The United Federation of Teachers is calling on the city and state to invest more than $1 billion in federal aid to help public school students.
UFT has rolled out a five-point plan. Those points include:
- Creating teams of social workers and psychologists in each public school
- Smaller class sizes, especially in 100 of the city’s neediest schools
- The Department of Education to plan more in-person learning for students enrolled in summer learning programs
- The city to provide extra attention to high school students, including ninth graders who have not been given time to properly adjust to high school
- The city provide extra attention to college-bound seniors, who they say may feel like they are dealing with their next steps alone
The UFT has also developed a professional development program to help educators respond to stress.
"Let the people who teach children, let them lead the way in academic intervention, let the psychologists and social workers and guidance counselors guide us on what we need to do, if we need additional people to help with the clinical work, we need to have that in place now. We need the medical experts to tell us what schools should be looking like in September,” said UFT President Michael Mulgrew.