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MAIL-ORDER PRESCRIPTION UPDATE We've had some questions about the proper use of the mail-order pharmacy now that there is a co-pay for Units 1,8, and 10. This is how it works: The mail order service is meant for maintenance drugs so ask your doctor to write a 90 day script whenever possible. If you Rx is for a controlled substance it, too, can be filled for 90 days since the mail order pharmacy is located in PA. Should your Rx be for a drug classified as a controlled substance and your doctor won't write the RX for 90 days, you can get it filled for 30 days and then submit the additional $10 co-pay (for the 2nd and 3rd filling) to POMCO for reimbursement. This only applies to controlled substances. There is no change for local Eckerd prescriptions service. You can get the initial prescription and one refill under the plan. If you refill it a 2nd time you have to pay the full price. That's why you should use the mail-order whenever possible. CLARIFICATION OF USE OF PERSONAL AND SICK DAYS Your use of personal days and sick days need not be justified. The memo that began this demand referred to the Unit 9 personnel (CSEA) procedures. That memo is not germane to STA members. You should request personal days at least 5 days in advance. Reasons need not be stated. It is a courtesy to provide an explanation for emergency personal day use (those with less than 5 days notice). Family days often fall into this latter "emergency use" category. Most of us don't know when a family members will require our care when ill. If you need to use a PD the day prior to or immediately following a vacation or recess you must request use of that day in writing to the superintendent through Personnel. See your unit contracts for specifics. The sick time you accumulate (sick leave conservation policy) is for your use when you are unable to work due to illness. Under normal circumstances if your illness falls into the "pink and green" form category (surgery, extended illness, etc.) you are not required to give an explanation of your illness. In some special instances the district may require documentation for illnesses (prior notification of this requirement must be given by the district). It is in your best interest to save your days as a buffer against an extended illness. Public employees are not covered by NYS disability insurance. Our sick leave conservation policy (the ability to accumulate and save days from year to year) is a negotiated benefit for members. Additional protection can be secured with a disability insurance policy. NYSUT endorses one policy that provides competitive rates and protection. You may have premiums for the NYSUT endorsed product deducted from your check. STA President, Kate McKenna, made the following presentation to the Board of Education at their meeting of June 21, 2000:
The pilot program to change four 6:1:1 classes to an 8:1:1 class configuration has been underway for one year. Only two of the classes have reached this number. You have heard from one teacher whose numbers did increase and the psychologist in her building. They have brought their professional observations and assessments to you indicating that they felt that this change had not been beneficial to the children they serve. I agree that further study is indicated before making this a district-wide policy. However, I would urge you to remove the class at Van Duyn from this pilot. The professionals closest to this program- those who see the children every day- feel that it has not worked well and I cannot believe that another year of inappropriate programming will benefit the children.
Each year teachers assume responsibility to educate our community's children. They work diligently with their colleagues to prepare and implement lessons and to assess student progress. They make professional judgments on the skills and knowledge of their children and in some cases recommend retention for their students. Oftentimes these recommendations are not honored and children are pushed to the next grade without the requisite skills and knowledge. To further exacerbate the problem, there are no additional support services for the students when they arrive in the next grade. Teachers are faced with an ever-widening range of ability levels in their classrooms. This compounds an already difficult job. The Board of Regents has mandated that districts will offer Academic Intervention Services (AIS) to students who have not yet met state and local standards. STA applauds this and wishes that the state had been mandated to fund this. The District's draft proposal for the delivery of AIS was presented to the school board's curriculum committee on June 16th. The plan is in draft form and requires substantial revision before it will address adequately the needs of our district's children. You have received a memo from Paula Drake outlining some of the concerns which we have about the current draft. We ask that you consider the children and the teachers when you examine the document. Nearly 60% of our students qualify for some form of AIS. The demands on teachers will be enormous. The paperwork demands they face now are staggering and the AIS draft proposes to pile more on top of this. Personal Learning Plans for every student on top of the Language Arts and Math records of student performance, four report cards, interim reports, Medicaid reporting forms and so much more. Many of our students need extra help to reach the standards. Our teachers need time to plan and implement lessons. They need time to assess and work with their kids. We need to take a realistic look at what our teachers and other personnel are already doing before adding another level of paperwork to their duties. Paperwork takes teachers away from kids- and I think that's the opposite of what we all want. I ask the board to study the AIS draft and consider the impact on the terms and conditions of a teachers day as it is written. I hope that you will view it as a draft that needs to be cooperatively revised by the District, the STA and the practitioners who will implement its provisions.
The STA and the District began contract negotiations for Units 1, 8 and 10 over one year ago. We have still not reached agreements and unfortunately we are still far apart on substantive issues, notably duration and compensation. We have made some progress on safety and discipline issues and one Unit 1 professional issue and will meet tomorrow to continue that and other conversations. On June 28th the Unit 1 and District negotiating teams will meet with the PERB mediator and try to get closer to a solution. Mediation for Units 8 and 10 has not yet begun. Any possibility of ratified settlements prior to September is lost. The duration of each contract will now be 'multi-year' which the District has expressed a reluctance to agree to. The fact is that any agreement must be multi-year since we are now in our 355th day without settlements. Every school district forecasts funding levels each time they negotiate agreements. This district cannot wait until every source of revenue for the next two, three or four years is assured. Calculations can be made with reasonable assurance. Budgets can be projected with reasonable assurance. Professional staff will remain with the district if there are reasonable assurances that we can earn competitive salaries. The board may have to reprioritize in order to meet its obligations to children and staff in the future but every district does that. I have given you an article about how districts spend their money and what actually promotes learning in classrooms. New York City's District #2 superintendent, Elaine Fink, says it all when she says, "In order to get good performance from your kids, you have to get good performance from your teachers." Experienced, mid-career and veteran teachers all benefit from active participation in their own professional development, curriculum and more- and that's at the heart of what we have proposed in our negotiations. Our SRP unit members are making wages that have barely kept up with inflation- in the case of Unit 10 they haven't even done that. Their continuing education needs and other professional issues have yet to be addressed seriously by the District. We've got lots of work to do before we lose those who do so much for kids and are paid inadequately. Syracuse was once noted for the progressive manner in which curriculum writing and implementation was organized. Much of the work was seen as the responsibility of the professionals in the classrooms. We are trying to negotiate a way for the old to be incorporated with the reorganization. We want all parties to be given respect and responsibility for planning and implementing the best instructional programs for our children and staff development for ourselves. Our T-shirts have a saying on them: "Uniting for Children." It's not a slogan. It's a belief. The District needs to take all three and soon four contract negotiations seriously so that we can make "Unite for Children" a reality.
STA President, Kate McKenna, made the following presentation to the Board of Education at their meeting of June 8, 2000:
The STA has been trying to negotiate contracts for Units 1, 8 and 10 for over a year. We haven't gotten very far and it's been demoralizing for our members. There is growing recognition of the problems associated with retaining current staff and attracting new staff in such an atmosphere. The urgency to negotiate is increasing as the school year comes to a close and the district seeks to fill openings. Dr. Jones and I had some conversations yesterday that may help us get to where we want to be before we lose anymore of our valuable professional staff. On Monday members of the STA leadership will sit with Dr. Jones, CFO Bob Peters and others to discuss the district's budget. We hope to gain a clear and accurate understanding of the district's financial picture. Two additional meetings are scheduled for gathering further information which will then be taken to the three STA negotiating teams for consideration. It is important, however, to remember that our contract negotiations are not stalled soley on the basis of compensation. There are professional issues which are directly linked to student achievement that we are asking the district to negotiate with us. These include professional committees that facilitate the joint participation of labor and management in problem solving and continuing improvement of the district and professional development. There was a piece about the NBA playoffs on the radio this morning that I found very interesting. The commentator noted that Indiana had gotten to the playoffs just three years after Larry Bird took on the coaching job there. Phil Jackson helped prepare his LA Lakers in just one year after the team's 10 year drought. Their respective teams' successes were attributed in large measure to the type of coaching each team had experienced. Both Bird and Jackson are watchful during games; their work is done behind the scenes in planning and practices. They both allow their players to make the calls- treating them as grown men skilled at what they do. They trust them to make good decisions on the play-by-play but are always there to consult, exhort and advise. They treat the players with respect rather than as "...tall children." We have a chance over the next two weeks to "make the playoffs." I would suggest to the board and the superintendent that it is time to treat the professionals who work for this district as your MVP's- most valuable partners. LA and Indiana didn't make it to the finals without Jackson and Bird. But they couldn't have made it there without the players. How well we work together will determine if our kids will get to the finals.
1. WHAT THE CAMPAIGN IS ABOUT: Teachers are unable to teach and students cannot learn in a disorderly classroom. It is equally true that students will perform at a higher level when faced with more demanding expectations. Appropriate measures must be put in place that promote an orderly learning environment and give students high academic goals to shoot for. The purpose of the campaign is initially to get parents, school officials, lawmakers and their communities to agree with the mission of the program and support its Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for Learning. Then, following this agreement in principle, for our union, working in coalition with parents, public officials, businesses and others to take specific actions that will ultimately make high standards of conduct and standards for academic achievement a reality in our schools. The rights of students and school staff to the best schools, as spelled out in the Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for Learning, will serve as thecampaign's centerpiece. We realize that the Lessons for Life campaign will not solve all of the problems presently facing public schools, but we believe it is a good starting point based on issues that all school employees can agree with and a campaign that will attract broad-based public support. 2. WHY THE CAMPAIGN IS NECESSARY: For more on Lessons for Life, check out AFT's web site: 
(News article that appeared in the Post Standard June 8, 1999) The goals seems laudable enough- making sure schools are safe and well-equipped and that students live up to clear academic standards. But "Lessons for Life," a national campaign sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers, has so far hit a roadblock in Syracuse. The program, which asks school districts to endorse a 10-point "Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for Learning," was launched four years ago by Albert Shanker, the late president of the AFT, who called it "a central, life-or-death campagin for public schools." Locally, it has been adopted by the Liverpool and North Syracuse districts. The plan met with a cool reception when the Syracuse Teachers Association presented it to the city school board last month.Superintendent Thomas Cappa spoke passionately against it, saying he questioned both its wisdom and its legality. The STA introduced the plan to the school board to follow up on incidents of violence that have been occurring in schools throughout the country, including the April 20 shootings in Littleton, Colorado. Even May Bernardi wrote to Cappa in late April about the need for a program such as Lessons for Life that would "create a warm, safe and welcoming environment" for children in school. Cappa said the plan is loaded with legal land mines that might be better discussed in teacher contrct negotiations. The working of the Bill of Rights - declaring that "staff and students" have a right to safe schools, for instane - is particularly troublesome, he said. Paula Drake, STA's 1st Vice President and Donna Fowler, a spokeswoman for the AFT in Washington, D.C., said the points in the Bill of Rights are things parents, students and teachers agree on and should pose no threat to school administrators. Fowler acknowledged that some districts has been slow to embrace the campaign, partly because of mistrust between the administration and the union. She said most districts hasve accepted bits and pieces of the campaign rather than the entire package. In Liverpool, Jerry Lotierzo, president of the Liverpool Faculty Association met weekly for more than a year to agree to a document that sets standards and responsibilities for all four groups.
On April 28, 1999, teachers and other educators from six school districts met to compare notes about what is working best in their first year of Success for All, a nationally acclaimed school restructuring program with a proven record of helping at-risk urban children improve their reading skills. Teachers, administrators and school employees from Albany's Giffen School, New Rochelle, Newburgh, Niagara Falls, Rochester and Syracuse reviewed early data on the success of their Success for All programs. The group also heard from two large districts -- Yonkers and New York City -- which have been using the program developed by researcher Robert Slavin of Johns Hopkins University for several years. The May 1 conference, co-sponsored by New York State United Teachers and the Syracuse Teachers Association, was held at the Delaware Academy school. More than 100 participants were present. "This conference gives teachers at first-year Success for All sites a chance to share their common concerns and to brainstorm with each other," said NYSUT First Vice President Antonia Cortese. "This very valuable networking and collaboration is important because it helps teachers learn about the best practices of Success for All programs which they, in turn, can then take back to their districts." Added Syracuse Teachers Association President Kate McKenna, "This extra level of support and the ideas generated at this conference will help teams as they prepare for their second-year programs. This will help teachers to raise achievement among those students who are facing the greatest challenges." Success for All is a school-wide restructuring program that, through lesson plans, teacher manuals and specific guidance, helps students to focus on their reading, writing and language arts. Schools participating in Success for All set aside a common, 90-minute period each day for reading instruction, and have small classes with even smaller groups that concentrate on mastering reading children's literature. Intensive one-on-one tutoring is provided for struggling students, who are drilled and tested to help ensure they do not fall behind, Cortese explained. Success for All districts also set up Family Support Teams, which promote parental involvement and work to solve behavioral and other social problems before they impact learning. In addition, at least 80 percent of the teachers in a school must vote to use Success for All, ensuring that the program has broad support among the educators who must implement it. Cortese noted that two long-term case studies -- in Baltimore and Houston -- have demonstrated Success for All's effectiveness in raising achievement among inner city children. Many smaller school districts, including those in New York State, are also reporting gains in student achievement in just a short amount of time. Despite this promising improvement, first-year users of the Success for All still experience some common obstacles -- and that was one focus of the conference. Among other issues discussed, McKenna said, weres the needs of bilingual students, dealing with differences in writing skills, faithfully implementing all facets of the program, and meeting the competing needs of groups of students.
NEW YORK STATE AND LOCAL EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM What happens to my retirement benefit if I'm killed in an accident before I retire? Several factors determine if your beneficiary(ies) are eligible for a death benefit and what type of benefit is paid. Regardless of years of service, if your death is the result of an on-the-job accident not caused by your own willful negligence, an accidental death benefit would be payable on your behalf. This benefit is subject to reduction by any Workers' Compensation benefit paid on account of your death. For Tier 1 and 2 members, the accidental death benefit is a pension equal to one-half of your final average salary and is paid to your survivors in accordance with the law. For Tier 3 and 4 members, the accidental death benefit under Article 15 is a pension equal to one-half of your wages during your last year of active service and is paid to your survivors in accordance with the law. If your death is not caused by an accident on-the-job, you have at least one year of credited service since last joining the Retirement System and you die while in active public service, an ordinary death benefit may be payable to your beneficiary(ies). For Tier 1 members, the benefit is equal to 1/12th (8.33%) of your last year's earnings multiplied by your years of service credit up to 36 years. However, if you die while in service after age 55, your death benefit may be substantially increased. There is no post-retirement death benefit. For Tier 2, 3 and 4 members, the ordinary death benefit payable depends on which death benefit you chose (Death Benefit 1 or 2) when you became a member of the Retirement System. Death Benefit 1 provides one month's salary for each year of service credit not to exceed three years' salary. If you die at age 62 or later, the benefit may be substantially increased. Death Benefit 1 does not pay a post-retirement death benefit. Death Benefit 2 is equal to your salary multiplied by your years of service, not to exceed three years' salary. There is areduction if you die while in service after age 61; however, Death Benefit 2 pays a post-retirement death benefit at a reduced rate. For more detailed information concerning death benefits, consult the summary plan description booklet for your tier which you can get from the district's personnel office (435-4665) or by calling the Retirement System at (518) 474-7736. What does FAS mean? FAS means "final average salary" and is an important factor in the calculation of your retirement benefit. Your FAS is the average of your 36 highest consecutive months of earnings. Based on your date of membership in the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System and your tier status, the earnings used in your FAS calculation may be subject to certain limitations. The following payments are included in the FAS calculation of an ERS member: overtime, up to 10 days non-compensatory overtime for each year used if earned during that year; holiday pay; longevity bonus (if paid in a year used in the FAS, up to a maximum of three); and vacation lump sum (for members who joined prior to April 1, 1972 or after July 26, 1976) if the FAS is based on the three years immediately preceding retirement. Why isn't my date of membership the same as when I started my employment? If you began your employment before July 27, 1976, membership was mandatory for a person employed in a permanent, non-competitive civil service classified position. Membership was not mandatory for those in the labor and exempt classes or for those in provisional or temporary items. As of July 27, 1976, all persons employed in full-time, 12-month, permanent positions are mandatory members of the Retirement System on the first day of their employment. All others are optional members whose membership begins when their Membership Applications are received in the Retirement System, not necessarily on their first day of employment. What documents are acceptable as proof of date of birth? The Retirement System must verify dates of birth before we can pay any benefits. If you cannot provide a birth certificate, you may substitute one of the following:
Press Release. May 24, 1999. With a $2 billion surplus, it's time to boost public ed, unionists say Forget the finger-pointing. Stop the hand-wringing. That's what hundreds of grassroots lobbyists from around the state told lawmakers as they urged them to end the budget bickering and give them the resources they need to help kids meet higher standards. Close to 600 members of New York State United Teachers descended on the state Capitol in late May to tell legislators it's time to move ahead. The budget standoff in Albany has paralyzed state government, lawmakers kept telling the union's volunteer lobbyists. Normally, this time of year, there are hundreds of bills signed into law. Instead, there are 30-something. "It's scary," said Assemblyman Peter Abbate, D-Brooklyn. "It's not business as usual. Nobody's talking. The state is at astandstill." While lawmakers kept trying to assure the volunteer lobbyists the delay wouldn't hurt schools or higher education, union activists clearly told them otherwise. Because of uncertainty over the state budget, many schools are cutting summer school slots and remedial programs - at precisely the time they should be beefing up support services to help struggling students meet the higher standards. Unless a budget is passed soon, state funding will end June 30 for the state's highly regarded network of teacher centers. Thatcould jeopardize summer programs and hundreds of professional development offerings for thousands of teachers and other school staff when the new school year begins. "We're right on the edge of the avalanche with retirements," said Lynn Costello, East Islip Teachers Association. "We're going to have a lot of new people wanting additional training, so teacher centers are essential." "Our teacher center now supplies 85 percent of the courses new teachers take, but it's going to be out of money on July 1," said Judith Bogdanowicz, Rondout Valley Federation of Teachers. "When you put in a requirement that new teachers must take 100 or more class hours of additional training ... and then you close teacher centers, I have to wonder where those new teachers will get their training," said Marilyn Denson, Watkins Glen FA. The fear that state funding will disappear has forced many districts to question whether to move forward with initiatives likepre-kindergarten and mentor-teacher programs. Kenmore TA's Don Benker told how his district is starting a full-day kindergarten this fall, based on funding promises made last year. Gov. George Pataki's budget proposal reneges on that promise. "That's a major impact for us and I'm sure many other school districts," said Benker, a NYSUT Board member. "It would be terrible for districts to abandon plans because of uncertain funding." The money is there, activists reminded lawmakers, with an estimated $2 to 3 billion surplus. The political climate has stalled movement on other important legislation, such as safe schools legislation. Right now, the Senate and Assembly have passed separate versions of the package, with the two sides disagreeing over gun-control provisions and whether to give teachers authority to remove students from their classrooms. With the tragic incidents in Colorado and Georgia, "students tell me they no longer feel safe in school," said Bill Geiben of Lewiston-Porter United Teachers. "It's time to put politics aside and appoint a bipartisan conference committee to hammer out a strong bill," said NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin. "Our kids deserve better." - Saunders -
A Beginning or the Beginning of the End? Act I We've been hearing about charter schools for sometime now. They have been promoted as the answer to the problems-real and perceived- in today's public schools. There might be advantages to establishing charter school legislation in New York. So what would such legislation look like? Would New York's legislation meet the following criteria:
The answer, so far, is a resounding "NO!" The Governor has proposed a shocking array of "non-criteria" and has linked it to the pay raises of the legislature, judges and other state officials. This plan (S. 5433) does not require charter schools to accept students with disabilities, to adhere to the higher standards proposed by the Regents or to use the assessment devices for which all public schools are currently preparing. Indeed, the Governor's proposal even creates a new level of bureaucracy by forming a new oversight board to replace the State Board of Regents, the body to whom schools are now responsible. The Governor's plan does not even require hiring certified teachers at a time when knowledgeable persons are calling for more comprehensive teacher preparation programs and the elimination of waivers for those not properly credentialed! Would we waive the training of our police, fire or medical professionals? I think not. The Senate compromise introduced by Senator Joseph Bruno is only slightly better. At least his proposal guarantees that no more than 5 teachers in any given charter school could be uncertified, but whose children should be taught by just anyone off the street? The fact remains that charter schools, as they are being proposed currently, will siphon off scarce state aid dollars from the schools most of our communities' children attend. These charter schools will also have very little accountability. Citizens should contact their respective representatives and demand time to participate in a meaningful way in the formation of any charter school legislation.
Editor's note: This column will continue in the next issue. As we were going to press the NYS Legislature was poised to pass a pay raise-for-charter school legislation bill. Stay tuned. 12.28.98
CHARTER SCHOOLS The Bill...Or How Public Policy Was Created Act II The State Legislature did, indeed, pass a charter schools bill under cover of darkness in the final days of the year. The Governor, with an eye to appealing to the conservative wing of the national party, held the legislators' post election pay raises hostage in exchange for a bill that contains some bitter pills. NYSUT legislative staff worked successfully to shape the Governor's initial bill into one that had some redeeming qualities.
How will the public debate be framed now that this in not just an academic exercise? What kind of charter schools will we have in Syracuse? Public? Private? Information is the key to designing the best charter schools for our community. We want your participation in shaping charter schools for the children we teach. The public is invited to participate in a forum on charter schools at the Goldstein Auditorium on the SU campus on February 6, 1999 from 9:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m. The $5.00 registration fee will be refunded by STA to any member attending the forum. (Building reps and alternates have copies of the registration form.) Come, gather and share information. Paula Drake and I have arranged for Joan Buckley from AFT (national affiliate) and Bob Lowery from NYSUT (state affiliate) to participate and present research findings on charter schools. Paula and I will also be taking part in the workshops. Framing the conversation around teacher quality, the standards, assessment and equity issues is crucial. We hope that there will be at least one representative from each school in attendance. Charter schools have the potential to make a big impact - positive and/or negative - on education in Syracuse. Our input and participation will help shape that impact. Get involved! All of our futures depend on us being part of the solution. Editors note: This column will continue in the next issue. See the Jan. 13th issue of the NY Teacher or visit the NYSUT web site at www.nysut.org for more information on charter schools. -McKenna Copies of the bill are available on-line at www.assembly.state.ny.us Bill Search A-6896 |