UFT Vice President for Academic High Schools Janella Hinds writes that when it comes to our academic high schools and the broader New York City public school system, we need to lead — not follow — on innovation that affects our practice.

Following passage of a state budget that allows 14 new charter schools to open in New York City, the UFT and other public education advocates are demanding more transparency and accountability from the charter sector.

In a major reset, New York City is overhauling how reading is taught in early childhood and elementary school settings in public schools throughout the city. Over the next two years, elementary schools will be required to adopt one of three evidence-based literacy programs that are grounded in phonics.

UFT members showed up at five simultaneous contract rallies — one in each borough — on May 24 to turn up the pressure on the city and the Department of Education to agree to a fair contract by the end of the school year.

Persuading lawmakers to oppose the governor’s proposal to substantially increase the number of charter schools operating in New York City topped the agenda for the nearly 900 UFT members and public school parents who traveled to Albany on March 13 to meet face to face with their state representatives on the union’s annual Lobby Day.

As part of their fight for a fair contract, educators across the city on March 30 set out to make their heavy workload visible to their school communities and to the city during a citywide grade-in.

Community School 55 in the Morrisania section of the Bronx has a Success Academy charter school co-located in its building, but the disparity in their resources and the student populations they serve make them anything but co-equal.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan to lift the state’s charter school cap is out of step with the wishes of state residents. A new poll of registered New York voters found that 79% oppose plans to increase the number of charter schools in New York City and shift resources away from public schools.

UFT members are prepared to fight for the contract they deserve. That was the message resonating across the city on Jan. 30, as educators gathered in their schools for “teach-ins” led by members of each school’s Contract Action Team.

In a momentous victory for community and student activists working in tandem with the UFT, the city Department of Education on Jan. 23 withdrew proposals to widen Success Academy’s footprint in public school buildings in Queens and the Bronx that critics had warned would harm the educational progress of the students already in them.