Kristin Golat-Defendis, the chapter leader at MS 51 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, stood up to an abusive principal. On Jan. 30, 2023, the principal was transferred out of the school.

David Ephross secured much-needed bathroom repairs at PS/IS 308 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, after repeated requests to the principal were unheeded.

Jenna Marrazzo, a second-year teacher at PS 42 on Staten Island, stepped up in her first year on the job to support and advise the school's newly invigorated student council, which had gone dormant during the pandemic.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew warned at the Oct. 12 Delegate Assembly that the UFT and its fellow unions are entering a fierce battle to protect their premium-free health care. 

The city’s superintendents gathered at UFT headquarters in early October. UFT Vice President for Special Education MaryJo Ginese said the union made it clear to them at this introductory meeting that when special education compliance issues are brought to their attention, the UFT will be checking in to make sure they’re working in earnest to solve the problem.

City officials entered Shanker Hall on Oct. 13 for their first negotiating session with the UFT to face the 500 members of the union’s bargaining committee all dressed in union blue in an impressive display of solidarity and strength.