UFT members and families at the Brooklyn Collaborative School and the Brooklyn New School protested today.

• The UFT chapters at MS 821K and MS 136K held a joint chapter meeting on December 31 to plan formulate demands on their administrations. In order to guarantee their members’ safety they  demanded that their two chapter leaders are able to see the COVID test kits and a sufficient supply of KN95 masks for staff and students by 1:00 PM on Monday. These conditions were not met and members at both schools who are suffering from symptoms will exercise their right to call in sick.
• After 80% of the UFT members at PS 58K called in with symptoms or positive test results the school went fully remote.
• UFT members at the Brooklyn Collaborative School and the Brooklyn New School wore black Monday to protest the unsafe conditions in their schools.
• UFT members at the Queens School of Inquiry organized a color day today and met to plan a protest at the end of the week.
• A small school in Elmhurst sent a poll to staff members, found that 80% did not feel safe returning to work the next day, 40% have immunocompromised or unvaccinated family members at home, 65% did not know of the cases within the community, and are brainstorming actions to take together to make the situation better. As a result of sending the poll and sharing results with the whole chapter, admin are now sharing a case count tracker with the entire school community, canceling in person large group faculty meetings, and sharing what other steps are being taken proactively. The staff contributed to a transparent case tracker (50 out of 275 students self reported symptoms) wore Black, and are holding a lunch time chapter mtg Tuesday on zoom to decide next steps.
• A high school in District 20 is holding a UFT chapter meeting today to discuss safety concerns.
• Several UFT members in District 15 are collecting signatures on this letter of protest. 
• MORE members were quoted for this spot-on piece for The New Yorker written by a senior editor who is a public school parent. 
• Members on Twitter are encouraged to like, retweet and comment on reporter Jessica Winter’s post to encourage more journalists to speak to on-the-ground teachers: https://twitter.com/newyorker/status/1473462940154187777?s=21

MORE is running in the 2022 UFT elections as part of the United For Change slate. We want a union that will mobilize our members to protect our rights. See the UFC press release here.