Jessica Kim is a dedicated and passionate high school chemistry teacher with nine years of experience in New York City public schools. Currently teaching at Inwood Early College for Health and Information Technologies (IEC), a Career and Technical Education (CTE) high school, Jessica has also taught at Chelsea CTE High School (formerly Chelsea Vocational High School). Her career is marked by a strong commitment to unionism, STEM education, and building inclusive, supportive school communities.

Jessica has a robust history of union involvement. She currently serves as the Chapter Delegate at IEC, where she actively advocates for her colleagues and works to ensure educators’ voices are heard. Her role on the Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) involves leading staff professional development, supporting peers in the classroom, and contributing to initiatives that enhance school culture and teacher support. She believes that a strong, member-driven union is vital to creating a positive work environment and achieving meaningful contract improvements.

Her leadership extends beyond formal roles. Jessica reactivated the National Technical Honors Society (NTHS) chapter at Chelsea CTE High School and restarted the Student Council at IEC, demonstrating her belief in the power of community and collective action. She has also used her Instagram platform to educate and inform UFT members about their contractual rights, ensuring they have the tools to advocate for themselves and strengthen the union.

Jessica’s teaching philosophy is shaped by her background in STEM research and her experience teaching overseas in South Korea. She has partnered with programs like the BrainWaves neuroscience program and the Billion Oysters Project to bring real-world STEM experiences into the classroom. Her international teaching experience helped her develop effective strategies for building relationships with students, families, and colleagues, even across cultural and language barriers.

As Vice President of CTE, Jessica aims to amplify the voices of CTE educators within the UFT. She envisions a strong pipeline connecting middle schools to high schools to attract future CTE students. She advocates for experiential and experimental learning, stronger partnerships between middle and high schools, and increased awareness of CTE pathways.

Jessica is also focused on teacher evaluations and tenure policies. She proposes that after three years of demonstrated success through Measures of Teacher Practice (MOTP) and Measures of Student Learning (MOSL), teachers should receive tenure without unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles. She believes in a fair and transparent evaluation process, where UFT members evaluate administrators and the Department of Education with the same rigor as teachers’ evaluations.

Through her leadership, Jessica Kim strives to restore dignity to the teaching profession, ensure transparency in union decisions, and build a more member-driven UFT that truly represents the needs of CTE educators and students.