New York TeacherApril 11, 2024
The mayor and the DOE have been reluctant to implement the state class size law. UFT members, standing together with parents, community members and students, will make sure this historic opportunity to make transformational change is not lost.
Cover Story
Our class size campaign this spring
The recent passage of state legislation to lower class size in New York City schools represents not just a policy shift but a profound affirmation of decades of research showing that smaller class sizes lead to better student outcomes.
This law is our collective opportunity to significantly enhance the quality of education for every child in our city. Yet this historic moment is at risk due to the reluctance of Mayor Eric Adams and the city Department of Education to implement the new law.
The state law requires that classes have a maximum of 20 students in kindergarten through 3rd grade, 23 in grades 4–8 and 25 in high school by September 2028. This school year, the first year of the law’s five-year phase-in, the DOE has declared 20% of classrooms citywide in compliance with the law without lifting a finger. But next September, the rubber…
Latest News
‘Follow the law’
A powerful Lobby Day
About 900 educators, along with 100 public school parents, made the three-hour trek by bus to Albany for UFT Lobby Day on March 11 to urge lawmakers to fix Tier 6 of the pension system, overhaul mayoral control of city schools and increase state foundation aid. That same week, thousands more UFT members sent emails urging their state representatives to support the union’s lobbying priorities as part of the UFT’s first-ever Virtual Lobby Day.
Feature Stories
A transformative experience
After a class trip to the DNA Learning Center in Brooklyn, high school juniors used fluorescent protein from tiny bioluminescent green jellyfish to create petri dish samples that would soon teem with glowing green dots.
With the help of DNA Learning Center educator Elna Gottlieb, the 27 juniors at Gaynor McCown Expeditionary Learning School transformed bacteria by introducing genes for antibiotic resistance and luminescence into E. coli samples. Back at their Staten Island school two days later, one of the four petri dishes each team created in the controlled experiment glowed green under ultraviolet light.
“It’s cool when the students see those results,” said Paraskevi “Kevi” Langis, who teaches their college…
At the top of his game
A recipe for success
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Member Spotlight
Kudos to Amanda Dutton, PS 134, Manhattan
Amanda Dutton, the chapter leader at PS 134 in Manhattan, has stood up again and again for students with disabilities and the UFT members who work with those students at her school.
Monique Scrubb, adult education teacher
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Retired Teachers News
Get ready, Get set, VOTE!
With the RTC leadership election coming up, I have asked Election Committee Chair Nina Tribble to write this month’ s column.
— Tom Murphy
GET READY: It’s time again for Retired Teachers Chapter elections. Every three years, RTC members vote to elect who they want to lead their chapter.
When the RTC elections took place three years ago, we were in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and had to make some modifications in light of pandemic restrictions. Today, we are in a better place.
The RTC bipartisan election committee — made up of Doreen Crinigan, Robert Greenberg, John Soldini and me — is overseeing this year’s election and using the standard procedures and processes used prior to the pandemic.
Our election committee was empowered to develop and publicize the rules of the election. We have completed that initial step. Our committee is overseeing a process that we believe is simple, straightforward and transparent in order to…
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