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Thanksgiving Luncheon and Winter Coat Drive 2025

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About 150 students living in temporary housing enjoyed a day of crafts, games, face-painting and fun at UFT headquarters on Nov. 22 to celebrate Thanksgiving and receive new winter gear courtesy of UFT members’ generosity. Headed by the UFT’s Middle Schools Division, the event provided each student with a new winter coat, a pair of gloves or mittens, a scarf and a hat to keep them warm in the coming winter months.

Middle School Awards Night 2025

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About 200 honorees and guests attended the inaugural Middle School Awards Night on May 15 at UFT headquarters in Manhattan. Twenty-five members were honored for being stars at meeting the needs of their students during a transformative stage of adolescent life, serving as educators, mentors, counselors, parents, advisers and even friends.

New accolades for middle school educators

NY Teacher Article Opinion
Being a middle school educator is a calling, and it’s high time we recognize our colleagues’ invaluable contributions.
To that end, I am thrilled to announce the union’s first-ever Middle School Awards Night.


If you want to help a student, ask a teacher

NY Teacher Article Opinion
UFT Vice President Richard Mantell writes that the holidays may be long over, but the giving is not. It’s what we educators do. We provide our students with the resources they need to succeed in life, whether it’s educating them in the classroom...

Bullying knows no bounds

NY Teacher Article Opinion
UFT Vice President for Middle Schools Richard Mantell writes that after holding his annual Middle School Anti-Bullying Conference in October, he learned his 28-year-old daughter had been bullied when she was in middle school. While he was shocked, he...

Middle Schools Conference

NY Teacher Article Around the UFT
The UFT’s Middle Schools Conference was back on April 9 after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, with workshops on social and emotional wellness, culturally responsive STEAM classrooms, integrated co-teaching and other topics.

5K Family Run/Walk

NY Teacher Article Around the UFT
UFT members and their families who participated in the the the union's eighth annual 5K family run/walk on May 14 raised more than $5,000 for the UFT Disaster Relief Fund to benefit educators and their families in war-torn Ukraine.

UFT Middle School Division’s Anti-Bullying Conference

NY Teacher Article Around the UFT
Students from 105 schools registered for the UFT’s citywide Anti-Bullying Conference, held virtually on Oct. 28, which focused on conflict resolution strategies and how to be an upstander, or someone who intervenes or stands up for a person who is...

VP for Middle Schools

Richard Mantell is the UFT vice president for middle schools. He received his bachelor’s degree in business management and finance from Brooklyn College, his master’s degree in education with a concentration in guidance counseling from Long Island...