Cara Matthews

A group of 2nd-graders at Manhattan's PS 163 take a trip through musical history at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, learning history, culture and how to scat sing like musical icons Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington.

New city legislation requires that city-owned property, including public schools, generate at least 100 megawatts of electricity from solar panels by 2030 and 150 megawatts by 2035. The bill is a boon for the environment, public health, affordable energy and union jobs, the UFT and other advocates for the law say.


Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed legislation to set a maximum classroom temperature of 88 degrees in public schools following a campaign led by the UFT and its state affiliate NYSUT. The new law takes effect in September 2025.


Educators at Boerum Hill School for International Studies in Brooklyn have banded together with students, parents and PTA leaders to demand the city reallocate classroom space being underutilized by a Success Academy charter school.

After a huge citywide push driven by school chapter leaders, more than 750 New York City public schools applied for funding to lower class sizes next school year.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew joined City Council Education Committee Chair Rita Joseph and other Council members outside City Hall on Jan. 30 to announce proposed legislation that would provide a recurring annual payment of $10,000 to full-time paraprofessionals.

The UFT honored the organizing efforts and successes of members thoughout the city as some 1,500 members, friends and families gathered at the New York Hilton Midtown on Nov. 3 to commemorate Teacher Union Day.

Retired bilingual school social worker Eliot Winokur is making a splash in retirement as a competitive swimmer. He holds top 10 rankings on the U.S. Masters Swimming website for the United States and the world and says swimming is both fun and empowering.

Each year, thousands of retirees take advantage of Si Beagle Learning Center in-person and online courses, seminars, trips, and dining and theater experiences. The program is named for the late Si Beagle, who pushed the union to offer continuing education for retirees when he retired in 1968.


Roughly 350 new retirees gathered for the New Retiree Luncheon at the New York Hilton Midtown on Dec. 5 to toast their life after retirement.