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UFT ‘army’ will speak the truth to communities
Nov 26, 2009 3:06 PM
UFT President Michael Mulgrew stresses the need to mobilize members, parents and community allies “to step up advocacy efforts on behalf of the children that we serve.”
UFT President Michael Mulgrew announced at the Nov. 18 Delegate Assembly that captains — a political and a community point person in every district — have all been named in every district and now the “volunteer army” to serve under them must be recruited.
More than ever, he said, the UFT needs to mobilize members, parents and community allies en masse “to be able to get the truth out so the community hears from us first and not from the Post or Daily News.”
Mulgrew asked chapter leaders to identify the key activists in their school community, including not only UFT members but also school leadership team members and community members and enter each person’s contact information in the Action Team Database in the chapter leaders-only section on the UFT Web site. That way the union can get out the word or mobilize activists quickly by district and borough depending on the need.
“Our goal,” Mulgrew said, “is to strengthen school communities and the union and to step up our advocacy efforts on behalf of the children that we serve.”
Mulgrew spoke of the powerful impact on city and state politics once the UFT recruits 15 volunteers in each of the city’s 1,500 schools. The first battle, he said, will be to protect classrooms from midyear state and city budget cuts.
The new political and community outreach captains will meet on Nov. 30 to plan strategy.
Also in his president’s report, Mulgrew challenged Chancellor Joel Klein’s comments at a press conference on high school report cards. Klein had focused on the relatively higher Progress Report grades for the small high schools opened “on our watch,” meaning since he became chancellor in 2002. Mulgrew told the delegates, “They’re all his schools. He’s responsible for every one of them and he’s had seven years to fix them all.”
Mulgrew also appealed to the delegates to report all violations of special education rules and regulations. Since September, he said, more than 800 complaints have been filed using the UFT’s online special education complaint form.
Vice President for Special Education Carmen Alvarez handed out complaint forms to every delegate and asked them all to report issues in their schools. She reminded them that compliance with the law ensures services for special-needs students and protects staff from budget cuts.
Mulgrew drew a laugh when he described being ordered off the sidewalk and threatened with arrest by a bank security guard during a press interview in front of the Bank of New York Mellon, the bank that caused the $189 million pension check debacle on Nov. 6, when 53,000 retirees saw their checks disappear from their accounts.
“They stole our money and now they’re going to arrest me for standing on their sidewalk,” he quipped.
