NYC students, not to mention
100,000 UFT members, can interact freely in buildings well over 200%
capacity?
I'll
just add that I've seen you speak on multiple occasions, and what I
liked best was your respect and empathy for teachers. When my union got
108,000 signatures on a petition asking the Mayor to show us the same
consideration he had for well-heeled theatergoers, you asked for 108,
000 signatures from epidemiologists.
That
suggested to me that not only our feelings, but also our health and
very lives were not very important to you. That broke my heart right
there.
Very sincerely,
Arthur Goldstein, ESL teacher, UFT chapter leader
Francis Lewis High School