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VPerspective

A time of exciting CTE opportunities

UFT Vice President for CTE Leo Gordon writes that it's a challenging time for career and technical education, but it's also a time of exciting opportunities. The pandemic has illuminated the importance of skilled trades in our day-to-day lives. Now is the time to enhance and promote these career pathways.

DOE must give special ed more attention

UFT Vice President for Special Education MaryJo Ginese writes that we have seen how so many of our students with disabilities have lost ground since the pandemic hit. This fall, we have been confronted with the rocky rollout of the DOE’s Special Education Recovery Services program that was supposed to provide targeted help to these students.

The benefits of mindfulness

UFT Vice President for Elementary Schools Karen Alford writes that it’s been a stressful year, and the pandemic is still affecting all our lives. Some UFT members have gotten a jump-start on their own social-emotional wellness, with training in mindfulness meditation and yoga they use in their own lives and bring to their students at school.

Nurse staffing shortages remain a concern

UFT Vice President Anne Goldman, the head of the Federation of Nurses/UFT, writes that as hospitalizations rise, we again find ourselves in a battle for adequate staffing. Staffing ratios are the foundation for safe patient care.

Social-emotional wellness for all

UFT Vice President for Education Mary Vaccaro writes that as we look ahead to September, when students and educators will be back together in school buildings, we must focus as strongly on social-emotional wellness as on academics.

We hear you — your voice matters

UFT Vice President for Academic High Schools Janella Hinds writes that high school members from across the city joined forces with the union’s academic high school team in five safe spaces to talk about what works and what obstructs, to uncover better practices, and to find solutions to our challenges.