Leigh Anderson

As part of its contract negotiations with the UFT, the DOE revised the 2023-24 school year calendar in late June to add four more days off for students and educators and issued calendars for the following two school years at the same time.

More than 1,500 new teachers signed their union cards at the opening day of the Department of Education’s annual New Teacher Week on Aug. 28. 


The UFT has initiated an outreach program to determine how the union can best support retired paraprofessionals. The Retired Teachers Chapter includes approximately 7,600 paraprofessionals.

Having a warm and inviting learning environment will help you connect with your students, especially those who are new to the school or even the country. Here are some suggestions for how to make your students feel welcome in your classroom from the start of the new school year.

Jennifer Figueroa believes that anyone can be an artist. And the Bronx native, now in her third year of teaching art at PS 178 in Co-op City, knows that an expansive definition of "artist" helps kids take pride in all kinds of creativity.

Priscilla Castro was elected on May 25 as chapter chair of the Paraprofessionals Chapter for the term ending June 30, 2024. Castro had been serving as interim chapter chair since Shelvy Young-Abrams retired in October 2022.

The UFT made an impassioned case for a city budget that fully meets the needs of New York City’s students at the union’s annual legislative breakfast with City Council members on April 25 at UFT headquarters.

Educators need the summer months to rest and recharge. But it’s also a good idea to fit in a few books about teaching when you have the time and mental space to absorb new information and reflect on your practice.

There was no foot-dragging on the way to PS 372 in Brooklyn on May 3. That morning, pre-K through 5th-graders enthusiastically pedaled and scooted their way to the Gowanus school on National Bike & Roll to School Day.

School secretaries were honored with awards, flowers and festivities at the union’s School Secretaries Awards Soiree on June 2. The theme of the evening was “resilience.”