Dozens of outstanding children graduating from elementary and middle schools in Brooklyn’s District 20 will be getting a boost thanks to funds raised through the district’s annual scholarship dinner dance.

While UFT President Michael Mulgrew brought the capacity crowd from Districts 16 and 32 at the Meet the President gathering on April 23 up to date on scores of current issues, he put the focus on the future, what he called “the bigger discussion — where do we want to go?” Applause greeted his insistence that “what teachers say has to matter again.”

More than 900 UFT paraprofessionals turned out for the chapter’s 32nd annual Paraprofessional Festival and Awards Luncheon at the New York Hilton Hotel on April 20. The event featured an array of workshops and remarks from UFT President Michael Mulgrew, Paraprofessional Chapter Chair Shelvy Abrams and City Council Member Julissa Ferreras. The chapter also gave out Paraprofessional of the Year awards to 14 paraprofessionals and its Humanitarian of the Year Award to paraprofessional Ryan Smith, of Staten Island’s PS 271.

An airport replete with planes, a harbor with boats and a baseball stadium, too. These were just a few of the models constructed by PS 188 students at their Coney Island school’s LEGO Education Showcase event on April 20.

More than 200 educators turned out for a three-hour session on Saturday morning, April 20, to learn more about sharemylesson.com and how to contribute lessons to it. The training session was part of the official New York City launch of the national site, which was created by the American Federation of Teachers in partnership with the UFT.

Text: UFT President Michael Mulgrew met with teachers and other staff at Staten Island’s PS 56 on April 19 for a wide-ranging discussion about the union and the state of education in New York.

“The DOE’s accountability experts are the people who make a living making paperwork for other people,” said UFT President Michael Mulgrew, a comment that drew the laughter of recognition at an April 18 Meet the President event for school secretaries and teachers assigned. The workload — paperwork and other consuming tasks — was one of many concerns among secretaries; among the teachers assigned, the concerns are contractual issues and how a new mayoral administration may affect them. For all who attended, hearing updates of city politics and the very nature of mayoral elections was a springboard for a lively back-and-forth.

The UFT resolves to fully support and participate in the May Day 2013 Labor Rights, Immigrant Rights and Jobs for All rally and march.

The UFT resolves to support the campaign by New York City’s fast-food workers for decent wages and the right to unionize and to encourage its members to participate in any rallies, petition drives or other actions pursued by the campaign's organizers...