Functional chapters are so named because what unites these student-support professionals is their function rather than a worksite or a school. The chapters were formed to allow these UFT members with common issues and concerns to have a voice.

“There’s nothing that compares to in-person learning,” Kaplan says, “but I'm putting the same amount of energy and love into every session I create, whether in-person or remote.” In a challenging year, Kaplan points to rewards: speaking to parents more frequently, seeing skills carried over from school to home, and deepened relationships with colleagues.

UFT Vice President for Special Education MaryJo Ginese writes about how special education teachers and related service providers are figuring out how best to serve their students with disabilities amid the challenges presented by the pandemic.

In mid-March, all teachers were faced with the challenge of continuing to serve and support their students from a distance due to COVID-19. As a second-year speech teacher, I have struggled to figure out, with little training and guidance, how to translate a full schedule of face-to-face therapy into a full schedule of tele-therapy.

In mid-March, all teachers were faced with the challenge of continuing to serve and support their students from a distance due to COVID-19. As a second-year speech teacher, I have struggled to figure out, with little training and guidance, how to translate a full schedule of face-to-face therapy into a full schedule of tele-therapy.

As part of a speech literacy initiative launched by the Department of Education in 2014 in about 150 schools, Marjorie James pushes into the kindergarten Integrated Co-Teaching class at the East Elmhurst Community School three times a week and works closely with its teachers.