Implement The Resolution on Diversity

September 26, 2011

Micheal Mulgrew, President
United Federation of Teachers
Local 2, American Federation of Teachers
AFL-CIO
52 Broadway
New York NY 10004
[email protected]

Dear Mr. Mulgrew,

We the undersigned union members, parents, grandparents, and responsible members of our school communities, are concerned by an unprecedented 42\% decline in new Black and Latino teachers hired by the New York City Department of Education since 2002.

We support efforts to reverse this trend and commend the attention given to this matter by the UFT Delegate assembly in their resolution of January 2011 which included the following:

RESOLVED, that the UFT demand that the New York City Department of Education rededicate itself to a policy of actively recruiting and hiring teachers of diverse backgrounds in order to reverse the downward trend of the last eight years in the percentages of African-American and Latino classroom teachers and to diminish the considerable gap between the numbers of African-American and Latino students and the numbers of teachers of color; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT use all its resources to compel the Department of Education to take
affirmative action to increase the numbers of teachers of color in its contracts with third party entities
engaged in teacher recruitment on its behalf; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT use all of its resources to compel the Department of Education and the third party entities engaged in teacher recruitment on its behalf to target recruitment at public universities such as the State University of New York and the City University of New York; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT lobby the Federal, State and City governments to develop and expand scholarships and other incentives to encourage and support college students in entering the educational profession; and be it further

RESOLVED, that in conjunction with the NYC Department of Education, the UFT encourage the development and expansion of future teacher programs in the NYC public high schools, and highlight education as a viable career path by encouraging its development through the use of financial supports; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT use all of its resources to compel the Department of Education to provide and expand its support for existing programs which produce large numbers of experienced and qualified African-American and Latino teachers - the career ladder program for para-professionals and the Success Via Apprenticeship program for aspiring Career-Technical teachers: and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT continue to combat the negative depiction of teaching and the teaching profession which can only result in turning away prospective teachers from our profession, and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT through its own efforts and in conjunction with the Department of Education persuade the Teach for America program to expand its pool of potential teachers to include more teachers of diverse backgrounds and advocate that both Teach for America and the NYC Teaching Fellows actively recruit more African-American and Latino teachers.

Public pressure to stop and reverse the disappearing of Black and Latino educators is needed now.

To this end we urge you to implement the January 2011 resolution and in so doing contribute significantly to the raising of awareness and solidarity in our school communities citywide. To this end we pledge our support and active participation with you to rapidly remedy this long festering crisis of the Disappearing Black and Latino Educator.