New Educator To-Do List

Here are some items to take care of right away and others that will help you prioritize and stay on track.

If you are new to the city Department of Education, this fall you should receive a welcome enrollment email from the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) of the City of New York. TRS will provide you with a guaranteed retirement allowance upon meeting certain age and service requirements. You must complete the enrollment form and a designation of beneficiary form and return them to the TRS. You must include proof of your date of birth when you file the forms. You can complete the forms on the TRS website. If you didn’t receive a welcome email, you may not have been automatically enrolled and will need to complete the enrollment process on the TRS website yourself.
The welcome email from the DOE includes your license code and what it means. Your New York State certificate must match your DOE license appointment code. The New York State certification allows you to continue working in the New York City public school system. If you have any questions about keeping your certificate valid or want to know what you need to do to complete state certification requirements for your permanent or professional certificate, you can call the union at 212-331-6311 and ask for a certification specialist or teacherline [at] uft [dot] org (contact them via email). You can also check with your chapter leader about scheduling an appointment for a UFT education liaison to visit your school to speak to members about certification.

Part of the observation and evaluation process is to have an initial planning conference (IPC) with your supervisor by Oct. 30. The IPC is a mandatory meeting between the teacher and evaluator and must be conducted prior to the evaluator conducting classroom observations. To be prepared and informed about the observation cycle and the teacher evaluation system, read the UFT’s comprehensive guidance on teacher evaluation.
Tenure is typically achieved after four years of satisfactory and/or effective/highly effective probationary service. Probationary teachers at minimum have three informal observations and one formal observation. Learn more about tenure »

Make sure you have designated beneficiaries with the city DOE, your pension system and the UFT Welfare Fund. Your beneficiaries are entitled to benefits if you die. Review your beneficiaries on record with the DOE by logging in to your employee self-service account. You can add or remove beneficiaries or change the percentage you leave to each beneficiary by logging in to either the the Teachers Retirement System website, or the Board of Education Retirement System online. You can make necessary changes to your beneficiaries on record with the UFT Welfare Fund by logging in to the UFT website, going to "My Account" and selecting “update your information.” If you do nothing, your beneficiaries will remain the same as your last designation.
You may be able to reduce — or even eliminate — your student loan debt. At the UFT’s student-debt relief webinars, our experts will help determine if you’re eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), Title I loan forgiveness and more — at no cost to you. Sign up for a webinar on the UFT website.

Sign up for a UFT website account to receive emails about important information, including alerts about union campaigns and your rights and benefits. In early November, check your email for a UFT survey that the union is distributing to gather information for the 2027 contract negotiations. Confirming that the union has your correct email address and filling out the survey ensures that your voice will be heard in the next round of UFT-DOE bargaining.
Sign up for UFT text messages to be notified about events such as remote school days or when there is a severe storm.