New York TeacherApril 7, 2016
Volume LVII, Number 8
Cover Stories
‘Hamilton’ star says Brooklyn teacher ‘saved my life’
[[nid:94780; float: right;]]As one of the stars of “Hamilton,” the Broadway phenomenon about the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton, Anthony Ramos has performed for celebrities from Beyoncé to Barack Obama. But he reserves his highest acclaim for someone else: the high school theater teacher who guided him toward a career he had never even dreamed of having.
“She showed me the path,” Ramos says of Sara Steinweiss, who spearheaded the theater program at New Utrecht HS for 13 years. “She’s the angel in my life who believed in me.”
Steinweiss founded New Utrecht’s theater program as a high school senior there in 1994. Six years later, she returned to her alma mater as an English teacher with an unshakable belief in the importance of the arts.
“I grew up with stories about my father, a music teacher at JHS 258 in Bed-Stuy who passed away when I was 5, and who he was as an educator,” she says. “I became a teacher to follow in his footsteps and do what he d…
Reaching out for ‘extra support’ for schools
More than 1,000 UFT members descended upon Albany on March 9 to advocate for more state funding for the city’s public schools.
The power of partnership
Wesly Toussaint is Michael Liegey’s mentor and a fellow history teacher at Metropolitan Diploma Plus HS, a transfer high school in Brownsville. It's a partnership that is enriching to both.
Latest News
Teacher’s Choice tops UFT needs from Council
UFT President Michael Mulgrew on March 16 urged Council members to put additional money in next year’s city budget to support the programs that help teachers help students: Community Learning Schools, the Positive Learning Collaborative and Teacher’s Choice.
Two join UFT Wall of Honor
Two names were added to the Wall of Honor in the lobby of UFT headquarters on March 14 when former officers Harriet Merchant and Aminda Gentile were recognized for their significant contributions to the union.
Special election for 2 Assembly seats on April 19
UFT members are asked to support Jaime Williams and Yuh-Line Niou for the state Assembly in the special election on Tuesday, April 19, the same day as the state’s presidential primary. Niou will be running in lower Manhattan’s 65th Assembly District for the position formerly held by Sheldon Silver.
Teach for America eliminates diversity office
Teach for America, the controversial nonprofit that places recent college graduates in low-income school districts across the country, will eliminate its diversity office this fall as part of a larger reorganization that includes layoffs.
Boston students walk out to protest budget cuts
More than 1,000 Boston public school students staged a walkout on March 7 to protest the city’s plan to cut up to $12 million from the Boston Public Schools budget.
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Feature Stories
Help and hope rise from the ashes for beloved custodian
Even after a Jan. 12 blaze gutted his Bronx apartment, his family members escaping with only the clothes on their backs and landing in a Harlem homeless shelter, custodian Ralph Nelson reported to work at his Flushing middle school, just as he had for 39 years.
Like the three-alarm fire that began in a restaurant on the first floor of the apartment building, word spread quickly throughout the IS 237 community. School community members mobilized efficiently and extravagantly, as though they had waited for a concrete reason to shower Ralph Nelson with affection.
Roseanne Kiviat, the chapter leader at IS 237, and her counterpart Gloria Nicodemi at East-West HS, whose schools share a building in Flushing, began collecting clothes, pots and pans, coats, anything and everything the family with an 11-year-old boy needed simply …
In any language, a sense of belonging
The Flying Dragons, a team of English language learners from Lower East Side Prep coached by Henry Ruan, are slaying the opposition in computer robotics competitions.
A strong contract... a reason to be Union Loud and Proud
You have a contract that defines and defends your rights. Workers without a union have no such protections.
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Around the UFT
Read Across America day at Bronx Little School
Lots of serious teaching and testing can, on occasion, silence the silly and stifle small spirits at Bronx Little School.
Father-Daughter Dance at PS 169, the Bronx
It was a magical evening of red carpets, music, dining and dancing for the young ladies of PS 169 and their escorts.
Aquarium visit and dental screenings for PS 209 and PS 225, Brooklyn
Little Red Riding Hood’s exclamation “Grandma, what big teeth you have” was more than matched by the gasps of students from PS 209 and PS 225 in Brooklyn when they set eyes on the enormous Megladon tooth at the New York City Aquarium at Coney Island during their visit on Feb. 24.
Chinese New Year celebration 2016
For 30 years, UFT members have gathered to celebrate the Chinese New Year and this year was no exception as 320 participants watched the fiery dragon dancers, fed the lion envelopes of money to ensure happiness and prosperity and feasted on long-life noodles and shrimp dumplings at the Joy Luck Palace in Chinatown on March 11.
A Season of Nonviolence event featuring one of the ‘Little Rock nine’
A crowded and hushed Shanker Hall listened as Minnijean Brown-Trickey told hundreds of middle and high school students what it was like that morning 57 years ago when, as an African-American student their age, she walked through crowds of hissing, cursing white adults and up the steps of Little Rock HS to start school.
You Should Know
You Should Know
Free e-books for low-income children
Teachers and other staff working in Title I schools can register children for the Open eBooks app, which offers thousands of best-selling books to low-income children to read for free.
Secure Your Future
The over-80 crowd
Remember the old joke, "If I knew I was going to live so long I would have taken better care of myself"?
Secure Your Future
21 million Americans lack retirement savings
Thirty million Americans used money from their retirement savings to respond to an emergency in the past year.
Secure Your Future
Update your beneficiary forms
It's important that every member of TRS review and update beneficiary forms after a marriage, the birth of children, a divorce or any change in familial circumstances.
Opinions
President's Perspective
High stakes in presidential race
When New Yorkers vote in the presidential primary on April 19, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
VPerspective
The power of teacher leadership roles
In a public school system as large and diverse as New York City’s, there is an enormous amount of untapped expertise and creativity among teachers.
Opinion
Charter boosters’ false claims
Charter advocates have made exorbitant claims for their own success, but sometimes the facts get in the way of a good story. The latest example concerns school safety.
Opinion
Diversity matters
New York City isn’t known as a vibrant melting pot for nothing; the rich diversity of our population is the bedrock of our city.
Editorial Cartoons
Teaching Resources
Research shows
Einstein’s struggles motivate students
Learning about the personal and intellectual struggles of famous scientists spurred teens in high-needs New York City high schools to do better in science, according to new research published in the Journal of Educational Psychology.
Teacher to Teacher
Free app scores points with kindergarten class
ClassDojo is a free app for engaging with students and parents that can be used on iPhones, Androids and desktop computers.
Building Your Career
Building Your Career
New Teacher Profiles
Have art cart, will travel
Marilyn Casey is a 28-year-old woman who gets into her pajamas in the early evening and is sound asleep by 9:30. She is not to be pitied, however, because unlike most adults Casey goes to bed with a smile, thinking about the next day at work, where she will arrive, peppy and prepared, 45 minutes early.
Retired Teachers News
2015 sales tax break for New York, Florida and other states’ residents
Federal tax law allows taxpayers who elect to itemize deductions to deduct their state and local income taxes or state and local general sales taxes to reduce their federal income tax.
This law is especially important for residents of seven states that do not have an income tax, but do have sales taxes. They are: Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee (taxes, interest and dividends), Texas, Washington and Wyoming.
New York State residents receiving a federal government pension, a New York State government pension or a New York State local government pension are not subject to New York State or New York City income tax. So a UFT retiree who is a resident of New York State and receiving a pension from the Teachers’ Retirement System benefits from this law.
Under this law, individuals who elect to file an itemized federal income tax return for 2015 must file “Schedule A–Itemized Deductions” and complete line 5 “…
Elderly woman more likely to be poor than men
Women 65 and older typically have an income that is 25 percent lower than men, according to the National Institute on Retirement Security.
Our endorsement process
Hillary Clinton was the clear and overwhelming favorite of thousands of members who participated in the membership survey.