Kindergarten Teacher at P.S. 261 in District 15 Brooklyn

Running for Elementary School Executive Board 

I am a proud union member and chapter delegate.  I am a member of the MORE caucus and served on the MORE steering committee from 2020-2021. I became an activist in my second year at Hunter College in 2004.  I have been involved in organizing against racism and war, and in support of labor, immigrant and human rights since 2004 .  I have taught early childhood in the Department of Education for the past 8 years in Chinatown and Downtown Brooklyn and before that I taught at a Head Start in Washington Heights for 6 years.  Since becoming a member of the UFT I have helped organize my chapter and co-workers to demand fair school funding, smaller class sizes, and more counselors.  I have also been organizing for health and safety in my school and the DOE since the pandemic began in March 2020.  I have been involved in and helped to integrate the Black Lives Matter at Schools Week of Action at my school as well as organized staff development around LGBTQ+ inclusion and supporting Refugee students and families in our school.  I am the LGBTQ+ Liaison at my school. In my chapter I have helped to organize voting, opinion polls, and meetings and discussions to make sure that each member's voice and perspective is included even when our union leaders ignore them.  I am running with MORE and United for Change to make our union a democratic and member driven union where the rank and file actively takes part in decision making instead of being told what to do by our leadership. I am running because we need a union that fights for members rights, wages, and working conditions as well as smaller class sizes and more counselors to make our schools wonderful places flooded with resources for all students and families. Our union should fight for an end to high stakes tests and assessments and developmentally appropriate curriculum for early childhood. Our union needs to be a bottom up and democratic union that actively engages and encourages all members to organize in order to radically change the inhumane education system we work in.