The Offical Website of the PJSTA

Posted on October 27, 2012 by thepjsta

Thursday’s Educate NY Now Rally

This past Thursday, October 25th, the PJSTA hosted an Educate NY Now! rally at JFK Middle School. The rally, one of 14 that were held across Long Island on Thursday, featured an estimated 300 people who rallied against the tax cap, unfunded mandates, and excessive standardized testing. The audience was made up of teachers, administrators, parents, and students from not just Comsewogue, but many surrounding school districts as well. Locals from Miller Place, Port Jefferson, Rocky Point, Mount Sinai, and Half Hollow Hills joined the PJSTA at the rally. Port Jefferson alone had 50 members show up, nearly half of their local’s total membership. The rally’s speakers were:

Richard Haas, organizer for Educate NY Now!
Dr. Joseph Rella, Comsewogue School District superintendent
Dr. Ken Bossert, Port Jefferson School District superintendent
Joseph Gordon, 6th grader, JFK Middle School
Maria Navarro, President of CSEA Local 870
Ali Gordon, Trustee, Comsewogue Board of Education
Roger Clayman, Executive Director, Long Island Federation of Labor

Thank you to all PJSTA members who showed up. A lot of people made a big effort, staying several hours later than normal, coming back to work after being home, or coming back to work with their own children. The effort of those members is deeply appreciated. If you were unable to make it, surely you are pondering how you can help in the following months.

To read more about the rallies across the Island that day, check out Betsy Sandberg’s blog here.

On December 5th there will be a bus to Albany to stand up for our schools and demand quality education from our elected officials. The bus will be sponsored by Educate NY Now! To reserve your seat on the bus please contact Beth Dimino.

A special thank you to PJSTA’s first vice president Beth Shapiro for putting together the slide show below…

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Posted on October 26, 2012 by thepjsta

NYSUT at Terryville’s Career Day

On Friday morning, October 26th, NYSUT Labor Relations Specialist Laura Graves presented to approximately 100 fifth grade students at Terryville Elementary School. Ms. Graves’ presentation was part of the school’s Career Day activities, a day where guest speakers present to students on what their career entails. The focus of Ms. Graves’ presentation was on:

What are labor unions
The history of labor unions in the United States
Important labor leaders in our country’s history
What her role within our state and local union is

She used a Youtube video of the story Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type to help illustrate to the ten and eleven year old students how unions can be beneficial for workers.

Ms. Graves is the LRS for the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association .

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Posted on October 25, 2012 by thepjsta

Pearson Shuts Down 1.5 Million Teacher & Student Blogs

Pearson, the textbook company who is famously close with our beloved Governor Cuomo, has recently shut down nearly 1.5 million teacher and student blogs because one of the teachers using Edublogs had illegally posted the 20 question, 279 word Beck’s Hopelessness Scale in a 2007 blog post. The 38 year old document is being sold by Pearson for $120.

They must really need the money to pay for those overseas junkets that they have generously bestowed upon NYSED employees.

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Posted on October 25, 2012 by thepjsta

Don’t forget the signs!

Bring signs to Thursday’s rally!

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Posted on October 24, 2012 by thepjsta

Thursday’s Rally

Here is a story from the Port Jefferson Patch about this Thursday’s Educate NY Now! rally at JFK. A few notes for PJSTA members about the rally:

EVERY PJSTA member should be there! You are more than welcome to bring your children.
Bring signs. Anything about the tax cap or how testing and the evaluation system is impacting your job, your community, or the education of your children is appropriate.
Wear your PJSTA shirts! There will be several locals and people from all walks of the surrounding communities in attendance. We need to be out front leading the charge for quality public education in our community!
Invite everyone you know! Use social media to do so… it helps get the word out quickly!