VP for Special Education

MaryJo Ginese is the UFT’s vice president for special education. She earned a MS in Occupational Therapy from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and a BA in Sociology with a minor in African American studies from SUNY at Albany.

Trained as an occupational therapist with a specialization in mental health and school-based practice, MaryJo brings more than 25 years’ fierce advocacy and experience as a credentialed expert in health-related services, to her role leading the union’s special education division. MaryJo oversees and fights for the rights of members who instruct and provide support services to students with IEPs, including: special education teachers, hearing, vision, hospital and home instruction teachers, related service providers, paraprofessionals, school counselors, social workers and school psychologists, nurses, audiologists, sign language interpreters and supervisors of nurses and therapists. Her initiative to thwart mass changes to students’ Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) provided voice for educators and clinicians facing school administrator violating state law.

MaryJo approaches her craft with a deep belief in applying holistic pathways to address students’ needs, concentrating not only on academic achievement, but on the physical, psychological and social needs of the child, and family system. Throughout her career as a school-based clinician, MaryJo made an impact on New York City’s special education arena. She spearheaded several important therapy initiatives targeted to underrepresented and under resourced districts with highest shortages in clinical staffing, most notably in Harlem and the Bronx.

In 2007, when she assumed the role of supervisor of occupational therapists, MaryJo’s portfolio expanded revealing her core strengths: providing exemplary clinical support and professional development, while cultivating leaders. She recruited, hired and challenged therapists beyond their comfort zone positioning them for new roles such as, evaluators for assistive technology, or to also become supervisors — all while working collaboratively with IEP teams and administrators.

As the chapter leader of the Supervisors of Nurses and Therapists Chapter from 2011 to June 2018, MaryJo’s dedication to helping members understand the power of this union led Carmen Alvarez, the previous vice president for special education to tap MaryJo as her full-time assistant. As Vice President of Special Education, MaryJo strives to build unity and capacity at the school level by working closely with building chapter leaders and uft district representatives. By providing school and district union leaders with the proper tools to assess special education compliance helps to form a collective voice. Educator voice combined with knowledge of local and state special education regulations enable members to advocate for students’ mandated services and also their own contractual rights and resources.

She serves on the UFT Executive Board, the NYSUT board of directors and NYSUT health care committee where she lobbies on the state level for the union’s healthcare legislative priorities.

MaryJo engages members in multi-faceted ways, through school visits, focus groups, town halls and a special education committee Her activism as a trade unionist is an outgrowth of her passions and deep abiding faith: fighting for the underdog; rolling up her sleeves organizing and working alongside marginalized populations and communities where others choose to turn a blind eye. For MaryJo unionism is a calling both spiritual and professional — seeing the humanity in all — serving others.