The New York City Department of Education (DOE) has sentenced a veteran teacher to death.
The teacher, who has been battling a stage 4 cancer for 18 months, applied for a “Restoration of Health” sabbatical (partly-paid leave) for the Spring 2013 term. Even though the school’s principal approved it, giving false hope to the teacher, DOE’s medical director turned it down saying she has “no chance for recovery — sabbatical denied.” The DOE didn’t even consult the teacher’s oncologist! Their answer comes down to “you’ll die anyway…but we’ll get your last drop of blood.”
The teacher was told by her United Federation of Teachers district office that she could take her case to “medical arbitration,” but the process could take up to a year!
This teacher taught all last year, during a very grueling course of both chemotherapy and radiation, missing only one period each week to get to the last appointment available each Friday. Colleagues in her department pulled together to make sure classes were covered and the students always had the same continuity in lessons as this teacher’s other classes.
This year, when new cancerous lesions were found and it became increasingly difficult to maintain the pace in school, the application for a restoration of health sabbatical was submitted and denied. This 20-year veteran teacher has been literally kicked to the curb.
As bad as this is, it is not an isolated case! Given the fact that it would take up to a year for a medical arbitrator to hear the case indicates that health sabbaticals are being denied at an alarming rate to those that need them the most. After using accumulated sick time, teachers are being forced to take an unpaid leave of absence. During this type of leave medical benefits are no longer available, and as a result, no treatments for a possible remission of terminal illness.
The DOE bosses have pushed for years to get rid of sabbaticals. They have nearly succeeded in ending study sabbaticals (intended for teachers to increase their knowledge and skills). But, under the June 2011 “agreement” between the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) and DOE, Restoration of Health sabbaticals were supposedly left intact. For the 2012-2013 school year, study sabbaticals were suspended to prevent any teacher layoffs, (according to the UFT).
The system that denies sabbaticals to teachers who have given their lives and health to the students of NYC tells teachers, (and other workers), that once our usefulness has ended, we’re disposable. Is it safe to say that the DOE, run exclusively by a profit-seeking billionaire mayor on behalf of his class robber barons, is killing teachers? The answer is a resounding YES!! And is it preparing our students, as well, to be disposable parts for imperialist war? YES! We need a collective effort by teachers, parents and students to expose the crimes of the capitalist system — and to end it by building our Party and preparing for a communist revolution.