Feature Stories

Three New York City public school educators jumped into action when they saw their students in distress, and their help made the difference in each life-threatening situation.

Every Friday after school at PS 340 in the Kingsbridge Heights section of the Bronx, 20 students march into the school cafeteria and prepare to attack each other with swords. They are participants in the school’s first-ever fencing club, launched in February 2022 by school psychologist Amy Turchiaro.

Collaboration among three arts teachers and their classes at PS 295 in Brooklyn led to a 90-second commercial. They came up with the idea and designed a product in art class, composed a jingle in music class and wrote a script and acted out the commercial in drama class. 

PS 52 in Queens, a school with a large population of students in temporary housing, has furbished a room called the community closet fully stocked with children's clothes of all sizes. “We don’t beat the drum about it, but it quietly fills a need and allows for dignity,” said one teacher.

When Cara Jacofsky began her teaching career 23 years ago, she was determined to become the best teacher she could be for her students, so she connected with the UFT Teacher Center. “The first few years of my teaching career, they would plan lessons with me and give me materials,” Jacofsky said. “It helped build the foundation of my teaching.”

Ten students from P396 K, a District 75 school in Brownsville, Brooklyn, read books they wrote during a Zoom presentation on Feb. 11, as part of an evening with the Sid Miller Academy Authors, a program begun during the pandemic to foster literacy and creativity at the school.