Everyone Can Go To School Tuesday and Wednesday Before Winter Break

And you don’t need to sign the in-school COVID Testing consent form to attend

by Michael Kane

12-21-20

In the case of KANE vs. NYC DOE Judge Eileen Rakower has placed a temporary stay on anyone being denied access to in-person school for not signing the in-school COVID testing consent form. Many people have reached out to me asking for a “singed order” from the court. The judge has not issued such an order and, as far as I can tell, it is for 2 main reasons:

(1) The order is temporary and will never be made permanent from this case, and,

(2) The judge is relying on the good-faith of the attorneys.

It is sad to say that, from everything I have seen, the DOE attorneys have shown no good faith. In fact, when Judge Rakower ordered the stay on Wednesday morning the reason so many were barred from school the next day was because DOE counsel Mr. Phillip S. Frank said there was a technical glitch during the court ZOOM hearing and he did not hear the judges order. So since he didn’t hear it, he did not communicate it to his client.

Um, ok.

Then why were students still denied access to school even today, Monday, the 21st of December, after Mr. Frank wrote a letter apologizing to Judge Rakower for his error?

In my opinion, after 13+ years working as a New York City teacher, this is typical of the shenanigans that DOE attorneys play. All teachers have heard their principals tell them they were going to “run it by legal” over any number of issues, and there is never any telling what nonsense you are going to hear back.

A court date is set for Wednesday morning where arguments will be heard that will hopefully bring KANE vs. NYC DOE close to an end, but we do not know for sure what will happen.

One thing the judge has made abundantly, and completely clear, is that no student or staff member should be denied access to any NYC DOE public school this week due to not signing the in-school COVID testing consent form. If any one’s principal tries to deny them access you can do one of two things:

(1) Have your principal call our attorney’s office (Michael Sussman)

(2) Have your principal call Phillip S. Frank, Esq, at the office of the New York City Corporation Counsel. Mr. Frank is the attorney representing the DOE in KANE vs. NYC DOE, and he is 100% aware that he is required to communicate to his client that they must not deny entry to anyone this week.