Furious educators are uniting in disgust against the union’s sponsorship of the Rev. Al Sharpton’s anti-cop rally on Staten Island — including a teacher married to an NYPD sergeant who called it a “slap in the face.”
“It sends a really twisted message to kids. We’re supporting something where a criminal was resisting arrest,” Kristine McCabe, who teaches in Queens, told The Post of Saturday’s march.
“You’re giving them a mixed signal about crime and authority.”
McCabe’s anger at the United Federation of Teachers came amid a mounting campaign to force out union boss Michael Mulgrew over his support of the protest.
An online petition calling for his resignation approached 900 signatures on Monday night.
“Mulgrew is dragging me UNWILLINGLY into the current racial and police issues and aligning me with Rev. Sharpton!,” petition organizer and Staten Island teaching assistant Diane Morgan-Gattullo wrote.
“I am an educator not an activist and I serve the needs of all students! Shame on you Mulgrew!!!”
Saturday’s rally over the chokehold death of Eric Garner during an arrest for selling loose cigarettes is expected to draw up to 15,000 marchers on Staten Island.
As first reported by The Post, the teachers union has sent out an “action alert” promising free buses from Brooklyn to the staging area.
McCabe said that she and her husband, Terence, “are not going to let something like this come between us, but it’s a slap in the face from my union.”
She said the rally “has nothing to do with education itself. We should stick with our own education issues.
“In September, we’re going to be looking at safety officers in our school buildings . . . and have to apologize to them because our union went against them,” she said.
McCabe, 32, is among hundreds of teachers who posted messages to the UFT’s own Facebook page to rip the union for backing Sharpton’s “We Will Not Go Back March.”
“The bottom line is this: how dare the UFT align themselves with Al Sharpton,” wrote teacher Brenda Christine.
“I don’t enjoy finding out about this from the NY Post! I am embarrassed of my membership in the UFT. This march is not about unity. Why doesn’t the UFT rally to openly support the PBA? Mulgrew has to go!”
The UFT declined to comment.
Sam Pirozzolo, parent president of the Staten Island Community Education Council, said it was “shocking” that Mulgrew allowed the UFT logo on a flier that directed marchers to meet at the site of Garner’s “murder.” That word has since been taken out.
The Garner chokehold on July 17 was caught on a cellphone video and has sparked outrage around the city.
His death was ruled a homicide by the city Medical Examiner’s Office — and Officer Daniel Pantaleo is on modified duty while the Staten Island DA’s Office investigates.