Keepers of the dream

“We’re the protectors of our students’ hopes and dreams,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew told the more than 1,100 members at the union’s Spring Education Conference at the New York Hilton Midtown on May 16. “We’re fighting for our children’s future.”

In a spirited address, Mulgrew described the ongoing threat to public education. “Every year is a new fight,” he said, citing the union’s work to pass the 2023 class size law and the 2025 cellphone ban, as well as its long campaigns to fix Tier 6 and to pass the paraprofessional RESPECT check bill. “How do we continue to do this? It’s the constant resilience we bring to our schools every day.”

Referencing the broader political and economic environment, Mulgrew acknowledged “we’re in a scary time right now,” but he reminded members that the union has triumphed in tough political climates over the last 66 years of its existence — again, due largely to members’ tenacity and resolve.

Local and state politics also figured prominently at this year’s conference.

In the morning, the union hosted a town hall on the rollout of the city’s new class size law. In the afternoon, guests including City Council Speaker Julie Menin, New York City Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels, New York State Attorney General Letitia James, New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and New York City Comptroller Mark Levine affirmed their commitment to UFT campaigns and collective action. Speaker Menin emphatically pledged her support for the paraprofessional RESPECT legislation: “I want to be clear,” she said. “We are passing that bill.”

A former City Council speaker was given the John Dewey Award, the union’s most prestigious honor for a nonunion member. Christine Quinn, who served as the first woman and first LGBTQ+ speaker of the Council, was honored for her current work as president and CEO of Win, an organization that serves unhoused families, a population that makes up some 15% of students enrolled in city schools. In accepting the honor, Quinn recognized the education sector’s key role, saying of the philosopher and intellectual for whom the award is named: “John Dewey knew that education was key to protecting our democracy.”

Erica Berger

Standing with Win CEO Christine Quinn (fourth from left) as she accepts the John Dewey Award, the union’s most prestigious honor for a nonunion member, are (from left) UFT Vice President Janella Hinds, UFT Treasurer Victoria Lee, UFT President Michael Mulgrew and Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels.

The conference offered members the opportunity to choose from an array of professional development workshops designed by the UFT Teacher Center and the AFT National AI Academy to help educators navigate the new world of artificial intelligence. There also was a “tech essentials” session geared toward retirees and a “Journey Through Hidden Voices” workshop that provided an overview of curricula designed to celebrate NYC’s diverse cultures and history.

Attendees also could tour the conference’s annual exhibit hall, where on one side, they could peruse dozens of booths offering information about member benefits, UFT committees, and programs and products useful to educators. On the other side, fellow educators showcased projects from the city’s career and technical education students.

UFT members participated in the workshops offered by the UFT Teacher Center that covered a range of AI topics, including the use of Microsoft’s Copilot, streamlining lesson-planning with ChatGPT and integrating AI ethically and conscientiously into the classroom.

James Regan, an English as a new language teacher at PS/MS 95 in the Van Cortlandt Village section of the Bronx, was thrilled with the strategies he learned in the “Empowering ELLs Through Scaffolding in the AI Age” workshop. “All the tools and the structures for scaffolding the text will be a really helpful support” for his English language learner students, he said.