Standing up to “Protect Our Kids” at Gotham Collaborative HS in the Bronx are (left to right) teachers Timothy Torres and John Young, Chapter Leader Wanda Linares, UFT Director of Parent and Community Outreach Nick Cruz and teacher Nick Kabouris.
Rallying in Foley Square are Chapter Leader Ryan Bruckenthal of Manhattan’s Beacon HS and teacher Jeremy Gong of Brooklyn’s Franklin D. Roosevelt HS.
Wearing red in opposition to cuts in education funding are teacher Vanessa Kilpatrick and paraprofessional Annette Mora of PS 1 in Brooklyn.
This March, UFT members expressed their growing concern with the Trump administration’s policies on the first national Day of Action organized by the American Federation of Teachers, the UFT’s national affiliate, and at a rally at Foley Square.
Thousands of UFT members across the city wore red to school on March 4 as part of the AFT’s “Protect Our Kids” Day of Action. Educators, students, parents and community allies participated in more than 2,000 actions throughout the country that day to defend public schools and the vital services they provide to students and families.
Wanda Linares, the chapter leader at Gotham Collaborative HS in the Bronx, said more than 30 of her colleagues wore red and wrote to their federal and state legislators to ask them to oppose any funding cuts to education.
“Everywhere you looked, everyone was wearing red,” she said. “Members were excited to participate to protect students, schools and public education.”
Her members shared photos on social media and wrote letters to family and friends. “No action is too small,” Linares said. “There’s a sense of urgency now.”
On Saturday, March 15, several hundred UFT members joined thousands of New Yorkers who rallied and marched through lower Manhattan to protest massive cuts to a wide range of safety-net programs and the layoffs of tens of thousands of federal workers by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency.
Protesters included union members, community groups and New Yorkers outraged by the impending cuts to education, Medicaid, food assistance and other critical programs to finance $4.1 trillion in tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.
“Public school educators and our unions have a responsibility to stand up and fight these horrific attacks from Trump, Musk and the other billionaires who have successfully taken over our federal government,” said Ryan Bruckenthal, a teacher and chapter leader at Beacon HS in Manhattan. “Spirits were high, and people are ready to fight back.”
Among the protesters were UFT retirees as part of the Retired Teachers Chapter’s new Labor Solidarity Project.