We need your help to get out the vote for three important elections affecting UFT members that will launch/take place in the coming days. It’s time for CHANGE! As a union proud and union strong community, we must take back our union. We’ve seen way too many cuts to our healthcare and pension, and wages that lag behind inflation. Each one of these races challenges Michael Mulgrew’s dangerous establishment control over our beloved union. They are also vital in educating our union family about the crisis regarding health & pension benefits and about our struggles with sub-inflation rais ..read more

This article is posted with permission from the author. It was originally posted at: https://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com The deal to renew mayoral control The state budget was finalized on Saturday, more than two weeks late, and to the surprise of many, Mayor Adams was successful in getting Mayoral control renewed within the budget.  He did not get four years, as he and the Governor wanted, but he got two years, which flies in the fact of what nearly all the Legislative leaders had said about the importance of keeping school governance outside the budget.  As Sen. John Liu ..read more

Episode Summary Leonie shares a news update about the budget negotiations over mayoral control, school funding and compliance with the new class size law. Daniel shares his interview with educator, motivational speaker and rapper, Brandon Brown, also known as "Griot B", to talk about "School Yard Rap." Brown also discusses his inspiration, the importance of representation, and the impact the program can have on students. Episode Notes School Yard Rap Apple Music - School Yard Rap Chalkbeat New York: Albany extends mayoral control for 2 years, tweaking NYC’s education panel Leonie Haimson: Post ..read more

Episode Summary Daniel interviews PEP member Dr. Kaliris Salas-Ramirez and Leonie Haimson, co-host and Executive Director of Class Size Matters, about the their takeaways about findings, recommendations, and impact of the newly released NYSED report on mayoral control. Episode Summary NYSED Press Release - State Education Department Releases Report on Mayoral Control of New York City Schools The NYSED Report  ..read more

We are exhausted, but hopefully not permanently damaged, by Mulgrew’s decade and a half of pension and healthcare givebacks. Even while he shamelessly grandstands claiming that we are always winning somehow.  The truth is, we are in the struggle of our lives to try to FIX Tier 6 because more than 10 years ago he did nothing to STOP TIER 6. Lost in Mulgrew’s trademark verbal acrobatics and rhetoric about trying to FIX Tier 6, along with his snail’s pace, piecemeal lobbying campaign, is the fact that he dropped the ball. We’re here because he failed to organize us to use our collective unio ..read more

Saturday, April 13, 2024 The UFT holds spring chapter elections every 3 years and 2024 may turn out to be one of the more consequential elections in its over 6 decade history.  I've always maintained that chapter elections every 3 years are more important than the officer/exec board elections which also take place every three years, a year later than the chapter elections (spring 2025). Chapter elections can be precursors of possible weaknesses in the Unity machine. I always have hope that we will see some changes, hope that is often unfulfilled. But there are always glimmers.  Over ..read more

Episode Summary Leonie interviews Carol Burris, executive director of Network for Public Education and Julian Vasquez Heilig, education scholar at Western Michigan University, about the real truth behind on charter schools and the evolution of the Democratic party on this issue. Episode Notes Politico, Prominent New York charter group launches 7-figure ad buy to support pro-Adams policy https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/04/new-york-charter-group-pro-adams-policy-00150512 StudentsFirstNY Launches Seven-Figure Campaign to Extend Mayoral Accountability in New York City Schools https://ww ..read more

Less than 3 weeks ago, a member-driven group of union strong and union proud paras, along with other UFT members, launched a petition calling on union leadership and the City of New York to address their growing clamor for a living wage and a fair contract for New York City’s public schools’ paraprofessionals. This week, they’ve launched an online survey to measure the swelling discontent with the status quo and the lack of any meaningful action around these issues by UFT President Michael Mulgrew, his Unity leadership caucus and the Mayor Adams administration. The survey has gone viral. Sc ..read more

A bad week for the Mayor and the Chancellor, a really, really bad week. A four day weekend, Easter, you would think a quiet time and only one week before the Spring break. Wrong. The Chancellor had an announcement: The highly regarded Carolyne Quintana, the Deputy Chancellor for Teaching and Learning, the division in charge of the new Science of Reading initiative and the soon to be announced revision of the Algebra curriculum will be leaving at the end of the school year. A superintendency in another city?  No announcement as to where she is headed.  Next: the Division of Teaching a ..read more

There is an upcoming election for one of the three teacher trustees of our pension system (TRS) where working TRS members will have the chance to choose between the two candidates who are running (retirees can't vote). The election will be held in the schools on May 8, 2024. Why should you care?  Because the health and longevity of your pension relies on three teacher trustees along with two mayoral appointees, the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) president, and the NYC Comptroller overseeing all our investments. These seven officials are supposed to ensure that our pension is sound ..read more