Volume 21, Issue 5

June 2008

Inside this issue:

President’s Report

2-4

Executive Vice Presidents

Report

6-7

First Vice President

8

Para educators 9

Special Education

10

Social News 11

CTE Report 13

Itinerant Report 14

Benefits 12

We are Port Jefferson – We are NYSUT was the theme of the rally held in Port Jefferson on Tuesday, May 13

Port Jefferson has been without a contract for two years and is in contentious bargaining. They have been in mediation with their Board of Education and no progress has been made in achieving a fair settlement. The Port Jefferson members have been wearing black T-shirts and buttons that reflect the number of days without a contract. When we joined them at the rally they had been without a contract for 677 days . Your union showed their support for our brothers and sisters from Port Jefferson. Thank you to Dom Savio, Wayne Kubacki, Fran Nilsen, Bob Love, Thelma Shaw and Shelly Bernstein, in the picture above with NYSUT Regional Director Vinny Lyons. Thanks also to Terry Kalb, Darren and Alan Rios, and any of our other “BEES” that were present. We thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to walk the walk. We were proud to march side by side with over 2000 members from Suffolk and Nassau county locals and NYSUT officials displaying our new banner and posters. It was great to see NYSUT President Richard Iannuzzi and our Regional Director Vinny Lyons at the head of the rally. It is our hope that the Port Jefferson Board of Education will see and feel the support from all of the other locals and settle a contract now that is fair and equitable for the Port Jefferson members.

From the Lighthouse in the West to the Lighthouse in the East

The BEACON

BOCES EDUCATORS OF EASTERN SUFFOLK UNION LOCAL 3037

MOAN,GROAN, GRIPE, BELLYACHE, CRITICIZE, CONDEMN,

CURSE, FUSS, COMPLAIN, GRUMBLE, REFUSE,

OBJECT, WHINE, IGNORE, NEGLECT, PROTEST

or

BE INFORMED! You are more informed than you think. You have the answers that you need. You just HAVE to remember where to look. It really upsets me when a member will say to me, “I didn’t know that.” “How was I supposed to know that?” Our BEACON is a tremendous source of information. In the past two years we have tried to fo-cus on creating a newsletter that is informative and helpful. I truly believe that we have succeeded in this endeavor. However, if you, the member don’t read the BEACON, put it aside or even throw it out, and yes, I have been told by many members that they never read it, they “toss” it, well then you have just lost a valuable tool. I even encourage our members to keep the BEACONS in a binder. Information that is timeless and useful is in these newsletters. One such article comes to mind from a few years back that I wrote cautioning non tenured staff to be careful about using sick days. Attendance can be taken into consideration by the Agency before granting tenure. To take this a step further for all staff, Article 3020a or Section 75 hearings can be initiated because of attendance issues. (Now if you are asking yourself, what is she talking about, it was also in a prior BEACON article) The Staff Manual and Employee Handbook are valuable and required reading tools. You are responsible for what is in the handbook and your signature verifies that you received it and acknowl-edges that you will read it. Many of the questions that are asked throughout the school year of our Ex-ecutive Board or Building Representatives can be found in these publications. Each member should have a copy of his or her contract. Over the years the contracts have got-ten more explicit and easier to read. If you don’t have a contract, please ask your Building Representa-tive for one. While I am on the subject of contracts, please remember, the BLUE contract expires on June 30, 2008. Once we have a new contract it usually takes a few months for them to be printed. We will continue to use the BLUE contract until we have ratified a new one. The Eastern Suffolk BOCES website is another useful tool to use. Become informed about our board policies. We have policies that as employees, we need to be aware of. One comes to mind imme-diately. DO NOT drive students to school or take them home in your car. You are putting yourself in a “dangerous” situation for many reasons and the Agency does not allow it.

Page 2

PRESIDENT’S REPORT THELMA SHAW

Page 3

The “BEES” website, BeesBeacon.org, links to the retirement systems and NYSUT. Along with pertinent information that is changed regularly, we also have our BEACON archive. You can click on to a past BEACON and read it. Of course, there will always be the questions that truly need clarification that one can’t find anywhere and that is why we have building representatives for all of our members. Our repre-sentatives will get you the answers that you need. Please be informed. Know what is required and what your rights are. Information is power and the correct information is a powerful tool. We have the tools, so just go out collect them and keep them in your tool box. As I wrote in my BEACON article last time, our local submitted a resolution to NYSUT for consideration at the Representative Assembly in April. Our resolution was properly submitted and was assigned to a resolution committee. I requested and was granted the right to testify on the resolution. This resolution received a lot of attention and deliberations on the floor; I actually spoke to it 3 times and exhausted the 15 min. time limitation. After much deliberation, the decision from the majority of delegates in the meeting was to refer this to the NYSUT Board of Directors. This means that the delegates were uncertain due to the nature of this resolution on how to proceed. They felt that this issue should be a high priority and researched. The NYSUT Board of Directors will review the resolution, decide what action will be taken, and do the research needed to proceed. I asked the NYSUT Board of Directors to keep me in-formed and if I need to go to Albany in support of the resolution in the near future, I am willing to do so. For clarification purposes, the intent of our resolution to NYSUT is to ensure that better training methods are put in place. It was interesting for me to find out that other BOCES in the state have students with VNS. The other BOCES also assign the VNS therapy to their classroom staff. Many of the other BOCES in the state don’t even give their staff any training, They are given a verbal “how to” and then handed the magnet. They had never seen nor heard that a video even existed. As I receive information on this subject, I will share it with our membership. This year’s Representative Assembly was very special for me because, as everyone knows, I was honored by receiving the SRP award. It was also equally important for me to be the president of the local that received two other awards. The first award I had the pleasure of receiving was for our web site, BeesBeacon.org. Our website was awarded the Class V Best Web Site. We should all feel proud of this due to the fact that the class V awards, which our local falls under, are locals that have mem-bership numbers of 1000 or more. This puts us in competition mostly with Professional College Faculty Associations and school districts such as Buffalo, Rochester, and United Federation of Teachers. So, we should be very proud that our website took the Best of the Best! The judges for this journalism contest are actually editors from a wide variety of professions. Their comments on our website were as follows: well designed and attractive site with excellent content, very user friendly with excellent navigation bar. Our award is on the wall in our union office along with the award that our BEACON won. Hopefully these will be the first two of many more to come. Our BEACON award was an award of merit; comments on our BEACON were as follows: strong, skillful writing at work, good content, clear, easy to understand accounts of issues, well organized and informative. A lot of work and thought goes into our BEACON and it is a wealth of information. I cringe whenever I hear a member say, “Oh, I haven’t read the BEACON in years,” or “I just throw it in the trash.” Please, read our BEACON! It contains useful and informative in-formation that is pertinent to our membership.

President’s Report (continued)

Page 4

One of our requirements for being an officer is to put articles into our newsletter that keeps our membership informed. I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank our BEACON editor, Thom Rosati. Thom has really built upon the groundwork that our past editor, Cynthia Fitzpatrick started and he has taken the BEACON to new levels. It was encouraging to hear Vice President Kathleen Donahue speak to a few issues that we are concerned about. Kathleen spoke about NYSUT focusing on class size for CTE classes and better defining the roles and responsibilities of School Related Professionals. Kathleen, who was recently at our BOCES, has now visited all of the BOCES within New York State. She commented that, as a teacher herself, she can’t imagine being in a culinary classroom instructing 40 students at a time, all of whom have knives! We will continue to monitor the progress that NYSUT has with this issue and you can be assured that each and every time I speak with Kathleen; I will remind her of these issues. On April 29th, 2008, over 1500 people gathered in Albany to support the passage of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equality and Justice Day. NYSUT has been an early and vocal supporter of this legislation. Our Suffolk NYSUT arranged for a bus to take members from Suf-folk to Albany. NYSUT co-sponsored this day and will continue to fight to make sure that all our members can have equal benefits and the protection that they deserve. If this bill passes it would create marriage equality for same sex couples, ban discrimination and prohibit harassment against transgender people. This law would allow domestic partner benefits without it having to be negotiated by various school districts. We as a local, support this bill and will continue to up-date our membership on its progress. It is hard to believe that another school year is coming to an end. With the end of this school year come a few changes to your Executive Board.

I would like to express my thanks and gratitude to Rich DeBetta, John Olsen,

Dom Savio, and Cynthia Fitzpatrick They have served alongside me these past two years. Rich was the historian of the group, able to recollect data on SCE from years past. John did a great job in getting us through our first and second audit and keeping our books throughout the years. Dom was my sounding board, whenever I needed to have an unbiased second opinion, a different viewpoint, or someone to bounce an idea off, that person was Dom. Cyndy took over as our BEACON editor when she first came on board while Jim Arden was president and was the foundation for the BEACON that we all appreciate today. She then went on to become the Recording Secretary. Cyndy was hurt and was forced to retire. I had the pleasure of working with Cyndy the first year of my presidency. She was a huge supporter and did a great job in helping me to establish union archives and keep copious notes from our meet-ings for future generations of unionists. All of these officers were a valuable part of the meta-morphosis of the executive board over these past two years. They believed in the concept of teamwork and worked actively at its pursuit. Thank you!

President’s Report (continued)

I will be working summer school and can be reached at Samoset during the hours of 7:45 – 2:00. This looks to be a busy summer with NCLC moving over to BLC and BRAC moving to JAC. There will be staffing changes and our goal is to notify staff as quickly as possible. Remember that posi-tions are driven by student numbers and historically numbers dribble in during the summer months. To all of our members who are embarking on the journey of retirement, congratulations and en-joy this new phase of your life! To our members who are leaving due to excessing, feel free to call me during the summer to ask any questions. To our members who are leaving to pursue other options in life, good luck. I wish all of our membership a relaxing and wonderful summer vacation. September will be here before we all know it and bring with it new challenges for another school year. Remember, your Execu-tive Board now meets even during the summer months, so we are available for questions and concerns.

Thelma Shaw

speaking at the

NYSUT

conference

as the

SRP of the YEAR

Supporting Thelma at the presentation (from l to r)

Rob Becker Julie Davis Lutz Jim Arden Thelma Michael Locantore Asha Shaw and Vincent Lyons, Regional NYSUT director.

Page 6 EXECUTIVE

VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPORT Pat Copertino & Dominic Savio

As BOCES, along with the BEES, morphs and transforms, so does our need to reflect on our representation design and effectiveness. Your Executive Board is set for the next two years with the exception of the upcoming election for the unfilled position of Area Vice President for SAS. Those SAS members eligible to run by completing a term as a representative or delegate would be required to acquire a petition of your constituent group’s signatures. In September, just as the new year starts, you will be electing your “building” representa-tives. The term “building” is used loosely. Because of our unique make up, many are not actually in the same building with those who they serve as the first line of representation. Once the E-Board has a final decision on what “territories” go together, the positions will be on the website, www.BeesBeacon.org. If prior to, or following, the September elections you are unsure who your representative is, please contact us at patcop@optonline.net. Each member will have a contact person, regardless of work location and conversely each rep needs to know all members who fall in his or her domain. Establishing a plan of representation takes in many factors including: geography, common administration, needs and numbers. It is not as simple as a ratio of member to reps. The quality of representation is key. We have experienced that the most effective system of representation and communication exists in “buildings” where the para and teacher rep(s) make an effort to work to-gether, there are proactive and regular meetings with administration and all parties have a clear understanding what constitutes a “union issue”. Quality representation also comes from training, open-mindedness, and willingness to use, or guide members to use, resources available to all. As in the past, the reps you elect will be asked to attend training this fall. It is a great opportunity to kick us all off in the right direction to valu-able representation for the two year commitment. We urge you to strongly think, in advance, about considering the role of union representative. If not you, who among you will effectively serve in this capacity? Be ready for the 2008 elections!

Dom, NYSUT President Richard Iannuzzi,

Fran, Bob, Wayne, and Thelma at the

Port Jefferson Teacher Association Rally

Speaking of quality representation…..we can not end this year without thanking a few of our own for providing absolute excellent service. Although gratitude has been expressed in past articles, special thanks goes out to Rich Debetta, Area VP for Special Career Education and my Co-Executive VP, Dominic Savio, for the multitude of hours and true dedication. Thank you to Jim Arden, past president, for filling in as Recording Secretary and maintaining the high standards set by Cynthia Fitzpatrick. Your continuous support to all of us is highly noted. Finally, thank you to John Olsen for the past six years as a dedicated treasurer, dele-gate and unwavering representative of all members. Your commitment to quality saved the members ten of thousands of dollars and your BOCES history, as well as your voice of fair-ness, provided a comfort to the membership. In addition, we wish to thank you, in advance, for providing mentoring to Michelle Tinter, our incoming treasurer, so she can have a smooth transition and maintain the excellent level of service to the constituency. Last, but not least, thank YOU, the members, for supporting us in performing the jobs

we do on your behalf. Choose to have a joy-filled summer.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR LONG ISLAND TEACHERS BENEVOLENT FUND

SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS We are once again proud to announce that out of over 500 applicants for this scholarship, the “BEES” had 7 winners. Our congratulations and best wishes for your future.

Matthew Lordahl, Sean Gargiulo, Jennifer O'Donnell, Marissa Singer, Thomas Fezza, Elizabeth Longo, and Michael Williams

In the next few weeks the parents of the students above, who are all members from the “BEES” will be receiving their checks along with a congratulatory letter from our Executive Board. Thank you to all of our members who submitted applications on behalf of their children.

(continued) Page 7 EVP Report

Ray, Dom, Thelma, Pat, Marje, and John at the NYSUT conference

Page 8

FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPORT Ray Stenberg

If you recall an article that I wrote in the fall, I mentioned that before you know it we will be at the retirement honorarium at West Lake in Patchogue. It's rapidly approaching and I am looking forward to honoring our fellow BEES members who have dedicated their careers servicing the lifeblood of the agency-the children. I thank you for your hard work and I wish you the best of luck as you begin a new chapter in your life. Please don't forget to join the retiree chapter so that you can continue to receive many of the valuable benefits that NYSUT offers. This year our local, state, and national unions have accomplished many of their goals. Locally, we have increased the number of members signing up for VOTE-COPE. We were recognized for this at the NYSUT Representative Assembly in April. However, we still have quite a few members who have yet to sign up for VOTE-COPE. This non-partisan once a year voluntary payment goes along way in meeting our needs and wants. These funds helped defeat Mayor Bloomberg's attempt at changing the rules of tenure in New York State resulting in a major victory. Imagine our union taking on and defeating a man with billions. Because of our lobbying efforts we were able to secure record funding for public education

across the state, including the restoration of over 78 million dollars in BOCES aid. Without this aid, districts would send less students to BOCES which, in turn, would result in many of us losing our jobs. Your union worked diligently in Albany to restore these funds. We succeeded because we are strong and we are strong because of our members. As I have always said, we all need to be involved in one way or another. From time to time, please log onto www.nysut.org and take some politi-cal action by faxing your elected representatives. It literally takes minutes and helps us achieve our mis-sions. Please take the time to participate. Politically, our local union is becoming more and more involved in supporting our brothers and sisters here on Long Island, many who are working over two years without a contract. We gathered in large numbers in East Meadow and Wyandanch. We walked the line with UCP employees in Hauppauge, and we converged on downtown Port Jefferson to support our colleagues in that district, and from what we are hearing, Kings Park may be next. As you can see, a pattern is emerging throughout Long Island. We must continue to fight for fair and equitable contracts for our teachers, nurses, and SRPs. You never know, someday we may need them. Today I received a letter from Sheldon Silver, the Assembly Speaker. It was a response to a letter I sent to him concerning the 55/25 legislation. He stated that the Assembly's Governmental Employee Committee is reviewing this bill and that it will not go away. This is a priority for NYSUT and the Retire-ment system and it will continue to be a priority until it is law. Eventually the time will come when tier equity becomes a reality. As an optimist, I'm hoping that many of our members will reap the benefits of enhanced retirement laws. We have some new members joining our Executive Board this summer. I am looking forward to working with them and I'm confident that they will work cohesively with the team that our president, Thelma Shaw, has led for the last two years. As hard as it is, I'm looking forward to another two year term. I wish you all the best as you end this school year and I look forward to seeing you at West Lake on June 19th.

Page 9

PARA EDUCATORS REPORT Gail Reissman

I hope everyone had an enjoyable spring break and some well deserved rest as we enter into the final months of this school year. During our spring break, Marge Strawbridge, Linda Bufalo, Evelyn Bricka and I traveled to Washington D.C. for the 31st Annual PSRP Professional Issues Conference. We had the opportunity to attend many workshops including Recognizing Child Abuse, Civil Rights and the Law, Green Cleaning for Schools, Federal Legislation on Edu-cation as well as Leadership meetings and a Special Education Equipment Vendor Show. I was privileged to be one of 15 union leaders from across the country invited to attend a Union Learning Rep Meeting and Focus Group at the AFT National Office on Friday morning. The members of this group represented locals from Detroit, Baltimore, Cleveland, Illinois, Cali-fornia, Oregon, Texas, Denver, Albuquerque, Saratoga-Adirondack BOCES, Middle Country Teachers Association, Santa Cruz, as well as St. Thomas and St. Croix. Leaders from across each of AFT’s divisions had visited England to study a program developed and now widely administered by the labor movement. The program, called “Union Learn,” offers workers access to life long on the job learning services. The groups that went to the U.K. came away wanting to think more about an AFT Pilot Program, and along with AFT staff, developed some ideas they wanted to share with union activists. Dr. Loretta Johnson, who was part of the U.K. study trip, gave an overview of the pro-gram and her thinking on how it may help PSRPs. We broke into two focus groups to discuss and give feedback on the presentation. Pilot programs will initially be started in Baltimore, Illi-nois and New Hampshire, adding Texas, as well as other states in the near future. I was greatly honored to be included in this focus group and given the opportunity to express my views. Just a reminder, when it is necessary to include documentation with your personal day form the supporting documentation must be submitted to Human Resources. Congratulations to this years retirees, it is well deserved.

Gail with Dr. Loretta Johnson, AFT Vice President AFT National Headquarters, Washington D.C.

Page 10

WHAT’S GOING ON IN SPECIAL EDUCATION? Shelly Bernstein

I wasn’t going to write an article for this issue because I didn’t have anything to say (I know that’s unusual). However, after much thought I did come up with a few comments that I’d like to make as the school year comes to an end.

First, I’d like to publicly thank our building representatives for all the time and effort they put in

meeting the needs of their constituents. Aside from attending monthly meetings to keep informed on what’s happening, they are the go-to persons to address your concerns, answer your questions and deal with ad-ministration to resolve issues. This is often time consuming and energy draining, so if you haven’t thanked your building representative lately (or ever), please do so. Even if you have never gone to your building rep with a question, you have benefitted from his/her efforts on behalf of all the staff.

Second, the issue of the lack of substitutes and the impact it has on staff and students alike, has been

brought to my attention numerous times this year. Not that it offers any solace, but this has been a decades long concern. It’s easy to say the problem should have been fixed years ago, but that is easier said than done. I truly believe that BOCES has tried very hard to hire more subs to meet the need, but has been un-successful in this endeavor. If you don’t have enough qualified applicants applying to be substitutes, logic dictates you’re going to have a shortage. This is certainly an unpleasant conclusion, yet it is one we must all live with under the circumstances. Ever the optimist, I am hopeful that BOCES will devise some strategy to solve the problem - hopefully sooner than later.

Third, questions about the 15 hours of staff development have plagued me since the requirement was

instituted. I thought that by this time staff would have understood the policies and procedures involved with completing the 15 hours, but I was mistaken. I still get an incredible amount of questions which take a lot of time to answer. Some I will characterize as legitimate; others often leave me speechless. To summa-rize the basics: 7and ½ hours are from your building’s SDM list and the other 7 and ½ hours are from ap-proved agency topics/workshops. If you are a .5 teacher the hours are prorated by dividing in half. If a topic is on both the SDM list and the agency list, you may choose where to take the credit. Most agency approved topics are also on building lists.

Topics only on SDM lists may not be used for agency hours. You may not fulfill the requirement dur-

ing your regular work hours (there’s an exception for career ed. due to their hours) unless it’s approved by your building SDM to do it during your lunch time (two half hour sessions within seven days). Your princi-pal does not approve the hours. If there is a topic that you think ought to be on your building’s list, you need to bring it to your SDM committee and they will follow the steps necessary to get it on the approved building list. If you have a question about whether or not a particular workshop applies to agency hours you can al-ways check with Joan Skelly’s office. She will have a new position next year, but the office will still be opera-tional, only under different leadership. If you do not work a full year, the required hours are prorated - 1 and ½ hours per month are needed. If you are someone who has difficulty retaining this information, please save this article to refer to in the future.

Last, a few comments about our Executive Board. We have worked very hard and very long hours to

represent all of our union members. Representing so many people can be a daunting task, but I believe we have risen to the occasion and served you well. Our unity has enabled us to successfully deal with a myriad of issues and problems for the benefit of all. We will continue to strive to meet your needs to the best of our abilities. We will be doing so without three long time Executive Board members: Dom Savio, John Olsen and Rich DeBetta. Their service is greatly appreciated and I wish them well in their future endeavors. I am confident that our new Executive Board members will also be an asset to our union.

I started this article by saying I didn’t think I had anything to say. Considering its length, it’s proba-

bly a good thing that I didn’t think I had a lot to say. My wish for you for the summer is to find time to reju-venate and to create memories with your family and friends. Until next time...

Page 11

Retirees Honorarium

Please join us in honoring the

BOCES Educators of Eastern Suffolk Retirees on

Thursday June, 19, 2008 at the Westlake Inn,

on Main St., Patchogue from 4-8PM.

Building reps will be distributing flyers in their respective buildings in mid May. Please RSVP to Rod Diamant at HB Ward Tech and Academic Center Riverhead via interoffice mail. I need a final count on Monday, June 2nd and cannot accept any RSVPs after that date. It is vital that you only RSVP when you are absolutely certain you will attend, as numbers need to be guaranteed and paid for in advance. Money spent on “no shows” will be a waste of union funds. I hope you can all attend, as our well deserved retirees will be honored by their peers, and hope to see you all there.

Special Election for SAS Area Vice-President

Mary Harris - Election Committee Chairperson

The E-Board has directed the Election Committee to conduct a special election for SAS Area VP. There is no one slated to fill the position as of July 1, 2008. This effects counselors, psychologists and so-cial workers.

Petitions for this position will be accepted, for those eligible to run, through June 1, 2008. Signed petitions should be sent, via inter-office mail, to Mary Harris, at WFLC. Ballots will then be mailed to all SAS constituents, by June 5, 2008 and must be returned, post-marked no later than June 20, 2008. Re-sults will be tallied and released by June 25, 2008.

According to the BEES Constitution, Article VII, Section 7.01 B, to be eligible to run, you must be an active member in good standing and have served as a building rep, delegate or a member of the Executive Board for one term.

SOCIAL NEWS Rod Diamant

Page 12

IT BENEFITS YOU TO KNOW! BOB LOVE

It Benefits You To Know!

Bob Love

A few weekends ago I attended the NYSUT Member Benefits Conference and was overwhelmed

with the amount of programs, assistance and information available to you and me from our union.

Did you know that as members of NEA you’re entitled to free NEA DUES-TAB Life Insurance? Do

you know what to do if you are no longer able to work? Do you know what you should be doing to

prepare for retirement?

Well, there are brochures, pamphlets, websites and even people who can help you with these and

many other questions. A good place to start is with the websites you already know; from there you

can request written information, find a contact, or just search around. If you don’t like the internet

you can give me a call. The websites are:

www.nysut.org, www.nystrs.org, and www.osc.state.ny.us/retire

Retirement Saving Estimators

Below are a few websites recommended by NYSUT for calculating what you might need for re-

tirement and how much you should save to get there.

1) Choose To Save -- www.choosetosave.org

2) Social Security Quick Calculator -- www.ssa.gov/OACT/quickcalc

3) NYSTRS Secure Member Area -- www.nystrs.org/main/securelinks/intro.html

For those of you starting your career keep in mind that “It’s not how much you save, it’s how long

you save it for.”

Numbers to keep handy over the summer

BOCES Educators of Eastern Suffolk 475-4704

BOCES Human Resources 289-2200

NSY Teacher’s Retirement System - 1-800-348-7298

NYS Employee’s Retirement System - 1-866-805-0990

I hope everyone has an enjoyable summer. I am looking forward to seeing many of you at the Re-

tirement Honorarium. Oh, the free life insurance from NEA, you can register your beneficiary by

going to neamb.com/freedtny or call 1-800-637-4636.

Remember, as in everything that is important – KEEP COPIES OF EVERYTHING

I can be reached at Milliken Technical Center 244-5858 or at beesvpcb@optonline.net.

Page 13 BENEFITS (continued)

SCTE REPORT Rich De Betta

Well, this is it, my last official report as Area VP for Special Career Education. A lot of

water has passed under the bridge since my first day in the classroom; September 1979 under the old BOCES 2. The Islip Career Center was a brand new building at the time and my shop was basically bare-bones. I eagerly learned to adapt to the needs of the students and the pro-gram. Along the way, I quickly learned from seasoned veterans the ways of BOCES and after my tenure, became a building representative, one of three actually. Back then, you were al-lowed one representative for every 10 teachers. If you remember the times as I do, they were truly challenging. It wasn’t long before the program was split and the younger students went to BCC (6,7,8th grades) and the older students (9,10,11,12th grades) went to ICC.

After 6 years as building representative at the ICC, John Santoli, the Area VP at the

time, stepped aside and passed the baton to me. The year was 1988. I wasn’t in my position 24 hours, when I was participating in a four-way telephone conversation (novel at the time, I might add) regarding teachers participating in CPI training, after school on their own time and possibly facing insubordination charges for not staying the full eight hours. Back then we worked strictly to the contract, due to the times and conditions. But this too would come to pass with the merge between BOCES 1 and 2 and a great new superintendent by the name of Edward Milliken. Ed hailed from East Islip School District and their loss was truly our gain. During those times, I was given the leeway to participate in the Merger Process Team, Partici-patory Management and later, the state mandated Shared Decision Making Process. I was also part of the Interview Committee, because even back then, the union was responsible for defending each and every teacher hired by the BOCES. I also served a stint as the grievance chairperson for awhile.

I have to say, I probably participated on more standing committees than any other

teacher in BOCES and I soon became attuned to the new demands of the job and the agency. I was able to convince the superintendent of the needs of the students and state mandates and have 8 teacher aides hired the first year and the remaining TAs the second year in both BCC and ICC. This was a BIG STEP for the program, for now we were over-shadowed by reality and state mandate; we were not only a Technical Education Program, but a Special Education Program as well. This put us in “The Best of Both Worlds” as our founder, Don Nenninger would say.

The merger process affected a lot of teachers and administrators at the time and due to

a particular political front-page buy-out, BOCES superintendents came under the gun and salaries were frozen. It was time for change in my career, so I ran for First Vice President, as Dominic Savio became the next Area VP. Dom had 12 years in as building representative at BCC and I felt he was truly ready to take over this leadership position. The baton is passed again.

The demise of BCC, our sister program, was cause for alarm at the time and was dis-

mantled as a result of willingness of district participation/state law which mandated full-time academics, thereby closing the program at BCC.

Page 14 SCTE (continued)

ITINERANT REPORT Rachele Alwais

At the time, our union had lost a lot of leadership positions through retirement and I felt a need to get back into the swing of things and represent my constituents, even if it meant stepping on some toes. I was privileged to serve under five union presi-dents : Bruce Miller, Artie Masucci, Larry Blank, Jim Arden and Thelma Shaw. Our Executive Board is a fine example of the dedicated professionals across the Agency. I have the utmost confidence in newly elected Area VP Joseph Postiglione.

I will always remember the good times and all the people I have met and those

who sought my assistance. It was truly a rewarding experience, at the expense of per-sonal sacrifice. I want to thank my wife Dolores, who has been my sounding board, for her understanding throughout these years. I also want to thank my para-educator of 20 years, Louise Dobriner, for keeping me focused in my convictions.

Congratulations to all of our retirees. I will be joining you next year. Till then, best of luck on your endeavors.

In Solidarity, Rich De Betta

The 2007-2008 school year is winding down, but it’s not over yet.

Our lead teachers have been very busy. How did we manage without them. • Kim Ingenito, our new itinerant representative, is doing a great job keeping the itinerants

informed. Please make her aware of any changes to your address, phone number and e-mail. • Keep a copy of assignment requests for 2008-09 school year that you have sent to Liz Melichar. • Personnel issues are being handled individually and confidentially with the support of the

Executive Board. • We have improved our communication systems. If you are not receiving BEES information

please let me know. • For every BOCES employee who now has an active e-mail address, please be cautious with the

content, quality and tone of your communications. • The State Education Department is mandating some changes with regard to Medicaid and

Under the Direction of (Speech). The changes will be in place for the 2008-2009 school year. • The new mandates can be found on the State Education Department web-site. • http://www.oms.nysed.gov/medicaid/announcements/Medicaid_Alerts/Medicaid_Alert_08_04.htm

• We have hired staff for the vision and hearing departments. • I regret to inform you that based on lowered enrollment, two speech teachers have received

excessing letters. Please forward any information of possible open speech positions you may be aware of to your building representative.

Have a safe summer.

Please join us at the Retirees Honorarium

Thursday June, 19, 2008 at the Westlake Inn

As we honor these BOCES Educators of Eastern Suffolk

Robert Aikin Patrice Beach Phyllis Brajuha

Susan Chapman Florence Cruse Geraldine Diaz

Rochelle Entin Joanne Fiore-Powell Cynthia Fitzpatrick

Michael Foley Beverly Franciosa Allen Freedman

Josephine Gast Christopher Giarrantano Joyce Goldstein

Linda Greenberg Dagmar Haubold . Carolee Haussman

Mary Ann Heilemann Janine Hein Barry Helprin

Geraldine Hughes Helen Jata Jeanette Johnston

Susan Kirkland Joann McCarthy Barbara McClean

Lynn McNamee Kathleen McNeill Robert Meyer

Frances Mills Angela Mills-Messiah June Mitchell

Mariane Moncada Sandra Newham Jean Nulty

Juana Ortiz James Pagano Sally Peters

Anthony Pisapia Catherine Rivera Miriam Ross

Jeanne Salvatore Kurt Shellenberger

Carol Sherwood Linda Sumereau Mary Treadwell

Joanne Troscher Phyllis Urrutia Margaret Vetrano

Vincent Vuoto Richard Wallace Faith Wilbur

Judith Weisman Lore Wetter Teresa Worthington

BEES EXECUTIVE BOARD

President…………………..... Thelma Shaw

Executive Vice President…. Dominic Savio

Executive Vice President and

Acting Treasurer……….…. Pat Copertino

First Vice President………... Ray Stenberg

Membership Secretary……. Marje Strawbridge

Acting Rec. Secretary……..... Jim Arden

Benefits Officer……………. Bob Love

Retiree Chairperson………. Mary Armbruster

Area Vice Presidents Career Ed…………………... Fran Nilsen

Itinerants……………….…... Rachele Alwais

Para Educators………..…… Gail Reissman

SAS……………………….… Lisa Reilly

Special Education………….. Shelly Bernstein

Special Career Ed…………… Rich Debetta

BEACON Editor…………...… Tom Rosati

Grievance Officer………….. Wayne Kubacki

Social Coordinator………….... Rod Diamant

Office Secretary……………… Linda Cardone

THE BEACON

NYSUT- New York Teacher

Journalism Competition

2008 Award of Merit

NYSUT WEBSITE of the YEAR

www.BEESBeacon.org

The BEACON is the award winning publication of

the BOCES Educators of Eastern Suffolk,

First Supervisory District.

Union Local 3037 Proud members of NYSUT, AFT and the AFL-CIO.

The BEACON is published 5 times a year.

The local is responsible for all its contents and articles.

Articles must be submitted electronically and have your

name and BOCES site.

Notes, comments and suggestions can be sent

by email to BeesBeacon@aol.com, or interoffice to Tom Rosati@Premm Learning Center

(631) 475 -4704 Ema i l :BeesH iveP res@ao l . com

BOCES Educa to r s Of Eas te rn Suf f o l k

Un ion Loca l 3037 440 Waver ly Ave .

Bu i l d i ng 4 , Su i te 12 Pa tchogue , NY ,11772