What you should know
- A group of New York City teachers petitioned the United States Supreme Court for an emergency order preventing the city’s vaccination mandate from taking effect on Friday.
- Earlier this week, federal judges ruled in favor of the city and dissolved a temporary lockdown that kept the city’s vaccine mandate on hold.
- Mayor Bill de Blasio has said that the vaccine mandate will go into effect on Monday, October 4, meaning that all school employees have until the end of Friday to receive the necessary vaccination, if they haven’t already. done.
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NEW YORK – A group of New York City teachers petitioned the United States Supreme Court for an emergency order preventing the city’s vaccination mandate from taking effect on Friday.
The petition asks Magistrate Sonia Sotomayor, who is the circuit magistrate for this part of the country, to issue an emergency order blocking the mandate.
“In attempting to combat the COVID-19 virus, New York City, the
The Department of Education and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene created an Executive Order imposing an unconstitutional burden on public school teachers, “the teachers’ attorneys wrote in their 12-page petition.
Earlier this week, federal judges ruled in favor of the city and dissolved a temporary lockdown that kept the city’s vaccine mandate on hold.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan issued its ruling Monday night, in a move that shocked many, dissolving last Friday’s injunction and denying the original motion.
After an adverse ruling by a Brooklyn judge, a group of teachers took the case to the appeals court, which assigned the three-judge panel to hear oral arguments. But the appeals panel issued its order after both parties presented written arguments.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has said that the vaccine mandate will go into effect on Monday, October 4, meaning that all school employees have until the end of Friday to receive the necessary vaccination, if they haven’t already. done.
The city’s Department of Education (or DOE) applauded the judges’ ruling.
Parents React to Controversy Over NYC Teacher Vaccination Mandate
“Vaccines are our most powerful tool in the fight against COVID-19; this decision is on the right side of the law and will protect our students and staff,” said DOE spokeswoman Danielle Filson.
But the city’s largest teachers union was not quick to celebrate the new developments. In a statement, the United Federation of Teachers (or UFT) said that while city estimates had 97 percent of teachers vaccinated, a recent union survey showed that “only about a third (of the leaders of the UFT sections) believe that from now on their schools can open without interruption, given the possible shortage of unvaccinated personnel.
“The city has a lot of work ahead of it to ensure that sufficient vaccinated personnel are available by the new deadline,” the statement from UFT President Michael Mulgrew read. “We will work without members to ensure, to the extent possible, that our schools can safely open as the vaccine mandate is fulfilled.”
The pre-term block had prompted the mayor to re-implement the weekly testing policy for staff who do not present proof of vaccination.
As of Monday, de Blasio said 87 percent of all DOE staff are at least partially vaccinated, including 90 percent of teachers and 97 percent of principals. The UFT said that 97 percent of its members are also at least partially vaccinated.
An attorney representing Department of Education employees says opponents of the mayor’s school mandate only want a weekly testing option inscribed in the rule for those who, for whatever reason, do not want to get vaccinated against COVID.
Governor Hochul warned that she will not back down from her mandate.
“A lot of them are not against vaccination. They are against the mandate,” attorney Louis Gelormino said of city education workers who oppose Blasio’s vaccine requirement. “I think what really brought them all together is that they are the only municipal workers in New York City who are forced to receive this vaccine and they are the only school teachers in New York State who are forced to receive this vaccine. “
The teachers’ attorneys argued in documents filed with the Second Circuit Monday that teachers who are placed on leave without pay because they have not complied with the order will suffer irreparable harm if the appellate court does not block the mandate.
The attorneys wrote that the city order “will leave teachers and paraprofessionals without the resources to pay rent, utilities and other essentials. The damage is imminent. “
They said the mandate would leave thousands of New York City children in the nation’s largest school district without their teachers and other school workers.
“There is imminent and irreparable damage,” the lawyers insisted.
Although most school workers have been vaccinated, unions representing New York City principals and teachers warned that the one million student school system could have fewer than 10,000 teachers, along with other staff members, if the mandate forces some to leave the classroom.
Mayor de Blasio had previously resisted calls to delay implementation of the mandate, insisting the city was ready. He has also said that the city has an army of fully vaccinated substitutes ready to deploy in case there are any concerns about adequate staffing at its schools. Following Monday’s last-minute ruling, it was not immediately clear whether the city would still implement the mandate according to schedule.
“We have been planning all the time. We have a lot of substitutes ready, ”the Democrat said in a radio interview last week.
In an email to staff over the weekend, New York City Chancellor of Schools Meisha Porter had advised schools to prepare for the possibility of the vaccine mandate going into effect this week, a guide that would later be prudent given the decision of the judges on Monday. The mayor had also said he believed the mandate would prevail, citing a recent failed effort in federal court to block Key to NYC, the city’s rule that requires patrons of restaurants, gyms, theaters and elsewhere to provide proof of vaccination. before going into business. as fuel for your argument.
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