NEW YORK — A challenger has emerged to take on the powerful leader of New York City’s teachers union, fueled by growing dissent among retired and rank-and-file educators.
The Alliance of Retired and In-Service Educators — a coalition of three opposition caucuses that formed late last year — is set to announce Olivia Swisher, a teacher and chapter leader at M.S. 821 in Brooklyn, as their candidate to run against United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew in the union’s spring elections.
Michael Shulman, co-chair of the New Action Caucus and vice chair of the Retired Teachers chapter, will run for secretary. Aixa Rodriguez, an educator at Motion Picture Technical High School in Queens, is running for assistant secretary…