A thread on being a teacher in the @NYCSchools.
[1] Tomorrow is #WorldMentalHealthDay . It is fitting to discuss some of what's not only on my mind, but the minds of my colleagues/fellow educators worldwide.
This is not what we signed up for- mentally, physically, spiritually.

[2] Inherently, we're a group who knows more about giving & giving until you've got nothing left to give. As educators, we make choices daily about caring for students. You know what it is to sacrifice your hard earned money/time/family in order to give your all to your students.

[3] A few months ago we were hailed as heroes- In NYC, we turned a system of 1.1 million students into a fully remote situation. Was it perfect? No. Was it easy? No. Did we want fully remote learning for 4 months to be the only solution? OF COURSE NOT.

[4] Yet we stepped up, and we made it work. Like we always do. We put our all, and then some into our jobs as teachers. I know I'm not the only one who works 12 hour days, 8 days a week, from March until now. Summer vacation? What's that?

[5]Remote learning isn't a joke. It takes a great deal of coordination, knowledge, tech support, time. Our situation is dire, & we are getting stepped on! How many of us find ourselves reaching into the depths of our souls to find a way to keep going? Anyone else coming up empty?

[6] This isn't mental health. What the @NYCMayor and @DOEChancellor have done to us is ABUSIVE. First, you take away our spring break, you give us a couple extra days in our sick banks "to make it right". But how many of us actually take those sick days?

[7] It is harder to be absent than it is to work while sick. Then the @UFT fails to negotiate payment for the days we worked. No one else would stand for this- but because we CARE FOR CHILDREN, NYC's politicians think they can take advantage. This is a dangerous attitude to have.

[8] I personally know a teacher who was EXCESSED AFTER 19 YEARS OF SERVICE. Forced to work in an unfamiliar community, while substitutes are hired @ the home school. The @DOEChancellor wants her to feel like she's being done a favor, she still has a job- this is EMOTIONAL ABUSE.

[9] When I have to hear my friends, my family, my colleagues cry because they have been beaten so far down into the ground by this city, by their administrations, it breaks my heart. We used to LOVE OUR JOBS. I'm good at what I do, but I'm made to feel like I don't matter.

[10] We are forced to complete an 8 hour course on trauma in the classroom. We are told to "take time for our own mental well-being". This is gaslighting by the @NYCSchools of epic proportions since the very people assigning this course are partially responsible for this trauma!

[11]Say NO MORE to the @UFT, @NYCMayor, @DOEChancellor. We've lost Teacher's Choice $, given up overtime, vacations & turned on a dime to satisfy the whims of DiBlasio, while Carranza hires folks w/ $$$$$$ salaries WHO HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT IS TO BE ON THE FRONT LINES OF TEACHING.

[12] Now the @NYCMayor won't pay us money that was already allotted to us? This isn't bonus money. This is a pathetic pittance of funds that were rightfully ours A DECADE AGO. How many of us raised our TDA rates?

[13] Because that's right people, we have to pay into our own pensions because what the city provides to us wouldn't support a stray cat upon retirement), to now have paychecks come in several hundred dollars less! How is any of this right anymore? #wewontdieforDOE

[14] There are no answers to any questions. "Guidance is forthcoming", they say. We understand we're living in a time where nothing makes sense. But there are things that could make sense that should make sense that the City of New York is denying us as educators and citizens.

[15]The Testing Program is a joke. Not mandatory, but you don't get $ unless you consent. That sounds a lot like coercion, doesn't it? Testing isn't mandatory for students-they are only forced remote if they happen to be selected for testing. How does this keep me/my ones safe?

[16]No other group of highly educated professionals is subject to this abuse. None of us became teachers for the $- but we are due what is rightfully ours. @NYCMayor, @UFT, time's up. FIGURE THIS OUT. Otherwise, expect a full scale revolt.

I'll get off my soapbox now. Thanks.

Also, this- https://teacherfreedom.org/cancel-uft-dues/ Supreme Court says we don't need to pay political slush fund dues... maybe this will wake up the @UFT that you have sold us up a stinking river in a sinking ship without a paddle.