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Stephanie Isidore, FDNY HS, Brooklyn
Chapter Leader Stephanie Isidore of FDNY Captain Vernon A. Richard HS in Brooklyn was an impactful source of comfort and information to her member colleagues in helping them navigate having three different principals over the course of nine months.
Katrina Thomas, PS 289, Brooklyn
Discarded plastic bottles inspired Katrina Thomas, the chapter leader at PS 289 in Brooklyn, to take the initiative to raise money to build a kindergarten in Ghana.
‘Black’ eye for DOE
In a tremendous show of solidarity and the power of union organizing, hundreds of UFT members across District 21 in Brooklyn wore black in support of their colleagues at PS 99 in their struggle with their principal.
How I calculated true 'success'
An elementary school teacher shares what a math lesson taught him about a new way to measure success in this latest installment of New Teacher Diaries.
Noteworthy Graduate: Ariella Moshchinsky, Pediatric anesthesiologist
Growing up near Coney Island, Brooklyn, Ariella Moshchinsky knew early on that she would pursue a career in the sciences — and she says it was her public school education in Brooklyn schools that helped inspire her to achieve that goal.
Growing scientists in Gowanus
Amber Carlin-Mishkin doesn’t just teach science — she teaches her students to think like scientists. Through a new partnership with the Gowanus Canal Conservancy, the 5th-grade teacher at PS 118 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, helps her students view their...
Change for the better
Paraprofessional Unique Robinson of Murrow HS in Brooklyn acted quickly to advocate for a solution when presented with the need to safely and comfortably meet the toileting needs of her paraplegic student.
Student novels displayed on bookcase
Cara Cifferelli, an ELA teacher at John Dewey HS in Brooklyn, encourages her students to write full-length novels in her classroom as part of National Novel Writing Month. The students' work is displayed in a classroom bookcase.
Brooklyn Parent Conference 2025
More than 100 parents, caretakers, educators and community members gathered at the UFT’s Brooklyn borough office on Oct. 25 for the UFT Brooklyn parent committee’s annual conference. This year’s conference theme was “Organize and Activate,” and attendees took in workshops on school safety, political action, special education and PTA organizing.
Labor Parade 2025
More than 1,000 UFT members turned out in a powerful display of union pride as they marched up Fifth Avenue on Sept. 6 for New York City’s annual Labor Parade. Members paraded in solidarity with thousands of other unionists across the city, on foot, by float or atop a double-decker bus.
UFT welcomes new teachers
The number of new teachers who turned out on Aug. 26 for the kickoff of New Teacher Week was about twice as large as last year, thanks to the surge of hiring over the summer to reduce class sizes in some 750 schools. As the new hires lined up outside...
Kudos to Kesha Hopkins, Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment
UFT Chapter Leader Keesha Hopkins successfully led the charge that saved her school, the Brooklyn Academy of Science and Environment, from being merged with another high school co-located in the same building.
West Indian American Day Parade 2025
More than 200 UFT members turned out on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn on Sept. 1 to march alongside their colleagues and thousands of other revelers for the West Indian American Day Parade.
Pasha Durr, home instruction teacher
Pasha Durr teaches Brooklyn high school students in their homes when they’re unable to physically attend school.
Banished to the basement
Member organizing paid off at the Brooklyn campus of Boerum Hill School for International Studies and two other public schools. The city Department of Education moved to alleviate overcrowding by transferring unused Success Academy Charter School...
‘Crafting’ her lessons
UFT Excellence in Education Award-winning teacher Stephanie Edwards of Brooklyn's International HS at Prospect Heights taps into her English language learning students' creativity to effectively teach them social studies and economic concepts.
5K Family Run/Walk
Some 200 UFT members braved storm clouds to participate in this year's 5K Family Run/Walk on Coney Island. The event raised $7,000 for the UFT Disaster Relief Fund.
NYU Langone nurses win big
Federation of Nurses/UFT members at NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn on Feb. 26 overwhelmingly ratified a contract that provides a 15.8% raise compounded over two years and includes new commitments from the hospital to address the chronic shortage of...
Taking stock in students’ skills
Steven Leaderman, a teacher at P370, a District 75 program in Coney Island, has created an innovative vocational program that has his students sort and deliver school supplies. The program helps the students develop key vocational and life skills...
Kudos to Syreeta Dixon, IS 383, Brooklyn
IS 383 Chapter Leader Syreeta Dixon refused to back down when her principal violated the DOE-UFT contract in multiple ways in her Bushwick school’s teacher schedule and then threatened to lay off staff when Dixon called her on it.
Providing ‘fatherly’ guidance
Jermaine Coley's warm, hands-on approach has made the second-year school counselor a respected and beloved figure at PS 284 in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
Brooklyn teacher dresses up like historical figures
During Black History Month and Women's History Month, this 2nd-grade teacher dresses up each day as a historical figure and teaches her students about that person.
Give us some room
Educators at Boerum Hill School for International Studies in Brooklyn have banded together with students, parents and PTA leaders to demand the city reallocate classroom space being underutilized by a Success Academy charter school.
A safe Nest for autistic students
A team of teachers, speech therapists, occupational therapists and other related service providers create an environment where students with autism and general education students can learn in their 5th-grade Nest classroom at PS 682 in Brooklyn.
Educational support team key to District 75 hydroponics lab
The hydroponics lab at P141K at IS 71, a District 75 site that serves students with profound learning challenges, allows students to participate in gardening activities year-round. The students have the opportunity to witness the plant life cycle...
Kudos to Michelle Lowe-Calixte, IS 392, Brooklyn
Michelle Lowe-Calixte has been an exemplary chapter leader the last three years — all while also serving as the District 23 paraprofessional coordinator.
Creating a ladder of learning
New special education teacher Emily Hang Duong, who teaches math and science at IS 234 in Brooklyn, motivates her students by never letting them forget that they have every opportunity to grow.
Kudos to Anna Willis, PS 896, Brooklyn
PS 896 in Sunset Park had no chapter leader, delegate or paraprofessional representative, and an administration that placed excessive demands on the staff. The turnaround was stark after Anna Willis, a second-year, untenured teacher, took on the...
‘Co-creating learning’
Teacher Kristen Rush of the HS for Public Service in Brooklyn was awarded for Excellence in Education at this year's Academic High School Awards for her ability to better engage students in her English curriculum by incorporating their insights into...
5K Family Run/Walk
Some 300 UFT members and their families participated in the UFT's annual 5K Family Run/Walk in Coney Island to benefit the UFT Disaster Relief Fund.
The building blocks of success
The benefits of 3-K are solid, with the youngest students gaining the foundation they need to succeed in pre-K and beyond as educators engage them in hands-on activities and play-based learning crucial to developing their young minds.
Jewish Heritage Committee Labor Seder 2024
Members of the UFT Jewish Heritage Committee gathered with family and friends on April 18 at the UFT Brooklyn borough office to celebrate Passover with a labor-rights-themed seder.
A transformative experience
A group of high school juniors taking college-level biology at the Gaynor McCown Expeditionary Learning School have a transformative experience working with fluorescent jellyfish proteins during a class trip to the DNA Learning Center in Brooklyn.
With a song in his heart
“There is no music like live music. It’s a transcendent experience,” says Thomas Wright, the new music teacher at Edward R. Murrow HS in Midwood, Brooklyn.
Wright, who previously taught elsewhere in the country, took the job in September, attracted...
UFT Lobby Day 2024
Nearly 1,000 educators, parents and advocates traveled on buses to attend the UFT’s annual Lobby Day in Albany. They asked state lawmakers to add more checks and balances to mayoral control of New York City public schools, fix Tier 6 of the pension system, require the city to follow the state's class size law and increase state foundation aid for New York City.
Fix Tier 6 presentation in schools now
Chapter leaders have taken the Delegate Assembly’s Fix Tier 6 presentation on the road. Chapter Leader Lillian Crespo at PS 216 in Brooklyn and her UFT district representative, Adam Shapiro, showed it to PS 216 members at a Jan. 22 chapter meeting.