Collaboration among three arts teachers and their classes at PS 295 in Brooklyn led to a 90-second commercial. They came up with the idea and designed a product in art class, composed a jingle in music class and wrote a script and acted out the...

Central Park East II, which has participated in PROSE for all 10 years of its existence, has used the freedom that the program affords to embrace project-based learning, change its teacher evaluation system and more.

That success depends on your community is something I only truly understood after my first year of teaching. When I was a para, I was committed to supporting my students and my teachers. When I first became a teacher, I forgot that I needed to ask...

The school-based special education committee — created as part of the 2023 DOE-UFT contract — gave Naing the tool she needed to fight to ensure special education students in her school receive the services they are entitled to.

Third-year special education teacher Britni Maddocks takes a strengths-based approach to assessing her students’ needs in her NEST classroom at PS 59 on Staten Island to help build students’ confidence and assure them that the classroom is a safe...

As the psychologist at Gotham Collaborative HS in the Bronx, Nadhilis Rojas assesses students’ needs, refers them for services and tracks their progress. As a fluent English and Spanish speaker, she can more effectively serve her diverse school...

Dayniah Manderson’s favorite genre to teach in her 8th-grade English classes at Mott Haven Community School is dystopian fiction because, as a wheelchair user with muscular dystrophy, she relates to the struggle to break free from oppressive systems.

It’s essential for parents of children with disabilities to understand the process of obtaining an Individualized Education Program that meets their child’s needs. That’s why Thomas Rosa, the chapter leader at PS 751, the Manhattan School for Career...

UFT President Michael Mulgrew is calling on the city to fill vacant school-related professional positions in order to fulfill the special education requirements of at least 9,000 students across the city.

Jenna Marrazzo, a second-year teacher at PS 42 on Staten Island, stepped up in her first year on the job to support and advise the school's newly invigorated student council, which had gone dormant during the pandemic.

The UFT shall educate its members about the significant implications of the Paraprofessionals and Education Support Staff Bill of Rights and the Preparing and Retaining All (PARA) Educators Act, emphasizing the potential benefits for...

Teacher Jacqueline Armento's development and coordination of the Law Institute at John Bowne HS in Queens earned her recognition at this year’s UFT Career and Technical Education Awards night, where she received a UFT CTE Educators Award.

When students ask John Isaza why he teaches — despite the higher salary he could earn as an electrician — his answer is simple. “I love my job,” he tells them. “When you love what you do, it doesn’t feel like work.” Isaza, a UFT Career and Technical...

Stephen T. Mather Building Arts and Craftsmanship HS's commitment to student well-being is why Sylwia Nosowicz, a first-year teacher whose first career was as a clinical mental health counselor, feels comfortable calling the school “a perfect match”...

The UFT is pushing back against the DOE's use of part-time therapists from private agencies rather than operationalizing the ninth session negotiated in the 2023 DOE-UFT contract to enable full-time therapists to do this work.

On Monday, Oct. 4, 2021, all staff in school buildings will have received at least one dose of the vaccine, which marks a major step to keeping our school communities safe for the duration of this pandemic. We are proud that 97% of our membership has...

Among the many meaningful contractual rights UFT members have is time carved out for teachers to do unassigned professional work. Whether they teach elementary, middle or high school, teachers are generally entitled to five preparation periods per...

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...

As much as you might want to toss all your materials in a box and sprint out the door on the last day of school, consider doing your future self a favor by strategically preparing for September in June, thoughtfully packing up your classroom and...

What will the next four years under President Donald Trump mean for public education in New York City? UFT President Michael Mulgrew told the Delegate Assembly on Jan. 15 that many parents are fearful of the ramifications.

More than 30 years ago, Antoinette Messina, now retired, taught an immigrant boy to speak English. In a simple twist of fate, that boy, who grew up to be a physical therapist, today is teaching Messina to walk again.

The city’s superintendents gathered at UFT headquarters in early October. UFT Vice President for Special Education MaryJo Ginese said the union made it clear to them at this introductory meeting that when special education compliance issues are...

UFT President Michael Mulgrew submitted testimony before the New York City Council Education Committee’s oversight hearing on the DOE's provision of special education services.

Thanks to the efforts of Chapter Leader Debbie Strack Cregan, the members of PS 69 in Jackson Heights found their voice and their collective power in their successful organizing effort to push back against a new and overbearing principal.

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.

More than 500 parents, caregivers and community members poured into UFT borough offices this fall for the UFT's annual parent conferences in each borough.

A social worker and an instructional coordinator from the city DOE's Division of Early Childhood Education provide crucial support to 3K and pre-K teachers at PS 7 in East Harlem.

The chapter leader at PS/IS 384 in Brooklyn urges his fellow UFT members to fight to "Fix Tier 6" and improve retirement and pension benefits.

An administrative law judge has ruled that Bronx teacher Brenda Cartagena had been the victim of retaliation by her school’s principal for standing up for her members’ rights as school chapter leader.

Thousands of special education students in city public schools remain without the services they are legally entitled to because of massive shortages of school-related professionals.

The following newsletter was sent to all social workers and psychologists from Chapter Leader Raul Garcia on Tuesday, Jan. 12.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew, joined by elected leaders, parents, and staff celebrated the work of IS 145 Queens principal Ivan Rodriguez in dramatically lowering class sizes for his sixth-grade students.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew submitted testimony before the Rockefeller Institute of Government Foundation Aid Public Hearing.

The three UFT parent conferences offered in the fall shared an organizing aim: to make sure parents are aware of the state law to lower class size and the importance of getting the Department of Education to comply with it.


Parent empowerment was the objective at the Queens Power Summit, which drew more than 80 parent leaders, students and UFT members to the UFT’s Queens borough office on Nov. 23.

United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew, joined by parents, educators, advocates, and elected officials, announced today that a union survey has shown that — despite the claims by critics — more than 300,000 students in the city’s...