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![]() GNTA's Retirement and End of Year Reception will be held at the Westbury Manor on Wednesday, May 27, 2015 from 4-7 p.m. More details soon!
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![]() The GNTA Benefit Trust Fund is again offering an open enrollment during the month of February 2015 through CIGNA Dental Health, Inc. This program is offered as an alternative to the GNTA Benefit Trust Fund dental plan. Click the link below for full details. Notice to All GNTA & OSA Members Covered by the Self-insured Dental Insurance ![]() If you've never been trained to serve on a Selection Committee and you'd like to play a role in the district's hiring process, then you need to attend our upcoming training session. Click the link below for full details. Selection Committee Training Session - January 22, 2015 ![]() Dr. Sheri Lederman, a fourth grade teacher at E. M. Baker Elementary School and member of the Great Neck Teachers Association, is suing New York State for its flawed implementation of APPR. Follow the links below for more information and come back soon for updates. CBS News: Long Island Teacher Sues State over Grade Washington Post: High-Achieving Teacher Sues State over Evaluation Labeling Her 'Ineffective' Diane Ravitch: Teacher Challenges NYS Evaluation Model ![]() On Tuesday, November 18, hundreds of GNTA members honored our SRPs by wearing our blue t-shirts in a show of solidarity. Without our School Related Professionals--the secretaries, paraprofessionals, teaching assistants, custodians, maintenance workers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and security guards--we couldn't do the job we do educating the children of our community. ![]() If you've never been trained to serve on a Selection Committee and you'd like to play a role in the district's hiring process, then you need to attend one of our upcoming training sessions. Click the link below for full details. Fall 2014 Selection Committee Training Information UPDATE: A third session has been added ![]() The Great Neck Teacher Center is offering a Mentor Training Course for all tenured teachers interested in becoming a mentor. Please register on MyLearningPlan if you are interested. Becoming A Great Neck Mentor November 10 & November 13 4:00 - 8:00 p.m. Great Neck Teacher Center North Middle School Rm. 163 Please contact Eileen Kurinskas if you have any questions. ![]() There was a time when I believed that the strength of teachers’ unions was so great that we could withstand every attack. Then along came Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who stripped the teachers’ unions in his state of their collective bargaining rights. And along came Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu, who ruled that tenure protections for California teachers are unconstitutional, because they deprive disadvantaged, mostly minority students of an education equal to that afforded schools with higher-income students. While I would love to believe that these things couldn’t happen in New York, we’re seeing alarming evidence that they can. Two cases in point:
What is NYSUT doing about these assaults? Your VOTE-COPE money is used by NYSUT for political action: to identify and support candidates for state office who agree with NYSUT positions on these two issues (among others) as well as to support lobbying efforts by NYSUT, particularly in the legislature. As for the lawsuits, State Supreme Court Justice Philip Minardo recently granted a motion by NYSUT to intervene in the defense of current teacher tenure rules. Many people feel that the suits will not be successful here in New York...but should they fail, the next step will surely be to seek legislation to weaken or abolish teacher tenure protection, which brings us back to lobbying. What is GNTA doing? For many years, we’ve actively participated in lobbying: Vice President Jennifer Snyder has been our representative to Albany on the “Committee of 100." Political Action Chairs Michelle Sorise and Patti Crisafulli have organized a number of initiatives for GNTA members in the last couple of years; they also work to create partnerships with other locals as well as community members. Finally, as your President, I’ve met several times with our local legislators to discuss matters of concern to us as educators. But NYSUT and GNTA are nothing without our members. Our strength is in direct proportion to your visibility when it comes to issues affecting teachers. And so, this year, we ask you to do at least one thing to make your voice heard politically. Details about our Do One Thing campaign can be found on gnteachers.net. The stakes for our profession—in fact, for public education—have never been higher, and we are all responsible for our future. On October 15, we welcomed our newest members to the Great Neck Teachers Association with food, drink, and important information regarding member benefits. Our new members are as follows: Districtwide Teachers Two new teachers will serve districtwide, K–12. They are Kelly Bedford (speech therapist) and Jennifer Hallissy (occupational therapist). Elementary Teachers New elementary teachers, in alphabetical order (with their subject areas and schools): David Cheng (psychologist, E.M. Baker), Elizabeth Gebert (nurse, Parkville), Kaitlin Grubb (speech therapist, Parkville), Connor Heaney (special education, J.F. Kennedy), Julie Insinga (kindergarten, Parkville), Christina Kalamotousakis (nurse, Baker), Kathleen Koster (grade 3, Lakeville), Heather Little (music, Baker), Gillian Mann (special education, Baker), Courtney Masone-Kyriakou (reading, Baker), Melissa Mulvey (special education, Kennedy), Lisa Nightingale (art, Baker), Angela Osa (reading, Baker), and Kristen Pappas (special education, Baker). Secondary Teachers New secondary teachers, in alphabetical order (with their subject areas and schools): Zachary Boyt (mathematics department head, North Middle), Lindsay Burcyk (special education, South Middle), Aeneas Carravetta (mathematics, North Middle), Lisa DiLorenzo (special education, North Middle), Joshua Dugan (special education, South Middle), Margaret Dunne (English, South High), Lea Lisa Farazmand (nurse, North Middle), Lauren Ferguson (science, North Middle), Lauren Fiore (study skills, South High), Meghan Flynn (special education, North Middle), Gennaro Fontano (social studies, South High), Alissa Gomoka (mathematics, North High), Regina Gruner (family/consumer science, South Middle), Linda Haase (art, South High), Gala Handler (foreign language department head, South High), Nicole Jacoberger (social studies, North High), Erin Keys (special education, South Middle), Christine Pallante (science, South Middle), Victoria Paparatto (speech therapist, North & South High), Savannah Puca (special education, North Middle), Marlene Ramos-Velita (foreign language department head, South Middle), Erin Schneiderman (special education, South High), Nicholas Sepe (special education, South High), Kristen Serio (special education, South High), Kristen Sidik (special education, South Middle), Alison Silk (Spanish, North High), Ian Western (special education, South Middle), and Hao Wu (Mandarin Chinese, North High). - List courtesy of Jessica Vega, GNPS Public Relations ![]() Walk with GNTA on Sunday, October 19 at Jones Beach to Make Strides Against Breast Cancer. Get the details, and we hope to see you there! ![]() The GNTA New Members Reception will be held at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, October 15. Get all the information! ![]() With Reclaiming the Promise as the main theme permeating all the activities at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the American Federation of Teachers held its 83rd national convention in July. All the speakers proved creative in weaving the main theme into their presentations. From California Governor Jerry Brown, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, the dynamic Rev. Dr. William Barber II, President, North Carolina NAACP, Cynthia Nixon, Actor-Activist, newly elected NEA President Eskelsen Garcia to a host of others, the audience was inspired by the variations on Reclaiming the Promise. AFT President Randi Weingarten roused the 3,000 delegates and guests with her State of the Union address. Her bold call to Reclaim the Promise of America included creating economic and educational opportunity for all. The unprecedented, unwarranted attacks on teachers, public schools and other public institutions, backed by big money and aided by ALEC, are starving public schools, hurting students and widening the gap among the wealthy, the middle class and the poor. Her response to the challenges is for the union, in solidarity, to: connect with the community; be solution-driven; engage, empower and elevate the professionals. She related that it is time to “fight back; fight forward; move forward.” An important responsibility of the delegates was to debate 91 resolutions from AFT locals across the nation, first in committees, then in plenary sessions on the convention floor. The resolutions were divided into the following committees: Educational Issues, Health Care, Higher Education, Human Rights, International Relations, Labor and the Economy, Union Organizing and Collective Bargaining, Political Action/Legislation, Public Services, Retirement, Registered Nurses, Women’s Rights and School and College Support Staffs. All seven retirement resolutions were adopted. One important issue had to do with ensuring the continuance of traditional Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Another resolution called for the adoption of a new consumer price index formula called CPI-E to determine cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) to Social Security each year. The CPI-E more realistically tracks inflation for senior Americans. The longest debate on the convention floor dealt with The Role of Standards in Public Education. This resolution, submitted by the AFT Executive Council, affirms the importance of educational standards and the promise and potential of Common Core State Standards, but severely criticizes the way in which they were developed, implemented, evaluated and the excessive testing program. The resolution decries the lack of educational practitioner involvement in the entire process. It especially attacks the rush by profiteers and corporate interests to “cash in” at the expense of children. Further, it includes many specific sensible solutions to fix what is broken and to shift the present corporate model to one that is student centered. Finally, policymakers and administrators are held accountable for the proper implementation of Common Core State Standards. A special resolution called for the resignation of United States Secretary Arne Duncan due to his anti-teacher, anti-public school and anti-union policies. His views represent corporate America’s attempt to instill the corporate/factory model of education into the classroom. When asked to approve this resolution, the entire body stood up, cheering and chanting “yes!” While the resolution is symbolic, it sends a message to the Obama administration that its educational policies have been destructive to teachers, parents and especially students. This convention was one of the best that I ever attended. The intelligence, articulation, passion, thought-provoking ideas and respect for opposing ideas displayed in all sessions were evidence of the high level of excellence exhibited by the delegates representing their locals from all parts of the country. The 2014 AFT Convention was both encouraging and motivating. ![]() HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION: ON POLITICAL ENDORSEMENTS! Or at least a chunk of it! In July I was honored to attend the AFT Convention in Los Angeles, which is held every other year, as one of three elected representatives from GNTA. This year’s convention, which lasted for five days, left little time for recreation but was often inspirational, sometimes contentious--never boring. One of the main tasks of the convention is to determine the educational, political, and social justice goals and priorities for the AFT. A number of resolutions were debated, with the hottest topic by far being the Common Core Standards. There is consensus among teachers across the country that the standards are flawed in many respects, that the rollout has been atrocious, and that the coupling of the standards with testing has been harmful to education. However, there was significant disagreement over how to address those concerns, from those who believe the standards should be jettisoned completely to those who believe they should be revised and the peripheral issues of rollout should be addressed separately. Debate was prolonged, impassioned, and sometimes downright ridiculous as the rhetoric soared. In the end, the body passed a resolution calling for the AFT to
assist state and local affiliates to ensure that:
The convention also passed a lengthy resolution calling for “the development of ‘support-and-improve’ accountability models to replace the current, failed ‘test-and punish’ systems;” another to support age-appropriate assessment for young learners; and another to overhaul high-stakes testing. A resolution against standardized assessments for students receiving special education services was referred to the Executive Council for further study. For me, one of the most fascinating things about the convention was witnessing the interplay among the largest locals (particularly the Chicago Teachers Union and New York’s United Federation of Teachers, which tend to be antagonists) as well as the state affiliates, particularly NYSUT. It’s obvious that both the UFT and NYSUT have tremendous influence on the way the AFT leans. In watching Twitter and blog reporting on the convention (often by people who weren’t in attendance), it is evident that there’s a great deal of lingering bitterness in the wake of the recent NYSUT elections as well as concern that the UFT may have undue influence on NYSUT’s leadership. This certainly bears watching. In August, I attended the NYSUT Presidents’ Endorsement Conference in Albany to consider political races pertinent to our state. Despite the title, the process of determining NYSUT endorsements is multi-layered and sometimes unclear. Four groups weigh in with recommendations: NYSUT Legislative Staff, the Political Action Chairs from each region of the state, the NYSUT Board of Directors, and the local Presidents of NYSUT, myself included. Some decisions had already been made prior to our arrival: for example, it had already been determined that NYSUT would not make an endorsement in the governor’s race for either the Democratic primary in September or the general election in November. It’s not clear who ultimately made that decision, although it had been obvious at the Representative Assembly in May that an endorsement of Andrew Cuomo would have faced widespread opposition from the NYSUT locals, nor would there have been strong support for Republican Rob Astorino. There was a great deal of grumbling that NYSUT should have considered a primary endorsement of Zephyr Teachout and, if she loses the primary, of Green Party Candidate Howie Hawkins. When the Long Island Presidents’ grumbles turned to loud calls for further discussion of this possibility, certain political considerations were explained to us, which most of us were able to accept, but many of us remained disturbed by the top-down, less than transparent nature of the decision-making in this case. In terms of strategy, the other recommending groups wanted to endorse Democrats wherever possible, particularly in the state Senate, where it’s possible that a Democratic majority can be achieved this year. Among the local Presidents here on Long Island, however, there are many cases where we feel that Republican incumbents have been better for us than their Democratic challengers would be. For one thing, Democrats have traditionally appeared to favor the big five cities in terms of finances, whereas our Republican representatives have fought to return more state aid to Long Island districts. Many of us have built relationships with our Republican Senators and feel that we’ve made progress in helping them understand our issues. While we weren’t always successful in achieving endorsements for these incumbents, we were at least able to prevent alternative endorsements for candidates solely on the grounds of their being Democrats. Two weeks after the NYSUT conference, Michael Norberto (JFK), Sandi Cooper (SMS), and I attended the New York AFL-CIO COPE Convention to consider that body’s endorsements. For the first time, NYSUT asked for a large showing of delegates in order to have a significant voice in the decision-making. There had been a great deal of speculation that the AFL-CIO would endorse Cuomo for Governor; however, discussions prior to the convention among the leadership of the various affiliates must have made it clear that such an endorsement would not be supported by the public service unions such as NYSUT and AFSCME, and the possibility was not even raised. For AFL-CIO endorsements, several groups make recommendations, but the final decision is made by the convention delegates. This resulted in lengthy debate as alternatives to the recommendations were frequently explored. I was honored to represent GNTA at all three of these meetings and will distribute a list of NYSUT and AFL-CIO endorsements for all races pertinent to our members within the next month. From nysut.org: "On July 14, New York State United Teachers called on its more than 600,000 members and their families to support the American Postal Workers Union and join a nationwide boycott of office supply giant Staples.
"NYSUT said the U.S. Postal Service’s decision to contract mail service to Staples — with “postal counters” staffed with low-wage, high-turnover Staples employees rather than unionized postal employees — “wrongly puts profits ahead of people and will further erode the middle class by lowering the standard of living for all.” NYSUT leaders endorsed the Postal Workers Union’s boycott of Staples over the weekend at the American Federation of Teachers’ Representative Assembly in Los Angeles." Read the complete press release. ![]() Several weeks ago I reported to you that the Board of Education, in response to pressure from some community members, had presented a six-year budget forecast. In the “personnel salaries” line for each year from 2015-2016 through 2018-2019, the Board projected 2% increases. I also told you that I had asked for a meeting with the Board to discuss GNTA’s concerns about this projection. On Friday, May 30, Jim Daszenski (VP for Administration), Jennifer Snyder (VP for Professional Rights and Responsibilities), Kim Semder (VP for Contract Improvement), and I met with the Board and Dr. Dolan. All five members of the Board were present, which we felt (particularly on a Friday afternoon at 4:00!) was a mark of respect for GNTA. We had a very straightforward discussion, which lasted for about an hour. We began by describing our dismay at the 2% salary figure. We explained that this appeared to be an opening shot across the bow in negotiations, nearly nine months prematurely, made worse by being public. We summarized our financial history for the last five years, reminding the Board of the sacrifices we made in the last and the current contracts. Kim described how we create a package of contract proposals through the CIC and how important that democratic process is to us as a union. We acknowledged the financial and community pressures that the Board is facing, but we also outlined the pressures GNTA members are feeling. We clearly communicated that we are committed to representing the interests of the faculty and negotiating a fair contract, no matter how long that takes. The Board listened respectfully and asked several questions. President Barbara Berkowitz responded that a budget, particularly projected over a long term, is merely a blueprint, and that the Board could not possibly know a specific number to put in the personnel salary line prior to completed negotiations. She explained that they chose the 2% figure based on the 2% tax cap and that the Board recognizes that it is too early to speak about negotiations in concrete terms. Finally, she assured us that the Board intends to negotiate in good faith with us and is keeping an open mind. We felt that the discussion was fruitful for both sides. We did caution the Board that we might break somewhat with tradition, should negotiations become protracted, and provide our members with more information about our progress than we have in the past. We do NOT feel that this blog, which is easily accessible to the public, is an appropriate forum for such information. To that end, PLEASE provide us with a personal email address for you by clicking the link below, if you haven’t already done so. It may become your only source of information on negotiations. Personal Email Contact Form In solidarity, Sheila Scimone |
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