Making Small Class Sizes Real

The latest episode of the UFT podcast "On the Record with Michael Mulgrew" focuses on the successful community campaign to stop the city Department of Education from shoehorning Success Academy charter schools inside two public school buildings in southeast Queens. Mulgrew and Queens parent activist Adriana Alicea discuss how educators, parents and community members banded together to block the co-locations by spotlighting the harm to public school students and what the next battle will be.

The latest episode of the UFT podcast "On the Record with Michael Mulgrew" focuses on the city Department of Education's foot-dragging on the new state law requiring New York City to lower class sizes in its public schools. Mulgrew and education activist Leonie Haimson discuss how educators, parents and community groups need to push the DOE to implement the new law. The clock is ticking for the DOE to plan for September 2023, when the first 20% of New York City public school classrooms must meet the new class-size caps.

The most recent episode of the UFT's On the Record with Michael Mulgrew delves into two thorny issues for NYC public school educators: the DOE's high school admission process and its byzantine process for determining school budgets. Episode 3 also includes highlights from the Nov. 8 elections and some memorable moments from Teacher Union Day on Nov. 6.

The UFT podcast "On the Record with Michael Mulgrew" tackles two key issues for UFT members: the DOE-UFT contract and health care. Episode 2 opens with a briefing on efforts by the UFT and the other municipal unions to preserve premium-free health care for their members. And then two UFT officers who attended the union's first bargaining session with the city and the DOE walk us through what to expect as contract talks get underway.

The UFT podcast "On the Record with Michael Mulgrew" starts its fourth season with a deep dive into the new class size law signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul. UFT President Michael Mulgrew is joined by state Sen. John Liu, a major force in getting the law passed. And we will meet the 2023 New York State Teacher of the Year Billy Green, an innovative chemistry teacher from East Harlem. 

The UFT is restarting its podcast, "On the Record with Michael Mulgrew" on Sept. 22. We'll be talking about the new small class size law, the on-going fight against school budget cuts and stories about the great work UFT members are doing. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

If teaching during this pandemic has taught us anything, it's that lowering class size is integral to keeping education sustainable for us and our students. We have always known that reducing class size is fundamental to student achievement, teacher retention and equitable schools, but it's now also become an issue of public health. At last, the City Council is considering a proposed landmark bill that would reduce classroom occupancy limits — and lower class sizes in every school in the years to come. On this special edition of 'On The Record With Michael Mulgrew', we're sharing highlights from the UFT's Class Size Town Hall on November 15th, 2021.

In this episode of "On the Record," UFT President Michael Mulgrew outlines the union's five-point plan to use more than $1 billion in new federal COVID-19 relief funds to help New York City public school students overcome the pandemic's impact on their academic and social-emotional health. Mulgrew is joined by three city educators.

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer joins UFT President Michael Mulgrew at a recent UFT virtual Town Hall to talk about the new administration, flipping the U.S. Senate and how to leverage this change to provide public schools the resources they need to deal with the trauma of the pandemic.

In the latest episode of "On the Record," UFT President Michael Mulgrew joins UFT Vice President for Education Mary Vaccaro and Manhattan high school teacher Dominique Cistac to talk about the challenges of remote learning. This is part of an ongoing conversation about how to improve remote learning for both students and educators.