UFT Admin
- Retired teacher
Carolyn Herbst, a 60-year UFT member who was passionately devoted to social studies education, died May 11, 2025, at the age of 81 from liver disease.
Carolyn, who retired in 2001 after 37 years as an educator, was tremendously active in multiple social studies professional organizations as well as with the UFT Capably Disabled Committee.
Carolyn “gave every ounce of energy, heart and strength to the UFT over the time that she was there,” said Rozella Clyde, Carolyn’s longtime union colleague and fellow social studies teacher. “Social studies educators around the country owe a debt of gratitude to the energy that she devoted to the profession and to the cause.”
Born, raised and educated in New York, Carolyn attended Hunter College HS and attained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Hunter College.
Her elementary school wanted to place Carolyn, who was born legally blind, in a separate class for blind students, but Carolyn’s mother “fought to keep her in regular classes,” said Linda Kurtz, Carolyn’s cousin. Carolyn would carry this advocacy forward through her work on the UFT Capably Disabled Committee, supporting members seeking accommodations in order to teach successfully.
Carolyn began working for the Department of Education as a substitute teacher in 1966. She taught 6th-grade science at JHS 22 in the Bronx before becoming a full-time social studies teacher in 1974. In 1976, she began teaching in Brooklyn at Harry Van Arsdale HS, followed by Sheepshead Bay HS in 1986. From 1992 until her retirement, Carolyn taught at Richard R. Green HS of Teaching in Manhattan.
She had an incredible passion for social studies and brought her travels to Asia, Africa and South America back into the classroom. “Carolyn collected photographs, artifacts and textiles, which she then incorporated in her teaching of social studies, especially geography,” said Kurtz.
Ollie Fields Thacker, co-chair of the Association of Teachers of Social Studies/UFT (ATSS/UFT) professional committee who worked closely with Carolyn, said that “she thought it was very important to create a classroom environment in which the students could understand history and social studies from not only a textbook, but a tactile experience.”
“Her whole life was the UFT, ATSS, New York State Council for the Social Studies and the National Council for the Social Studies,” said Kurtz.
Robert Dytell, a retired social studies teacher and former chair of ATSS/UFT and the Greater Metropolitan New York Social Studies Conference (GMNY), said, “When you asked Carolyn to do something, she got it done. There was no nonsense. It would have been impossible to do GMNY without her.”
She was known to work long hours at the UFT’s office, staying as late as she could before the building closed at 10 p.m. “Carolyn would call me the next morning and say, ‘They threw me out!'” said Dytell.
She was also well-known for writing resolutions and planning ATSS/UFT day trips to sites of historical and cultural significance, giving members the opportunity to network, share meals and learn together. In recognition of her many decades of work, Carolyn received the National Council for the Social Studies Outstanding Service Award in 2021.
Outside of her professional life, Carolyn valued time with her family, enjoyed traveling and also collected art, another one of her passions. Nyree McCray, who worked closely with Carolyn for almost 20 years as the UFT Professional Committees coordinator said that “Carolyn’s remarkable knowledge inspired in me a lasting appreciation for the arts and history.”
Kurtz noted that Carolyn was an educator until the very end. She went to museums with her health aides and encouraged them to learn about the exhibit and the artists before visiting “to be able to appreciate it more,” said Kurtz.
Carolyn is survived by her cousins, colleagues and friends.
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