Feb. 27, 2025
SERVING UP EXCELLENCE: Honoree Neil Syham, a culinary arts teacher at Francis Lewis HS in Queens, celebrates with his daughter at the UFT CTE Awards at the Sheraton Hotel on Feb. 26.
This Week's Focus
Get ready for virtual Lobby Day the week of March 10
UFT Lobby Day is on Monday, March 10, in Albany. As we did last year, we are organizing a virtual Lobby Day in our school chapters that same week to amplify our call to lawmakers to fix Tier 6, revamp the Foundation Aid formula and support our other legislative priorities. Check out the toolkit in this Lobby Day resource folder for all you need to make your school's virtual Lobby Day a success. Together, we'll make sure those in Albany can't ignore us. Every tweet, every email counts. Let's be heard loud and clear.
ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE:
- Pick your day: Choose your Day of Action during the week of March 10 and invite your members to a chapter meeting to learn about and participate in Lobby Day.
- Show your colors: Wear union blue that day and share photos online.
- Be heard: Send our email message to your state reps asking them to support our 2025 legislative priorities.
- Connect and share: Engage with our community on social media. Share why our legislative priorities matter to you and your students. Tag your state reps in posts asking them to support these priorities in the state budget due on April 1. Don't forget to also tag the UFT and use the hashtags #UFTLobbyDay and #FixTier6. Send your best photo (with caption information) to uftphotos@gmail.com.
Wear RED on March 4 to support the AFT's "Protect Our Kids" national Day of Action
The AFT is calling on its members to:
- Mobilize locally to defend public schools and the vital services they provide to children and families.
- Urge federal representatives not to cut taxes at the expense of public schools and to oppose education funding cuts.
- Push state leaders to say NO to block grants and NO to cuts in federal aid for schools.
ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE:
Ask members to wear red to school on Tuesday, March 4. Print one of these AFT signs or make your own and take a group photo. Send it to uftphotos@gmail.com with caption information.
If your school chapter organizes an action that the community can join, register your chapter's action so it appears on the AFT's event listing.
Apply for a fall study sabbatical by March 20
UFT members who are teachers may apply for a sabbatical leave to enhance their teaching skills. Eligible teachers have until Thursday, March 20, to submit an application on SOLAS for a fall study sabbatical for the 2025–26 school year. March 27 is the deadline for a principal's recommendation to the superintendent. Coursework must be rigorous and related to a member's teaching assignment. All teachers are eligible for a one-year study sabbatical after 14 years of service. Junior high or high school classroom teachers with seven years on the job may also apply for a six-month study sabbatical for the spring semester only. During a study sabbatical, whether six months or a full year, teachers earn 70% of their salary. Throughout the year, eligible teachers may also apply for a sabbatical leave to restore their health if they are ill. During a yearlong sabbatical for restoration of health, teachers earn 70% of their salary, too. Find out more in the sabbatical leaves section of the UFT website. Members can read the current guidelines and eligibility requirements in the DOE sabbatical memo, which the DOE updates and reissues each spring, and Chancellor's Regulation C-650 on Sabbatical Leaves of Absence.
Chapter Leader Checklist
To Do #1
Attend Lobby Day in Albany on March 10
Let your UFT district representative know if you or others in your school chapter are interested in participating in UFT Lobby Day in Albany on Monday, March 10. Once a UFT member has registered for Lobby Day, they must obtain approval from their principal. You can advise your principal that the Principals Digest states: "Note that this day is authorized as a conference day for selected teachers and as a nonattendance day for selected paraprofessionals. You may receive a request from your UFT chapter leader or district representative to release staff members who have been selected. Staff members may also notify you directly that they have been selected and request permission to attend; note that they must obtain your permission and they must have been selected by the UFT in order to attend the conference." Please make sure that members understand that anyone who formally registers for Lobby Day but does not attend must report for work or use a CAR day. If you have any questions, please contact your district representative or your borough's political action coordinator.
To Do #2
Mark the UFT's 65th anniversary at your next chapter meeting
Sixty-five years ago — on March 16, 1960 — the UFT was founded. It's an important moment to reflect on where we came from, how the union's founders bravely fought for the rights we have today, and how we are part of a historical continuum of struggle for dignity and respect in the workplace. If you celebrate this milestone in the union's history with a cake or card, please send a photo to uftphotos@gmail.com so we can share it on social media.
To Do #3
Post "All Are Welcome" placards at your school
As educators, we want to make sure our immigrant students feel safe when they are with us in school. The UFT has designed placards that incorporate the monarch butterfly, a common symbol of migration. Placards can be printed and posted in classrooms and other spaces to let all students know that they belong. Don't have access to a color printer? A black-and-white version is in the works.
Download and print the placard
To Do #4
Collect signatures for our paraprofessional petition
At your next chapter meeting, talk about our effort to give paraprofessionals an annual "RESPECT check" of about $10,000 and the importance of standing with paraprofessionals in the campaign to convince the City Council to pass the proposed legislation. Ask every member of your chapter to sign our petition and share it widely on social media with their friends and families.
To Do #5
Purchase order available for our Spring Education Conference
Our Spring Education Conference will take place this year on Saturday, May 17, from 7:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. at the New York Hilton. School chapter leaders, in conjunction with their school leadership team, can use this school purchase order to buy a table for members at their school. Regular registration will open shortly. The purchase order deadline is Wednesday, April 30.
To Do #6
Purchase order available for our Early Childhood Conference
If your school has 3-K to grade 2 classes, ask your school leadership team to consider buying a table at our Early Childhood Conference on Saturday, April 5, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at UFT headquarters. School leadership team members may use a school purchase order to attend this event. Contact Glen Lopez at glopez@uft.org for more information about purchase orders. See the conference brochure for workshop topics, the day's agenda and other information.
To Do #7
Flyers to share with your members
Here are flyers you can print and distribute in member mailboxes or post on your school's UFT bulletin board:
Hub Highlights
File a Step 1 grievance from the hub
As chapter leader, you are empowered to resolve many issues at the school level through consultation. But when consultation fails, filing a Step 1 grievance may be the next best option. You have easy access to the online Step 1 grievance form on the Chapter Leader Hub. After submitting the grievance in the hub, email or hand a copy to your principal to complete the filing. You can now export your school's grievance report from the hub as well. Remember, you can access the hub using your UFT website username and password.
Work in progress
The UFT is tackling the following issues with the DOE and other city, state and federal-level entities as appropriate:
- Ensuring that paraprofessionals who want to take advantage of the release-time provisions in the Career Training Program to earn college credits are able to do so.
- Working with the DOE to finalize decisions on the class-size funding applications from schools.
- Continuing to push the DOE to respect teachers' autonomy to modify and adapt curriculum to meet their students' needs.
You Should Know
Instruction
Consider a midyear professional conversation
Midyear professional conversations are an opportunity for teachers and their evaluators to reflect on a teacher's growth and need for additional support from the school leader during the cycle of observation, reflection, feedback, support and development. These conferences are optional for teachers who do not have a Teacher Improvement Plan (TIP). Teachers who would like to hold a midyear conversation should see their principal or assistant principal. The deadline for midyear professional conversations is April 30.
Nominate a colleague for a UFT middle school award
This year, the union is hosting its first-ever in-person Middle Schools Awards celebration on Thursday, May 15, to honor exceptional educators who foster positive and inclusive environments in which students thrive both academically and personally. Please help us recognize these remarkable educators by nominating a middle school colleague for one of our awards. Read the full description and criteria for each award. Please submit a separate nomination form for each member you wish to nominate. The nomination deadline is Friday, March 14.
Tell us about an interesting classroom at your school
Is there a classroom in your school you admire for its décor, innovative organization or elements to spark students' curiosity and learning? We want to highlight these classrooms on Instagram and for the Inside My Classroom feature in the New York Teacher Building Your Career section for newer teachers. If a teacher in your school has done something special with their classroom to inspire student learning, use this online form to tell us about it or submit a photo. Here's the Inside My Classroom archive so you can see what we've highlighted in the past.
Medical & Wellness
Enhanced hearing aid benefit takes effect on March 1
Effective March 1, members enrolled in the UFT Welfare Fund who purchase hearing aids will be reimbursed up to $4,000 every three years, up from $1,500. For those who have experienced hearing loss, hearing aids can be life-changing. But hearing aids have become increasingly expensive, given the cutting-edge technology they incorporate. The UFT Welfare Fund has a larger hearing aid benefit for its members than most other city unions, but we realized that the benefit was not keeping pace with the rising cost. The UFT Welfare Fund's hearing aid benefit includes a comprehensive audiological evaluation, ear impression and required visits for the proper fitting/use of the hearing aids. The member should first verify their eligibility for the hearing aid benefit. Then, they must pay the full cost of the hearing aid and submit the original paid receipt to the UFT Welfare Fund for reimbursement. Starting March 1, members can call the UFT Welfare Fund's forms hotline at 212-539-0539 to request a new hearing aid certificate for the enhanced benefit.
Special Education
Help special education teachers prepare for summative conferences
At the union's Special Education Town Hall on Feb. 24, the union shared valuable information with special education teachers about teacher evaluation and preparing for the end-of-year summative conferences. The presentation materials are available in the Students with Disabilities section of the UFT website. Of particular note are the last three slides of the summative conference presentation, where chapter leaders can learn how their school community can gain access to and training on the Read & Write toolbar extension. Read & Write is a powerful tool that provides equitable access to all curricula for students with and without disabilities through features such as text to speech, word prediction, written and pictorial dictionaries, language simplification and translation.
Everything Else
UFT mobile app now available in the Google Play store
UFT members with Android devices can now access the UFT's new mobile app. The app has been available in the Apple store since September 2024. The UFT app enables members to easily connect with the union and access member-only resources and information through the UFT Member Hub. UFT members can use the app to access special member-only discounts on entertainment, dining, travel and more. Members may also see how many Union Power Points they have, find contact information for union departments, services and programs, and consult the union's in-depth "knowledge base," a bank of frequently asked questions and answers about union rights and benefits.
Recent Guidance and Agreements
- DOE Payroll Memo No. 8 January 2025 Commuter Benefits Deductions (December 2024)
- DOE Payroll Memo No. 9 Tax Changes Effective Jan. 1, 2025 (December 2024)
- DOE Personnel Memo No. 3, Updated Guidance on COVID-19 Excused Absences (October 2024)
Contact the UFT
- DOE members, call 212‑331‑6311.
- DOE functional chapter members, call 212‑331‑6312.
- A health benefit question? Call the Welfare Fund at 212‑539‑0500.