Category: Wear Your Shirt Wednesdays

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. A drawing will be held at the end of each month, so the more times you wear your shirt, the more chances to win. Photos can be uploaded here. See more photos from the last two weeks here and here

ALC MOA reached

We have reached an MOA for ALC. Information was sent to all ALC members via their personal email address and can be seen here. Information sessions will be held on Sunday, May 31st at 6pm and Monday, June 1st at 7pm via Zoom for all ALC members. A Google form will be sent to your personal email on Tuesday, June 2nd to vote and voting will close at 4pm on June 4th.

BTA Spring Election

Thank you to all candidates who stepped forward to run and for all those who volunteered with the election. Results are as follows:

Treasurer: Stacey DiPaola

Grievance Chair: Melissa Barreto

Recording Secretary: Rebecca Phang

TA Representative: Marianne Weston

RA Delegate: Rosalie Consani, Karen Canino and Julie Crosier

BTA End of Year Happy Hour

The BTA will be holding an end of the year Happy Hour on Wednesday, June 3rd at 3:30pm at Bar 141 in Thornwood. Every member will get one free drink and complimentary appetizers. Wear your union shirt and come meet old friends and new members. Please RSVP on this form so that we have a head count for the restaurant. Deadline to RSVP is Friday, May 29th.

What is BASIS?

• BASIS stands for “Before and After School Intervention Services”. These are services provided in a child’s home before or after school, mostly throughout Westchester County, but occasionally in adjacent counties as well.
• The students are, more often than not, NOT students that attend SWBOCES. They are students who local districts have identified as needing help either before or after school, for various reasons.
• These reasons can include, but are not limited to: assisting a student and their parents in getting a student on the bus or to school, establishing a routine for the student and family in the morning, tutoring services in specific subjects, assisting a student with organizing and completing their homework after school, and direct student services in the home (i.e. OT, PT or ST services).
• The deadline to sign up to be a BASIS provider for the 2026-2027 school year is Friday, May 22nd. You can find the application here.
• The BTA encourages all members to sign up to become BASIS providers. Signing up does not guarantee you a case, nor does it obligate you to take one. Sign ups only happen twice yearly – there have been many members who have signed up to work cases at various times during the year due to an unexpected need for additional income.
• Once you sign up, the BASIS steering committee meets to determine whether members are eligible to take cases next year. The Board of Education will then approve the list of members, and you will be on an email list with potential cases starting July 1st. Please consider joining. If you have questions, reach out to a Rep or Exec Board member.

LAP 1:1 Conversations

Thank you to our 20+ volunteers for beginning our 1:1 conversation campaign. Over 180 conversations have already been had. Each conversation should last less than 10 minutes and is used to better get to know our mebers.

NYSTRS PREP Seminars

Certified Staff: New York State TRS is offering Pension & Retirement Education Program (PREP) Seminars throughout the state this summer to help members take a proactive approach to planning for retirement. Each is a half day session (8:30-1) and focuses on topics such as NYSTRS Benefits, Social Security, Estate Planning and the Retirement Process. Members can make a reservation through their TRS account at nystrs.org or call 1-800-348-7298 extension 6180 during business hours. Sign up soon as space is limited.

Know Your Rights

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 #8: Under New York State Education Law and Commissioner’s Regulations, teachers with tenure can be discharged at the district’s discretion. 55.5% of members answered it was false. The correct answer is false.

As per NYS Ed Law 3020-a, tenured teachers are provided with due process. The Board of Education must find there to be “just cause” as to why the teacher is being recommended to be discharged, and the teacher must be afforded the right to a hearing by a hearing officer. NYSUT members are provided an attorney for free during this process

Upcoming Webinar: Homebuying & Refinancing Tips from Mid-Island Mortgage

Join us on Wednesday, May 27 at 6 p.m. for an informational webinar hosted by representatives from NYSUT Member Benefits & Mid-Island Mortgage. Are you in the market to purchase a new home, refinance your mortgage, or renovate to build more equity? Whatever your homeownership priorities, Mid-Island Mortgage will guide you through every step, start to finish.

Registration link: https://nysut.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_a5R41PSmRwmKPLJQtE36Fg

Welcome New Members!

Jacqueline Riley, RLC

Reminders

Next General Membership meeting: The next BTA General Membership meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 27th at 4pm at Transfiguration. Meeting will also be done over 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.