New York TeacherApril 30, 2020
Latest News
Brooklyn school fights off charter’s expansion
The UFT helps parents and the community thwart the expansion of a co-located charter school in Brooklyn.
Delegate meetings go remote
The March and April Delegate Assembly meetings took place in unusual formats because of the coronavirus pandemic.
UFT hospital nurses on front lines
UFT hospital nurses find strength in each other and in their union on the front lines of the coronavirus battle.
More in News Stories
Feature Stories
Remote control
When Lauren Nocco thinks about her successful transition to teaching kindergarten online, one thing is crystal clear: “Networking is everything,” said Nocco, who teaches at PS 66 in Canarsie, Brooklyn.
That’s what New York City public school educators have discovered as they struggle to deliver remote instruction to students in the midst of a global pandemic that has shut down schools. With only three days to prepare, teachers reached out to one another to share information and resources as they launched remote classrooms — and they continue to do so.
“It’s amazing what teachers are doing to help each other,” Nocco said.
Educators have used various software platforms to stay in touch with students and their families and to conduct school business. But in this constantly evolving environment, sometimes just when they learn one platform, they…
May 17, 2007: 12,000 family child care providers request UFT representation
Thirteen years ago, home-based child care providers marked a milestone in their campaign to join the UFT.
Supplies Party
PS 188 in Coney Island, Brooklyn, is remembering a former educator at the school by giving teachers tote bags full of supplies purchased thanks to a donation by her daughter.
Member Spotlight
What I do: Kenneth McLaughlin, attendance teacher
Attendance teachers ensure that students and their families have the support they need so students attend school every day or participate using technology during this remote-learning period.
Kudos to Thomas Pascarella, PS 48, Brooklyn
Thomas Pascarella at PS 48 in Brooklyn set his entire school for remote learning when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Around the UFT
UFT-DOE curriculum focus group
UFT-DOE focus group considers how best to evaluate and implement curricula that exemplify clear standards.
School Counselors Conference
UFT President Michael Mulgrew praised school counselors for "keeping people calm" daily as well as in a crisis during the 16th annual School Counselors Conference at UFT headquarters in Manhattan on March 7.
Your Rights and Benefits
Know Your Benefits
Health services during pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic has prompted city health care providers and the UFT Welfare Fund to retool how they provide services while offering extra support for those who become infected with the coronavirus.
Your Well-being
Our new reality
If you feel your life has been upended overnight, you’re not alone. The coronavirus crisis has changed everyone’s reality and adapting is an ongoing challenge.
You Should Know
Grants, Awards & Freebies
Grants, Awards & Freebies
See our list of current opportunities for educators to receive funds and recognition for their hard work and dedication.
Secure Your Future
CARES Act allows easier access to retirement funds
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act passed by Congress in early April allows easier access to retirement funds for those U.S. residents still working but in financial need.
Secure Your Future
Pandemic and your pension
The coronavirus pandemic has had a serious impact on financial markets around the world. Many U.S. families have lost savings.
Opinions
VPerspective
Getting students career ready — remotely
When the coronavirus crisis forced city public schools to make the transition to remote learning, career and technical education teachers faced an additional hurdle: how to recreate the hands-on learning that is so important for getting students career ready.
President's Perspective
Pulling through together
UFT members have confronted the biggest personal and professional challenges in more than a generation, and have met them with integrity.
Editorials
Census urgency rises
The importance of every New Yorker being counted in the 2020 Census has taken on fresh urgency in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and the recession it has triggered. Funding for New York City public schools is at stake. The Census count will determine whether New York City and New York State get their fair shares of federal funding for the next decade.
Editorials
School nurses are vital
When school buildings closed on March 17, school nurses were assigned to the regional education centers that opened to care for the children of first responders. When hospitals were flooded with scores of sick New Yorkers, the city turned to school nurses again to help staff municipal nursing homes experiencing staffing shortages. We’re proud of our school nurses for stepping up. They unquestionably helped save lives.
Editorial Cartoons
Teaching Resources
Teacher to Teacher
Assessing effectiveness of remote learning
Is remote learning effective? Here are some ways to find out.
Learning Curve
Making connections
When schools transitioned to remote learning, I was anxious not just about schoolwork but about socialization. How can teachers maintain an engaging, interactive relationship with their students when they can no longer be in the same room? Educators share the same concerns.
Building Your Career
Inside My Classroom
My own mini classroom at home
A Brooklyn kindergarten teacher creates a mini classroom to maintain a sense of normalcy while teaching from home.
New Teacher Articles
Certification, tenure angst?
If you're a newer teacher with concerns about your ability to get your certification and/or tenure during this remote-teaching time, the UFT has your back.
New Teacher Diaries
Let’s not lose sight of our ‘why’
In mid-March, all teachers were faced with the challenge of continuing to serve and support their students from a distance due to COVID-19. As a second-year speech teacher, I have struggled to figure out, with little training and guidance, how to translate a full schedule of face-to-face therapy into a full schedule of tele-therapy.
Retired Teachers News
Facebook keeps retirees connected
In these unsettling times, the Retired Teachers Chapter is making every effort to reach out to reassure and support its members. That means using all available avenues to keep in touch with the 70,000 UFT retirees across the country. Facebook is becoming an important part of their outreach.
The chapter in 2019 organized a Facebook group for New York retirees called UFT Retired Teachers Chapter, which has 235 local retirees as members.
Staten Island retiree Susan Pulice, who serves as the group’s administrator, said she wanted to share all the benefits of retirement with UFT retirees in the New York metropolitan area. She envisioned the Facebook group as both an information hub as well as a place to post inspirational messages, photos, travel tips, book reviews and anything “that makes our retiree life better,”…
Smooth sailing for science guru
Retired teacher uses his skill as an educator and his love of sailing on the Hudson River to transition into a captain on electric boats at a conservancy, where he teaches about Southwest Florida's ecosystem
‘Love in the Time of Cholera’
As we navigate the uncertainty of life during the coronavirus pandemic, we still have work to do as UFT members and activists. As always, the RTC is ready to answer our union's call.