With the New York metropolitan area the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, we want to inform you about the health benefits that in-service UFT members with EmblemHealth coverage, whether GHI or HIP, have.

The UFT heard from many members about their frustrations with the paperwork demands created by the Department of Education’s Special Education Remote Learning Service Plan. After relaying those concerns, we were able to convince the DOE to extend the deadline for creating a plan to April 3 and change the responsibilities for all related service providers and special education teachers regarding the plan requirements.

The bottom line: No forms must be completed by the end of the day Thursday, March 19..

We all understand that speech teachers and occupational and physical therapists still have many unanswered questions regarding video conferencing with their students.

As part of a speech literacy initiative launched by the Department of Education in 2014 in about 150 schools, Marjorie James pushes into the kindergarten Integrated Co-Teaching class at the East Elmhurst Community School three times a week and works closely with its teachers.

Snack carts at District 75 school in the Bronx provide an innovative way for students to learn about commerce, coins and communication.

The first day of school for teachers, paraprofessionals, school counselors, attendance teachers, nurses, therapists, lab specialists and technicians, school secretaries, psychologists and social workers is Tuesday, Sept. 3.

Thirty-two student projects were honored May 30 at the 13th annual Better Speech and Hearing Month Celebration at UFT headquarters in Manhattan, where about 200 students, parents and speech and hearing providers gathered in Shanker Hall for a ceremony and dinner.

PS 9 on Staten Island transformed part of their first-floor hallway into a sensory pathway that can settle kids down and is particularly helpful for students who may need a break and redirection.

Melissa Toribio, a bilingual speech language therapist at PS 531, PS 536 and PS 691 in the Bronx, works to ensure that all her students are able to express themselves and understand others in the classroom and in their daily lives.

After almost a decade of complaints, malfunctions and payments of more than $70 million to thousands of UFT members to compensate them for work outside school hours, the DOE is finally pulling the plug on the $130 million Special Education Student Information System that it launched in 2011.