blogs.nysut.org

Want to give our Central New York members a heads-up about an event at 5:30 Monday night at the Lyncourt School in Syracuse. Educators, school board members. administrators and families will gather to connect and get the info they need to advocate for our students, schools and districts. Billy Easton of the Alliance for Quality [...]

This week’s choice is obvious: New York’s students achieve at a high rate. It’s well documented and acknowledged so why would someone say our students are bad? Rather than get into reverse psychology and ramifications, do you mind if I just leap to What are you going to do about it? Tell your neighbors, your [...]

Right now beautiful, light snow is falling outside the windows. What a great time to go out for a walk or go skiing! How about those snowshoes you got for Christmas? I know there are a lot of teachers who run after-school downhill and cross-country ski programs for students, and they are loving this weather [...]

These are tough financial times for all of us. It’s so bad most New Yorker’s are too poor to retire. They must keep on working. Here’s a link to what one school district is doing to get members involved. Scroll down a bit to find the video. The numbers are appalling about what the Cleveland [...]

A third-generation teacher and a member of the National Education Association, one of NYSUT’s national affiliates, attended last night’s State of the Union address at the invitation of President Barack Obama. Sara Ferguson is an elementary math and literary teacher in Chester Upland School District, one of the poorest districts in Pennsylvania. Earlier this month, [...]

Here’s a video of Kenmore 6th-graders students talking about how they felt as they learned about the connection between child labor and chocolate. That video is the result of months of work and lots of details. Joi Chimera, a Kenmore TA member, provides some highlights. Start with brainstorming and class discussions about this topic. In [...]

Today in Albany I’ll be monitoring legislative testimony on elementary and secondary education. I’ll tweet and blog if possible (all depends on the Internet connection and power availability). This is a joint Senate and Assembly hearing: officially, it’s called the “Senate Finance Committee and the Assembly Ways and Means Committee on the Education Budget for [...]

I like facts. I’m going to start featuring them on Fridays to fight back the distortions and misinformation out there about what we do and who we are. This week: the lie that pensions are bad for business and are bankrupting our state. Our governor really went after them earlier this week and wants to [...]

So now that people have had the chance to get a look at what the Governor’s proposal for school aid really means, meaning they get to look at the aid figures commonly called “the runs,” the numbers are … disheartening is one adjective. Here’s a link to the Times-Union article where one official lamented “This [...]

Congratulations to students and schools across the state. How do you achieve? Let us count the ways: First. A CNBC study ranks New York’s education system as first in the nation for providing what business  needs. Click here to read their report. A second first. New York schools have more Intel semifinalists — 105 — [...]