The teacher leader team at IS 145 in Jackson Heights, Queens, has stepped up to help keep pace with the changing needs of the students and the teachers at the school, which is located in one of the city’s most ethnically diverse neighborhoods.

Natalie Kavral is a 2011 graduate of the plumbing program at Queens Technical High School. Now, more than a decade later, Kavral, one of only two female plumbing teachers in New York City public schools, teaches plumbing and runs the plumbing program at her alma mater. 

These five UFT members — along with their fellow educators throughout New York City — grappled with fresh challenges as the omicron variant surged.

Teachers' virtual travelogue allows students at the High School of Economics and Finance to travel and learn all around New York State during the pandemic without ever leaving the comfort of their lower Manhattan campus.

Each year since 1984, several of the city’s Career and Technical Education graduates have been nominated for the Success Via Apprenticeship program, which combines college courses with apprenticeships in classrooms and in each student’s chosen industry to prepare them, over five years, to teach in CTE programs. “SVAs are the foundation of career and technical education in New York City,” said UFT Vice President for CTE Leo Gordon.

Students in the premedical academy at John Dewey HS in Brooklyn came up with the idea to start a club to help students of color, who are traditionally underrepresented in the field, pursue their interests in medicine and, with the help of teacher Sarah Howell, it got off the ground during remote learning.