Some 20 City Council members join UFT's President Randi Weingarten and other school supporters at a May 28 press conference on the City Hall steps. The Council members then went inside and stood up in agreement with Education Committee Chair Robert Jackson’s request not to approve any budget containing cuts to classrooms.

Jane Addams Vocational HS members (from left) Kenneth Daniels, Etta Silverstein and Chapter Leader Elizabeth Shanklin prepare the grounds before a chapter meeting with UFT President Randi Weingarten and Career and Technical High Schools Vice President Michael Mulgrew.

Staff at Murry Bergtram HS turns out to say “Keep the Promises” on Red and Black Day on May 23 at Manhattan high schools. Every Wednesday in Queens, meanwhile, was “Wear Red Day.”

Mary Lynn (left) and Seydina Sambe of Newcomers HS get the word out to commuters in Queens.

The UFT contingent prepares to remind city officials to Keep the Promises and to march in the Queens Pride Parade.

At the Washington Heights rally, Chapter Leader Joseph Kinney (left) and Jonathan Rothenberg of City College Academy of the Arts send Mayor Bloomberg an unmistakable message.

Getting merchants and their customers involved is part of the budget campaign. Bronx UFTer Steve Goldberg gets a warm reception from restaurateur Abbe Katechis, whose Shore Haven Diner is a popular spot for UFTers. “I support the UFT,” Katechis says. She allowed Goldberg to place a Keep the Promises poster in the diner’s window.

At Brooklyn’s PS 244, May 23 was a day to combine a celebration of Multicultural Week with wearing red to remind City Hall to “Stop the Bleeding” in the education budget. Checking out an exhibit are (from left) teachers Nikki Newman, Margaret Meyers and Melanie Balzano, parents Adette Samuel, Nerissa Gormandy, Akilah Spencer and Muba Yarofulani, and UFT District 18 Representative Richard Mantell.

City Councilmen (holding shopping bags, from left) Simcha Felder, Vincent Gentile and Domenic Recchia with bags full of postcards asking them to Keep the Promises at the June 4 Brooklyn town hall meeting. Delivering the cards are (from left) UFT District 21 Representative Judy Gerowitz, President Randi Weingarten Brooklyn Borough Representative Howard Schoor and District 20 Representative Ellen Driesen.