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Council Speaker Christine Quinn, UFT President Michael Mulgrew, Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott and others pose with the new BRAVE poster

The teachers union and city are often portrayed as pushing each other around. Not today.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew and Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott shared a podium this morning to announce a new hotline for students to use to get advice about bullying. The hotline is the main initiative of BRAVE (Building Respect, Acceptance, and Voice through Education), a $50,000 anti-bullying campaign funded by the union and launched in conjunction with city agencies and the City Council.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said at the announcement that bullying had replaced grades and graduation as parents’ chief education concerns.

“The reality is if you poll parents right now, you ask them what keeps them up at night, you ask them what makes them worry about their child’s ability to excel in school, they’ll tell you bullying,” Quinn said.

When students call the hotline (212-709-3222) on weekdays between 2:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., the trained clinicians and mental health professionals who pick up will first evaluate their immediate safety and then help them construct a plan to confront their situation.

There will not be any direct communication with students’ schools because of the confidentiality issue. However, the Mental Health Association of New York City, who will be manning the hotline, will be tracking data about the number of student callers.

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