New York TeacherSeptember 9, 2021
Volume LXIII, Number 1
As schools reopen with in-person learning, the UFT Teacher Center and the Positive Learning Collaborative are part of the plan to help students rebound. Techniques such as immersive lessons and sensory tools will keep students engaged as we navigate the hard days ahead.
Cover Stories
Rolling up our sleeves once again
We are heading into another really tough school year. And once again, the mayor waited until the last minute to make major policy decisions regarding public schools.
2021–22 school reopening
As school buildings fully reopen in September, there are many questions about the health and safety protocols to keep school communities safe. The following Q&A answers some of UFT members’ most commonly asked questions.
Latest News
Bridging the post-pandemic learning gap
Helping students rebound from the pandemic, both academically and emotionally, is a union priority as all students return in September for in-person learning.
Teacher’s Choice is back
UFT-represented educators once again are eligible for reimbursement for some of their out-of-pocket classroom expenses through Teacher’s Choice.
Feature Stories
Net-zero energy
The future is as bright as the sun at Staten Island’s PS 62, the Kathleen Grimm School for Leadership and Sustainability, which uses solar energy and a host of other eco-friendly initiatives to create as much electricity as it uses.
With nearly 2,000 solar panels covering the school’s roof, south wall and parking building, as well as plain old power conservation, this net-zero energy school is showing its students how to prevent climate change every day.
This school with 450 students in pre-K through 5th grade has become a model for the Carbon Free and Healthy Schools Initiative, a coalition of New York City unions, including the UFT, that is working to make sure some of the federal funds in the Biden administration’s infrastructure package are used to make New York City schools clean and green.
“We’re instilling in students how to become good stewards of the environment,” sa…
The magic of art
School social worker Maureen Eigenfeld has made art the cornerstone of her therapeutic work with students at the Bronx Writing Academy, a United Community School in Concourse Village.
Holding history in their hands
This Brooklyn teacher uses immersive, engaging lessons and storytelling techniques to bring the past to life for his middle school students.
More in Feature Stories
Member Spotlight
Theresa Aponte, Family child care provider
Theresa Aponte is a family child care provider in East NewYork, Brooklyn, and a “second mother” to children who attend her in-home day care center while their parents work.
Kudos to Thomas Rosa, PS 751, Manhattan
It’s essential for parents of children with disabilities to understand the process of obtaining an Individualized Education Program that meets their child’s needs. That’s why Thomas Rosa, the chapter leader at PS 751, the Manhattan School for Career Development, a District 75 school in the East Village, came up with the idea of a virtual resource fair.
Around the UFT
Supplies party on Staten Island
About 300 local families braved 90-degree weather to attend a back-to-school supplies giveaway organized by the UFT and community partners on Aug. 12 at PS 19 on Staten Island.
Bronx book event a hit
The UFT Bronx borough office organized a back-to-school celebration on Aug. 26, partnering with the New York Pubic Library and several other community organizations to bring supplies and activities to more than 150 local parents and children.
Your Rights and Benefits
Know Your Benefits
Transit programs
If you travel to work by public transportation, you can save money by participating in the City of New York Commuter Benefits Program, which covers New York City and the tri-state area.
Know Your Benefits
Program to help defray your medical, drug and child care costs
As medical, drug and child care costs continue to spiral upward, please note that the City’s Health Care Flexible Spending Account (HCFSA) Program and the Dependent Care Assistance Program (DeCAP) can help defray some of those increased costs.
Know Your Rights
ICT classes
The theory behind integrated co-teaching classrooms, in which one special education teacher and one general education teacher work as partners, is simple: Children with disabilities are supported with specially designed instruction and services that meet their needs in a classroom alongside their typically developing peers.
Your Well-being
Handling your return
The best way to manage stress is to identify the causes of your stress and determine what is within your control and what is not.
You Should Know
For Your Information
Parent-teacher conferences will be remote
Although public schools have resumed full in-person learning, parent-teacher conferences will be remote during the 2021–22 school year.
Secure Your Future
Good time to review your retiree benefits
The start of the school year is an excellent time to think about yourself and the best way to secure your future.
Today's history lesson
Never forget
The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center 20 years ago left an indelible mark on the educators and students who were in New York City on Sept. 11 — especially those in lower Manhattan.
Opinions
VPerspective
Nurse staffing shortages remain a concern
As hospitalizations rise, we again find ourselves in a battle for adequate staffing. Staffing ratios are the foundation for safe patient care.
Editorials
Remembrance and resilience
It’s encouraging to remember how UFT members met the challenge of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks 20 years ago, as we continue to navigate the twists and turns of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Editorials
Mask up
Universal mask wearing is an essential part of keeping our school communities safe. New York City, thankfully, is doing its part.
Editorial Cartoons
The new COVID math
The victims of these mask wars will be the students who may be especially vulnerable to the highly transmissible Delta variant if not vaccinated.
Teaching Resources
Learning Curve
What makes successful co-teaching?
Thousands of New York City public school teachers work together in Integrated Co-Teaching classrooms, in which one special education teacher and one general education teacher work alongside each other. But what are the ingredients of a successful classroom partnership?
Building Your Career
Inside My Classroom
Inside my classroom
Bronx teacher Jamala Roper asked her 5th-graders to reveal their emotions “to” their masks. "Every emotion you can think of was shared behind their masks," she says.
New Teacher Articles
Moving forward after a difficult year
The worst thing we can do as teachers is to ignore what has happened the past year. How can you start the school year in a way that acknowledges the trauma of the pandemic and sets students up for success as we move forward?
New Teacher Profiles
‘Bring it on!’
Former paraprofessional Sherwin Persaud made the transition to teacher last school year, finding his niche working with autistic children and those with behavioral issues in the early grades at P233 in Forest Hills, Queens.
Retired Teachers News
The path ahead
“What’s past is prologue” is a timeworn quote from Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest.” That phrase also appropriately is engraved on the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. The Bard, as usual, touches on something universal. We act in the context of our own stored experiences. For those of us who have spent our professional lives under the academic calendar, even in retirement we look at school openings as a pivot point. Where have we been and, after our summer respite, where are we headed?
From September 2020 through September 2021, the RTC faced pandemic lockdowns, a presidential campaign, an internal RTC election, a major claims backlog in our Supplementary Health Insurance Plan (SHIP), New York City primary elections and a new health coverage plan adopted by the Municipal Labor Committee (MLC).
This past year, we learned how to gather together despite the restrictions of the pandemic and, in fact, transformed our in-person meetings into extremely well-atten…
NYC Medicare Advantage Plus Plan
The Municipal Labor Committee on July 14 voted to approve the NYC Medicare Advantage Plus Plan for Medicare-eligible New York City retirees. The following Q&A answers some of the most common questions that retired UFT members have.
The many benefits of RTC membership
You may not be an in-service employee anymore, but you haven’t left the UFT. Now it’s time to become a member of the union’s Retired Teachers Chapter (RTC) and participate in what’s considered the nation’s best retiree program for public school teachers and health care providers.