Pictured above are Melinda Person, NYSUT President with Mairead Schuelein, BTA President
BTA and SWBOCES Legislative Breakfast
The BTA and SWBOCES collaborated to host a legislative breakfast on Thursday, October 30th at the CTE and Valhalla programs. More than 50 people, including various assembly members, state senators, Westchester county legislators, a member of the Board of Regents and NYSUT leaders, many from Albany. The BTA was proud to host NYSUT President Melinda Person, who spoke at the breakfast and toured many of our programs. Special thanks to Michael May, Kevin McAllister, Monica Mann, Eileen Yip and Anna Macchia for their work behind the scenes and during the event. NYSUT released the following article and video, which highlights our programs and showcases the event we hosted.
Certification Changes for Teaching Assistants
Effective October 1st, NYSED made changes to the certificate titles for TA certifications. There will no longer be a level 1, 2 and 3 and instead be “initial” and “professional” certifications. Those TAs who currently have a level 3 certification will be grandfathered in with that certification. Those of you who became TAs before October 1st and have a level 1 or level 2 certification will receive an email from Suzanne Doherty in the upcoming weeks explaining what you need to do to renew or change your certification and the timeline by which to do so. It is anticipated that she will also have a drop-in HR session on Wednesday, December 10th at 3pm for questions about the process, so be on the lookout for that invitation in your SWBOCES email.NYSUT has put out a fact sheet which you can read here which highlights the changes and rollout of the certification changes.
Making Strides Breast Cancer walk
Thank you to all those who donated money to the Making Strides Breast Cancer walk. Together with administration, we raised over $1180 for the cause. Thank you to Rebecca Churchill, Ann Marie Ross, Giovanna Ciccone, Deborah Paul and Olivia Paul for attending the walk on 10/19.
Certified Staff contract update/MOAs
The Negotiations team has finished reviewing the final version of the Certified Staff contract. Administration is making some final edits and then it will be sent to print.
An MOA subcommittee has been created to negotiate an MOA that will address Back to School night, TA certification stipends and prep/lunch time for programs that are housed in district settings. Thank you to Stacey DiPaola, Tyree Morris and Jane Shields for agreeing to be a part of that subcommittee. The first committee meeting with administration will take place in the beginning of December.
BTA Executive Board Stipends/Changes to Dues
At the October 29th Rep Council meeting, the Reps and Exec Board voted to reduce stipends for Executive Board members effective July 1, 2025. At the November 19th General Membership meeting, all members will have an opportunity to vote on whether the Exec Board stipends should be lowered. I have included this explanation in the last few BTA bulletins, but wanted to include here again ahead of members voting in November.
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 were approved at the August 6th BOE meeting for the Aides and ALC units to allow dues to be collected over the 10 month period as well.
LAP Program Updates
As 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. Our LAP budget was approved by NYSUT and we received $14,000 to put towards the LAP team’s initiatives for the upcoming school year. LAP initiatives include brand expansion of our logo, new t-shirts for members, training members to have 1:1 conversations with all of our members, and trainings for Reps and Exec Board members monthly throughout this year. We are fortunate to have been selected as a LAP team and look forward to what this money can do for us!
Know Your Rights
Thank you to all of you who completed the Know Your Rights survey that was sent throughout 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 #1: Under New York State Education Law and Commissioner’s Regulations, all teachers must be given 90 days notice before termination of service. 55% of members answered it was true. The correct answer is false.
When combining the provisions of Ed Laws 3019-a and 3031, 60 days of severance pay can be achieved. Ed Law 3019-a states that if a district wants to terminate a teacher during their probationary period, they must provide written notice before the termination takes effect. Ed Law 3031 states that the termination of the teacher cannot be effective until at least 30 days after the board of education takes action on the recommendation. By combing these two, members are given 60 days notice before termination of service, not 90.
NYSUT Member Benefits
Welcome New Members!
Capy Charles, Irvington
William Bingman, RLC
Monroe Anderson, RLC
Curtis Haywood, RLC
Jared Bednowitz, RLC
Kelly Horgan, Transfiguration
Save the Date
NYSUT will be holding a state-wide Fix Tier 6 rally in Albany on Sunday, March 8th.
Register here if you are interested in attending. Info on busing to come!
NYSUT is holding free student loan webinars starting on December 9th. Register here if you have questions about your student loans.
NYSUT is also holding free webinars to answer certification questions. Upcoming seminars are for initial to professional certification, SWD certification and TA certification. Register here
Reminders
Next Rep Council meeting: The next Rep Council meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 19th at 4pm via Zoom. Zoom link to follow.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
Read more: November 4, 2025 bulletin – Legislative breakfast, TA certification changes, Know Your Rights
BOCES Teachers Association 