Chapter leaders discuss challenges ahead

Chapter leaders (from left) Dominique Borgello of Boys and Girls HS in Brooklyn, Paula Washington of LaGuardia HS in Manhattan and Ann Marie Nowak of MS 54 in Manhattan at the meeting.

Summer became a distant memory as UFT chapter leaders got down to business on Sept. 22 at their first citywide meeting. More than 500 elected school representatives gathered at Shanker Hall, approving several new initiatives, reviewing potential land mines and trading information on the opening weeks of school.

First up was a land mine: the movie “Waiting for Superman,” which had just been touted by Oprah Winfrey and was due out the next day. “It blames every problem on teacher unions and says the only fix is charter schools,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew said, to universal groans.

The film, which profiles five children and their families applying to charter schools, evokes a strong emotional response to the children but gets a lot of facts wrong, Mulgrew noted.

Several chapter leaders said they were writing letters of protest to Winfrey. Chapter Leader Denise Getchius-Staines of PS 317 in Rockaway Park, Brooklyn, said her principal is taking the staff to see the movie, because she was “outraged” by its portrayal of public school teachers.

“She thinks her teachers are really great. They help English language learners and special education students who charters tend not to take,” Getchius-Staines said.

Mulgrew told meeting participants that in three September primary races, hedge-fund-supported challengers, who were attacking teacher unions and promoting charters, were soundly defeated by UFT-backed candidates. [See story on page 3.]

A new contract and a potential raise must await fact-finding hearings, after a final mediation session this summer failed to produce an acceptable deal, Mulgrew reported.

Despite the challenges ahead, the chapter leaders were in a mood to rally. They agreed to mobilize on behalf of pro-union candidates in the November elections, including races for governor, attorney general and state comptroller. They strongly endorsed Mulgrew’s suggestion that the UFT team up with a new parent-educator coalition, Save Our Schools, to call for a suspension of all decisions based on test scores until the state tests are revised.

“We will do a big push on this,” Mulgrew promised. “We need to fight for real education reform.”

Most immediate, though, was the UFT’s push to turn out members for the One Nation gathering in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 2 [see the President’s Perspective on page 11] to promote jobs, health care and public education. Working people, and public employees in particular, are under attack, Mulgrew said.

A trip to Washington in October will be hard on members, he conceded, but the stakes are too high not to “get on the bus” and get members out. “This is a pivotal point in this country,” he said, to cheers and applause. “It’s time for us to change the direction.”

Stuart Kaplan, chapter leader at the HS of Law and Public Service in Manhattan, said he was mobilizing the teachers in his school to go.

“We really need to stand together,” he said.

“Teachers should be there,” agreed colleague Alice O’Neil, chapter leader at Food and Finance HS.

The meeting also included a presentation about the UFT’s redesigned and enhanced website.