BOCES Teachers Association

Welcome Back

NYSUT Tarrytown Regional Office Conference

Thank you to Karen Canino for joining me at the NYSUT TRO summer conference held August 10-11, 2026. There we took courses on union representation, grievances, collective bargaining, legal updates and a presentation from NYSUT President Melinda Person on NYSUT’s legislative victories and priorities. It was also a great opportunity to network with other local unions and their leaders.

BTA Mission and Vision Statement

The LAP team was charged with writing a mission and vision statement for the BTA. That team took time during their conference this summer to identify values and then create the statement. You can find them on the BTA website here

The mission of the BOCES Teachers Association is to:

Unify our diverse membership under a collective voice for strength and solidarity.
Support our educators through active representation.
Defend our collective bargaining agreement to safeguard member rights, benefits, and working conditions.
Maintain the highest standards of professional ethics, safety, and instructional quality.
Further the goals of public education by fostering a collaborative community.
Strengthen relations between staff, administration, and the communities we serve.

To institute this mission statement, leadership will embed these core commitments into monthly union meetings, contract negotiations, and committee work to ensure every decision reflects our shared values.

Vision:

“To foster an unshakeable collective voice that safeguards the rights and well-being of all members, cultivating an environment where educators thrive and public education prospers.”

Values:

Diversity
Transparency
Knowledgeable
Effectiveness
Future Focused

BTA Swag Shop

The BTA will be holding a fall swag shop. Items are being finalized this week and an email will be sent out once the swag shop is officially open. If you would like free delivery, the items can be delivered to Mairead who will then distribute them to Reps at your site. Pick up some extra swag for you to wear on Wear Your Shirt Wednesdays!

LAP Initiative: Trunk or Treat

As one of the LAP team’s Year 1 initiatives, we had to create a campaign for our community. The LAP team has decided to hold a Trunk or Treat for students in our Special Services programs. The event will take place on Wednesday, October 28th in the Rye Lake Campus bus circle. Car decorators will arrive at 3:30pm and families will arrive beginning at 4pm. If you would like to sign up to decorate your trunk, use this signup genius link. We are limited to 25 cars and will open it up to families/administration if we do not meet the 25 cars. Thank you to those who have already volunteered!

If you are interested in volunteering but do not want to decorate a car, please send an email to Rosalie at correspondingsecretary@bocesta.net.

LAP Campaign: Aides Contract and Solidarity

As mentioned in last month’s bulletin, the LAP team has focused this upcoming year’s campaign on the Aides Contract and Solidarity. The Aides negotiation team has generated ideas for the survey which has been sent to NYSUT, and we are hoping to push out that survey to Aides in the end of September/beginning of October. The Aides negotiation team has also crafted an Aides handbook, which has been sent up to NYSUT to be printed. These will be distributed to all current Aides and new Aide hires. Additionally, we will be surveying all members and inviting them to nominate an Aide for “Aide of the Month”. Each month, one Aide will be chosen and highlighted in this bulletin and on social media. Please fill out this survey by Thursday, September 24th with someone you wish to nominate. Let us honor the tremendous work each of our Aides do all year long!

The LAP team has also created a Facebook and Instagram account highlighting the work they are doing. Click on the links and follow us! Links to the separate BTA accounts are at the bottom of this bulletin.

WYS Wednesdays Are Back!

Wear Your Shirt Wednesdays will be back starting Wednesday, September 9th. Make sure your spotter logs you wearing your shirt to be entered for a prize each month. Check out our swag shop! Continue to upload your photos here or text/email Mairead so that you can be highlighted for wearing your shirt.

Know your Rights Survey

Thank you to all of you who completed the Know Your Rights survey that was sent throughout last August and September. Each month I will highlight a different question that was on the survey, how our members responded and the State Education law that explains the answer to the survey.

Question #12: Under New York State Education Law and Commissioner’s Regulations, if a position is abolished, the Board can choose the teacher it wants to excess. 72.5% of members answered it was false. The correct answer is false – way to go!

Ed Law 3013 and C.R. 30.13 establish that the least senior teacher in each tenure area is excessed.

Sick Bank

What is it?: An insurance policy to be able to have additional paid time granted to you if you exhaust all sick/personal time and find yourself disabled due to a serious long term illness or injury.

How can I join?: BTA may join the Sick Bank at any time by completing the Sick Bank Enrollment form. Teacher Aides must submit the form to join the Sick Bank in September of your fourth year of employment. When you donate 2 sick days, SWBOCES will donate one. Here you can find the form for Aides and the form for Certified Staff.

Who determines how many days I get?: A Sick Bank committee comprised of the BTA President, BTA Treasurer, Sr. Director of HR and Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services meet to determine eligibility and days granted.

What happens when the bank runs out?: Members replenish the bank with another day when the level drops below 75 for teacher aides, 90 for BTA.

If something happens to me this year, will I be eligible for days from the Sick Bank?:

Aides – No. You can only join the sick bank after working here for 3 years.
Certified Staff – Employees who have worked less than 3 years may only be eligible for up to 5 days from the Sick Bank per school year.

Welcome New Members!

Susan Allegretti, Valhalla
Tracy Larson, CTE
Sarah Colefield, lower RLC
Ann LoBosco, CTE
Alex Solomon, upper RLC
Starr Felicier, CTE
Deirdre Paletta, lower RLC
Rosemary Anderson, Transfiguration
Samantha Hirschhorn, Transfiguration
Dawn Micklas, Rochambeau
Michele Gibbs, Valhalla
Suzanne Spellman, Rochambeau

Save the Date!

The BTA will be hosting a Welcome Back Social on Wednesday, September 16th at Bar 141. Please sign up on the following form if you plan to attend. All members receive a ticket for a free drink and light fare will be served.

Reminders

BASIS provider sign-ups: HR will be sending out an email today, September 1, if you are interested in signing up for BASIS. Check your SWBOCES email to complete the form. As a reminder, you must sign up to be notified of cases throughout the year now as the next signup will not be until the end of the school year. You can sign up to receive emails about available cases and there is no obligation to take a case.

If you are interested in receiving your seniority list, please reach out to Derrick Green for the Aides list and either Stacey DiPaola or Mairead Schuelein for the Aides or Certified Staff lists.

Next Rep Council meeting: The next Rep Council meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 23rd at 3:30pm at Transfiguration School in Tarrytown. Zoom invitation to follow.

GCN trainings: please complete by the assigned deadlines. Unfortunately, we have seen members receive counseling memos for not completing their GCN trainings.

BTA text list: If you wish to receive texts from the BTA, please fill out this form. The BTA does not give out your cell phone number to outside parties. We use it to send reminders about meetings and upcoming events.

If you receive an email from your supervisor saying you can bring a union rep to a scheduled meeting, reach out to one of the Reps or Exec Board members listed at the bottom of this bulletin ASAP.

Executive Board and Reps

Mairead Schuelein, President
Jason Poniatowski, Executive Vice President
Stacey DiPaola, Treasurer
Derrick Green, 1st Vice President of Aides
Keith Mattos, 2nd Vice President of ALC
Melissa Barreto, Grievance Chair
Rosalie Consani, Corresponding Secretary
Rebecca Phang, Recording Secretary
Julie Crosier, Teacher Rep
Theresa Saive, Teacher Rep
Pierre Fils, CTE Rep
Marianne Weston, TA Rep

by SWBOCES BTA September 1, 2026September 6, 2026

August 5, 2026 Bulletin: Campus Closer ESY, Aides Contract Negotiations, Seniority Lists,

Rye Lake Campus Closure in ESY

I was delighted to share that members impacted by the closure of Rye Lake Campus for July 22-24 will be paid for that time.

This didn’t happen by accident. It happened because of all of us.

From the first day the campus closed, I stayed in close, constant contact with administration, pushing for answers and for a resolution. At the same time, many of you reached out to administration directly in your own words, to make clear how much this mattered. That combination, a voice from the President and dozens of voices from our membership, kept steady pressure on getting this resolved. That’s what a union is: not one person speaking for everyone, but all of us speaking together.

I also want to be clear about how this got resolved. This was not handled through a grievance. It was handled through conversation, through relationship, and through administration’s willingness to listen and act. I want to be honest with you: administration didn’t owe me regular updates last week. They chose to keep talking with me, to keep working toward a solution because of the working relationship we’ve built over time. That relationship is what got this done, and it got it done faster than the grievance process ever could have.

I raise this not to say grievances never have their place, they do, but to show what’s possible when we lead with communication first. When members speak up and I press on that repeatedly, we can solve problems together without needing to escalate.

Thank you to everyone who sent an email, made a call, or simply asked a question of administration and kept the pressure on. This win belongs to all of you.

In solidarity,

Mairead

NYSUT Local Action Project (LAP)

The BTA was honored to have been selected by NYSUT last year as one of 5 local unions from around the state to participate in the Local Action Project. This is an outreach and training program for local unions to improve member engagement and communications, develop leadership skills, organize political action and community engagement opportunities. This is a 3 year commitment, with partial funding supplied by NYSUT each year. This was year 2 for our lap team of Mairead Schuelein, Rosalie Consani, Liz Lopez, Jane Shields and Stacey DiPaola. We spent July 19-24th up at the Fort William Henry Conference Center with our Labor Relations Specialist, Tom McMahon. There, the LAP team created an Aides contract and solidarity campaign and a budget that needs to be approved by NYSUT in the early fall. Year two will focus on creating a Union Buddy program, developing a handbook, pushing for a fair Aides contract, 1:1 conversations with Aides, education to all members about their contract, Aide of the Month program and a Dental Fair. More to come as the school year starts, but we are thrilled to be a part of this program. The LAP team has created a separate Instagram page which you can find here

Find out more about NYSUT’s LAP program here and here

Aides Contract Negotiation Committee

Thank you to Derrick Green, Wendy Beddoes-Muller, Caroline Postell, Juslene Louisseize, and Yanick Chevalier for participating on the Aides contract negotiations committee. The team met twice in July and has identified items for the contract survey. Mairead has submitted that information to NYSUT who she will be working with to create the survey. It is anticipated that the survey will go out to all Aides in the middle of September.

LAP Initiative: Trunk or Treat

As one of the LAP team’s Year 1 initiatives, we had to create a campaign for our community. The LAP team has decided to hold a Trunk or Treat for students in our Special Services programs. The event will take place on Wednesday, October 28th in the Rye Lake Campus bus circle. Car decorators will arrive at 3:30pm and families will arrive beginning at 4pm. If you would like to sign up to decorate your trunk, use this signup genius link. We are limited to 25 cars and will open it up to families/administration if we do not meet the 25 cars. We are looking forward to this new event!

Know Your Rights Survey

Question #11: Under New York State Education Law and Commissioner’s Regulations, tenured teachers can use all of their sick days and have their jobs secure. 67.5% of members answered it was false. The correct answer is false – way to go!

The Commissioner has set a high standard on this via case law. If excessive absenteeism interferes with the continuity of instruction for students, it is actionable under Ed. laws 913 and 3020-a

NYSUT is offering fall seminars that are free for NYSUT members. These are free online courses that offer you CTLE hours. See the list and register here. Additionally, NYSUT ELT offers discounted masters degree programs that you can use for salary advancement.

Seniority List

The BTA is in receipt of the latest seniority list. If you are interested in seeing the list for your tenure area, please reach out to Mairead at president@bocesta.net. Once the school year begins, please also reach out to Stacey DiPaola at treasurer@bocesta.net and Derrick Green at 1stvp@bocesta.net.

NYSUT Peer Support Line

Many of you know about EAP but did you know that NYSUT offers a Peer Support Line? This is a support line that is staffed by trained professionals and retirees that can provide assistance on the following:

finding mental health services or support groups
managing work related stress and concerns
reducing feelings of isolation and loneliness
coordinating elder care and caregiver needs

And much more. The hotline is open Monday through Friday from noon to 6pm, and their phone number is 1-844-444-0152. They also have the ability to chat via the chat box on their website or to submit a secure, private message. For more information, you can watch this short video and or learn more here

Save the date

The BTA will be hosting a Welcome Back Social on Wednesday, September 16th at Bar 141. Sign up form and more info to come in the coming weeks.

Reminders

Check your Wincap: Please remember to check your Wincap account and your salary notice. Compare your salary and step placement with the BTA contracts found here. If you believe there is a discrepancy, reach out to Mary Ann Melendez in Human Resources.

BTA text list: If you wish to receive texts from the BTA, please fill out this form. The BTA does not give out your cell phone number to outside parties. We use it to send reminders about meetings and upcoming events.

Next Rep Council meeting: Tentative Date of Wednesday, September 23rd at 3:30pm, location TBD. Notification of dates for Rep Council and General Membership meetings for the 2026-2027 school year will be sent out in the end of August.

by SWBOCES BTA August 30, 2026

June 10, 2026 bulletin – End of Year Happy Hour, ALC MOA, Tier 6 changes

BTA Happy Hour

Nearly 70 members attended the BTA End of the Year Happy Hour held on Wednesday, June 3rd. Thank you to Rosalie Consani, Liz Lopez and Stacey DiPaola for their work in planning and executing the event.

Congratulations to Phyllis Marto, Christine Menta and Donna Harris West for winning the raffles. The BTA donated $350 to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

Wear Your Shirt Wednesdays!

Wear Your Shirt Wednesdays have been a success! Continue to wear your shirts every Wednesday and make sure spotters at your site log you. Congratulations to our May winners:

Lilia Corona, Rochambeau

Leah Harris, Transfiguration

Eric Ford, Transfiguration

Jennifer Scelia, Irvington

Magdalena Andujar, Transfiguration

A drawing will be held again at the end of June, so the more times you wear your shirt, the more chances to win. Photos can be uploaded here. You can find more pictures of our members wearing there shirts here on our Facebook page.

ALC Contract MOA ratification

The ALC contract MOA was ratified on June 4th with a vote of 1-0. The MOA is scheduled to be approved by the Board of Education at their June 24th meeting. Thank you to Mairead Schuelein, Keith Mattos and Mike Piccolo for their work in that negotiation.

Changes to Tier 6

NYSUT’s lobbying to Fix Tier 6 has finally brought some changes. Hochul signed legislation as part of the state budget for reform to changes for our Tier 6 members. For members in our Teachers Retirement System (teachers, TAs, clinicians, counselors, speech therapists), this means you can receive a full pension after 30 years and retire at age 58.

For members in our Employees Retirement System (Aides, PTs, OTs), there are changes to the contribution rate for each year based on your salary. Find out more about the changes here as well as NYSUT’s other legislative wins here.

LAP 1:1 Conversations

Thank you to our 20+ volunteers for beginning our 1:1 conversation campaign. Over 215 conversations have already been had. Each conversation should last less than 10 minutes and is used to better get to know our members.

Personal Day Usage

As we enter the month of June, many events arise in our personal lives that require us to use personal days. Several members are requesting more personal days than allotted, even when they have existing sick time, and are now receiving counseling memos for going into payroll deduction. Before you put in for a personal day, make sure to check your Wincap account to see how many personal days and sick days you have left. Since it can take up to a week for a recent personal or sick day to reflect on Wincap, please keep that in mind when checking your balances.

How to take a personal day: With the exception of the one emergency personal day (which requires an email to your supervisor and Suzanne Doherty), we must all complete this form, Under “reason” – please put “personal”. The contract language states:

Certified Staff: You must provide the form to your supervisor at least 2 days in advance of the personal day you plan to take.

Aides: You must provide the form to your supervisor at least 3 days in advance of the personal day you plan to take.

If you have questions, please reach out to a Rep or Exec Board member before submitting paperwork, putting your day into AESOP or alerting your supervisor verbally or via email

Rochambeau MOA

The BTA reached an MOA for Rochambeau that was approved at the June 3rd Board of Education meeting. As outlined in the email Mairead sent to members on June 3rd, without this MOA, all staff would have a 30 minute lunch (as per the White Plains contract) with no prep or planning time for TAs. Teachers in the high school would not have two prep periods, which could potentially have impacted staff at Rye Lake MS/HS, as their schedule has always been based on the Irvington HS schedule.

Additionally, this MOA provides for two half day early dismissals for students followed by a full day without students at the end of the school year, while the White Plains calendar only provides for two half day early dismissals for students. See the Board Docs for the full MOA and Mairead’s June 3rd email for more information.

Know Your Rights

Question #9: Under New York State Education Law and Commissioner’s Regulations, a teacher who teaches 2 years of special education and 1 year of reading has completed his/her probationary period. 72.5% of members answered it was false. The correct answer is false. Way to go!

As per NYS Ed Law CR Part 30, the teacher must have completed his/her probationary period in the same tenure area.

Free CTLE hours on AI

The AFT in partnership with the UFT is offering free CTLE hours on AI in the classroom. These seminars are in person or remote, with some asynchronous offerings as well. For more information, scan the QR code found here or visit this website to register.

Congratulations Retirees!

Ariel Farber – 20 years

Lisa Cerbone – 24 years

Eileen Yip – 17 years

Lisa Culler – 32 years

Nancy Henagan – 35 years

Manfred Jean-Louis – 16 years

Saintfort Emile – 25 years

Clotude Merot – 37 years

Lydia Mercado – 27 years

Sara Stave – 26 years

Reminders

24 paycheck option (balloon pay): You should have received a letter dated May 15, 2026 from the Business office. If you wish to discontinue with the 24 paycheck option (switch to 20 paychecks) or enroll in the 24 paycheck option for next school year, the form is due back to the Payroll office by June 30th.

Next Rep Council meeting: The next BTA Rep Council meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 17th at 4pm at Valhalla in Building D. Meeting will also be done over Zoom. Zoom link to follow. Stacey Braun, the new financial planning benefit offered to Certified Staff, will be doing a brief presentation on the services they provide.
BTA text list: If you wish to receive texts from the BTA, please fill out this form. The BTA does not give out your cell phone number to outside parties. We use it to send reminders about meetings and upcoming events.