Blog Archives

UFT Tidbits 2/23/20

2/23/2020

Hello all,

Ever dreamed of becoming National Board Certified? Well, there is a scholarship for that. Yes, it's due pretty soon but even if you don't do it this year, maybe next year will be better!

National Board Certification Scholarship for Teachers
Teachers seeking their first National Board Certification may apply for an Albert Shanker Grant to help defray costs associated with the certification process. Candidates for the grant must be employed as a tenured, full-time teacher in a public school; hold a valid New York State teaching certificate; commit to and complete the entirety of the initial National Board for Professional Teaching Standards candidacy effort; and continue to be employed as a full-time teacher in a New York public school for at least one full school year following completion of the initial grant period. The application deadline is Friday, Feb. 28. Find out more information about the Albert Shanker Grant Program on the New York State Education Department website. To apply for the Albert Shanker Grant and for full eligibility requirements for National Board Certification, see the online application form.

0 Comments

UFT Tidbits 2/9/2020

2/9/2020

0 Comments

I'm sure by now in your lives you all recognize that health insurance is a crazy, snake-path-like, paperwork-driven piece of nonsense. That being said, we actually have some pretty good prescription drug benefits as part of the UFT. While health insurance is provided to us by the city of New York, almost all prescription drugs you get are provided in various forms by the UFT Welfare Fund.

We have some spectacular prices (like $1-$15 for drugs picked up at drug stores, generally, and $30 or $70 for 90-day supplies shipped to you from Express Scripts). Yes, the UFT recognizes it is super duper annoying to get the drugs shipped to you and they said they are working on it. But, even with that, they have kept costs down immensely. Also: sometimes you can get a last-minute override by calling the UFT Welfare Fund if you need to the drugs ASAP and can't wait for shipment.

There are some complications to keep in mind. While most drugs are paid for by the UFT Welfare Fund, there are a few that are paid from different cards that you are given. For example, "the city-administered PICA (Psychotropic, Injectable, Chemotherapy and Asthma) Drug Program" covers injectibles (including the EpiPen) and Chemo drugs (hence the name). And, by state law, diabetes drugs are covered by health insurance directly.

When in doubt, contact the UFT welfare fund for more information.

0 Comments

UFT Tidbits 2/3/2020

2/2/2020

0 Comments

Hello all,

Normally I send out some link of pieces of information from our Contract or the UFT website. This time I want to take a moment to point out the most important aspect of our union: you. When individual staff talk to one another about the issues that are of concern or positives to share, this allows the UFT to know more about where to allocate resources both inside our building and out. I appreciate all the times you share information with me and hope that you see the benefit of sharing with others as well. The more knowledge we each have about the contract as well as the goings-on inside our building, the better we can make the entire school for us and for our students.

Thank you!

0 Comments

UFT Tidbits 2/23/20

UFT Tidbits 2/9/2020

UFT Tidbits 2/3/2020

Author

Contact Me

Email Updates

Archives