VP of Elementary Schools

KAREN ALFORD is vice president of elementary schools. Karen comes from a union family. Her mother was a New York City public school teacher for 35½ years and her father was a New York City police officer.

Karen’s teaching career began in 1992 at PS 156, District 23, in Oceanhill-Brownsville, Brooklyn, the same community in which she was raised. She quickly became active in the union and was elected chapter leader before she was tenured. While teaching, she completed her Master’s degree and 30 credits above through the UFT Teacher Center.  In 1997, she began working as a PM staffer in the Brooklyn UFT office. Karen went to work full time for the union in 2002 as an educational liaison focusing on issues of certification and licensure.

For a short time, Karen worked as an assistant to Michelle Bodden, the former VP of Elementary Schools. Karen left the position in 2005 when she was selected as the District 23 Representative. As a district representative, she was a responsive advocate for the needs of her members in over 20 schools. In the fall of 2008, she was elected to her current office.

Karen believes strongly in professional development and in building capacity as a labor leader. She has attended the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute, the Education Policy Fellowship Program given by the Institute for Educational Leadership, NYSUT Leadership Institute and the AFL-CIO Leadership Institute.

She is a member of UFT African Heritage Committee, the AFT Black Caucus New York State Chapter, the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the A. Phillip Randolph Institute and the National Black Child Development Institute.