The UFT celebrates the accomplishments of its chapters, the heart and soul of the UFT, by bestowing Trachtenberg awards at Teacher Union Day.
About the honorees
Each November, the UFT hosts Teacher Union Day to commemorate the anniversary of the union's strike in 1960 to gain collective bargaining rights and to honor the union activists of today. This year we recognize outstanding chapter leaders who exemplify how the union can empower and organize members to use their professional voices to advocate for our students, for the safety of our school communities, and for public education.
Congratulations to the winners:
Elementary Schools
School |
Chapter leader |
PS 14X |
Fred Cassara |
PS 35X |
Margaret Joyce |
PS 48X |
Jeanette Cano-Lawson |
PS 109X |
Jennifer Rivas |
PS 114X |
Erika Comrie-Krupa |
PS 157X |
Jessica McDonnell |
PS 310X |
Elizette Santana |
PS/MS 315X |
Nicole Scaccio |
PS 001K |
Frances Moeller |
PS 006K |
Aileen Edwards |
PS 013K |
Nellie Rosario |
PS 026K |
Patricia Brown |
PS 039K |
Suzann Bassil |
PS 095K |
Georgia Nikoloudakis |
PS 135K |
Eileen Cohen |
PS 178K |
Yvette Collins |
PS 192K |
Jennifer Colonna |
PS 196K |
Anthony Zalak |
PS 238K |
Brooke Miller |
PS 256K |
Bridgette Williams |
PS 274K |
Helene Loomis |
PS 308K |
Talib Siddiqi |
PS 375K |
Trisha Ortega |
PS 399K |
Andrea Rawle |
PS 599K |
Saisha Braithwaite |
PS 676K |
Glenn Collins |
PS 71K |
Keith Miller |
PS 018Q |
Mark Amft |
PS 019Q |
Iris Diaz |
PS 027Q@439 |
Jacquelyn Felten |
PS 080Q |
Yevette Frazier Greene |
PS 117Q |
Maureen McTigue |
PS 193Q |
Joanne Genova |
PS 194Q |
John Fazakas |
PS 197Q |
Evelyn Carlin |
PS 144Q |
Lori Diamond |
PS 203Q |
John Del Vecchio |
PS 280Q |
Monika Sendra |
PS 295Q |
Colleen Chiauzzi |
30th Avenue School Q300 |
Alison Lisberger |
PS 003M |
Michael DeShields |
PS 092M |
Denise Bullock |
PS 102M |
Lamar Devine |
PS 103M |
Karin DeJesus |
PS 110M |
Ellen Gentilviso |
PS 149M Sojourner Truth |
Gay Zacerous |
PS 178M |
Dalia Gonzalez |
PS 194M |
Stephanie Perez |
PS 198M |
Michelle Bellizzi |
PS 029R |
Brian Stephens |
PS 038R |
Christina Kuzar |
Junior High/Middle Schools
School |
Chapter leader |
MS 217X |
Barkee Wilkes |
MS 224X |
Alexandre Perez |
JHS/MS 287X |
Pellumb Cela |
IS 187K |
Jeffrey Feil |
IS 201K |
Robert Swigert |
IS 383K |
Joyce Baldino |
IS 464K |
Mounia Asiedu |
MS 890K |
James Enny |
MS 907K |
Kenneth Price |
MS 137Q |
Eric Schmitt |
IS 052M |
Zachariah Plotkin |
IS 289M |
Jennifer Rogers |
IS 24R |
Christopher Rogers |
XP12 - PreK Ctr @626X |
Marc Cohen |
High Schools
School |
Chapter leader |
Eximius College Preparatory Academy (X) |
Shawn Tedrow |
Health Opportunities High School (X) |
Melody Niere |
Young Women Leadership School of the Bronx (X) |
Amy Nelson |
Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women (X) |
Damon Noland |
Brooklyn High School of the Arts (K) |
Timothy Evans |
Edward R. Murrow High School (K) |
Charlene Tuff |
El Puente Academy High School (K) |
Joseph Matunis |
James Madison High School (K) |
Maria Bucca |
Kingsborough Early College Secondary School (K) |
Michael Kullman |
Academy of Finance and Enterprise High School (Q) |
Jessica Herrera |
Civic Leadership Academy High School (Q) |
Janice LaVaute |
Energy Tech High School (Q) |
Donna Joyce |
Martin Van Buren High School (Q) |
Camille Toma |
Academy Software Engineering HS (M) |
John Bernor |
New York Harbor High School (M) |
Michael Vlahovic |
Susan Wagner High School (SI) |
Lillian Palladino |
District 75
School |
Chapter leader |
PS 396K |
Kim Schuler |
PS 811Q @ Marathon School |
Sarina Raffa |
PS 0993Q @ PS 208Q |
Lisa Viscovi |
District 79
School |
Chapter leader |
Brooklyn High School for Leadership and Community Service K616 |
Marcella Judkins |
Harlem Renaissance |
Joy Yearwood |
New Directions Secondary |
Michael Grant |
Functional Chapters
Chapter |
Chapter leader |
School Counselors Chapter |
Rosemarie Thompson |
Administrative Education Officers and Analysts Chapter |
Denise Williams Crawford |
About the Trachtenberg award
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Ely Trachtenberg emerged as a teacher leader in a time in New York City when workers regularly engaged in fierce political debates centered around trade unionism. Founding members and others around in the early years, said Trachtenberg's theoretical acumen, coupled with first-rate organizing skills, made him a force for our union. What he recognized from the start was the importance of creating and nurturing unionism at its most basic level: the school chapter.
He had been an auto worker and noted how relationships that developed on the shop floor became the seedbed of cooperation and solidarity. Later, as a teacher unionist, Trachtenberg stressed the active participation of the rank-and-file through frequent chapter meetings, newsletters and social activities — any activity that brought people together. Sadly, because of his untimely death at age 40, he never lived to see the fruit of his efforts bloom into the network of communications that chapters and the UFT have today. The chapters being honored today carry on the tradition he began and the future he envisioned.