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Teaching Assistant Chapter News & Calendar


Calendar | News & Upcoming Events | General Procedures | Minutes | Resources
Executive Committee | Committees | Building Representatives | Contact Us


2008-2009 Meeting Calendar

Unless otherwise noted, all General Members and Building Representative
meetings with take place at the NTA Office at 4:15pm.

Executive Committee Building Representative General Membership
Monday, August 04, 2008    
Monday, September 08, 2008 Tuesday, September 09, 2008 Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Monday, October 06, 2008 Tuesday, October 14, 2008  
Monday, November 03, 2008 Tuesday, November 18, 2008 Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Monday, December 01, 2008    
Monday, January 05, 2009 Tuesday, January 13, 2009  
Monday, February 02, 2009 Tuesday, February 10, 2009  
Monday, March 02, 2009 Tuesday, March 10, 2009 Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, April 06, 2009 Tuesday, April 07, 2009  
Monday, May 04, 2009 Tuesday, May 12, 2009  
Monday, June 01, 2009 Tuesday, June 09, 2009 Tuesday, June 09, 2009*

*Off-site.


News and Upcoming Events

We know how busy everyone is but when you support your Union in any way it builds a strong union team. There will be plenty of opportunities throughout the year to help out the Union, your Union Sisters and Brothers and other organizations as well. So keep checking your mailbox and the web site for updates.

The TRS Delegates, Sheila Manning, Jim Nee, David Brown, John Eitel, G. Pinheiro and Helen Perez attended the annual delegates meeting on November 9th and 10th. The delegates voted for the new teacher member of the TRS Board of Trustees, Paul Farfaglia. There were a number of informative workshops and most of the information will be available on the TRS website. Please take the time to visit the TRS website to update your information and get forms.

We would like to thank everyone that walked in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk on Sunday October 18. It was great to see all of the Teaching Assistants and Teachers walking together for a great cause.


Safe Homes

The Safe Home Baskets were beautiful as usual and a big hit at the Safe Homes Annual Celebration of Hope Dinner. We would like to thank all of the Teaching Assistants and Teachers who donated items to the baskets. These baskets are an important part of Safe Homes fund raising efforts and are raffled off at the Dinner. Six Teaching Assistants, Berenda Johnson, Pat Sansevero, Denice Knox, Theresa Brady-Lyden, Sheila Manning and Debbie Petrilli,went to the Dinner to show their support of this worthy organization.


LAP Grant

Our LAP Committee thought it would be, a great way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of pre-K in Newburgh School District to put on a health/wellness/fun fair on April 25, 2009 to assist parents of pre-K students entering Kindergarten in the fall obtain vitally important health issues. The Committee started from issue of the difficulty incoming Kindergarteners have receiving all the mandatory inoculations which then causes their first school year to be disrupted. At this health fair, we hope to be able to enlist medical professionals to administer either vaccinations by medical professionals or provide clear information on where to obtain the shots easily and inexpensively. We also will provide information on eye and dental care and healthy living (exercise, nutrition, disease prevention). But we also want to make this a fun event and plan to have activities for the children, including a bounce house, face painting, storytelling, food, music and the like. The Committee hopes to give away small boxes of crayons or notebooks or some other small useful item for the youngsters with the Newburgh Teaching Assistants Association logo.

The LAP Committee thought this would be a great way to achieve many of the LAP goals. It will strengthen the NTA's ties to the community by involving churches, non-profit and other civic groups, elected leaders, social welfare agencies, and local businesses who can all donate time, expertise, information and needed services as well as help spread the word throughout the targeted communities. The project would also allow many of the Association's members to get involved and the Committee hopes to reach out to other unions within the school district who may be interested in participating. It is an ambitious project for the first year, but the Committee feels it would be an enormous service to the community and the children the district serves and after assessing the strengths and weaknesses following the first fair they can improve on and possibly expand it each year.

If you would like to help out or know of someone in the community contact any member of the LAP committee: Lisa Maier, Denice Knox, Pat Favata, Berenda Johnson, Sheila Manning, Pat Hunter or Donna Leibman.


VOTE/COPE

VOTE/COPE cash or check contributions are still being accepted for the 2008 campaign. Please try to sign up for VOTE/COPE Payroll Deductions, you do this once and that is all you have to do. Remember VOTE/COPE helps keep jobs and benefits.


In-Service Classes

Don't forget to sign up for In-Service classes, just check out the Newburgh Teacher Center Website for more information. The classes only cost Teaching Assistants ten dollars per class. Remember in-service credits can be turned in for salary increases in February and October.

If you have any ideas for In-Service classes contact Jean Stumpf at Pre-K at Washington Streer or Theresa Brady-Lyden at Gardnertown. If you are interested in becoming a workshop presenter through NYSUT or the AFT, please email your name, school and phone number to: teachingassistants@hvc.rr.com


General Procedures

District email: Warning! Do not use the District's e-mail system for union or personal business! You should expect that any message sent or received through the District's system will be read by the administration. In the case of Baynes v. Fairport CSD (Monroe County), the court held that a public employer can be required to honor a request made under NY's Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) for copies of e-mails sent or received through the public employer's server (The Edge, Dec. '07).

Certification: Remember it is the member's responsibility to keep their certification up to date. You can access information on Teaching Assistants certification on the NY State Education Web Site or use the links on the NTA and Teacher Center web sites.

Sick Bank: The Sick Bank is a great resource but you need to follow the correct procedures. Please take the time to fill out and return the Sick Leave Bank donation form if you have not done so. Contributing to the Sick Bank makes you a entitles you to apply to the Sick Bank if it is necessary. To apply to the Sick Bank, send a letter accompanied with medical documentation (Doctor's letter), to Human Resources and Berenda Johnson, Pre-K Washington Street.

Grievance Procedure: Please go to your Building Rep. first whenever you have a question or concern. You should know your contract and the area that pertains to your question or concern. The Building Rep. will then go with you to the Head Delegate if the problem or concern is a possible grievance. The correct forms will be filled out and be sent to the grievance committee.


Minutes
September 2008 to June 2009

Executive Committee Building Representative General Membership
September 8, 2008 September 9, 2008  
  October 14, 2008  



Resources

Suggested Procedure to Become a Teaching Assistant