18 June 2019

• School budget revotes are Tuesday. Is your district on this list?

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  Here we go again.

  All 12 districts that did not pass their budget proposals in May (some with more than 50 percent approval!) will revote Tuesday, June 18.

  Four of the school districts — Clymer, Dolgeville, Minisink Valley and Wyandanch — are forced to seek an undemocratic 60 percent supermajority as they need to exceed their tax levy cap. If they fail, they must adopt a contingency budget, a 0 percent increase from last year.

  If you're in one of these 12 school districts, do your part to spread the word about how voting this Tuesday is more important than ever before!

  Which school districts have revotes this year?

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• Teacher's aide saves young student in East Williston

  Four young East Williston students had a lovely field trip that morning to Old Westbury Gardens, and were eating lunch back at their North Side Elementary School classroom.

  Then, Tristan Brennan, a non-verbal first grader, began choking on his turkey sandwich.

  He jumped up, ran across the room and began slapping his arms. His one-on-one teacher aide, Sarah Fusco, slapped him on the back, but nothing dislodged.

  “His face was red. It was clear to me that he wasn’t going to get that out on his own,” said Fusco, a School-Related Professional.

  She performed the Heimlich maneuver on the six year old, and still nothing happened.

  “It was an awkward position. He was definitely coming

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• NYSUT brings free ice cream to state Capitol as part of Support School Staff campaign

  ALBANY, N.Y. June 11, 2019 — New York State United Teachers will call on state lawmakers to put the cherry on top of the legislative session on Wednesday, bringing free ice cream to the state Capitol to highlight the union’s Support School Staff campaign and legislation aimed at addressing critical issues facing School-Related Professionals.

  Specially decorated ice cream trucks will be parked on State Street outside the Capitol from noon to 2 p.m. Wednesday, June 12, and NYSUT officers will hand out free frozen treats topped with the message: “I Support School Staff.” NYSUT President Andy Pallotta will be on hand

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• TV ad exposes threat of exorbitant surprise emergency hospital bills; coalition fights for patient protection

  A coalition of consumer, labor, health and business groups launched a television ad campaign demanding Albany pass legislation to protect patients from exorbitant surprise emergency hospital bills.

  The Patient Protection Coalition created the ad, “Protect,” to expose the financial threat consumers can face when hit with excessive out-of-network emergency hospital charges.
  
  The spot highlights the average out-of-network charges consumers in the New York metro area can face: an eye-popping $220,000 for a broken leg; $150,000 for a heart attack.

  Patients end up bearing

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• School nurses on watch for effects from overheated classrooms

  Too much heat in a stifling classroom building can harm the body, with effects ranging from difficulty breathing, nausea and headaches to irritability and lack of focus.

  As students and teachers enter the last few weeks of June, when temperatures typically rise, concerns about the effects of overheated classrooms are also spiking.

  And summer school can be much worse.

  Suzanne McCarthy, a school nurse at Pine Hills Elementary School where she is a member of the Albany Public School Teachers Association, described the dangers of spending hours in “thick, soupy air.” When this happens, she starts seeing more students in her office who are not feeling well.

  “They are lightheaded…very

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