The March and April Delegate Assembly meetings took place in unusual formats because of the coronavirus pandemic. The March 11 meeting, before the city shut down schools and businesses, consisted of fewer than 300 chapter leaders and delegates present in Shanker Hall at UFT headquarters in Manhattan while the union live streamed the meeting to 1,300 chapter representatives. 

The April Delegate Assembly took the form of a telephone conference call, with 1,700 chapter leaders and delegates on the line. UFT President Michael Mulgrew gave a full report and took questions on an array of topics. “What we know now without a doubt is that New York City has the most experts in the country on remote learning,” Mulgrew told the delegates. “We are driven to excel at this because we care.” 

The president urged the delegates to continue to hold monthly consultations with their principals and send their summaries of those meetings to the union. The following day, Mulgrew hosted a telephone town hall attended by more than 5,000 DOE-employed UFT members.