Go along with teachers Maureen Collins and Jessica Smalley of PS 264 in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, as they take their 3rd-graders on a field trip to the New York Aquarium as a complement to the HMH into Reading curriculum.

New York State and New York City’s recommended school and child care vaccine schedule remains the same now as it was before President Donald Trump’s Aug. 10 executive order on vaccinations. That is as it should be, the UFT opines. Trump failed to...

Gov. Kathy Hochul must opt-out of President Donald Trump’s scheme for private school vouchers, the UFT opines. The Federal Tax Credit Scholarship Program would provide taxpayers in participating states with a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for donating...

Union membership has changed what it means to have a voice and protection at work. Since the UFT’s start in 1960 and ratifying its first contract with the city in 1962, members have fought for and won better working conditions, stronger workplace...

A Queens paraprofessional demands that members of her title be compensated well enough "to live, not just survive," and argues that the RESPECT check payment should become permanent and pensionable.

A record 750 members have volunteered to help negotiate the next DOE-UFT contract, which is set to expire on Nov. 28, 2027. Planning for the upcoming rounds of bargaining is already underway.

A profile about bilingual school social worker Michelle Perez inspires pride in retired school social worker Stew Frimer.

Chapter Leader Maia Baumgarth of Alfred E. Smith Career and Technical HS in the Bronx strives to educate herself and her colleague on the ins and outs of the DOE-UFT contract under which they all work, ensuring students receive the services they need...

A 30-year veteran teacher from PS 78 in Queens urges a return to the fundamentals of literacy instruction, including assessments on paper and teacher readalouds in response to this year's decline in ELA scores.

The UFT gave away books and almost 1,500 backpacks to families attending the annual Harlem Week festival in the historic Manhattan neighborhood. More than 2,500 visitors stopped by the UFT’s table on Aug. 16.

Teaching is a natural fit for the creative and energetic Selinda Edwards of IS 117 in the Bronx. 
Colleagues say her thoughtful and dynamic teaching style is yielding big results with her 6th- and 7th-grade math students. 


The UFT distributed 1,600 backpacks filled with school supplies and other resources — a 30% increase over last year's event — at this year's Staten Island Back-to-School BBQ.

Everyone who was in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, has a personal 9/11 story, including UFT educators who were hard at work serving the city's 1.1 million students when planes struck the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Twenty-five years...

A 4th-grade math teacher at PS 284 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, outfits her classroom with a colorful math calendar that builds fluency and grounds them in the start of the school day.

Whether you work in a school or another setting, September always feels like the start of a new year. It’s a great time to reset your routines and find habits and activities that will help you thrive. Sometimes simple tweaks can make a big difference...

UFT President Michael Mulgrew released a statement regarding New York City's new public-school screens and AI policy.

UFT Vice President and head of the Federation of Nurses/UFT Anne Goldman will receive the union's highest honor, the Charles Cogen Award , this fall.

A recent class action settlement with the city and EmblemHealth will give Medicare-eligible retirees in GHI Senior Care a reimbursement for copays they paid between January 2022 and February 2023.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew issued a statement on the agreement reached between EmblemHealth and NewYork-Presbyterian, allowing the hospital to remain in network.

The New York City Council unanimously passed the "Respect Check" legislation which will provide each NYC public school paraprofessional a $10,000 payment outside of collective bargaining in the coming school year.

The free NYC Childcare Navigator can now help city families find childcare providers who offer New York City's 2,000 free 2K seats. With the June 26 deadline to apply for 2K rapidly approaching, this new feature comes at a crucial time for families.

Find out how to cultivate joy on a daily basis and create an antidote to feeling miserable.

Find out about excused absences — occasions aside from personal illness — when UFT members (teachers, appointed pedagogues and other titles, such as paraprofessionals) are entitled to be absent from work but still get paid without using their CAR, or...

Learn all the ways UFT members benefit from the UFT Legal Services Plan, which provides trusted legal help exclusively for UFT members. 


For New York City’s approximately 1 million public school students, a strong CTE program is a sure pathway to economic stability. But for too long, our CTE programs were treated like a backup plan, the place kids were sent when someone decided...

UFT members at PS 35 in Hollis, Queens, won a hard-fought arbitration decision against a principal engaging in union animus. The decision confirms members’ rights to conduct union activity without interference or retaliation.

The UFT offices will be open this summer on a modified schedule.

A sustained campaign by UFT members to reform Tier 6 of the New York State's pension system pays off with state lawmakers dropping to 58, from 63, the age at which members can retire without penalty with 30 years of service.


6th-grade teacher Ruth Duran shares tips for educators about how to make summer learning for students feel less like homework by engaging them in activities that tap into their creative sides and activities they genuinely enjoy.

Tom Brown, UFT assistant treasurer and the current chair of the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) Board, was decisively reelected as a TRS board trustee on June 2. He will serve a three-year term.

Michelle Pérez, a bilingual school social worker, discusses the challenges and rewards of her work in New York City schools connecting families with school-based and community resources and providing crisis intervention and at-risk counseling for...

Teachers in Queens, the city's most crowded borough, said the benefits of lowering class size were seen almost immediately, and they encouraged their colleagues to stay the course in pressing school leadership to do the work.

Why it's important to designate beneficiaries, keep your beneficiary designations current after life-changing events and ensure the latest contact information for your beneficiaries is on file with your pension system.


Former UFT Vice President for Career and Technical Education Sterling Roberson received the Retiree of the Year Award at the Representative Assembly of NYSUT, the UFT's statewide affiliate.

From dental molds and catapults to barbering and cosmetology skills, career and technical education high school projects displayed a wealth of talent in the exhibit hall at this year’s UFT Spring Education Conference.

UFT members share first-person accounts recounting their success resolving issues through the special education complaint process. The process is a powerful tool to safeguard students' welfare as well as members' workplace rights and members should...