Tucked inside 100,000 Metro newspapers this morning is the teachers union’s latest advertising blitz — a one page newsletter titled “NYC public school parent.”
On the front page is a column by United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew, who asks parents to call their elected officials to prevent school budget cuts. There’s also a guide to summer activities for children, a feature about a school’s film project that was paid for by a UFT grant, and an interview with education historian Diane Ravitch who says Race to the Top “is headed in the wrong direction,” and city charter schools are diverting too much attention away from the district schools.
The newsletter appears to be a counterweight to the thousands of flyers sent out a few weeks ago by Education Reform Now — an advocacy organization that supports charter schools and the end of seniority-based layoffs.
A spokesman for the union said the newsletter (Volume 1, Number 1) is being put out on a trial basis and is the UFT’s first-ever parent publication.