UFT President Michael Mulgrew stood on Sept. 9 with Bill Thompson, the union’s choice to lead New York City, at a campaign rally on the steps of City Hall to underscore the importance of getting out the vote the next day.

“This is the last opening day of school under Mike Bloomberg,” Mulgrew said to cheers from several hundred supporters, mostly UFT members but also transit workers, firefighters and elected officials.

“We are going to make sure at this pivotal moment that we elect a man with the experience and the know-how and the heart,” Mulgrew said. “We need someone who listens to parents, understands student needs and supports teachers.”

Thompson cautioned against taking the polls at face value, recalling the Bloomberg landslide that was predicted four years ago but never materialized.  “We were this close,” Thompson said, and urged his supporters to knock on every door and make the phone calls that will bring voters out for the Sept. 10 primary.

 “The things we do in the next 24 hours will determine the next mayor of New York and the direction of the city,” Thompson said. 

Mulgrew and Thompson had started their day off together in Bedford Stuyvesant. The pair walked from the Thompson family’s Brooklyn home to nearby PS 262 to greet parents and teachers on opening day. Thompson’s mother, a retired teacher, taught at PS 262 in the 1960s and 1970s.

“Teachers were so well-respected then,” Thompson said. “Everyone in the neighborhood knew she was a teacher.” That has been a running theme in his campaign: Restoring respect for teachers and the work they do.

Parent Saliek Valtin, who waited with his daughter Megan, 7, as she took her place with classmates in the school playground, said Thompson had his vote. “He just seems like he’s for the people,” Valtin said.

Mulgrew also addressed opening day problems, saying he has already heard from many schools that the DOE had not delivered any supplies, textbooks or curriculum aligned with the new Common Core Learning Standards by opening day.

“After all the emphasis on the new learning standards, to have no curriculum, no supporting materials and no books, we’re starting the year in the same shape as last year,” Mulgrew said. “To tell people to get the curriculum online is just irresponsible.”

As teachers gathered students in the PS 262 playground, they expressed their hopes for the year ahead.

Stella Glasgow, a 3rd-grade teacher, arrived early in the morning to get her classroom in order and decorate the walls with blue and white borders. “I’m getting ready for what the state has in store,” she said.  “We have math and reading tests and the Common Core Learning Standards. It’s a challenge.”

Andrea Segers, a 4th-grade teacher, said getting familiar with the new teacher evaluation is what she’s most concerned about. “But I’m optimistic,” she added. “I have a better sense of the Common Core Learning Standards and tests and expectations.  The state results were not great overall, but now we can be better prepared.”