SFT Officer Elections

Officer elections occur in May. Up for election this year are: President, First Vice president, Middle level Vice president, one elementary vice president, Treasurer and Paraprofessional Chairperson.

Nominations should be forwarded by April 17th to Krista Hawk, SFT Secretary at hawk@schenectady.k12.ny.us. If you have any questions please email Juliet Benaquisto at pres803@verizon.net

*New York State Public Education Day of Action Thursday March 3^rd!!

SFT MEMBERS ARE BEING ASKED TO WEAR RED AND PARTICIPATE IN TWO EVENTS!

Happy Hour at Centre Street Pub (flyer attached)

Thursday March 3^rd 3:30-6:00 pm 308 Union St.

Locals from all over the Capital District will be coming to together to socialize and take political actions to support NYSUT’s lobbying day on March 8th.

                        -There will be food, a DJ, and raffles.

                        -This is a family friendly event.

Rally At Lincoln Elementary School (flyer attached)

AQE, Citizen Action and NYSUT are hosting a rally on Thursday, March 3rd at 7:15am at Lincoln Elementary School. They are asking parents and community members to attend in support of our children, our schools, and our communities. 
Stand up for our schools for the funding we need and deserve. Let our local and state representatives know that we need support for our schools and families, not threats of being taken over and taken away from local control. We will not stand for receivership schools being stolen from the communities they serve instead of being properly funded.

This is the Facebook page for this event:  https://www.facebook.com/events/1678524155753013/

*Equitable Funding Petition Drive is taking place!

SFT Building Directors will be asking all members to sign a petition created by the Campaign 4 Equity Funding –Schenectady.  This organization was started by local clergy in Schenectady and the petition reads We the undersigned demand by means of this petition our elected officials to more fully represent us and provide 100% of the state funding (62 million) to the children of the Schenectady’s School District by fully implementing the Foundation Aid Formula for this fiscal year and continuing thereafter.  The goal is to have the petitions filled out by Thursday so that they can be delivered to state officials as a part of the Schenectady Lobby Day on March 7^th (more details on the below).

*Schenectady Lobby Day March 7^th

You are all invited to join the Campaign 4 Equity Funding Schenectady in a time of prayer and in meeting with legislators at the Governor's Mansion on Monday, March 7, as we lobby for the $60 Million that is due to the Schenectady School District. 

Attached is the event flyer, and below is the day's schedule.

Please email: JoinSSD@gmail.com or Text Bernardo Martinez at 518-428-9339 to reserve your seat on the bus!

9:30 am - Bus departs at Emmanuel Friedens Church, 218 Nott Terrace, Schenectady

10:00 am - Bus arrives at Emmanuel Baptist Church, 275 State Street, Albany

10:00-10:45 am - Speakers at the Church welcome and go over talking points

10:45-11:15 am - Posters and Lunch - We will make hand-drawn signs to bring to the Capitol and eat a bagged lunch

11:15-11:50 am - March to the Capitol and get through security

12 Noon - Press Conference in War Room on 2nd floor of the Capitol with Labor Religion Coalition

12:30-1:30 pm - meet with Senators Farley and Amedore (All pastors will be asked to participate.)

2:00 pm - Bus leaves for Schenectady

Winter 2016 NYSUT Member Benefits E-Newsletter   I am proud to present to you the Winter 2016 issue of our Member Benefits E-Direct electronic newsletter. I hope that you will find the content useful and ask that you pass this publication along to as many of your NYSUT contacts and members as possible. Each issue of this electronic publication is put together with great thought and effort as we strive to ensure that we offer helpful hints and tips to our members -- an added benefit of NYSUT membership provided at no cost to NYSUT members. We want all NYSUT members to know that membership in this union provides access to a variety of Member Benefits-endorsed programs & services available exclusively to them and their families. Please click the link below to view this e-newsletter. This publication includes embedded links that will allow you to learn more about our various endorsed programs & services.   http://online.fliphtml5.com/pwms/efgv/#p=1   One of our goals at NYSUT Member Benefits is to reach the maximum number of members, and we have seen that we are most successful with this goal when people like you share our materials with your colleagues and friends. We continue to increase the number of members who are aware of the endorsed programs & services that we offer but still have great potential for growth in this area. We are also pleased that the number of members who participate in our endorsed programs & services continues to grow each year; with your help in forwarding this email and e-newsletter link to your membership, we are confident that this growth will continue in the future as well. Thank you for your continued support of NYSUT Member Benefits! Warm regards, Lynette A. Metz Director, NYSUT Member Benefits Trust CEO, NYSUT Member Benefits Corporation

The SFT is conducting the NYSUT Representative Assembly (RA) delegate election during the week of January 19^th- January 25^th.  

Attached to this post is the statement of ALL candidates who were interested in running for the NYSUT RA and the *AFT convention. The ballot you will receive in your building includes just those running for the NYSUT RA.  

*We do not need to hold an election for delegates to the AFT convention as the number of nominees is within the number of delegates we are allotted. 

Dear Member,

The State budget that was passed last night is devastating to us, to public schools, and will have long lasting consequences for all of us.

As a result of the new legislation, there will be changes to the tenure process for new members, and a significant loss of protection for teachers, who teach in high need/high poverty districts.  The legislation passed last night takes away due process rights from tenured teachers based on a new evaluation system that will be imposed before November 1 of next year. While the ability to bargain some aspects of this new system still exists, understand that the bottom line is this: a teacher rated as Ineffective on a State measure or on a State created Learning Objective will be rated Ineffective overall. The rest of any APPR system will carry no weight.

We are currently waiting to hear from NYSUT on what the strategy will be going forward. My understanding is that the NYSUT Board of Directors is participating in an emergency conference call this evening at 5:00 p.m.  We will continue to share and update information through SFT Pipeline emails and the SFT Facebook page.

We have the fight of our careers in front of us but rest assured we are ready to fight! We need every one of you to engage and be ready to support NYSUT’s leadership. We must act as one united group.

Now more than ever, it is crucial that members are signed up to receive private emails from the SFT.  Please discuss and share the contents of this letter with any of your colleagues who have not received it.

In solidarity,

Juliet

Urgent General Membership meeting

April 15^th, 4:00 p.m.

SHS Auditorium

The primary purpose of this meeting will be to disseminate and clarify the changes we face to the degree they are known at that date.

*Please note we may ask membership to vote on an issue regarding the 2015-2016 SCSD calendar depending on developments between now and then.