I am pleased to announce that BMUST has reached an agreement on a new contract with the district. The Memorandum of Agreement will be presented to the staff at a general membership meeting on Monday, June 13 at 2:45 pm in the Grand Avenue Middle School Auditorium. The vote on the contract will take place in the buildings on Thursday, June 16.
I understand this is a very busy time for all of us and arranging a timeline for a vote has been challenging. Please make every effort possible to attend this meeting to hear the particulars of our Memorandum of Agreement. You will certainly have opportunities to ask questions at the meeting and during the days leading up to the vote on Thursday. I would personally like to thank my outstanding negotiations team for working so diligently this year on our new contract. Many hours were spent in meetings, emailing, texting, and deliberating to come up with our Memorandum of Agreement. They were invaluable to me and I appreciate all the time and effort they put into this process. Thank you and I hope to see everyone on Monday. In Solidarity, Mark Attached please find the application for the Long Island Coalition of Black Trade Unionist 2016 scholarship. This scholarship is open to high school Seniors who have at least one parent that is a member of an AFL-CIO organization, regardless of race or ethnicity. Last year we had four recipients, all of whom were children of members of NYSUT unions! Please note the application requirements and deadlines. Selina Durio NYSUT Director At-Large 17/20 Trustee- Long Island Coalition of Black Trade Unionist ![]()
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 1, 2016
More information contact: Lisa Rudley [email protected] NYS Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE) www.nysape.org Link to Press Release Albany Must Act NOW to Fix Broken Education Laws Albany must act now to fix broken education laws as the NYS Legislature approaches the end of session. Thousands of New Yorkers call on the Senate and Assembly to bring Andrew Cuomo's donor driven Education agenda to an end by sending new bills to the Governor's desk. The people of our state are sick of the Governor's politically motivated budget debacles and the influence of Cuomo's wealthy donors wreaking havoc on their children's and grandchildren's classrooms. The message of hundreds of thousands of Opt-Outs the past few years has still not been heard. These bills represent a critical and necessary step in restoring the lost trust of New Yorkers by those who chose to gamble with our children and their education: · A10056 – Assemblyman Brindisi & S7462 – Senator Griffo: restores local control and repeals receivership law. · A10057A – Assemblyman Brindisi & S7463 – Senator Griffo: removes the financial penalty for school districts if their teacher/principal evaluation plans are not in place by this fall, decouples students tests scores from teacher evaluations, AND requires an expert committee to develop a research-based teacher/principal evaluation plan. (Senator Griffo’s version, S7463 is expected to be amended to remove the financial penalty language) · A09461 – Assemblywoman Paulin & S7632 – Senator Serino: removes the financial penalty for school districts if their teacher/principal evaluation plans are not in place by this fall, AND requires an expert committee to develop a research-based teacher/principal evaluation plan. We are calling on New Yorkers to Take Action Today and contact the Albany leadership to pass and enact legislation which will begin to repair public education and our trust in our elected officials. Not forgotten from the 2015 budget cycle, Cuomo's unconstitutional coercion of a fatally flawed student test score driven teacher evaluation system and a charter school industry-backed statewide school district receivership program which still outrages thousands of voters. The time for unraveling Andrew Cuomo's 2015 education budget debacle legislation is now. New Yorkers call for immediate change this session or they will bring about change this November. Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie must send bipartisan legislation to the governor's desk now for all New Yorkers to see. “Very simply, power must be immediately restored to the Board of Regents, the constitutional owners of education policy. The Board of Regents cannot regulate New York out of these bad, inflexible laws,” said Lisa Rudley, Hudson Valley public school parent. Rudley went on to say, “Public schools belong to the people and are not for sale.” "The governor's 3012-d law is in opposition with the intent of the new federal ESSA and more importantly continues to be destructive to the holistic needs of children, teachers and communities. Allow the Board of Regents to create policies that empower communities and inspire our profession. Linking teacher evaluations to test scores, specifically at a 50% rate is fundamentally flawed and scientifically unsound,” said Jamaal Bowman, parent and Bronx educator. “New Yorkers will not tolerate the privatization of our schools. They see the campaign contributions and "donations" of profiteers with expectations of returns. Everyone knows that is corruption, and it is all too prevalent today in Albany and within Andrew Cuomo's office,” said Marla Kilfoyle, Long Island public school parent, educator, and Executive Director of BATs. Eileen Graham, Rochester public school parent and founder of Black Student Leadership said, “As a parent of a third grader it is imperative that we create laws that empower students and families to achieve; not creating policies and laws such as ‘Receivership’ laws that demonize students and degrade teachers, this is insulting to say the least and we deserve and expect better!” Jessica McNair, Central NY public school parent and educator said, “Central New Yorkers are proud of representatives, Assemblyman Brindisi and Senator Griffo for picking up this legislation and creating a bi-partisan coalition. We are counting on them and their Assembly and Senate majority colleagues to pass this vital legislation and deliver it to the Governor’s desk.” "Education is currently one of the top voting issues in NY. Education voters have made it clear that these bills are our top priority and demand our elected officials work to support the will of the people. As November elections are fast approaching, education voters will certainly be keeping track of which legislators work to get these bills passed, as well as noting which legislators block our efforts. We call on the legislature to listen to their constituents and put children before politics,” said Jeanette Deutermann, Long Island public school parent and founder of Long Island Opt Out. "More than a pause, we need to extricate our schools from the fatally flawed and statistically unreliable concept of linking teacher evaluations to test scores, once and for all, and instead devise a system that is trusted by parents and educators," said Leonie Haimson, Executive Director of Class Size Matters. Tim Farley, Capital Region public school parent and educator said, "It is long past time that we eradicate politics from our education system and allow the real experts to make the decisions that are best for our children and our teachers." Take Action Today and contact the Albany leadership to pass and enact this legislation to begin to repair public education and our trust in our elected officials. NYSAPE is a grassroots coalition with over 50 parent and educator groups across the state. As I am sure you are aware, the Lawrence teachers are facing a crisis situation. In addition to being in their fifth year of working without a successor agreement, they are dealing with a board of education dominated by ultra-religious forces bent on directing as much of the district's resources to the private religious schools their children attend without regard to the detrimental impact this has on the Lawrence district and its largely minority student population.
Beyond the impact on Lawrence employees and students, we must not lose sight of the fact that what's happening in Lawrence is also beginning to happen in other districts, so Lawrence's fight is everyone's fight. Next Thursday, June 2, the Lawrence Teachers Association is staging a protest rally from 6:00-7:00 p.m. at Lawrence High School, 2 Reilly Rd. in Cedarhurst. It would be much appreciated if you could arrange for some of your members to join the rally sporting your union shirts, jackets, banners, etc. You, as a New York State PTA member, have access to exclusive Memorial Day discounts from Diamondback Bicycles, plus discounted sports, concert and theme park and movie ticket offerings from our member benefit provider Ticket Monster.
You can also take advantage of Ticket Monster's new cash back program with Monster Bucks, which provides cash back on all purchases on Ticket Monster Perks! You can also earn Monster Bucks by referring individuals in your family or organization to Ticket Monster Perks. DISNEYLAND SEAWORLD SIX FLAGS LEGOLAND DIAMONDBACK BICYCLES MOVIE THEATERS The Student Debt Clinic to be held at the Nassau and Suffolk regional offices of NYSUT has been postponed. Please see below.
TO: Local Presidents FROM: Matt Jacobs, Regional Staff Dir. DATE: May 24, 2016 RE: Debt Clinic Canceled_____________ The June 1st date turned out not to be possible for the AFT presenters. We are working with them to identify an alternative date. We are looking at a number of Mondays possibly in July, August, or September. As soon as we confirm a date with AFT, we will notify you. BMUST took home numerous Communications Awards from NYSUT. (Please see the attachment.) Congratulations to the following for their hard work: Bruce Reed, Editor of Local Do's Neal Madnick Bill Morris Sal Salerno Dan Stiglitz, BMUST Website Designer. ![]()
There is an upcoming election to determine the Building Representative for Merrick Avenue Middle School.
The candidate is Jennifer Verwys. The election will take place on Thursday, June 2, 2016. If there are any questions please feel free to ask. Dan Vessely/JFK Election Chairman TO: Local Presidents FROM: Matt Jacobs, Regional Staff Dir. DATE: May 13, 2016 RE: LI Pride in Education Reception The attached flyer extends an invitation to the 1st Annual Pride in Education Reception to be held onJune 17th at Mac's Steakhouse in Huntington. This NYSUT-sponsored event is intended to provide an informal and open forum for LGBTQ educators to socialize and discuss issues related and unrelated to being an LGBTQ educator. Please share the flyer with your members. BE the union! www.nysut.org/unionvalue ![]()
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