President’s Message... Volume 25 No. 1 Welcome back from what I hope was a wonderful summer. Now that Open House is behind us and the weather is turning cooler, it really feels as if the school year has started and I’d like to take a moment to wish you all an excellent year. STAnd United I know you are aware that our contract expired in June. I realize that this fact has made some of you uneasy and is frustrating for some as well. The negotiations committee has been busy continuing the negotiations process. As I mentioned in my emails to you, we continue to make progress. In my latest email I stated: "Many members have expressed that they want to take some sort of action. If the negotiating committee felt that this would strengthen our negotiating position, then we would absolutely take that approach. However we are unanimous in our opinion that any perceived action on our part would negatively impact the strides we have made thus far." Nothing has happened since that email which changes that statement. I thank you for your continued patience and understanding. If you are not receiving my emails, please send your non-school email address to me at [email protected] and I will make sure you are added to the distribution list. This year I am asking every member of the STA to commit to at least two new union related activities that you haven’t done before. Some examples of this are: • Joining PTA • Attending a Board of Education Meeting or PTA meeting • Attending the building level STA meetings • Attending the NYSUT phone bank on October 15th (look for more information in this newsletter) • Attending the November 3rd General Membership Meeting • Voting in the November 4th election. Go to https://mac.nysut.org/endorsedcandidates to see which candidates, support New York's students, teachers and public schools. • Participating in the annual STA Turkey Basket Drive by donating your time, money and/or food donations. (Contact Mark Hanik at [email protected] for more information. Be sure to include STA Turkey Basket in the subject line.) Working together makes us all stronger. Unions continue to be under fire as the lawsuits filed in New York about tenure clearly indicate. See Tenure Talking Points in this newsletter. If we don't educate the public regarding the truth about tenure, all they will hear are the untruths that corporate reformers continue to perpetuate. As a reminder, our General Membership Meeting is being held on Monday, November 3, 2014 at the H.B. Thompson Middle School cafeteria. I look forward to seeing you all there. In Unity, If you hold a Professional certificate, you must complete 175 hours of professional development (PD) every 5 years. Check your individual record on TEACH annually to ensure that the hours reported reflect your records. Note, the first professional development period begins on July 1 following the effective date of the certificate. All professional development activities taken as an individual, i.e., a course at the TRACT Center, must be entered by the staff member in the Staff Dev Log. Other activities such as scoring the NYS assessments must also be entered by the faculty member, as neither the District nor the building would do so. Other examples of activities that should be entered in the My Learning plan include: Pre & Post observation discussions, Collegial observations, Post-graduate or in-service coursework (Only graduate courses may be taken online), attending workshops or conventions, Guided reading, attending workshops provided by prof associations, working with consultants, experts who come into the school or classroom to provide staff dev of specific teaching strategies or curriculum content, acting as a mentor or peer-coach, writing curriculum, providing instruction for a prof dev activity, serving on a statewide or national committee or board dealing with any issue relevant to prof dev, serving on district-wide or school committees or boards dealing with any issue relevant to prof dev, attending any faculty or C.S.E. meeting, serving as a mentor or intern. Clicking on Staff Dev Log will access the form. Record your hours here. You do not need to enter hours for any group activities such as for department, faculty meetings, or Superintendent’s Conference days. MyLearningPlan.com must be used to log professional development hours and to file requests for approvals before you attend a conference or course. Please refer to the User Instruction Guides that were given to you in September. When requesting approval for a conference or course you must:  File the request before the activity date - Enter all costs associated, including mileage.  Submit form and then check online to confirm the activity has been approved and now appears in the Approved and In Progress section of the portfolio.  Mark Complete the activity after participating in the conference or course. Staff will not be able to receive credit unless this step has been completed.  Enter actual costs. If requesting reimbursement follow the instructions below:  1. Submit a completed request for reimbursement form 2. Submit receipts for expenses 3. Attach a copy of MLP activity form - marked complete with actual expenses listed Send Transcript - Upon completion of course or degree Send transcript or conference/course completion certificate of Dr Streitman Meeting Notice . . . Syosset Teachers’ Association General Membership Meeting HB Thompson, Middle School Cafeteria Monday, November 3, 2014 Page 2 3:45 p.m. Te nu re Ta lk ing Po int s Changes Source: NYSUT Media Relations The Issue The recent attacks on tenure — such as the legal case now before a California appeals court, the lawsuit filed by a group of students on Staten Island and another in New York by a right-wing front group headed by former television celebrity Campbell Brown — are utterly without merit and simply nothing more than an all-out attack on the fundamental labor rights of working people by the wealthy elite and anti-union forces. NYSUT will mount an aggressive and vigorous challenge to any attempt to strip New York's dedicated teachers of this essential and fundamental right — which is a vital safeguard ensuring quality education, academic freedom and classroom stability. Where We Stand Tenure does not mean a job for life. Nor does it protect bad teachers. Tenure simply means that a teacher cannot be terminated for cause without having formal charges presented and without the fundamental right of due process, which ensures a fair hearing. Tenure is also a protection that must be earned. Under the law, teachers must prove themselves by serving a probationary period of three years. Tenure helps safeguard children's ability to receive a quality education and ensures classroom stability because it provides teachers the freedom to advocate for their students without fear of reprisal. Blaming low-student achievement on teacher tenure — (a meritless claim that is not supported by any evidence) — is like blaming the due process granted to police officers for crime, and blaming the due process granted to firefighters for fire. New York's teacher tenure law was amended in 2012. Now, all hearings, by law, must be resolved within 155 days from the point in which formal charges are presented against a teacher. Note, 84 percent of discipline cases brought against teachers were resolved before ever reaching the hearing stage. Teachers' unions do not negotiate tenure. The real reason some of our public schools are struggling is poverty. The wealthy elite and anti-union forces are missing-in-action in critically important battles such as fighting for state budgets that ensured equitable and adequate funding for all schools and in opposing the state's tax cap. The obscene profit-motivated attacks on the rights of working people in places like CA and NY are why America no longer has the world's largest middle class. Fundamental rights for workers are essential to a decent standard of living in NY state. And fundamental rights for teachers are essential to fairness and defending what students need. NYSUT Phone Bank As Election Day approaches NYSUT members will be making pre-election phone calls from the NYSUT Nassau Regional Office. Please urge everyone to get involved. Volunteer for the phone bank and get others to do so. Date: October 15, 2014 Place NYSUT Nassau Region al Office, 1000 Woodbury Road, Suite 214, Woodbury, NY 11797 If any of the following changes occur: your name, address, telephone number, marital status, number of family members, etc., you must register your new information by contacting the appropriate offices: 1. Main Office in your home building 2. Personnel - Ms. Deborah Mawad - ext 1980 3. Health Insurance - Ms. Karen Fem minella- ext 5664 4. Life, Dental, LTD—Ms. Karen Femminella- ext 5664 5. STA Trust Fund & NYSUT Benefits - Donna Stanziani - ext 5784 All changes must be conveyed to the insurance companies. This can only be accomplished by communicating with the above offices. Take a few minutes to call or write and send your information regarding the changes you wish to make. REMINDERS: Next STA Rep Council October 9, 2014 *** NYSUT Phone Bank October 15, 2014 ... Making Strides Walk-a-thon October 19, 2014 (Please return T-shirt orders, schoolwide collections, and walker registration forms to Debra Puccio @ STA office, HBT Middle School) Time: 3 p.m.—6 p.m. Your Employee Assistance Work/Life Program (EAP) provides support for a variety of personal and professional concerns including emotional well-being, family and relationship issues, job-related difficulties, substance abuse and others. Trained professional counselors are available 24/7. Your EAP can help. Call 800-833-8707 for a free and confidential consultation. Rep Council Notes... Last Meeting: 9/11/14 South Grove South Woods Middle School Approval of Goals Treasurer’s Report Political Action Wellness TRACT REC President's report Bridget Perlmutter Carol Zweilich Cathy Bozza Christine Payne Sean Kiernan Syosset High School Michele Webb Joanne Neary Beth Schettino Rep. Council Attendees: Village Dr Rafael Dueñas Allyson Giles Jennifer Lamond Eileen Hoffman Rosemary Jones Michelle Potvin Caroline Polatsidis Baylis Stacey Balducci Gordana Martinovic Walt Whitman Debbie Smith Candace Nupp Marcy Eager Berry Hill Michele Strauss Mary Hendrickson Robin DiMaggio Jennifer Gustafson Jodi Beckoff Registered Nurse Courtney Orphanos Willits Susan Murphy Jody Miller Robbins Lane Susan Gallagher REC Linda Blanchfield Lisa Funk Fritz Weinrich Angela Alfred Elissa Wagner Matty Wolfson Joyce Ettinger H.B. Thompson Middle School Psych Services OT/PT Tania Johnson Margaret O’Connor Bonnie Pantell Darlene Darress George Basso Ann Cullen TRACT Center Marisa Occelli Fran Bernstein 2014-2015 SYOSSET TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Kim Pritchard, President Carol Castaldi Kat Kelly, Vice-President Megan Halleran Michael Callahan , Treasurer Mark Hanik Allison Noonan Debra Puccio David Steinberg STAnd United September/October 2014 Volume 25, Number 1 Syosset Teachers’ Association President: Kim Pritchard Editor: Donna Stanziani http://www.syossetta.org