Meet the President: Districts 1 and 2

Miller Photography Manhattan Borough Representative Evelyn DeJesus (standing) with (from left) PS 11’s Doris Kreibich and the East Village Community School’s Elizabeth Wanttaja and Arnatha Jordon.

Miller Photography Mulgrew addresses the members.

Miller Photography UFT District 2 Representative Alfred Gonzales and District 1 Rep Donna Manganello welcome everyone.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew briefed more than 200 educators from Districts 1 and 2 in Manhattan at a Meet the President event in Chinatown on Dec. 19. Mulgrew said that the union’s political action efforts throughout the year — including its grassroots mobilization in the Nov. 6 elections — would position the union as a significant player in electing a mayor next fall committed to a school system that “supports you in helping students and not simply holds you accountable.” He also asked members whether they favored endorsing a candidate early in the primary season or awaiting the outcome of the primaries. David Thompson, the chapter leader at JHS 104 in the Stuyvesant Town-Gramercy Park area, said Mulgrew’s message resonated with him. “He tells it like it is,” Thompson said. “He’s consistent, transparent, he doesn’t hold back. He doesn’t tell one thing to delegates and another to members. When the president tells my members something they’ve already heard from me, then they know it’s true.”