State of Our Schools: UFT president discusses return to remote learning for NYC public schools

President of the United Federation of Teachers Michael Mulgrew spoke with News 12 Thursday on the schools’ return to remote learning.

News 12 Staff

Nov 19, 2020, 1:10 PM

Updated 1,498 days ago

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Students across New York City are signing into their computers for remote learning after the city reached a 3% threshold of positive coronavirus cases.
President of the United Federation of Teachers Michael Mulgrew spoke with News 12 Thursday on the schools’ return to remote learning.
Mulgrew believes the city's Department of Education could have done a better job on the distribution of electronic devices. He said what they learned last school year was that the DOE should've had them ready to be handed out because of new students coming into the school and students who returned to class who had brought back their devices.
Mulgrew says teachers will now be challenged in running off lessons and worksheets, and a lot of the teachers will deliver them to the students' homes like they did last school year.
When asked whether the return to remote learning is the answer, given that the transmission rate is low in schools, Mulgrew said schools were designed to be the safest buildings in the community. He said they believed schools would be the safest places because all the safety guidelines being followed.
He said the UFT and teachers fought very hard to reopen schools and added that the New York City school system was the only one open in the country.
Mulgrew said they have way too much invested in having in-school learning, are proud that they reopened earlier this school year and want to reopen again.