Cara Matthews

Retired music teacher Emy Vanderpool wasn't ready to leave the world of education when health concerns forced her to step down. The UFT's Partners Through Experience program has offered a way for Vanderpool and other recnt retirees to stay connected to schools and help new teachers.

Scammers more often target retirees because they're more likely to have savings, good credit and less experience with technology. But retirees can sniff out whether a scammer is at work if they take heed of “the four p’s,” authorities say. Scammers use pretense, present a problem or a prize, pressure victims to act quickly and demand payment. 


Retired high school math teacher Mark Grashow supports the education of thousands of students in rural communities throughout Africa and the Middle East through the nonprofit he founded after retirement, the US-Africa Children's Fellowship.

A group of 2nd-graders at Manhattan's PS 163 take a trip through musical history at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, learning history, culture and how to scat sing like musical icons Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington.

New city legislation requires that city-owned property, including public schools, generate at least 100 megawatts of electricity from solar panels by 2030 and 150 megawatts by 2035. The bill is a boon for the environment, public health, affordable energy and union jobs, the UFT and other advocates for the law say.


Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed legislation to set a maximum classroom temperature of 88 degrees in public schools following a campaign led by the UFT and its state affiliate NYSUT. The new law takes effect in September 2025.


Educators at Boerum Hill School for International Studies in Brooklyn have banded together with students, parents and PTA leaders to demand the city reallocate classroom space being underutilized by a Success Academy charter school.

After a huge citywide push driven by school chapter leaders, more than 750 New York City public schools applied for funding to lower class sizes next school year.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew joined City Council Education Committee Chair Rita Joseph and other Council members outside City Hall on Jan. 30 to announce proposed legislation that would provide a recurring annual payment of $10,000 to full-time paraprofessionals.

The UFT honored the organizing efforts and successes of members thoughout the city as some 1,500 members, friends and families gathered at the New York Hilton Midtown on Nov. 3 to commemorate Teacher Union Day.