Seven leading Democratic candidates for president vied to show their support for public education and public school educators in a forum on Dec. 14 in Pittsburgh.
UFT President Michael Mulgrew announced at the Delegate Assembly on Jan. 15 that the union is working to ensure that all New York City schools have curriculum aligned to the state’s Next Generation Learning Standards for math and English language arts.
The U.S. Supreme Court will be ruling on a high-profile case that could narrow the separation between church and state and open the door to more public aid for religious schools.
The Women’s National Basketball Association and its players’ union on Jan. 14 announced a collective bargaining agreement that will boost players’ salaries and improve their benefits, including providing a full salary for players on parental leave and an annual child care stipend of $5,000.
Thousands of Florida teachers did not report to work on Jan. 13 in order to march in Tallahassee to protest decades of systematic attacks on public education, despite threats by the state education department against them and their union.
Teachers described Aamir Griffin as a “nice, quiet kid” who worked hard, loved playing basketball and dreamed of making it his career. “Making my team was a big deal for him,” said Kyrk Peponakis, the junior varsity basketball coach at Benjamin N. Cardozo HS in Bayside, Queens.
Aamir, a 14-year-old freshman, was doing what he loved most — practicing on a court near his home in Jamaica — when he was killed by a stray bullet in October.
To celebrate Aamir’s life and to support his family, Peponakis organized the Aamir Griffin Memorial and Basketball Extravaganza, inviting 10 schools to join Cardozo on Dec. 7 for an all-day tournament. Every coach he called told Peponakis “We’re in,” and the Public Schools Athletic League provided referees at no cost.
The event, said Peponakis, honored the young…
Educators at Manhattan’s HS for Environmental Studies have found a new way to infuse environmental issues in the curriculum: through the lens of a TV camera.
Fourth-graders have the chance to pretend to be pilots at LaGuardia Airport and much more on a field trip to the New York City Center for Space Science Education on Manhattan's Lower East Side.
Emily Blatt made increasing contributions to the Committee on Political Education (COPE), the UFT’s political action arm, her first priority when she became chapter leader at University Neighborhood HS in Manhattan in September 2018.
The delegates voted on Jan. 15 to endorse City Council Member Donovan Richards for Queens borough president in the special election on March 24.
In a show of solidarity with New York’s Jewish community, a strong contingent of UFT members joined tens of thousands of other Stand Up to Hate marchers who gathered in Foley Square in lower Manhattan on Jan. 5 for the march across the Brooklyn Bridge.
Ketisha Peters, a social worker at Thomas Jefferson HS in East New York, Brooklyn, plans to start an LGBTQ alliance in her school.
Speak Truth to Power, a collaboration between Discovery Education and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights supported by the union, illuminates students’ and teachers’ roles in fighting human rights abuses and offers educational experiences and online tools to help them.
Chapter leaders across the city now have access to a new online community that gives them a place to share ideas with other chapter leaders in their district, find answers to their questions and collect data the union can use to improve education and working conditions.
All eligible in-service UFT members and their dependents have prescription drug coverage through the UFT Welfare Fund. There are no waiting periods for this coverage. Learn more about this valuable benefit.
Supporting someone with mental health challenges is complex. Adding a layer of drug and alcohol addiction makes it all the more complicated.
Were you employed by New York City or New York State before joining the Teachers' Retirement System or the Board of Education Retirement System?
With testing season fast approaching, it’s a good time to review the Department of Education’s current policies regarding testing accommodations, alternate assessments and modified promotion criteria for students with disabilities.
We have a major challenge ahead of us this spring: Making sure every New Yorker is counted in this year’s U.S. Census.
When the UFT negotiated its 2018 contract with the city Department of Education, it followed the strategy used by the Federation of Nurses/UFT, which I lead, because of our past success at the bargaining table.The workforce can have a voice, not only in hospitals or schools, but in contract negotiations as well.
New York State continues to shortchange its students in high-needs schools. There’s no other way to read Gov. Cuomo’s Jan. 21 preliminary budget, which proposes an increase in Foundation Aid that falls far short of the $2.1 billion that the UFT, New York State United Teachers and other education advocates are calling for.
Charter schools as a group enroll a significantly smaller percentage than the public schools of English language learners, special education students or those from the poorest families. A new UFT analysis of individual charter schools clearly shows that the schools most successful at excluding these kinds of students are the charters with the highest test scores.
If you've ever been in a visible state of distress, chances are good someone has told you to take a deep breath. Why? Because breathing deeply activates a set of neurons in the brain that relaxes your body.
You may be familiar with screencasts as video tutorials on YouTube that describe how to use a piece of technology, but they’ve also caught on in the classroom.
When I became a middle school math teacher 12 years ago, one of the first things I noticed was how chatty students can be. So I was surprised when, after I asked my students to discuss a math problem, strategy or solution with their group members, the room would suddenly get quieter.
"Last year, I decided I wanted to create a classroom space that was as unique as my students, a place where they would feel comfortable and want to come to class (that’s half the battle in high school, after all!). With my students’ wants and needs in mind, I created a flexible seating environment..."
Gaining tenure is an important milestone for new teachers. Having tenure means you can’t be terminated without due process and you’re entitled to a hearing if the Department of Education takes disciplinary action that could lead to termination.
Victoria Love was the executive pastry chef at The Water Club, a world-renowned Manhattan restaurant. Now, she bakes delicacies like maple apple pandowdy and tropical coconut cheesecake with her special needs students at Manhattan School for Career Development.
If you work for a public employer after retirement, there is a limit to how much you can earn during the calendar year. That amount increased to $35,000 for 2020, up from $30,000 last year, due to legislation signed in December.
The age at which required minimum distributions must begin has been changed from 70½ to 72. This change is effective for individuals who reach age 70½ after Dec. 31, 2019, and who have since left active service.
When it comes to retirees and meeting their needs, the UFT doesn't let any grass grow under its feet.
