feature stories

From Big Easy to Big Apple

by Natalie Bell

Feb 2, 2006 2:59 PM

When high school teacher Charles Block was forced to leave his home in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina last September, he and his wife headed to New York where they could stay with relatives. Not long thereafter, Block was able to get on as a substitute teacher at a Riverdale, Bronx, school where he impressed everyone, students and teachers alike, with his relaxed, easy-going style, despite the tragic cause of his arrival.

Students spread the word about the new teacher, said Paula Lenahan, chapter leader at MS/HS 141. “One of them even said, ‘He’s so cool, he treats us with respect,’” she said.

The substitute job was a boon for Block, but only a full-time appointment would provide health insurance, which he sorely needed for his wife who had been diagnosed with breast cancer three days before Katrina hit.
“The problem was I had lost my health benefits from New Orleans,” he said. “I was on COBRA, and there was this rush to get health benefits here before the end of December [when COBRA would run out].”

Another dilemma he faced was finding a doctor to care for his wife.

“We couldn’t get treated in New Orleans,” he said. “The whole city had been shut down or wiped out. You couldn’t go to the hospital. You couldn’t find anybody, or talk to anybody.”

Block’s wife had been referred to a doctor at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, which also weighed heavily in Block’s decision to come to New York City to teach.

Through the efforts of some attentive UFTers at MS/HS 141, the union helped expedite Block’s application for a full-time teaching appointment. He had his health benefit cards in hand before the end of the year.
“It happened that fast,” said Block. “I thought it was just an incredibly speedy operation.”

His wife had to go into the hospital on Dec. 30 for another treatment, he said, and he had everything in place so there was no break in her health care coverage.

“That’s why we have the UFT: because we have a lot of resources that helped us get this all expedited,” said Chris Bertero, a UFT delegate at the school.

It was MS/HS 141 Chapter Leader Lenahan who started the ball rolling. When she learned of Block’s situation in November, she quickly alerted UFT District 10 Representative Marsha Silberman that “this person needs our help now.”

Silberman responded with equal vigor, getting union staff involved. Union officials immediately recognized that Block qualified for expedited state certification under a special New York State Education Department initiative that provides a “Conditional Initial Teaching Certificate” to teachers certified to teach in Louisiana, Mississippi or Alabama, who have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

In fact, according to Ann Rosen, UFT special representative for certification and licensing, the DOE should have been aware that he was eligible for expedited certification when he was first hired as a substitute.

“It’s a great example of how we can work internally here and pull the services together so that someone gets everything they’re entitled to,” Rosen said.

After alerting the Regional Operations Center about Block’s eligibility for expedited certification, Rosen said the ROC “picked up and ran with it.”

Just over a month after he began submitting paperwork, Block received his full-time appointment. Rosen then worked closely with Robert Burwick, assistant director at the UFT Welfare Fund, to make sure that the teacher received the health benefits to which he was now entitled.

Both Rosen and Silberman credit the work at the school level with getting the case the attention it needed.
“Because the chapter leader told us about it, that was the important link,” said Silberman.

MS/HS 141 Principal Daniella Phillips and Assistant Principal Susan Rodriguez, who had hired Block as a substitute, worked closely with UFT representatives on his behalf every step of the way.

In the four months that he’s been in New York, Block said his wife has had three surgeries and is now receiving chemotherapy treatments. The couple is living in a Connecticut apartment that friends temporarily donated.

For now, this is home. Block said he’s planning to teach for at least another year in New York City, but he wants to return to the home and the life he once knew.

Like most New Orleans teachers, however, Block was terminated at the end of January. The state of Louisiana has taken over most of the city’s 117 schools; some are operating as non-union charter schools, while the local school board has only opened three. In all, some 17 schools with 9,000 students have reopened in Orleans Parish. No one knows for sure when or if most of the other schools will be back in operation.
Block’s house, located on high ground near the river in New Orleans, is still standing. He left it with relatives in order to find a secure income and medical care for his wife.

“You think you have a plan, and then it’s just gone like that,” he said, snapping his fingers. “But through the efforts of these people here in New York, it’s just made it a lot easier, way easier than I ever expected.”

The UFT will stage a benefit dinner dance on Feb. 28 — Fat Tuesday — from 7-11 p.m. at UFT headquarters to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina. Tickets are limited. To get yours before they run out, fill out the coupon on this page and mail it in.