Enhanced student achievement based upon high standards and expectations must be the driving force behind every activity of New York City public schools. To accomplish this, we must reinvent schools so that decision making is shared by those closest...

Every three years, UFT members vote for chapter leaders, delegates and paraprofessional representatives. For this election cycle, we are reverting to the pre-pandemic election procedures that were in place for decades. See some answers to common...

Public schools in New York city may hire external teachers (not currently employed by the Department of Education) in certain license areas and are restricted in others.

When nearly 4,000 paraprofessionals were threatened with termination in the spring of 2009 for failing to meet certification requirements, the UFT went into high gear to save their jobs. The union held informational meetings in 940 schools and in...

The Delegate Assembly approved resolutions to support paraprofessionals' fight for a living wage and better benefits; acknowledge the work of the union's founders on the UFT's 64th anniversary; and honor the impact that women have had on the union.

After years of advocacy by the UFT, paraprofessionals will be included in the Teacher’s Choice program for the first time this school year.


Special classes offer different levels of staffing intensity depending upon the intensity of a student's academic and/or management needs.

A Herculean effort by the UFT helped turn the largest-ever shortage of New York City public school paraprofessionals into a record number of new paras joining the ranks.

An administrative law judge has ruled that Bronx teacher Brenda Cartagena had been the victim of retaliation by her school’s principal for standing up for her members’ rights as school chapter leader.