MIKE FIORILLO
Newcomers HS, Delegate
Michael Fiorillo has been a an ESL and English teacher at Newcomers HS for over twelve years and has served as both Chapter Leader and Delegate, which is his current position. Before teaching he was an organizer and business representative for Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians, representing concert and club date musicians here in NYC. Prior to teaching he worked as a carpenter, cabinetmaker, construction laborer, bicycle messenger and slaughterhouse laborer, among other jobs. His first two years of teaching were more exhausting than any of them.
Michael was one of the first people to warn his colleagues about the dangers of mayoral control and charter schools, writing and speaking out at the Delegate Assembly and other forums. On the Executive Board he will stand up to defend and extend seniority, tenure, improved working conditions, rank-and file democratic unionism, increased professional autonomy for teachers, and against privatization in all its guises.
ARTHUR GOLDSTEIN
Francis Lewis HS, Chapter Leader
Arthur Goldstein has been a teacher since 1984, NYS certified in English, Spanish and ESL. For the last 16 years, he's taught ESL at Francis Lewis HS.
His avocation is education writing, and he's been published in the NY Teacher, the Daily News, the Queens Chronicle, the Whitestone Times, and the Riverdale Review. He also writes regularly at Gotham Schools.
As chapter leader of Francis Lewis since September, he's been remarkably successful in bringing attention to its unconscionable overcrowding. Over the last few months, Francis Lewis has been featured in not only the Times, the News, and the Post, but in multiple local papers as well.
Arthur has a 13-year-old daughter who wants to be a math teacher. He wants teaching to be a great job for her, just as it's been for him. That's why he's running for UFT Executive Board.
Arthur believes in reasonable class sizes, reasonable contracts, and improving, rather than closing, schools. He believes no teacher should be left behind, particularly if it's in the ATR pool. On the UFT Executive Board, he will be a strong advocate for these and other issues that real teachers care about.
JOHN LAWHEAD
Samuel J. Tilden HS, Chapter Leader
John Lawhead has worked in Brooklyn high schools since 1996. He has also worked in adult education. Currently, he is chapter leader at Tilden and a founding member of ICE and the Grassroots Education Movement. He organized two efforts to stop school closings, marched against union givebacks, budget cuts and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, submitted an affidavit in a lawsuit against the New York regents exams, gave testimony against school closings and mayoral control and is a reporter for the Chicago-based Substance newspaper.
PETER LAMPHERE
Bronx High School of Science, Chapter Leader
Peter Lamphere is a math teacher at Bronx Science, where he serves as Chapter Leader. He has worked on issues relating to professional treatment of new teachers, ending supervisory harassment, and rebuilding chapter participation and involvement. At the Delegate Assembly, he has advocated for greater union democracy and mobilization of the membership, as well as for a broader, social justice approach to unionism. For example, he has raised resolutions in support of the struggle of Puerto Rican teachers and for the Stella d'Oro strikers. He has taught all over the Bronx, at Taft HS and Columbus, where he helped mobilize the UFT chapter against overcrowding and closure. He writes on New York education and labor issues for Socialist Worker newspaper.
MARIAN SWERDLOW
Franklin D. Roosevelt HS, former UFT Delegate
Marian Swerdlow has been a Social Studies teacher at Franklin D. Roosevelt HS in Brooklyn for 20 years, and has 15 years’ experience as UFT Delegate. She was a founding member of Teachers for a Just Contract.
KIT WAINER
Leon M. Goldstein HS, Chapter Leader
Kit Wainer has taught social studies for 22 years. He's been active in Teachers for a Just Contract since 1992 and Chapter Leader at Leon M. Goldstein HS for 12 years.
