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Spring Education Conference

‘Meeting students’ needs’ is what it’s all about

Mulgrew: Smaller classes are key
New York Teacher
“We’ve got to lower the damn class size,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew told the audience at the union’s Spring Education Conference on May 21

“We’ve got to lower the damn class size,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew told the audience at the union’s Spring Education Conference on May 21.

After two years of city and school leaders fumbling with the learning crises caused by the pandemic, “it is now time to listen to the people who do the work with the children each and every day,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew declared in his keynote address at the union’s Spring Education Conference at the New York Hilton Midtown on May 21.

Mulgrew told the more than 1,000 UFT members in an audience that included Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams that the city Department of Education can address what he called the “massive crisis” of a nationwide teacher shortage by lowering class sizes and reducing educator paperwork.

Mulgrew’s declaration elicits cheers from members, who obviously agree.

Mulgrew’s declaration elicits cheers from members, who obviously agree.

“We’ve got to lower the damn class size,” he said, sparking cheers from the audience. “It is really not that complicated.”

Mulgrew said teachers face more and more demands to fill out forms and increase assessments of students. “What are we not doing? Working with the kids,” he said. “Is our school system about bureaucratic accountability, or is it about meeting students’ needs?”

He called Hochul “a governor who actually gets what we do” and praised her for the huge increase in education aid in the current state budget.

The governor said she instructed fiscal advisers that when it came to school spending, “I want to break records here; I want to show priorities.”

Schools Chancellor David C. Banks told the crowd that after “two of the longest years” in the school system’s history, “the only reason we are still standing is because of you and teachers all across the city.”

Pre-K teacher Shakesha Simmons (left) and paraprofessional Betty Checo, both from Teachers College Community School in Harlem, show their enthusiasm.

Pre-K teacher Shakesha Simmons (left) and paraprofessional Betty Checo, both from Teachers College Community School in Harlem, show their enthusiasm.

Adams said the UFT persuaded him to develop and help fund UFT Teacher Centers and invest more in classroom technology. But he was silent on class size, insisting the greatest need was safe schools for children “so you can give them the quality education they deserve.”

The conference began with a Speak Up! panel of eight educators at the morning town hall. Then, before reconvening in the ballroom for the gala luncheon, participants divided their time between an exhibit hall featuring the work of career and technical education students and two workshops: one on building resilience and tolerance among students and another on strategies for teaching multilingual learners.

Counselor and motivational speaker Steven Pinto, citing the rise in suicides among young people, particularly adolescent girls, told the participants in his workshop, “Depression is through the roof; anxiety is through the roof.”

Pinto said it is vital to teach students to have realistic expectations and learn to work through discomfort.

Deborah Harris, a paraprofessional at the North Bronx School of Empowerment, said Pinto’s humorous style helped his advice register.

Harris said she preached to students the value of education in making their lives easier once they become adults.

Novlet Golding, a special education teacher at PS 57 on Staten Island, said Pinto’s suggestion to sometimes touch students to calm them offered her a new strategy for one pupil. She previously focused on talking to this student or giving him a timeout. But, she said, “I think he would be receptive” to offering physical reassurance.

The Strategies for Collaboratively Teaching Multilingual Learners workshop was led by Andrea Honigsfeld and Maria Dove, two of the co-authors of an acclaimed book on the subject, “From Equity Insights to Action.”

Honigsfeld told a large audience that addressing the emotional well-being of students was more important than perfectly polished lessons. She advised them to focus on building a strong sense of classroom and community in classrooms with many multilingual learners.

Shan White and Courtney Crenshaw, who co-teach 2nd-graders at New Bridges Elementary School in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, said they were impressed not only by the advice but the fact, White said, that Honigsfeld and Dove had been “New York City teachers just like us.”

2022 Spring Education Conference

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A group poses together for a group shot in front of a sign that says "We Are One"

UFT President Michael Mulgrew and City Council Education Committee Chair Rita Joseph (at left) with the educators from the Speak Up! panel that called for educators to have greater input in school policy making.

Erica Berger
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Two women embrace in a big hug

Renee Freeman from the DOE’s Instructional Support Services is embraced by a colleague after posing a question to the Speak Up panelists.

Erica Berger
Image
A  teacher poses for a photo with her nephew and colleague

Teacher Maryse Crevecoeur-Santilus (at left) from PS 617 in Brooklyn and her nephew join with her colleague Marie Leonard in making the case for smaller class size.

Erica Berger
Image
A man speaks in front of a desk and projector screen

Motivational speaker and counselor Steven Pinto offers pointers on resilience and tolerance when dealing with students “in the midst of a mental health crisis.”

Erica Berger
Image
A student is helped with a virtual reality headset

A student gets a taste of virtual reality courtesy of a vice president of the not-for-profit Tech in Schools Initiative at the exhibit fair.

Erica Berger
Image
Two students show off a 3-d printer and model that it produced

At a career and technical education booth in the exhibit hall, Brooklyn Steam Center Navy Yard students show off a 3D printer and a model it made.

Erica Berger
Image
Students in lab coats with their teacher

Students of the Dental Department at Tottenville HS in Staten Island, alongside their teacher Joseph Caputo (at right), are dressed to drill at the exhibition hall.

Erica Berger
Image
Two women wearing masks stare forward with intent

Courtney Crenshaw and Shan White, both 2nd grade teachers at New Bridges Elementary in Crown Heights, listen intently during a workshop on strategies for teaching multilingual learners.

Erica Berger
Image
A man in a red shirt speaks to a large crowd

UFT Staff Director Anthony Harmon, the day’s MC, speaks to those gathered in the Grand Ballroom at the New York Hilton for the gala luncheon.

Erica Berger
Image
Two women raise their hands in support
Pre-K teacher Shakesha Simmons and paraprofessional Betty Checo, both from Teachers College Community School in Harlem, show their enthusiasm for the luncheon speakers.
Erica Berger
Image
A group of three pose for a selfie

Myra Cruz, District 6 Manhattan representative, and Miriam Familia, a librarian at PS 192 in Manhattan, take a selfie with Schools Chancellor David C. Banks.

Erica Berger
Image
A woman speaks at the podium
Gov. Kathy Hochul praised educators’ “extraordinary sacrifice” and touted the record spending on education in her first budget.
Erica Berger
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Image
A group poses together for a group shot in front of a sign that says "We Are One"

UFT President Michael Mulgrew and City Council Education Committee Chair Rita Joseph (at left) with the educators from the Speak Up! panel that called for educators to have greater input in school policy making.

Erica Berger
Image
Two women embrace in a big hug

Renee Freeman from the DOE’s Instructional Support Services is embraced by a colleague after posing a question to the Speak Up panelists.

Erica Berger
Image
A  teacher poses for a photo with her nephew and colleague

Teacher Maryse Crevecoeur-Santilus (at left) from PS 617 in Brooklyn and her nephew join with her colleague Marie Leonard in making the case for smaller class size.

Erica Berger
Image
A man speaks in front of a desk and projector screen

Motivational speaker and counselor Steven Pinto offers pointers on resilience and tolerance when dealing with students “in the midst of a mental health crisis.”

Erica Berger
Image
A student is helped with a virtual reality headset

A student gets a taste of virtual reality courtesy of a vice president of the not-for-profit Tech in Schools Initiative at the exhibit fair.

Erica Berger
Image
Two students show off a 3-d printer and model that it produced

At a career and technical education booth in the exhibit hall, Brooklyn Steam Center Navy Yard students show off a 3D printer and a model it made.

Erica Berger
Image
Students in lab coats with their teacher

Students of the Dental Department at Tottenville HS in Staten Island, alongside their teacher Joseph Caputo (at right), are dressed to drill at the exhibition hall.

Erica Berger
Image
Two women wearing masks stare forward with intent

Courtney Crenshaw and Shan White, both 2nd grade teachers at New Bridges Elementary in Crown Heights, listen intently during a workshop on strategies for teaching multilingual learners.

Erica Berger
Image
A man in a red shirt speaks to a large crowd

UFT Staff Director Anthony Harmon, the day’s MC, speaks to those gathered in the Grand Ballroom at the New York Hilton for the gala luncheon.

Erica Berger
Image
Two women raise their hands in support
Pre-K teacher Shakesha Simmons and paraprofessional Betty Checo, both from Teachers College Community School in Harlem, show their enthusiasm for the luncheon speakers.
Erica Berger
Image
A group of three pose for a selfie

Myra Cruz, District 6 Manhattan representative, and Miriam Familia, a librarian at PS 192 in Manhattan, take a selfie with Schools Chancellor David C. Banks.

Erica Berger
Image
A woman speaks at the podium
Gov. Kathy Hochul praised educators’ “extraordinary sacrifice” and touted the record spending on education in her first budget.
Erica Berger

Spring Education Conference Town Hall

The UFT’s Spring Education Conference began with a panel discussion called “Speak Up” at which a half-dozen teachers spoke about what New York City public educators and students need to thrive.

CTE excellence on display

The booths featuring the skills of the city’s career and technical education (CTE) high schools and programs were the highlight of the Spring Education Conference’s exhibit hall.