14 October 2019

• Introducing the NYSUT Student Loan Debt Program

  One thing we constantly hear from our members is their frustration and confusion when it comes to managing student loans. While this is a national problem, educators and other public-sector workers are hit especially hard.

  Even worse, there are a large number of for-profit companies taking advantage of a complicated student loan system. We've seen an increasing number of stories about these bad actors promising to help our members, only to mislead them to make more money for themselves.

  That's why we're so excited to announce a new union-backed program to help you understand,

  ...
• NYSUT officers to SRPs: ‘All together, we accomplish great things!’

  NYSUT President Andy Pallotta has a family tree full of school workers that he shared with more than 200 School-Related Professionals seated before him at the SRP leadership conference in Saratoga Springs last weekend.

  His grandfather was a head custodian, his mom worked in a school cafeteria and library, and his mother-in-law was a paraprofessional.

  “When we’re all together, we accomplish great things,” Pallotta told a room packed with bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers, clerical workers, security personnel, teaching assistants and teacher aides at NYSUT’s conference — many of whom were attending the annual event for the first time.

  He thanked them for their activism to get

  ...
• NYSUT congratulates Binghamton University professor on Nobel Prize award

  BINGHAMTON, N.Y. Oct. 9, 2019 — New York State United Teachers today congratulated NYSUT member M. Stanley Whittingham, a distinguished professor of chemistry and materials science at Binghamton University on winning the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Whittingham is a member of the United University Professions Binghamton Chapter.

  “Professor Whittingham exemplifies the hard work of our higher education faculty across the state and their dedication to pioneering new ideas and research that will advance our society as a whole,” NYSUT President Andy Pallotta said. “This is precisely the kind of work done by our UUP faculty that makes New York colleges and universities so sought after by students from around

  ...
• Health and Safety Committee members helping the union keep schools clean and green

  ---

  NYSUT is promoting and partnering with Clean, Green and Healthy Schools, a program of the state Department of Health, to help members access resources to improve their school environments. The idea behind the program, which will be presented today at NYSUT’s Health and Safety Committee meeting, is to help focus action plans on troubling situations that may seem overwhelming to take on, and to take preventive steps in major areas of school environmental health.

  “This provides a checklist, assessments and a road map for how to start functioning around these issues,” said Veronica Foley, NYSUT health and safety

  ...
• In Yonkers, Take a Look at Teaching summit focuses on diversity

  An urgent call for a more diverse teaching workforce was front and center at NYSUT’s Take a Look at Teaching summit in Yonkers Thursday, as students, educators, community activists and state policymakers explored ways to make that happen.

  “New York State’s student demographics are changing but our education workforce is not keeping up,” said NYSUT Executive Vice President Jolene DiBrango. While 43 percent of students statewide are Hispanic/Latino or African-American, just 16 percent of the teachers are.

  Yonkers Federation of Teachers President Samantha Rosado-Ciriello, who co-hosted the summit with DiBrango, said the union is working to expand the

  ...