President's perspective

Let’s create a Truth Commission, a panel of independent experts, retired educators, parents and members of the public to obtain the facts and get those facts out to the public about Mayor Bloomberg's education record. This would be the best way for the public to regain its confidence in the Department of Education.

Our political work and lobbying in Albany have paid off: Governor Cuomo and the state Legislature reached a budget agreement on April 2 that is the best we have had for our schools in a decade.

Our union and our profession have been under attack in the last several years. We’re told we don’t work hard enough, that our results with our students are not great enough, that our profession and our schools need to be “reformed” for the sake of our children. But those who attack us do not understand teaching, and they do not understand just how hard our jobs are.

During our negotiations with the Department of Education over a new teacher development and evaluation system, we fought hard for a system that would treat teachers like the professionals we are and would help us improve our skills throughout our careers. That is, after all, what the state law requires.

As we mourn the recent tragedy in Newtown, we must nevertheless move ahead with our work here in New York. Mayor Bloomberg is playing politics with our schools and the future of our students — and he must stop. With $250 million in state aid for schools hanging in the balance, it is disgraceful that he is playing these games.

As we continue to face the tremendous hardship and difficulties that Hurricane Sandy has caused for so many of us and so many of the communities that we serve, we must remember that it is our support for each other and our school communities and our passion for the work that we do that carries us through these difficult times.

The presidential elections are nearly upon us, and I cannot stress enough their importance for both our union and the nation as a whole. We are at a crossroads, faced with a fundamental choice between progress and a return to the failed policies of the past.

The year ahead will have its challenges, but it will also be an exciting year for our union and our profession. We now have an opportunity to move education forward for ourselves and for our students.

Spreading lies and misinformation about the UFT has become something of a game for City Hall. It’s all part of a strategy to deflect from the public’s overwhelming dissatisfaction with the mayor and his mismanagement of our public schools. The latest salvo shamefully tried to politicize the issue of sexual misconduct against students and get in a few cheap shots against teachers.