Teachers at I.S. 230 in Jackson Heights work in the schoolyard after a staffer tested positive for COVID-19 (UFT via Twitter)
Sept. 11, 2020 By Allie Griffin
Teachers at a Jackson Heights public school refused to work inside the school building Friday after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19.
The teachers at I.S. 230, located at 73-10 34th Ave., said they will not work inside the school building until they know it is safe.
The positive case was reported to the school officials and the teachers union on Thursday, but the city’s test and trace corps failed to reach out to the teacher who tested positive and her possible contacts the same day, according to the United Federation of Teachers union (UFT)
The teacher with the positive test wasn’t contacted by the test and trace corps until Friday morning around 10 a.m., a UFT spokesperson said.
The teacher reported to work at I.S. 230 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the union said.
However, it’s still unclear if any staff members who had been in close contact with the teacher have gotten calls from the city’s “rapid-response” city test and trace corps team — as of 3:15 p.m., according to the spokesperson.
The test and trace corps must begin investigating a self-reported positive coronavirus case within three hours of the initial report, as mandated by the Department of Education’s reopening plan.
The UFT called the delay “unacceptable.”
The union said there have been at least 16 COVID-19 positive cases among 15,000 recently tested teachers citywide.
The DOE didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Featured Events
41 Comments
Lazy “educators” have quite a racket! Nice pensions for sitting on their rear ends while some of us actually work for a living. And yes, they are getting paid!
Well thank god none of these teachers
Became Doctors or Nurses or other front
Line workers, we would all be dead or starve!
Would a 100% pay cut for not showing up to work be an incentive!
I do appreciate what dedicated teachers
Do for our children and also understand that some are at high risk for various reasons but too many are trying to avoid their responsibilities and expect to get paid.
if you dont like it, send your kids to private school.
Who wants to do that?
I have paid a ton of property taxes and other taxes for years. Did u ever wonder why the DOE spends over $20,000 per child in NYC ( that’s a lot of shoes Al Bundy !!)
Where does that money go? It costs me less per year for private school which is providing more hours right now in school instruction that the public school. The Food Universe on 43rd ave is Unionized and they did not close down during the pandemic and they make way less than teachers and I’m pretty sure they don’t have anything like a teachers pension ( c > $20,000 per student cost)
The comments here are truly disgusting. These teachers are taking a stand for their health and the health of our children, using the power they have when anyone else with the power to protect us has abdicated their duty.
People are going to die this fall: teachers, students, custodians, bus drivers, parents, grandparents. Because schools are being pushed to reopen without the funding and preparation and support to reopen safely.
You blame the teachers but not the President or Congress or Betsy DeVos who should have granted large federal funds to school districts to create safe learning spaces; who should have created a national safe school plan; who should have instituted a national testing strategy that actually gives everyone free and easy testing. You don’t even blame the President for playing down the severity of the virus or the usefulness of masks and social distancing. He’s holding indoor rallies without masks right now!
This country is insane and we’re insane to throw our children into this. Teachers work extremely hard and with passion and compassion and they receive so little in return from their communities or society. No one gets into it for the money or the time off, for there is too little of both. They do it because it has to be done and they have the heart and care to do it.
We as a community should be supporting all of our schools and teachers because what they are about to undertake is monumental and dangerous.
Thank you, teachers and all who work for our children!
Lazy butt teachers who were paid while others were fired or furloughed
Go back to work or get fired !
Dome of us are on the subway on a daily basis because we have a job to do
Not this lazy group of puppets for the uft
Yeah the sky if falling
Show us the money !! N
Embarrassing, obviously.
Keep drinking that DNC Kool-Aid.
Keep shooting RNC antiseptic to kill the Democratic hoax virus. Don’t forget to resist and liberate against safety measures put in place to fight a deadly disease as the president tests himself and those around, daily.
is that the Do Not Care party?
I don’t know why leadership wasn’t plans made in the spring for September. Did everyone just hope it would be magically better come September?
I don’t want to throw children into this mess because of the insane amount of regulation. That’s the problem…it’s not opinions. It’s too many of them that all conflict. Why don’t we just simplify things a bit here? Step back and ask ourselves why we are constantly so stressed all the time? Is it because of living on top of each other? Is it because of constantly being afraid of what others think, like high school, or the academic system as a whole? Is it because of over-regulation? Too many laws????
States are individually responsible for getting all this ready, just like the response to Covid. It is the Mayor and Governors responsibility to prepare and take care of the city and state. We don’t live in a nanny state nation. The President downplayed and remained calm because that’s what a leader does. People were running like chickens without ahead and hoarder f’n toilet paper, imagine what it would’ve been like if the nations leader was crying the sky is falling. Several military leaders came out to back up the President’s actions saying they have done the same in situations when dealing with their soldiers. You are talking out of your a$$
James – Provide a list of these military leaders you speak of…..
States are broke and have been told by Mitch McConnell to go bankrupt. Only the federal government can pay for anything right now. So this is certainly on Trump and McConnell.
Fascinating how dumb most of these commenters are. The reason grocery store employees showed up is because they would be FIRED if they didn’t. Why? Because they don’t have a union.
Medical workers take an oath to treat the sick. That’s why they showed up.
Nobody would have a weekend if it weren’t for unions. Take your heads out of RussiaTrumpFox posterior and realize that you should be grateful you have a weekend. Fools.
You have no substantial argument so you just call anyone who disagrees with you a “hater.”
That tactic got old a long time ago.
I once worked for a private school and we were not allowed to wear flip flops, shorts above the knee or tank tops. Hopefully teachers will be allowed to wear what they want outside. I can imagine the staff arguing over the playground equipment. The city needs bigger out door play equipment. Children love outdoor activity.
Bust up the teachers union
Hashtagger- You wouldn’t say that about a union that is mostly male.
I’m a doe teacher and I understand both sides of this. They are refusing to work within the building. Meanwhile it would have been better if we saw them on laptops or writing in notebooks rather than scrolling their phones doing God knows what. The picture is not the reality of teachers and teaching elsewhere.
This story is one of those non-news stories.
Don’t waste your time responding on this steam it’s pretty much the same individual posting under different posting tags. The tone and writing genre proves this. Popular conservatism.
Teachers Shame On You
Stop acting like spoiled brats and do what You are paid to do teach the children! Get with it or get out
Lazy teachers throwing hissy fits while they get paid
Grocery clerks far braver
Glad they’re taking it seriously
Lol. Times have changed. Nowadays children are excited about schools opening and teachers want to stay home. I hope teachers find ways to manage their anxiety and stress and not take it out on the students.
Apparently teachers are not essential workers.
These teachers were some of the first to ‘go home’ during the lock-down, and they are just now crawling out. I know a few from various places around the US, and they have all been eating every bit of propaganda to the fullest extent. I wont comment on the legitimacy of their concerns since I don’t represent their union. But, this is who teaches your children…hopefully well (via CSNY).
…and to those who commented about the brave people working in the grocery stores…I am thankful that they continued to work. But I cant help but to feel dehumanized when they throw my ‘fresh’ veggies at me like i am a leper, bruising every one that i carefully chose….throw the receipt into the air, give you a dirty look, and scoff as they shout ‘next!’ or yell at at somebody to get into the proper line. The momentary look on their face after they exercise their newborn power gives all away.
Maybe it’s for the best that the teachers stay home.
Good thing these teachers don’t work in supermarkets. There would be food shortages.
Get back to work already or find another job.
I would love to work from home and have summers off. In long island they pay teachers very well. In nyc you basically teach because you like time off and coming home early.
What a bunch of babies! Wah, wah, wah. Mommy come hold me I’m getting coronavirus! All politics.
I don’t blame them. They don’t have an easy job as it is dealing with unruly kids with no manners because the parents didn’t teach them any. They don’t just sit at a computer they have it hard and they have to take a chance of getting a life threatening illness. What a foolish comment.
The bravery of medical professionals and even grocery employees are far superior than these communist unionized “teachers”.
At least they’re braver than Fox Watching keyboard bullies.
Egg roll- The most unionized countries are also the most robust economies and most stable societies in the world :
Denmark (80%)
Norway (70%)
Switzerland ((51%)
Netherlands (81%)
Sweden (88%)
Canada (333%)
Finland (91%)
Austria (95%)
Iceland (88%)
Australia (43%)
Just opposite of communism. Check your sources
Do their unions’ unions’ unions’ unions’ unions’ unions’ unions’ unions’ union’s union have a union?
@Mac: Did you know that 47.3% of stats are just made up on the spot?
Peter – I guess you lost another one. Nice weak response.
@Mac- Don’t hit Pete with truth science, fact or history, he’s a Republican, “It is what it is”. Maybe Peter received the coveted Bay of Pigs award too.
Mac- I checked Canada has 33% union membership. Typo? Hahaha