Escalating their fight against the reimbursement of lessons in the classroom next month, a crowd of city staff massaged outside the schools of Richard Carranza’s apartment building in Brooklyn Thursday night to demand a delay of resumption.
Carrying signs and singing, the throng claimed that the city failed to ensure the safety of school staff amid the crisis in coronavirus and that buildings should remain locked until their requirements are met.
Members of the group wore a cardboard guillotine to drive home their claim that the Department of Education was endangering them.
The action began with roughly 150 Protestants gathering at Grand Army Plaza and later marching through Prospect Park before arriving at Carranza’s Prospect Lefferts Gardens apartment building.
The Protestants remained there about 40 minutes before police arrived and dispersed them without incident.
“We will not stop until the decision makers make the right decision,” Sunset Park teacher Annie Tan told The Post on Friday. “And Carranza is a decision maker. We will escalate this until our message is heard. ”
City Hall is pushing ahead with a plan to launch a hybrid learning model that children will switch new month between home and classroom instruction.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has argued that the part revitalizing the city school system is necessary to provide relief to working parents. He also stressed the inferiority of distance learning compared to instruction in person along with the need to recreate some sense of normality for city children.
“We need to support them,” he said Thursday. ‘They are already so much lost. We need to be there for them and help them move forward. ”
But the teachers’ union has resumed its fight against City Hall’s campaign in recent days.
Federation of Teachers’ Federation Michael Mulgrew is threatening to go on strike this week if the union’s safety requirements are not met at the start of the school year.
The organization has asked for the first day of the class to test every city teacher and student for COVID-19.
The DOE reported roughly 100 coronavirus-related deaths last year, a figure that included both administrators and teachers.
“New York City needs to have a strict and intensive testing system,” Mulgrew said at a news conference Wednesday. “What happened in March can not happen again.”
The Blasio has maintained its ground so far, claiming that teachers have a professional obligation to return to their buildings. He has cited falling coronavirus rates and extensive safety precautions when taking his position.
Carranza has raised arms with the Blasio in the confrontation and claims the DOE will be prepared for construction activity.
Tan said Friday that the city’s redevelopment plan is not enough and that teachers are likely to intensify their opposition in the coming days and weeks as the school year approaches.
The Blasio also has to deal with emerging political opposition from the city council.
A group of 31 councilors, including Education Committee chairman Mark Treyger, wrote a letter to Blasio this week calling for a further delay.
“If we can not guarantee a safe environment and transition, then our city should slow down until we can guarantee that our school system is ready to reopen safely for our 1.1 million students,” the group wrote.
The councilors addressed a number of concerns, from the provision of protective equipment to cleaning facilities to a lack of financial specifications on costs related to coronavirus protection.
“With less than a month until school is scheduled to begin, there are still too many unanswered questions about health and safety, programming, operations and pedagogy,” she wrote in a statement accompanying the letter.
.
