around the uft

Learning to help their kids

Sep 20, 2007 1:01 PM

At a June 7 professional development conference at UFT headquarters, more than 300 elementary school guidance counselors recently received tips on putting students on the path to academic success. They also got a quick civics lesson from UFT President Randi Weingarten and Chapter Leader Angela Reformato. While noting the crucial, sometimes life-changing work counselors do, Weingarten stressed the importance of the union’s political action to secure funding for urgent resources such as the hiring of at least 200 new guidance counselors so that each caseload could be reduced from more than 600 to 450 or so, as proposed by City Councilman Alan Gerson. “Nothing happens unless we fight tooth and nail for it,” Weingarten said. “We all need to be warriors — sometimes publicly, sometimes privately, always relentless.” Reformato added that legislative lobbying is pivotal to getting the support needed to enable guidance counselors to perform their multi-faceted work. She explained that union dues cannot be used for that purpose and urged all members to contribute to COPE, the UFT’s political action committee. The conference was a joint venture between the union and the Department of Education and was presented by the National Center for Transforming School Counseling. Some members gave it rave reviews. “What we learned will help us close the achievement gap of our kids by helping them help themselves to fulfill their emotional, social and academic needs,” observed Carmen Marrero, guidance counselor at PS 119 in the Bronx.