UFT Executive Board Minutes – Monday, November 4, 2024 (Submitted by Michael Shulman)

President’s Report – Mike Mulgrew expressed concerns about the national election and its impact on the schools. We must be mindful of the potential problems given the sharp divide in our society. This is true for staff as well as students. Superintendents are taking this very seriously and will all be in the schools tomorrow, along with all their staff to monitor there aren’t any incidents.

LeRoy Barr mentioned that UFT member Lisa North passed away. He asked Norm Scott to speak about Lisa and called for a moment of silence.

Question from Ed Calamia- What specifically are they on the lookout for. Mulgrew was again very vague but stated that there shouldn’t be any nonsense.

Open Mic Period – There was one speaker Martina M. who spoke about the new mandates and asked what the union was doing about reports that administrators were going around with check-lists. She also questioned the concerns the UFT has with the New York Health Act.

Reports from UFT Officers – Mike Sill spoke about class size. There is money to lower class sizes, hire additional staff. The point is to lower class size like the rest of the state.

Leo Gordan spoke about the program Perkins 5 to support technical education. Public hearings are starting next week. Most CTE CL’s know about this. Info will be in the CL Newsletter.

Victoria Lee stated that on Saturday the first ever Pension Expo was held to educate members who are looking to retire. Several speakers gave presentations in several different rooms. There was a great display in the exhibit hall of the fair and she thanked Joe Usatch. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive from our members. It required collaboration across various UFT departments.

Janella Hinds spoke about the Women’s March in Washington,  D.C. for women and non-binary people. She urged members to bring students to our Career Fair. She talked about the importance of exposing students to unions on February 15 at Lehman College.

Mary Jo Genese said the survey the UFT put out on special education had an 80% return rate. She announced that we will shortly start up our special education committee.

Geoff Sorkin – Mentioned the benefits enhancements that will start in November. Parental leave will be moved in-house.

Question Period-

Alex Jallot asked about what is happening with ATRs. Who do they go to for answers to their questions. Mike Sill explained he hasn’t gotten any questions on ATRs, in quite a while, since we are past the weekly rotations. They are supposed to be in the same school for one year, working under the same contract as every other member. If there is an issue or problem their CL is the first line of defense. Otherwise, “I’m the guy they go to.”

Illona Nanay – wants to follow-up on the point Martina spoke about in the Open Mike period.

Leroy Barr responded that there were many things that were not true that she (Martina) mentioned. He stated they were contrary to things discussed with Gustavo Rivera (co-author of the NYHA). Specifically he mentioned 3 concerns: 1) the NYHA as it pertains to the N.Y. State budget; 2) coverage for members who have moved out-of-state; and 3) the composition of the proposed panel to oversee the implementation of the Act. Basically, we have to make sure it makes sense.

Ed Calamia  asked about changes to TDA regarding the death of a spouse after the passing of NY Senate Bill S5728A, which “provides that a beneficiary of a deceased participant in the NYC teachers’ retirement system who dies on or after July 1, 2021 may not establish a tax deferred account.” Does the surviving spouse have to relinquish the TDA if their spouse passes away?

Tom Brown stated most states do not have a TDAB. UFT supported a bill that a surviving spouse can put the money into an inherited IRA. This offers much more flexibility. The UFT feels the spouse of a members would benefit much more from an inherited IRA. He stated that 79% of our members contributed to TDA.

Illona spoke about “curriculum stuff.” She said superintendents have gone roque. Districts are organizing. Can the UFT help with cross district organizing.

Mary Vacaro said the UFT has been raising serious concerns about these mandates. For example, the lack of books on the high schools level, the lack of teaching guides, etc. Regarding implementation guides- we have been arguing with them (DOE) and had some success fighting back. There are differences within each district.

Reports from Districts

Camille Eady- District 16 held tenure workshops with much success.

Pat Crispino applauded the AFT Pride Caucus and two others who made thousands of calls for Harris/Waltz.

Ariel Arroyo praised district 20 for hosting over 200 members at their tenure workshops.

Servia Silva spoke about the Making Strides campaign. Last year UFT raised about 100k, this year it’s up to 175k and could even hit 200k.

Rashad Brown spoke about how successful phone- banking went for Harris.

The Chapter Leader of the School Pyschologists stated that his members are happy with the new deputy chancellor.

Lamar Hughes reported that District 25 had a special ribbon cutting ceremony at a new campus school.

Vanecia Wilson reported on the number of calls from the report Pat Crispino made. Thanked everyone for the political action efforts on behalf of the Harris campaign. She acknowledged the success of the bus from Brooklyn to Pa. and the two buses the RTC organized to Pa. on behalf of the Harris campaign. She ended by saying there are a lot of lies about Prop 1 and urged everyone to vote YES.

Leroy Barr made special mention of the award on Teacher Union Day to 30 year Chapter Leader Michael Friedman.

He announced that the Special Order of Business tonight be postponed until our next UFT Executive Board meeting.

Submitted by Michael Shulman