Union sponsors workshops across city

Miller Photography

Chapter leaders fill the conference room at UFT headquarters for a day of professional development on health and safety issues.

Bruce Cotler

UFT Vice President Sterling Roberson talks to teachers at the Center for Automotive Education and Training in Whitestone, Queens.

Election Day 2011 provided yet another opportunity for more than a thousand UFT members to receive training at UFT-sponsored sessions.

Nearly 200 chapter leaders attended an all-day workshop organized by the UFT Safety and Health Department at union headquarters that covered gang awareness, larceny and theft prevention, bullying and a safety and environ­mental health overview.

Chapter Leader DeNeil Pollock-Campbell of PS 299 in Brooklyn said the focus on bullying — how to recognize it and what to do about it — was important because “children can’t learn when they’re scared.”

Todd Marks, the chapter leader at PS/IS 337 in Bushwick, said he would bring back the information he had gained about gangs and bullying to other members in his school.

Health teacher and Chapter Leader Richard Skibino of PS 123 in Bushwick said he paid special attention to the information provided about bloodborne pathogens and communicable diseases since his students from homeless shelters have no access to quality medical care.

More than 700 paraprofessionals also attended UFT-sponsored health and safety workshops in all five boroughs. Among the topics covered in these borough sessions were ergonomics, injury prevention and Workers’ Compensation, violence prevention and relieving stress.

Roger Beckford, a paraprofessional at P 368 at the Brooklyn Children’s Center, was able to speak to a Workers’ Compensation lawyer about “the sticky situation of who do we listen to” when there is a disparity between state and local rules and regulations.

“That’s why I’m here,” he said.

Special education paraprofessional Shirley Laney of PS 92 in Brooklyn said she attended the workshop to learn about “the changes each year in health and safety issues.”

The UFT also was a sponsor of several training sessions for Career and Technical Education teachers.

At the Brooklyn borough office, the sixth annual Health Careers Conference on Health Care and Education focused on preparing students for health careers.

Tova Zimmer of Hillcrest HS described the day as “informative because it’s about where things really are at and it’s practical because it focuses on what needs to be done to raise the bar.”

Gail Battista of Tottenville HS said she was concerned about the new Regents requirements in biology and the effect that they will have on the students that she is preparing for dental careers.

The UFT also co-sponsored professional development sessions tailored for CTE instructors in the areas of automotive technology, graphic arts, sustainability, financial literacy, culinary arts, green building technology and work-based learning.