Jaime L. Ciffone was elected as Executive Vice President of NYSUT in April 2023. Jaime leads the Research and Educational Services Department and the Education & Learning Trust (ELT). She is also the union’s liaison to the New York State Education Department.
Ciffone is deeply committed to supporting and amplifying the voices of the nearly 700,000 educators and healthcare workers NYSUT represents.
Her role focuses on actively engaging with members to understand their experiences, challenges, and triumphs, ensuring their perspectives shape the union's initiatives for meaningful change within the educational community.
She believes educators are the experts in the profession and are key to creating policies that best support students. She has spearheaded statewide workgroups, such as the NYSUT’s More Teaching, Less Testing Task Force, which published a report of recommendations outlining the future of assessments and graduation measures in New York state; and The Future of Teacher Preparation Task Force to determine how the state can best prepare and certify aspiring educators.
Jaime also serves as a Vice President for both AFT and the AFL-CIO.
Prior to this role, Jaime was a New York City educator for more than two decades, including nine years teaching English as a New Language at a Pre K – 8th grade school in the northeast part of the Bronx.
She then served as a school-based literacy and instructional coach for seven years, partnered with the UFT Teacher Center. In 2017, she joined the Central Staff at the UFT Teacher Center supporting schools in the South Bronx as a Field Liaison. She also led the Human Resources team for the UFT Teacher Center and was a member of the State Leadership Teacher Center team.
Jaime has designed and delivered professional learning opportunities for teachers and paraprofessionals on both elementary and secondary levels. Her areas of expertise include Literacy, English as a Second Language, Early Childhood, Mentoring, and Teacher Leadership.
September 2025