VPerspective
A message from UFT President Randi Weingarten
Aug 9, 2007 1:34 PM
I hope you’ve been able to take some much-deserved time off this summer. The UFT has been busy this summer, fighting with the Department of Education to create a real class-size reduction plan with additional state school aid. Thanks to pressure from teachers and parents at public hearings this July, the city did agree to provide a school-by-school spending breakdown. We have also continued negotiations with the city on 25/55 and on resurrecting the school leadership teams; we have provided countless professional development opportunities, have supported our members in summer school and are busy preparing for the next school year. Finally, we are also embarking on a promising partnership with Green Dot, a union-friendly charter school operator out of California. Our plan is to open a four-year charter high school in the Bronx in the fall of 2008. (See the news stories in this summer issue for details.) Enjoy the rest of your summer.
And now a special message for new colleagues: You are at the gateway of the most rewarding experience of your lives: becoming a teacher in a New York City public school.
Your new job will not be easy, but don’t lose faith. As you navigate the road ahead, remember that your union is here to support you throughout your career as an educator in New York City. We want to help you be the best teacher you can be and make sure you and your family have the salary and benefits you deserve.
Ensuring that you get the support you deserve in the early years of your teaching career is crucial to us. We devote a lot of time and resources to helping you do your job better because the better prepared you are, the better off your students will be. And we want you to stick around. We’re tired of seeing so many promising teachers get discouraged and leave. It’s bad for our profession and it’s bad for kids.
This union is committed to making every single school a place where teachers want to work and parents want to send their kids.
We will continue to be pro-active in demanding the things that new teachers need and deserve:
- safety and discipline in every school
- smaller class sizes
- a solid curriculum
- quality mentoring
- adequate supplies and instructional materials
- competitive salaries and benefits
It is always great to welcome new teachers, but this school year, thanks to an early contract that we negotiated last fall, you will see your salaries increase by more than 7 percent. You’ll get a 2 percent pay raise on Oct. 13 of this year and another 5 percent increase on May 19, 2008.
Most people see unions as an insurance policy. It’s the place you go if you are in trouble. With the help of our New Teacher Advisory Committee, we’ve worked hard to recast the UFT to be not just that, but so much more. We want the union to be your union, which means it must meet your needs.
Why? Because no union can survive unless it connects to its newest members. Almost half of all New York City public school teachers today have been teaching for five or fewer years. You are the next generation of the UFT.
With that aim in mind, the New Teacher Advisory Committee has organized a summer series for new teachers this summer to help you start your career with a strong foundation of support and fellowship. It’s a chance to socialize with other first-year teachers, find out about union services and benefits, and learn survival skills like how to cope with the stress and how to maintain an orderly classroom — all before you started teaching full-time in September.
On Aug. 21, to conclude the series, there will be a big reception for new teachers at the Bodies Exhibit at the South Street Seaport. We hope you’ll be there.
This summer issue of the New York Teacher is chock-full of information you need to know about your health benefits, your pay scale, your contract, our UFT borough offices, UFT Teacher Centers, and other UFT services available to you.
Once in your schools, your UFT chapter leader will find you. He or she is a vital link to the union and to your support. And throughout the school year, the union, our Teacher Centers and the borough offices will be holding more programs to support you. Don’t hesitate to call a union rep if you have a question or concern.
I hope I get the chance to personally meet you and thank you for becoming a teacher. The United States will not survive in this new global economy unless we have a first-class education system for every single child. You are the linchpin to that because the key to educating children is what happens in the classroom when a teacher connects with his or her students.
I wish you the best and hope this is the first year of a great journey and a satisfying new career.
Sincerely,
Randi Weingarten
UFT President
