Re-Start Program

An address by Harlem chemistry teacher Billy Green, the 2023 New York State Teacher of the Year, is one of the highlights of Teacher Union Day, an annual event that honors members’ bravery, activism and solidarity, on Nov. 6 at the New York Hilton Midtown.

Shelvy Young-Abrams, who began working as a paraprofessional in 1968 and was instrumental in organizing the paraprofessionals chapter, is presented with the Charles Cogen Award ꟷ the union’s highest honor ꟷ by UFT Secretary LeRoy Barr (left), President Michael Mulgrew (second from right) and emcee Anthony Harmon.

Six UFT members receive Marsh/Raimo Awards recognizing their political activism, including the late Joyce Magnus of the Retired Teachers Chapter. Ken Halpern (left) accepted the award for Magnus.

Two dozen high school chapter leaders receive Ely Trachtenberg Awards for their exemplary service. The award, named for a teacher whose organizing skills helped build the union, also went to 48 elementary school and nine intermediate/middle school chapter leaders.

Elementary school chapter leaders who won Ely Trachtenberg Awards gather onstage with union leadership on Nov. 6.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew (left), Vice President for Special Education MaryJo Ginese (second from left) and Secretary LeRoy Barr (right) join the middle school winners of the Ely Trachtenberg Award on Teacher Union Day.

UFT members from PS 129 in Harlem support their Ely Trachtenberg Award winner, Veronica Lawyer-James (seated, center), during the reception and luncheon that followed the ceremony.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew (left) stands with nine of the 10 members who took home Albert Lee Smallheiser Awards for their efforts to improve working conditions for their colleagues.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew signs oversized membership cards that were posthumously presented to the parents of Ethan Holder, a 19-year-old who was fatally shot in October 2022 outside P 771 at PS 203 in Flatlands, Brooklyn, where he had been working as a paraprofessional.

The family of Ethan Holder is out in force to remember the late paraprofessional, taking a group photo with the oversized UFT membership cards presented to his parents, Roy Holder (seated, second from left) and Beverly John-Holder (seated, third from left), to honor their son, who was fatally shot in October 2022 outside his school.

Attendees illuminate the flashlights on their phones to honor Ethan Holder (on screen) during the presentation of an AFT Special Recognition Award for the late paraprofessional.

Retiree Joyce Baldino (left), a former chapter leader at IS 383 in Brooklyn, celebrates her award for 20 years of service in that position with Chapter Leader Debra Elhadri of PS 75 in Bushwick, who received an Ely Trachtenberg Award.

Geof Sorkin, executive director of the UFT Welfare Fund, dedicates the Jules Kolodny Award he received at Teacher Union Day to his recently deceased father, Glen Sorkin, a retired New York City public school teacher and chapter leader.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew congratulates Sonia Burke, the chapter leader at A. Philip Randolph Campus HS in Harlem, who was the recipient of an Ely Trachtenberg Award.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew (left) and Assistant Secretary Michael Sill (right) present the Backer/Scheintaub Award, which encourages potential new union leaders, to Chapter Leader Terrain Reeves of Edward R. Murrow High School in Midwood, Brooklyn.

Staff Director Anthony Harmon sports one of the four outfits he wore as emcee of Teacher Union Day.

The Sidney Harris Award goes to Lorraine O’Shea-Willsea.

Patricia Mezzacappa accepts the David Wittes Award.

AFT President Randi Weingarten speaks about the importance of electing to public office leaders who will not work to undo the hard-fought laws and policies of unionists.

UFT members dress in their Sunday best for the Nov. 6 event.