Teachers at Public School Zero are suing the school district for requiring them to use hand sanitizer that was listed as toxic by the FDA in March of this year. The contaminated hand sanitizer contains benzene, a known carcinogen. Some of the dangerous sanitizer was donated by Fred’s University and is the subject of a kickback scandal involving a Trump crony. While the FDA does not have the power to recall sanitizers, warnings were issued to Public School Zero administrators through official channels. The teachers have the receipts to prove the school was warned thanks to a secretary in the Superintendent’s office who quit in a blaze of glory with a zip drive of confidential files as part of the Great Resignation. There is also a TikTok account dedicated to the handmade warning posters with the slogan “Resist The Mist” that disgruntled teacher Darren Todobetter posted in the hallways of PSZ in the spring.
Donald Trump admitted in September of 2020 that the government knew early on that the Coronavirus was mostly airborne, and that sanitizer was all but useless against it, but kept it secret. The charade of sanitizing was designed to allay legitimate fears, and keep the economy running at any cost. Often the useless work of sanitizing replaced known measures that are more effective, such as N95 masks. The hazardous labor of unnecessary sanitizing is disproportionately done by women, people of color and immigrants. At Public School Zero, 73% of teachers are women, consistent with national gender ratios in public schools. Almost all maintenance staff at PSZ are people of color and/or immigrants, except the Ground Maintenance Crew Leader and the Custodial Supervisor neither of whom worked directly with the sanitizers. The teachers state that they have been treated as disposable pawns in a deadly game.
As of last week, the school district has only responded to the lawsuit off the record, when Bob Smith asked in a tweet why, if the teachers constantly complain about having to buy their own classroom supplies, they didn’t spend their money on better sanitizer.
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