At several points in these Tuesday threads I've shared a bit about my experience in NYC as an educator who was terminated from my longtime career in the city public schools for noncompliance with the vaccine mandate. It's been a while, but it seems like a good time to update, for any who are interested.
The news as of yesterday is that the city is finally ending its mandate for city employees and contractors. All currently pending exemption requests will be granted; new employees will not be required to provide proof of vaccination; and unvaccinated parents will again be able to enter their childrens' schools. These were the last major vaccine restrictions still in place.
The city admits no wrongdoing; the announcement is celebratory and insists that the mandate can be dropped now because it was such a dramatic success. Mayor Adams again tries to work the weird rhetoric about how city workers "stepped up" to get the city through the pandemic, praising those who cared for the sick, cleaned the streets, and kept the schools open, then going on to make clear that the "stepping up" he really wants to praise is the stepping up to get vaccinated when the city demanded it. He refers to this as a "sacrifice" that good New Yorkers made to keep the public safe. Of course many of the city workers he's praising for "stepping up" stayed home until the vaccines became available; and many of us who did work all the way through got suspended or fired once the mandates were imposed.
Interesting that this announcement comes two days before a new federal lawsuit which is set to name Adams personally, but I think it was already a matter of time anyway.
For me, this comes just after finally landing a much-needed new job. For fifteen months I was unemployed (and technically unemployable within the city itself for most of that time, due to a city-imposed mandate for private employers which was only rolled back in autumn). I applied to high-paid consulting jobs and jobs stocking shelves and everything in between. We got by on savings and whatever odd jobs I could find. Finally I was able to take advantage of the federal mandate being suspended and have been working as a carrier for the USPS for about a month.
Yesterday's news means I can now apply for a job in the schools again if I choose. My attitude is very much no-thanks after all I've experienced over the last few years, though financial issues may make me at least consider it eventually; our savings is gone and I'll be earning less than half what I did with the DOE, with considerably longer hours and weeks. On the other hand early indications are that my seniority and salary step would not be honored if I was hired again by the city; I'd be starting back where I started fourteen years ago. So there may be very little to tempt me to rejoin the mess I left.
I am very relieved that I'll be allowed in to school buildings again; my kids were in a charter school that quietly ignored that rule, at least for me, but when I took my son to open-houses for high schools he might want to attend I had to wait outside. It's hard to describe how humiliating and infuriating that was.
As I've said throughout this period, we should expect things to continue to change rapidly. I can't know how well or how long this new job will work out, or what other opportunities may appear or disappear, but I'm grateful to finally be working again, and to still have my health and integrity this far into the Covid years in New York.
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branchandroot
NYC update
Date: 2023-02-08 01:11 am (UTC)At several points in these Tuesday threads I've shared a bit about my experience in NYC as an educator who was terminated from my longtime career in the city public schools for noncompliance with the vaccine mandate. It's been a while, but it seems like a good time to update, for any who are interested.
The news as of yesterday is that the city is finally ending its mandate for city employees and contractors. All currently pending exemption requests will be granted; new employees will not be required to provide proof of vaccination; and unvaccinated parents will again be able to enter their childrens' schools. These were the last major vaccine restrictions still in place.
The city admits no wrongdoing; the announcement is celebratory and insists that the mandate can be dropped now because it was such a dramatic success. Mayor Adams again tries to work the weird rhetoric about how city workers "stepped up" to get the city through the pandemic, praising those who cared for the sick, cleaned the streets, and kept the schools open, then going on to make clear that the "stepping up" he really wants to praise is the stepping up to get vaccinated when the city demanded it. He refers to this as a "sacrifice" that good New Yorkers made to keep the public safe. Of course many of the city workers he's praising for "stepping up" stayed home until the vaccines became available; and many of us who did work all the way through got suspended or fired once the mandates were imposed.
Interesting that this announcement comes two days before a new federal lawsuit which is set to name Adams personally, but I think it was already a matter of time anyway.
For me, this comes just after finally landing a much-needed new job. For fifteen months I was unemployed (and technically unemployable within the city itself for most of that time, due to a city-imposed mandate for private employers which was only rolled back in autumn). I applied to high-paid consulting jobs and jobs stocking shelves and everything in between. We got by on savings and whatever odd jobs I could find. Finally I was able to take advantage of the federal mandate being suspended and have been working as a carrier for the USPS for about a month.
Yesterday's news means I can now apply for a job in the schools again if I choose. My attitude is very much no-thanks after all I've experienced over the last few years, though financial issues may make me at least consider it eventually; our savings is gone and I'll be earning less than half what I did with the DOE, with considerably longer hours and weeks. On the other hand early indications are that my seniority and salary step would not be honored if I was hired again by the city; I'd be starting back where I started fourteen years ago. So there may be very little to tempt me to rejoin the mess I left.
I am very relieved that I'll be allowed in to school buildings again; my kids were in a charter school that quietly ignored that rule, at least for me, but when I took my son to open-houses for high schools he might want to attend I had to wait outside. It's hard to describe how humiliating and infuriating that was.
As I've said throughout this period, we should expect things to continue to change rapidly. I can't know how well or how long this new job will work out, or what other opportunities may appear or disappear, but I'm grateful to finally be working again, and to still have my health and integrity this far into the Covid years in New York.
Jonathan.