The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is offering financial assistance of up to $9,000 per burial to those who have paid for funeral expenses due to COVID-19.

Eligible educators can deduct from their federal income taxes up to $250 of unreimbursed expenses from 2021 for books, supplies, computer equipment (including related software and services), other equipment and supplementary materials they use in the classroom, according to the IRS.

The UFT’s borough office on Staten Island is moving, with the new location at 1200 South Ave. in the Bloomfield section expected to open in February.

If you rely on open windows for good ventilation in your classroom, you will still need to keep a few windows cracked open a few inches even though it’s getting colder.

Make sure high school seniors apply for the UFT’s $5,000 Albert Shanker college scholarships. This year the application deadline is Feb. 28, 2022.

After weeks of negotiations, the DOE agreed to change its position that the lack of ratings in 2019–20 should be a determining factor in the number and type of observations that teachers are required to have this school year. Any tenured teacher rated Effective for the 2020–21 school year will receive a minimum of two informal observations this year. (As before, members can request a formal observation if they wish, but it is not required.)

The dispute between the UFT and the DOE over spring break pay in 2020 will now proceed to arbitration, with a hearing before a neutral arbitrator likely to take place in mid-December.

If school staff were not told by Oct. 15 to report to their school for professional development on Election Day, they will participate in PD remotely.

Any DOE employees who choose to continue receiving paper checks must receive them at their mailing address. The DOE will no longer send these checks to schools.

Although public schools have resumed full in-person learning, parent-teacher conferences will be remote during the 2021–22 school year.