Talk about event planning. Niskayuna science teacher Paul Scott began inviting students to a party for today’s solar eclipse back in 1994, when he started teaching. “We got invited in 2006,” said former student Dan Gardiner. “I put in my calendar.” So, apparently, did hundreds of other students, who, along with hundreds of community members, […]

At the start of the 2016-17 school year, a new 3D printer was installed in the technology department at Whitesboro High School in Oneida County. Its capabilities, combined with the heart and skill of technology teacher Chris Jensen, resulted in the creation of a new prosthetic hand for student Virginia Davis. The printers are used […]

Last week, a work colleague courageously shared his parents’ story of surviving the Holocaust. Harold Eisenstein, a NYSUT lawyer, told how his father, David, who lived in Pruzana, Poland, was rounded up along with his wife and three children by the Nazis. They were brought to Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp in January of 1943, […]

The first presidential debate for the 2016 presidential election is now fodder for workplace hallways, social media, college debates, fact checkers and café conversations. The words that will matter the most, however, are the names on the ballot on Nov. 8. Today is National Voter Registration Day. Hundreds of events are taking place in libraries, […]

No matter what the weather will be on April 17, here is a reliable forecast: the “ALS Ride for Life” Bike Trek event will bring together bicyclists to raise serious money to combat this crippling disease. Bikers will ride 10 mile, 25 mile, 50 mile, or 100 mile courses, depending on muscle power and mojo. […]

Before food for thought—there should be food. The National Education Association, one of NYSUT’s national affiliates, is spreading more than just jam on toast. It’s also spreading the news about the benefits of breakfast in the classroom, along with providing resources on how to sign up for programs and explaining how they make a difference. […]

The AFL-CIO and the Coalition of Labor Union Women are today commemorating the 23rd anniversary since President Bill Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act. Actions include a thunderclap, social media buzz  and a legislative push for up to seven days of paid sick leave. Forty percent of private-sector workers do not have any […]

How do you build advocacy? A coalition joins with another coalition, and so on, and so on, until you have a chain strong enough to wrap around tires and take on winter ice and snow. In the Capital Region, two coalitions met last week for their first joint event with a single goal: “To build […]

Nineteen-year-old Alvin Peachman was playing pingpong when he heard about the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. His heart might have skipped a few beats, like a ping-pong ball skittering across the table. But it didn’t take too many heartbeats after that for him to enlist in the Navy. “We heard the […]

Today is World AIDS Day. It’s worth paying attention to. Because that disease is still with us. You know — the one no one wanted to talk about. Two people I loved died of AIDS in the 1980s and early ’90s, when AIDS was first being discovered and then shushed here in America. David and […]