Hannah Brown
New York Teacher Reporter
UFT college and career fairs
Educators from schools across the city exposed their students to a variety of career and college pathways at three fairs hosted this fall by the UFT's Academic High School Division. The Future in Focus event highlighted careers in which the workers typically belong to unions.
UFT Middle School Division’s Anti-Bullying Conference
About 500 middle schoolers from 31 schools throughout the city learned ways to combat bullying during the UFT's annual anti-bullying conference led by BRAVE, the union's anti-bullying initiative.
Music to audiologists’ ears
Thanks to a three-year effort by audiologists and their union, public school students now have access to hearing loss assessment in Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx and at two locations in Brooklyn.
Aubrey Lees, hearing officer
As a hearing officer for the city's Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, Aubrey Lee adjudicates cases involving summonses issued by the city’s regulatory agencies. "I can’t imagine what this job would be like without a union," she says.
Union fights outsourcing of therapy work in schools
The UFT is pushing back against the DOE's use of part-time therapists from private agencies rather than operationalizing the ninth session negotiated in the 2023 DOE-UFT contract to enable full-time therapists to do this work.
Educators take a breath
Two-hundred educators and their families gathered in Queens for a day of wellness and fun. They heard from MindUp CEO and founder Goldie Hawn and took part in activities and workshops to nurture their mental and physical health.
Organizing for the win
More than a hundred 3- and 4-year-olds with disabilities at the Mosaic Pre-K Centers in Queens will now receive the related services they need to thrive, the culmination of a two-year organizing effort by the union and the broader school community.
Get mental health support services 24/7
UFT members and their families now have access to mental health support by phone, text or online chat, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The new mental health helpline, an initiative of the union’s Member Assistance Program (MAP), is staffed by licensed counselors who have been trained to understand the needs of UFT members and the mental health resources available to them.
A pink tide
A pink wave crested over New York City school buildings on Oct. 16 as UFT members wore pink to work to raise awareness about breast cancer. The annual tradition is a way to celebrate survivors, pay tribute to lost loved ones and colleagues, and emphasize the importance of early detection and treatment.
A real class act
Nine educators at MS 137 in Ozone Park, Queens, graduated from the same school where they were middle schoolers. The teachers and paraprofessionals credit their own teachers' mentorship and cultural connectedness as the inspiration for their deciding to become educators and return to their educational roots.