Teachers union boss calls out Mamdani admin over embarrassing NYC school reading scores

Zo’s honeymoon with the teachers union is over.The boss of the influential teachers union called out Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration’s literacy initiative after more than half of city’s public school kids failed their reading proficiency exams.United Federation President Mike Mulgrew took aim at the NYC Reads program after the embarrassing showing by students in grades 3-5 on their state English Language Arts exam, showing a rift with the labor group and the democratic socialist mayor eight months into his term.The public salvo also comes while Mamdani weighs whether to sign or veto legislation to boost the pay of thousands of paraprofessionals — a promise he explicitly made at a press conference last year when the UFT endorsed him in his run for mayor.“The DOE [Department of Education] needs to make sure each school has a clear instructional plan,” Mulgrew said of the NYC Reads phase-in.“That means streamlining what schools are doing, making sure programs align, and eliminating unnecessary paperwork and assessments,” Mulgrew said.

“We’re not going to support it if they want to implement it the way they did this past school year.”City public school students in grades 3-8 saw a 6% drop in their ELA scores from last year, with just about half overall rating proficient.The mandated NYC Reads program started under former Mayor Eric Adams and was extended this year by Mamdani and his point man at the city Department of Education, Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels.In an interview with the Daily News, Mulgrew complained that supplemental programs added to the main literacy curriculum were a flop, a characterization that the DOE disputed.During a Thursday press event, Mamdani defended the reading program.“I continue to be confident in NYC Reads.And it is developed with the real findings of what’s been effective across the country in mind,” Mamdani said.“And we know that it is a critical thing that we equip our public school students wi...