The UFT extended a welcoming hand to new hires in August as it launched an enrollment drive in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Janus v. AFSCME case.
The union organized a book giveaway for new teachers on Aug. 11, [see Starting off by the book] had a strong presence at DOE New Teacher Week in mid-August and held open houses at UFT headquarters and borough offices at the end of the month.
More than 1,000 new teachers crowded Shanker Hall at union headquarters on Aug. 20 at the kickoff to New Teacher Week, which is designed to provide new educators with the practical tips and support needed to hit the ground running on Day One…
After a spring awakening of walkouts and strikes, educators around the country are running for office in unprecedented numbers to have a say in the decisions that affect their lives and the lives of their students.
The intent young scientists in sterile lab coats, masks and gloves laboring at busy lab stations like professional researchers are actually 11th-graders at Union Square Academy for Health Sciences, the only high school in New York City with a pharmaceutical program.
UFT members planning to have children were excited about the new paid parental leave policy and reassured about what it would mean for their families.
Hundreds of new teachers will start their school year with up to 50 free books apiece for their classroom, courtesy of the UFT’s book giveaway on Aug. 11.
In a victory for unions, a federal judge on Aug. 25 invalidated three executive orders from the Trump administration intended to make it easier to fire federal workers and weaken their union representation.
U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced on Aug. 10 that the U.S. Department of Education will eliminate an Obama-era rule protecting students from for-profit post-secondary schools that load their students with debt without equipping them with the skills to find jobs where they can earn enough to pay it off.
Teachers and other government workers in New York and neighboring states were deluged with deceptive emails about opting out of their unions immediately after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus ruling.
[[nid:108098; undefined; styleName:article_x_large_auto]]
“I start from the supposition that the world is topsy-turvy; that things are all wrong, that the wrong people are in jail and the wrong people are out of jail, that the wrong people are in power and the wrong people are out of power.”
Those words were written in November 1970 by the late historian Howard Zinn. They were spoken with conviction at Lincoln Center on May 17 of this year by Nikaury Roman at the culmination of the Voices of a People’s History project in her AP government class at Maxine Greene HS for Imaginative Inquiry in Manhattan.
[[nid:108101; float: right; styleName:article_x_medium_auto]]
“Even though they are speaking somebody else’s words, it’s really their own voice, and there’s nothing more powerful. The kids really get to own it,” said Jeffrey Ellis-Lee, the teacher who…
Lawrence Mohr is a doctor, an educator and a much-decorated Vietnam veteran, who served as the White House physician for two presidents. He is also a graduate of New York City public schools.
From their close encounter with a 22,500-pound anchor to nautical artifacts from the early 1800s to lessons about how ship technology has evolved, Brooklyn Arbor School students were fascinated by a class trip to the Brooklyn Navy Yard and its “Ingenius Innovations” exhibit.
Revitalizing the UFT chapter at Marble Hill HS for International Studies in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx, says Chapter Leader Patrick Bernal, has been an important learning process for everyone.
Teachers covered by the DOE’s “Advance” system should have received their final rating for the 2017–18 school year by the start of the school year. Find out how the rating was calculated and what your options are if you received an Ineffective or Developing rating.
It’s the beginning of a new school year and a perfect opportunity to organize for maximum effectiveness. Time is your greatest resource and, as a school professional, it is essential for achieving your goals. Check out these tips for making the most effective use of your time this year.
Thanks to the hard work of thousands of UFT members during a lengthy public campaign, the UFT is the first public-sector union in New York City to secure paid parental leave for the workers it represents. This new benefit is on top of the maternity leave benefits that birth mothers already had. This Q&A provides important nuts-and-bolts information for UFT-represented workers interested in taking a paid parental leave.
Since the primary elections for political office in New York State are scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 13, the evening parent-teacher conferences for elementary schools for the 2018-19 school year have been moved to Monday, Sept. 17.
Following a strong lobbying effort by the UFT, the City Council maintained the previous year’s big increase in funding for Teacher’s Choice in the city budget. As a result, eligible UFT-represented educators will be reimbursed the same amounts as last school year for materials and supplies for the 2018–19 school year.
The majority of UFT members participate in a defined-benefit pension, the gold standard of retirement plans. A defined-benefit pension guarantees a lifetime annuity — regular payments based on a formula. This formula takes into account your years of service, your salary and your age. With a defined-benefit pension, you don’t have to worry about the vagaries of the stock market. The amount of the pension benefit remains the same each month throughout your retirement.
As in all the Septembers before, thousands of new educators have accepted the challenge to make a difference in the lives of New York City’s public school children.
We have a lot of work ahead of us to ensure the UFT remains a formidable force, but we have reason to be optimistic.
Puerto Rico’s governor is using the damage inflicted by Hurricane Maria as justification to push school privatization. Eleven months after the hurricane, the first charter school opened on the island this August.
New York City has long grappled with the de facto segregation in its schools, especially its eight sought-after specialized high schools, whose students are predominantly white or Asian.
When locating materials to use in the classroom, high-quality resources are a must. Many well-known and respected organizations have fully digitized their collections of primary sources and made them available free of charge, so they’re a great place to start.
As we think about gearing up for a new school year, here are a few tips to help us navigate the busy, sometimes overwhelming job of managing a classroom.
Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, my classroom door is decorated with my students' dreams of what and who they want to be someday.
As the school year begins, you’ll want to make sure you’re prepared to care for yourself as much as you care for your new students.
Does the recent Supreme Court decision in the Janus case affect retirees? No and yes.
No: The decision does not directly or immediately affect retirees because the UFT Retired Teachers Chapter is not part of the collective bargaining unit. The court decision concerned itself with those active members known as agency fee payers, saying that such members no longer can be charged for expenses involved in negotiating a contract or for administering the union.
Retirees freely and voluntarily join the RTC and pay .004 percent of their pension to maintain that membership. The RTC boasts 92 percent of its members are UFT retirees. We voluntarily join for a variety of reasons, including the desire to continue to be part of a great labor organization that secured our professional and economic security. Some of us also join to participate in programs such as the Supplemental Health Insurance Plan (SHIP), which is offered only to union…
