Sep 4, 2007 1:34 PM
UFT officials solve problems, handle disputes, provide information and advice during school visits
Union officers and other experts frequently come to school chapter meetings to help if there is a problem at the school or to make presentations about contractual problems, personnel issues and the like. All of these officials have put in time on the frontlines so they know exactly what it’s like to suffer the slings and arrows of a classroom teacher.
So that you have a better idea about just who these officials are when they come to call on you, here is a brief bit of background about the officers and other experts who are regular school visitors:
UFT Officers
RANDI WEINGARTEN is president of the United Federation of Teachers, representing more than 150,000 active and retired educators in the New York City public school system. She is also a vice-president of the 1.2-million member American Federation of Teachers and a board member of New York State United Teachers.
Weingarten, a vice-president of the New York City Central Labor Council of the AFL-CIO, also heads the city Municipal Labor Committee, an umbrella organization for some 100 city employee unions. The MLC negotiates benefits on behalf of the unions’ 365,000 members. She was elected for the second time in 2004.
As a teacher of history at Clara Barton High School in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, from 1991 to 1997, Weingarten helped her students win several state and national awards.
From 1986 to 1998, Weingarten served as counsel to UFT President Sandra Feldman, taking a lead role in contract negotiations and in lawsuits in which the union fought for adequate school funding and building conditions. Elected as the union’s assistant secretary in 1995 and treasurer two years later, she assumed the UFT presidency in 1998 after Feldman became president of the AFT. She was elected to her first full term the following year and re-elected three times since then. Under Weingarten’s leadership, salaries of Department of Education employees represented by the UFT have increased by more than a third.
In addition to teachers, the UFT represents classroom paraprofessionals, guidance counselors, school secretaries, nurses, social workers, psychologists, occupational and physical therapists, and other non-supervisory personnel in the city’s public schools. Also belonging to the union are private sector workers in health and education.
LEO CASEY is vice president of academic high schools. He is a New York City native and the son of two New York City public school teachers. He attended Antioch College in Ohio, the University of Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania and the University of Toronto in Canada, where he earned a Ph.D. in Political Philosophy.
After a stint in political organizing, Leo began his teaching career in 1984 at Clara Barton HS where he taught classes in civics, American history, African-American studies, ethical issues in medicine and political Science for 15 years. For 10 years in a row, his classes — entirely comprised of students of color, largely immigrant and largely female — won the New York City championship of the national “We The People” civics competition, while winning the New York State championship four times and placing fourth in the nation twice.
Leo’s union activism at Clara Barton began in 1987 when he led an effort to have the school building closed to clean up major asbestos contamination. He served as UFT chapter leader at Clara Barton for 10 years. He has a long history of union involvement including work as a United Farm Worker’s organizer and participation in the first unionization drive of graduate teaching assistants in Canada. He has also worked with teacher unions and teachers in Russia, Tanzania and China on the development of civics education.
In 1999, Leo became a full-time UFT special representative, working closely with previous high school vice presidents. He was elected to his present position in October 2007. He continues to teach a class in global studies every day at Bard HS Early College in Manhattan.
Leo has won several awards for his teaching and was named national Social Studies Teacher of the Year for the American Teacher Awards in 1992. He led the design team for the UFT’s Secondary Charter School and has served as the liaison between the Board of Trustees and the school.
MELVYN AARONSON is treasurer of the UFT. He has been actively involved in union affairs for more than 46 years, working with Al Shanker as one of the leaders of the strike in 1960 that established the UFT. He has served as a chapter leader in two large high schools and has been a delegate to American Federation of Teachers and New York State United Teachers conventions.
Mel is considered one of the nation’s leading authorities on pension matters. He frequently visits schools to help members plan for a secure retirement. One of the key points he makes to new teachers is that because of the wonders of compounding, money regularly invested in the first 10 years of a person’s working life — even if nothing is invested thereafter — will total more than the same annual investments made for the next 30 years.
Mel was elected union treasurer in 1998, filling the term of Randi Weingarten when she was elected president, and has been re-elected ever since.
Since 1980 Mel has been a trustee and member of the board of the Teachers’ Retirement System of New York City. He serves on various AFT and NYSUT committees and he chairs the Pension Committee of the New York City Municipal Labor Committee, which represents more than 350,000 New York City workers.
For 35 years, Mel has been a pension consultant for the UFT. He is chair of the Pension Committee, Coordinator of the “Ready-or-Not” pre-retirement preparation program and has served as Special Representative for the Retired Teachers’ Chapter of the UFT.
CARMEN ALVAREZ is vice president for special education, to which she was first elected in 1990, and she has been a key voice in the UFT’s efforts to improve education for children with disabilities.
Since her days as a resource room teacher at PS 165 and 121 in Manhattan from 1977 through 1983 — she also directed a resource room program for Bank Street College in the early 1980s — Carmen has worked to improve the education of disabled youngsters. One of her major successes was pressing the DOE to computerize the Individualized Education Program (IEP) for each student in special ed. Another was the Consultant Teacher Initiative, a program which brings experienced special ed teachers into classrooms to support disabled students and to help expand the skills of colleagues.
Carmen has been a proponent of Superstart Plus, a new concept of educating preschool children with disabilities with non-disabled peers. This concept evolved into The Least Restrictive Environment Initiative, which expanded inclusionary programs across all grade levels. And that led to the DOE’s New Continuum of Special Education Services, which expanded options to serve students with disabilities in general education with a wider array of supports.
Carmen has raised one son and has been active in both her child’s school and in the community. As PTA president in the 1980s, she recognized early the value of computers and fought alongside teachers and parents to get a computer program for her son’s school. She also served as a school board member in Manhattan from 1983 to 1989.
ROBERT ASTROWSKY, is assistant secretary of the UFT. He began his career in the New York City school system more than 40 years ago as a teacher and subsequently as a guidance counselor. Soon after entering the system he became a union activist for the UFT and was elected chapter leader of PS 148 in Manhattan. He later served for 24 years as UFT District 3 Representative and from 1993 to 2006 as UFT Brooklyn Borough Representative. In July 2006, he became an assistant to the UFT president and was elected assistant secretary of the union.
Bob has served the teachers union, local, state and national, in many capacities, as a UFT Executive Board member and member of the Negotiating Committee, as a member of the New York State United Teachers Executive Committee and Board of Directors and as a delegate to the American Federation of Teachers and NYSUT Conventions. He is also a delegate to New York State AFL-CIO conventions.
Bob’s dedication to unionism spread beyond New York when he served as a union organizer in Texas, Louisiana, and Arizona.
Bob has also served as a member and chair of the Teacher and Certification Practices Board, member of the New York Board of Regents Advisory Council to the Regents New York City Project, member of the board of directors of the Brooklyn Sports Foundation, member of the executive board of the Jewish Labor Heritage Committee, delegate to the Jewish Labor Committee, and delegate to the Central Labor Council.
And, he has worked as an instructor at the Borough of Manhattan Community College.
MICHELLE BODDEN is vice president of elementary schools. She began her career as an elementary school teacher in 1984, in Brooklyn. She quickly became active in the union at her school and was elected chapter leader 1988.
Michelle went to work for the union full time in 1991 as a liaison for educational issues focusing on school-based management and shared decision-making. In 1998, she was elected assistant treasurer and in 2001 was elected assistant secretary. In the fall of 2002, she was elected to her current office, becoming the first African-American to hold the position.
Her work extends over a variety of areas, including innovative educational programs, work and family issues, charter schools and a strong focus on early childhood education. Of her, many initiatives at the UFT one of her most exciting has been helping New York City’s Family Day-Care Providers to win union representation. In 2006, Michelle was elected to serve as a vice president of the American Federation of Teachers.
She is a member of the AFT Human Rights and Community Relations Committee. Michelle also served on the New York State United Teachers’ Task Force on Minority Involvement and is the officer liaison to the UFT African Heritage Committee. She is a member of the NAACP, the A. Philip Randolph Institute, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, the Coalition of Labor Union Women and the National Black Child Development Institute.
RICHARD FARKAS is vice president of junior high and intermediate schools. He started his teaching career in 1972. Were it not for the 1975 budget crisis, Rich probably would still be teaching at IS 218 in Brooklyn. But because of the crisis, he was excessed and wound up at JHS 275, also in Brooklyn, where he was elected chapter leader, largely because no one else wanted the job.
The remnants of the decentralization struggle were still evident and after several years of battling the administration on behalf of his colleagues he transferred to IS 61, this time a school in Queens. The first person he met was Richard Miller, that school’s chapter leader, who handed him a contract, a COPE card and asked him to serve on the school’s consultation committee.
When Miller moved up to district representative, Rich became chapter leader at IS 61, a “U”-rating advocate and a pension advisor at the Queens UFT office. In 1995 he was elected as the District 24 representative and served in that capacity until June 2002. As the district rep he fought school board members who wanted to ban books, ban a curriculum of inclusion and multi-culturalism and hold school board meetings on Friday nights.
In July 2002 he was elected a UFT vice president.
AMINDA GENTILE is vice president for education issues and she is also the director of the UFT Teacher Center, a professional development network providing research-driven, school-based support to schools and districts at more than 350 sites throughout New York City. She coordinates with the New York State Education Department and the New York City Department of Education the design and delivery of professional development focused on literacy, mathematics and technology.
Collaborating with institutions of higher education, Aminda oversees the Teacher Center’s efforts to create and offer graduate courses to prepare teachers for certification in the sciences, mathematics and technology. In addition, she is involved in many major school reform efforts at the state and national level.
Aminda serves on both the New York State Teacher Center Task Force and the American Federation of Teachers Education Committee. She works closely with other AFT locals, spearheading the design and development of professional development models in other states. She frequently makes presentations on improving teacher effectiveness, building collaborative schools and restructuring for student achievement at local and national conferences.
During her teaching career, Aminda taught all grades of elementary school as well as remedial reading and remedial math.MICHAEL MENDEL is secretary of the UFT. After earning his master’s degree, Michael returned to teach at his old school, JHS 61 in Brooklyn. It was there that he developed the two interests that would dominate his life: fair and equitable treatment for all pedagogues and an interest in salary and personnel issues.
Michael became a delegate to the union’s Delegate Assembly, trained as a “U”-rating and arbitration advocate, served on the School Curriculum Committee, the District 17 Curriculum Committee and the Pupil Personnel Committee.
But he was laid off twice during the fiscal crisis years of the 1970s. Originally a social studies teacher, he became re-certified in English and taught both subjects. This experience contributed to his interest in such key personnel issues as licensing and excessing.
He also served for four years in the school as a dean.
In 1987, Michael went to work for the UFT as a PM staffer and then became a special representative for personnel matters. He later became Assistant to the President for Personnel. In July 2003, Michael became the director of staff for the union and was elected secretary in 2004.
In May 2007, Michael was named to a new post, executive assistant to the UFT president. He is the union’s chief negotiator and has oversight responsibilities for personnel and contract compliance.
MICHAEL MULGREW is vice president of career and technical high schools. He had been the chapter leader at William E. Grady Career and Technical Education HS for six years. It was a baptism by fire. He had to continually fight so that teachers’ voices would be heard and respected.
That was a time when many administrators were not embracing the new CTE initiative — some wanted the old vocational programs to stay in place for fear of change and others wanted to get rid of vocational/career and tech ed. Neither of these were acceptable to Grady teachers, so the staff worked to make positive educational changes in the school.
Michael started teaching as a substitute in 1990 while also working in construction as a member of the carpenters union. He ran an at-risk program at Grady for 12 years before becoming a UFT vice president in the fall of 2005.
As the officer liaison to the UFT Safety and Health department, Michael worked through summer 2006 to help reorganize the department so that the union would engage the Department of Education for it’s lack of responsibility in the safety of the schools.
MONA ROMAIN is assistant treasurer of the UFT and has served as an elected trustee on the board of the Teachers’ Retirement System of the City of New York since 1998. She shares, with her fellow board members, the fiduciary responsibilities of overseeing the policies, funding and investments of the system to ensure benefits for the contributors and beneficiaries.
Mona began her career as a teacher of mathematics in Brooklyn, first at IS 246 from 1971 to 1981, and later at Samuel J. Tilden HS from 1981 to 1990. She served as delegate to the Delegate Assembly from both schools.
Mona is a member of the union’s Executive Board, serves on the Pension and Retirement Committees of the UFT and NYSUT. From 1990 to 1997 she served as a special representative in the Pension Department. She was elected as the union’s assistant secretary in 1997, and was elected assistant treasurer in 2001.
Mona is a member of the executive board of the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems; a member of the legislative committee of the National Council on Teachers Retirement and a member of the National Association of Securities Specialists – New York Foundation board.
AMY ARUNDELL is a special representative for the UFT handling personnel issue, School-Based Options, the Teacher’s Choice program and School-Based Budgeting. These are all key programs that can have significant effects on the working lives of educators and when Amy visits schools, she tries to untangle the sometimes complex elements involved.
School-Based Options (SBOs) allow chapters and principals to modify clauses of the contract on things like class size, rotation of assignments, rotation of coverage, teacher schedules, etc.
Teacher’s Choice provides money each year so that teachers can buy a wide range of instructional materials and supplies for their classes beyond the basic books and supplies that the school system is required to supply.
School-Based Budgeting is a contractual provision that requires the principal to share school budgetary information with the faculty. Chapter committees meet with the principal in order to have input into how the school will allocate its funds.
Amy was a middle school social studies teacher for 11 years at MS 144 in the Bronx. She was the chapter leader there for four years.
Then she worked for UFT Teacher Center at MS 142, also in the Bronx, for three-and-a-half years.
Amy has been a special rep working at UFT headquarters for the last three years.
ELLIE ENGLER is the Director of the UFT’s Safety and Health Department including school safety and environmental safety and health.
An industrial hygienist, Ellie started consulting for the UFT in 1986 and became a full time staff member in 1996. From 1977 to 1986 she was an assistant professor in the biological sciences program at SUNY at the college of Old Westbury.
As the union’s safety and health director Ellie oversees and coordinates all department activities. These include: training for chapter leaders and functional chapters on safety related topics; providing industrial hygiene and occupational safety services throughout the school system; responding to health and safety emergencies in schools; developing inspection, cleanup and monitoring protocols; developing and conducting health and safety training (indoor air quality, laboratory safety, bloodborne pathogens, communicable diseases, ergonomics, emergency preparedness, workplace violence, etc.) for staff members; developing and implementing school-wide health and safety programs including the laboratory inspection program; developing construction and renovation protocols; and developing health and safety publications, training materials and videos.
Ellie meets frequently with the Department of Education Safety Division and the New York Police Department School Safety Division on safety issues as well as with the DOE’s Division of School Facilities and School Construction Authority on school building issues.
ARTHUR PEPPER is the Executive Director of the UFT Welfare Fund. He frequently visits schools to inform members about the many benefits they get through the Fund and he provides tips on how members can maximize those benefits.
The Welfare Fund supplements the health plans provided by New York City. It’s benefits include such key areas as dental coverage, prescription drugs, eyeglasses and hearing aids.
Artie worked in the city school system for more than a decade before moving full time to UFT functions. He taught instrumental music and was a band director at JHS 180 in Queens While there he was elected a delegate, then chapter leader.
Later he served as an arbitration advocate and a “U” rating advocate.
Artie is a graduate from the Manhattan School of Music and later studied labor leadership at the Cornell School of Labor Relations.
He has been the executive director of the UFT Welfare Fund since 1995.
CHRIS PROCTOR is an industrial hygienist for the UFT who makes frequent visits to schools to monitor health and safety issues. A former adjunct professor at Hunter College she has been on the UFT staff in the Safety and Health department since 1998.
Chris is responsible for:
STERLING ROBERSON is Director of School Safety for the UFT. He has worked in the New York City public school system for 23 years. Sterling is a graduate of the Substitute Vocational Assistant (SVA) Program — a vocational teacher recruitment program — and for nine years was an electronics teacher at Samuel Gompers HS, a Career and Technical Education (CTE) school.
For seven years after that he was a Violence Prevention Facilitator and school safety specialist for the Victim Support Program. The latter was established in 1989 by the UFT and the then Board of Education to provide comprehensive, practical assistance and psychological support to teachers and other school personnel following crimes and violent incidents in school.
Subsequently, Sterling was a member of the union’s School Safety Department and for the last two its director.
Sterling frequently visits schools to monitor safety issues and to ensure that proper procedures are in place to safeguard students and staff throughout the system.
ANN ROSEN is the UFT’s resident expert on certification and licensing. As a special representative she has literally helped hundreds, if not thousands, of educators to find their way through the bureaucratic maze of meeting all the city and state requirements to become licensed teachers.
Ann has served as coordinator of the Effective Teaching Program run by the UFT’s statewide affiliate, NYSUT, and of the UFT National Teachers’ Exam Coaching Seminar. She was an original coordinator of the New York City Mentor-Teacher Internship Program.
Ann was an elementary classroom teacher for 18 years, all at PS 169 in Brooklyn. She served as chapter leader for 15 years.
The recipient of many education awards, Ann is author of “Nuts and Bolts —Building A Career” the UFT’s resource guide for New York State Certification and New York City Licensing.
At schools, Ann meets with groups, at lunch time, for example and, if possible, individually with members, going over specific requirements, untangling the often confusing regulations and answering detailed questions.
HOWARD SOLOMON is director of the UFT Grievance Department. That’s the department that oversees the grievance procedure of the contract, which enables individuals to seek redress when administrators violate the terms of the agreement and infringe on an employee’s rights.
Every member has the right to file a grievance if he or she believes there is sufficient cause. If the problem is not resolved and moves through the various stages of a grievance it could end up in arbitration. That, and when the union finds there is a systemic problem and files what is known as a union-initiated grievance, comes under the direct purview of Howard and his staff.
Howard makes frequent visits to schools around the city to explain grievance rights and procedures to members. He has a lot of experience, having worked in the grievance department as a PM staffer from 1983 to 1994, as a special representative there from 1994 to 2001 and as director from 2001 to the present.
Before that, he taught math for more than two decades at JHS 61 in Brooklyn. He has served as a chapter leader and delegate. He has been a “U”-rating advocate, arbitration advocate, investigator of special complaints and a professional conciliator under Article 24 of the contract.
If you suspect any kind of contractual problem, Howard can help you find the best way to resolve it
LAURA TAMBURO is a UFT special representative for salary and personnel matters. In that capacity she offers help and advice to members and acts as the union’s liaison with the Department of Education on related issues.
Laura began her career in the city’s school system 24 years ago as a payroll secretary at PS 398, a large elementary school in East New York, Brooklyn. She says that at that time and in that school “survival was the name of the game,” so she became a union activist and served as the school’s chapter leader for many years.
In 1991 she became a PM staffer for the union, working as a payroll representative. She went on to work for the union full time and has held her present job for the last 10 years.
Laura conducts frequent payroll workshops and acts as a facilitator at salary workshops for new teachers. Upon request Laura is available to attend union meetings to address salary and personnel related issues.