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Why was TAG closed and not other community schools?
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Rutabaga




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Sep 26 2020, 10:48 pm
This is a letter sent out by the TAG administration:

https://5townscentral.com/2020.....kkos/

Quote:
Dear TAG Parents,

We hope that this letter finds you and your family well, and coping, as best as possible, with the closure that we were subjected to by the New York City Department of Health. As we had expected, a significant portion of the day was spent in meetings, both in person and on the phone, with various representatives of the DOH. While we had hoped to gain a better understanding of the reasons and/or causes of the shutdown, regrettably none were forthcoming.

We did learn that TAG was not found to be in violation of any of the City or State guidelines, and at all times complied with our approved COVID policies and procedures. Nevertheless, the DOH still believed that “there is a high likelihood of ongoing transmission of COVID-19 among students and faculty at TAG”. That “high likelihood”, according to the DOH, emanated, not from TAG, but from the “community.” To be absolutely clear, although we did everything right, the City sent our students, and your children home because it is concerned by the number of cases within our community. As they say, you cannot fight City hall, and we will not, we will work with the City and do everything we can to open expeditiously. We have been ordered to remain closed for 14 days, and we anticipate resuming in person education immediately following the Succos break.

While we as a school can continue to work tirelessly to meet all guidelines and goals, these past few days have shown that we cannot do that alone. We will not be able to work with the City if the City remains concerned with the “community”, I.e., you. As you remain home for Yom Tov, please think of all the policies and procedures we have circulated, think of your family and friends and please do what you can to stop the communal spread and allow our school to reopen.

Faculty, staff, students and their families should all be practicing intelligent and safe COVID precautions including maintaining social distance, wearing masks and avoiding large gatherings anywhere. If you are unsure, ask your doctor and err on the side of caution. If you feel sick or a member of your family feels sick, stay home. If you are unsure, stay home. Remember, you are not only affecting yourselves, but the over 2,300 faculty and students of TAG and the thousands of other students in our local schools.

In fact, just this evening, the DOH again confirmed that we are faced with a communal issue, not just a TAG issue. Tonight the DOH issued a press-release about our neighborhood, stating:

If the indicators continue to rise, there must be additional enforcement actions. For the first time in the city’s recovery period, there could be the immediate scaling back of activities in these ZIP codes if progress is not made by Monday evening. These actions on Tuesday could include:

Prohibiting all gatherings of more than 10 persons

Issuing fines for refusals to wear a mask after being offered a mask

And lastly, closing all non-essential businesses immediately

As we approach Yom Kippur, we should all be Mispalell for a quick end to this Magaifa, and accept upon ourselves to do our part to help bring it to an end. May all of our Tefilos be accepted and we should all be Zocheh to a G’mar Chasima Tova.

We will continue to clearly and transparently report any further developments and we hope to see everyone in school after Yom Tov. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me or any other member of the TAG COVID Task Force.

Rabbi Meyer Weitman
Dean


My question is, if the problem is community spread rather than school specific issues, why were other community schools not shut down as well? Ok, Darchei was but they're being allowed to reopen on Wednesday.
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gold21




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Sep 26 2020, 10:50 pm
Cuz they complied with the DOH and reported positive cases. Unlike schools who didn't. So they were rewarded by being shuttered. "Community spread"- that's not profiling at all, by the way. Completely reasonable to penalize orthodox schools for being orthodox.
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gold21




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Sep 26 2020, 10:54 pm
By the way, same thing happened to Magen David. They were super duper compliant and were rewarded with a school closure.
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Rutabaga




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Sep 26 2020, 11:00 pm
So you think the other Far Rockaway schools were not as compliant? There's just no way that if TAG and Darchei have covid cases that BBY for example doesn't. Maybe smaller schools like BYAM don't have at the moment, but the bigger yeshivos must have as well.
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gold21




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Sep 26 2020, 11:03 pm
Rutabaga wrote:
So you think the other Far Rockaway schools were not as compliant? There's just no way that if TAG and Darchei have covid cases that BBY for example doesn't. Maybe smaller schools like BYAM don't have at the moment, but the bigger yeshivos must have as well.


Any schools that are outside NYC (in Nassau) are under a diff jurisdiction. TAG and Darchei are by far the biggest schools in that area under the jurisdiction of NYC. As for BBY, they're probably next.
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chestnut




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Sep 26 2020, 11:06 pm
I was wondering the same, OP. Flatbush schools also were reporting cases
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gold21




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Sep 26 2020, 11:06 pm
Why was Magen David closed and other Flatbush schools weren't? It's a head scratcher.
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gold21




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Sep 26 2020, 11:08 pm
chestnut wrote:
I was wondering the same, OP. Flatbush schools also were reporting cases


Any schools with 6-8 parallel classes per grade along the lines of Darchei and TAG? The bigger the school, the higher the odds of positive cases. That's why these schools operate in a pod format, and quarantine any class with a positive case.

How many parallels does Magen David have per grade? 3?


Last edited by gold21 on Sat, Sep 26 2020, 11:09 pm; edited 1 time in total
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chestnut




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Sep 26 2020, 11:08 pm
gold21 wrote:
Why was Magen David closed and other Flatbush schools weren't? It's a head scratcher.

Were they closed or closed themselves as precaution (some schools are doing that for next week)?
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gold21




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Sep 26 2020, 11:10 pm
chestnut wrote:
Were they closed or closed themselves as precaution (some schools are doing that for next week)?


The DOH came down and shut them down. They locked down the building and wouldn't let the boys go in and retrieve their tefillin bags. Eventually, someone was allowed in to retrieve the tefillin bags.
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ohmygosh




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Sep 26 2020, 11:26 pm
We live in an insane crazy world. Police state.
DOH waaay overstepping their bounds. Someone should sue. As long as the school is in compliance with DOH regulations, they should not be closed down. Parents should have the choice of whether or not to send their child to their private school that they are paying for.
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gold21




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Sep 26 2020, 11:41 pm
ohmygosh wrote:
We live in an insane crazy world. Police state.
DOH waaay overstepping their bounds. Someone should sue. As long as the school is in compliance with DOH regulations, they should not be closed down. Parents should have the choice of whether or not to send their child to their private school that they are paying for.


Exactly.
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amother
Puce


 

Post Sat, Sep 26 2020, 11:53 pm
ohmygosh wrote:
We live in an insane crazy world. Police state.
DOH waaay overstepping their bounds. Someone should sue. As long as the school is in compliance with DOH regulations, they should not be closed down. Parents should have the choice of whether or not to send their child to their private school that they are paying for.

Yup. Parents should sue for financial damages.

Parents of unvaccinated children at Green Meadows Waldorf School in Rockland are suing for financial damages of being forced to homeschool when there was not one single case of measles in the school in 2018-2019. They were kicked out of school because of cases in "close proximity" meaning in the Jewish neighborhood nearby and not given a date or a goal to reach in order to be allowed back in.
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amother
Mauve


 

Post Sun, Sep 27 2020, 12:02 am
Rutabaga wrote:
So you think the other Far Rockaway schools were not as compliant? There's just no way that if TAG and Darchei have covid cases that BBY for example doesn't. Maybe smaller schools like BYAM don't have at the moment, but the bigger yeshivos must have as well.

BBY for sure has cases I have 3 nieces there that tested positive in the past 2 weeks they were out of school Friday before they where tested and tested positive motzei Shabbos
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gold21




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Sep 27 2020, 12:02 am
amother [ Puce ] wrote:
Yup. Parents should sue for financial damages.

Parents of unvaccinated children at Green Meadows Waldorf School in Rockland are suing for financial damages of being forced to homeschool when there was not one single case of measles in the school in 2018-2019. They were kicked out of school because of cases in "close proximity" meaning in the Jewish neighborhood nearby and not given a date or a goal to reach in order to be allowed back in.


In terms of DOH compliance, I believe it is mandated to keep the handful of unvaxxed children out of school during a community measles outbreak.

It is not mandated to shutter entire schools of 2K+ students during a community covid outbreak.

I am not entirely familiar with the exact rules, but I believe this to be the case.
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chestnut




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Sep 27 2020, 1:44 am
gold21 wrote:
The DOH came down and shut them down. They locked down the building and wouldn't let the boys go in and retrieve their tefillin bags. Eventually, someone was allowed in to retrieve the tefillin bags.

How many cases did they have?
I'm a little confused why TAG says they were shut down because of the community. Did they only have 1 case and got shut down? Isn't the rule for closing the school is 2 positive cases in different classes?
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amother
Purple


 

Post Sun, Sep 27 2020, 2:08 am
BBY is closing down this week. Its not official yet.
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amother
Magenta


 

Post Sun, Sep 27 2020, 2:18 am
gold21 wrote:
In terms of DOH compliance, I believe it is mandated to keep the handful of unvaxxed children out of school during a community measles outbreak.

It is not mandated to shutter entire schools of 2K+ students during a community covid outbreak.

I am not entirely familiar with the exact rules, but I believe this to be the case.
it’s not mandated, but it follows the same logic, all 2k+ kids are not vaccinated for covid. But why tag and not BBY?
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amother
Magenta


 

Post Sun, Sep 27 2020, 2:23 am
I heard from a coworker, who knew tag was closing several hours before the school knew that”TAG is the sister school of Darchei”, I questioned that , then he said well “ their loosely affiliated” and siblings of Darchei go to TAG. Doesn’t add up. Why can’t tag open when Darchei opens and again why not BBY
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amother
Magenta


 

Post Sun, Sep 27 2020, 2:24 am
amother [ Purple ] wrote:
BBY is closing down this week. Its not official yet.
by the DOH or voluntarily?
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