AFT Mourns the Death of Sandra Feldman
Form president was lifelong advocate for children and school employees

Former AFT president Sandra Feldman, a lifelong trade unionist, civil rights activist and advocate for strong public schools, died Sept. 18 at age 65 following a three-year battle with breast cancer.

“Sandy’s death is a great loss for the AFT personally and professionally, and for the children of our nation,” said AFT president Edward J. McElroy. “She was a leader without comparison and will be remembered for her vigorous commitment to better the lives of the teachers and school staff she represented and the children they served. Presidents, members of Congress, educators and business leaders relied on her expertise and ideas to help forge their own opinions on how to help those who needed it most.”

When Feldman was elected AFT president in 1997 after the death of Albert Shanker, she became the first female to lead the union since the 1930s. She and Shanker were key to the successful organizing of paraprofessionals and school secretaries into the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), the AFT’s New York City affiliate that both of them headed before leading the national union. That vision for expanding the union spread across the country, and the AFT PSRP division grew and thrived under her leadership.

Born in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn and educated in New York City’s public schools, Feldman’s working-class roots shaped her lifelong commitment to expanding educational opportunity, serving the needs of disadvantaged youngsters and fighting for more resources in urban schools. Her long-standing commitment to social justice dated back to her involvement with the early civil rights movement, both in New York and nationally, when she was arrested during the Freedom Rides and other protests in the 1960s.

“Sandy’s whole life was centered around making life better for children and for people who work in schools,” said Lorretta Johnson, an AFT vice president and PSRP chair. “She never forgot her own background, and she extended her hand to pull others up with her.”

A former teacher and UFT chapter leader at P.S. 34 in Manhattan, Feldman rose through the ranks of the union to executive director, a post in which she supervised all aspects of the union’s work. In 1983, she was elected secretary of the UFT, the union’s second-highest office, and was elected president in 1986, succeeding her longtime mentor and friend Albert Shanker.

Among her key initiatives as AFT president was a call for universal access to preschool for children, which she championed at the AFT’s QuEST conference in 2001. A year later at the union’s 2002 convention, she outlined the first step toward achieving this, urging Congress to provide funding for a “Kindergarten-Plus” initiative that would help schools offer an extended year of kindergarten for disadvantaged youngsters to help close the achievement gap.

A strong and growing professional union movement also will be part of the Feldman legacy. During her tenure as president, the AFT passed the 1 million-member mark and grew by more than 365,000 new members—the largest growth in a seven-year period in the union’s history.

The former AFT president was remembered by AFT secretary-treasurer Nat LaCour as an “outstanding” unionist and leader who was “truly respected by all the people she came in contact with, both nationally and internationally.” Union executive vice president Antonia Cortese praised Feldman’s “commitment and optimism,” her belief in public service and “her love for the UFT and AFT.”

Many remembrances of Feldman, from labor, political and civic leaders, are posted online at www.aft.org/news/2005/condolences.htm.