#NYC teachers pleading for COVID-19 PPE on donation sites

Teachers heading back to NYC schools are tackling COVID-19 on their own — by asking for donations so they can stock up on protective gear.

Not trusting the city to keep them infection-free, some teachers are pleading for masks, hand sanitizers and thermometers on sites like Donors Choose, where teachers normally request cash for books and educational projects.

“It’s definitely not normal for teachers to go on Donors Choose, GoFundMe or Amazon Wish List to ask for clearing supplies,” said Annie Tan, a special-ed teacher in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Mayor Bill de Blasio is resisting calls by the principals’ and teachers’ unions, and the City Council’s education chairman, Mark Treyger, to delay the school reopening to better gird against spreading the virus.

But with the Sept. 10 starting date fast approaching, educators say the DOE has not given them enough information about what equipment and supplies it will provide for safety and sanitation.

“They’ve given us assurances that they’re ready. They’re clearly not,” Tan said.

Among those requested funds on Donors Choose:

• ”Mr. Kozak,” a teacher at Manhattan Hunter Science HS, who said his students come from every borough, many commuting long distances.

“As schools are being pushed to reopen for in-person learning this fall, it’s clear that a shocking number of my students will not be able to afford adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE),” he wrote.

He asked for $1,945 to buy supplies including masks, face shields, disposable gloves, touchless thermometers, social-distancing floor markers, and contact-less door openers.

• ”Ms. Rodriquez,” a special-ed teacher at PS 36K in East New York, a school for students with autism and other social, emotional and cognitive disabilities, posted: “Immunocompromised students need protection! Help me give my students protective gear to wear in school to be safe from covid-19.”

She asked for $425 to buy face shields, masks, disinfectant spray and wipes, hand sanitizer, flood decals, and social-distancing signs.

• ”Mrs. Feldman,” a K-2 teacher at PS 175 Lynn Gross Discovery in Rego Park, requested $623 to buy 10 non-contact forehead thermometers.

“We want to send our students back to school! Our goal is to get one touchless thermometer per classroom so each teacher can take student temperatures every morning.”

• ”Mrs. L,” a middle-school teacher at PS/MS 124 Osmond A Church in Ozone Park, asked for $935 to buy “a digital, touch-free thermometer, masks for anyone who forgets theirs at home, safety goggles to protect our eyes but still be able to work and see things clearly, and lots and lots of cleaning and sanitizing materials.”

For years before the pandemic, teachers have asked students and parents to add things like hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes to their list of school supplies to share with the class.

Many teachers also spend hundreds of dollars of their own money to stock up on various supplies that run out in the middle of the school year.

“We never have enough,” Tan said.

DOE spokesman Nathaniel Styer assured that the city will provide an abundance of sanitizers, face masks and gloves, as well as non-contact thermometers, electrostatic sprayers, and isolation gowns, among other COVID-19-related items.

 “Schools are being stocked with the critical cleaning supplies, like hand sanitizer and disinfectant, and PPE needed to keep educators and children safe this year, and we will continue to ensure buildings have a 30-day supply on-hand at all times,” he said.