Union leaders and representatives from the union’s private, nonprofit and Department of Education functional chapters gathered at union headquarters on Jan. 16 to kick off a new union initiative intended to showcase and amplify the work of members in the diverse titles and collective bargaining units in the UFT.

Workers’ compensation is insurance paid for by the employer. It covers medical costs associated with an on-the-job injury or illness, and it pays a portion of lost salary if you miss work. Full- or part-time paraprofessionals, occupational and physical therapists, school nurses and administrative employees are all eligible for it if they are injured on the job.

In her role as a diabetes nurse educator, school nurse Lorraine Dolengo-Santiago teaches fellow school nurses, students, parents and educators in the Bronx how to manage diabetes in school.

The roughly 5,500 UFT members who belong to the smaller New York City Board of Education Retirement System want the opportunity to switch to the TRS — and there is a bill in Albany that would give them that choice.


The UFT School Nurses Chapter celebrated the "hidden figures" of the city's schools with its annual School Nurses Appreciation Dinner. Held on May 8, which was also National School Nurse Day, the event was a time to "go all out," Chapter Leader Cynthia Bennett said.