Category: BTA Welcome Back Event at Captain Lawrence

Mid Year Retirement MOA for Certified Staff

The BTA negotiated a mid-year retirement MOA for Certified Staff only for this school year. Moving forward, members will need to put in by January 15th to retire either June 30th or August 31st or by May 1st to retire the following end of January and be able to use their BOCES Bucks. If you are interested in retiring January 31, 2026 and obtaining BOCES Bucks, you must submit your retirement paperwork to HR by October 1, 2025. This is a firm deadline. The form for retirement can be found here. If you need assistance, reach out to a Rep or Exec Board member.

Falens Project Backpack Update

Thank you to all who donated items for the Falens Project Backpack fundraiser back in June. In mid August, 10 of the backpacks filled with supplies were donated to students at Rochambeau and future Transfiguration. Thank you to Liz Lopez and Rosalie Consani for coordinating those donations!

BTA Executive Board Stipends/Changes to Dues

In an effort to balance the BTA’s budget and minimize the amount we take from savings to make ends meet, the Executive Board has had to look more closely at stipends and dues. Other local unions were surveyed on their local dues amounts and stipends by title during this process. At the June Executive Board meeting, the Executive Board approved a change to lower their stipends beginning July 1, 2025. Further decreases in stipends to some titles will occur the July 1 following that title’s next election. At the last change to the stipend structure in May 2008, the General Membership voted on those changes and so that will be done now as well. The Rep Council will vote on these changes in the fall and members will vote at the next General Membership meeting in November. There are no changes to stipends for the Reps or the Webmaster. If the vote passes, the stipends will become a part of the BTA By-Laws. You can see the proposed stipend structure here.

Additionally, the Executive Board voted that the local dues (dues paid directly to the BTA, not to NYSUT or AFT) for Certified Staff members will increase each paycheck by the dollar amount of the percent raise that is negotiated for Certified Staff for each year of the contract. For Aides and ALC members, the dues will increase each paycheck by 50% of the dollar amount of the percent raise that is negotiated for Certified Staff for each year. For example, Certified Staff will be getting a 2% raise this year. As a result, dues will increase by $2 each paycheck for Certified Staff and $1 each paycheck for Aides and ALC members. Dues increases are not in the BTA Constitution and By-Laws and therefore do not need to be voted on by the membership. The last time there was an increase in local dues was in 2021.

As you might recall, the Certified Staff contract MOA provides for dues to be spread over each paycheck rather than just being collected November through April. MOAs are being approved at next week’s BOE meeting for the Aides and ALC units to allow dues to be collected over the 10 month period as well.

LAP Initiative

Attendance at BTA eventsAs one of our Local Action Project (LAP) initiatives, the BTA will be tracking member’s attendance at social events, meetings, etc. The more times you attend, the more chances you have at winning in drawings that will be held at the mid and end of the school year. More to come as our LAP program gets off the ground.

Questionnaire for Members

As part one of LAP’s initiatives, we ask you to take this Know Your Rights survey. It should only take a few minutes of your time. The results of this survey will then be used in future bulletins to educate members on their rights, the laws, and situations to avoid.

Welcome New Members!

Allison Poskar, Transfiguration

Peter Campbell, CTE

Michael Popov, upper RLC

Mary Galgano, St. Matt’s

Adriana Nicholas, Valhalla

Anasa Smith, Transfiguration

Adeola Okunoye, St. Matt’s

Cristina Viana, Transfiguration

Joanne Tumolo, Transfiguration

Arnelle Durant, St. Matt’s

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.

Save the Date!

The BTA will be hosting a Welcome Back Social on Thursday, September 25th at Captain Lawrence. Sign up form and more info to come in the coming weeks.

The BTA is again collaborating with Boces for the Making Strides Breast Cancer Walk at Manhattanville College on Sunday, October 19th. Please consider joining our team and/or making a donation to this worthy cause. You can find our team page here

Seniority lists will be available on Friday, September 5th. Please reach out to Derrick Green for the Aides list and either Stacey DiPaola or Mairead Schuelein for the Aides or Certified Staff lists.

NYSUT will be holding a state-wide Fix Tier 6 rally in Albany on Sunday, March 8th.

More info on busing to come!

Reminders

BASIS provider sign-ups: HR will be sending out an email on Monday, September 8th to sign up to be a BASIS provider. This will be the only time this school year this opportunity will be offered. If you would like to sign up, please fill out the Google form sent to you in your SWBOCES email. By signing up, there is no obligation to take a case. Should one arise during the school year that works for you, you would be potentially eligible to make additional money. Aides earn $30/year, TAs earn $40/hour and all other Certified Staff earn $80/hour. Pay is a guaranteed minimum of one hour even if time spent is less than one hour. Next Rep Council meeting: The next Rep Council meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 17th at 4pm in the conference room in Building 2 on RLC.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

Mike Piccolo, Grievance Chair

Rosalie Consani, Corresponding Secretary

Liz Lopez, Recording Secretary

Julie Crosier, Teacher Rep

Jane Shields, Teacher Rep

Pierre Fils, CTE Rep

Ann Robertson, TA Rep

Read more: September 3, 2025 bulletin, Get to Know your Reps and Exec Board, Mid-Year Retirement, MOA, Save the Dates