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Regional council finds common ground
June 16, 2004 At a NYSUT training session in Cooperstown are members of the Western Sullivan United Teachers School-Related Professionals Chapter, from left: Georgeanne Mall, Kathy Sawall, Executive Vice President Nina Verdeber, Hilda Monfredo, Alan Lubin of NYSUT, Sharon Cohen, Anne Marie Jones, Reed Scott and Arleene McCardle. When Deb Paulin started driving a school bus 19 years ago, only two buses at the Alden district in western New York needed an attendant to help children with disabilities. "Now 10 buses need attendants," Paulin said. Changes in the workplace extend beyond job issues, she added. For unions, health insurance did not dominate collective bargaining discussion nearly as much as it does now. "With so much that's out there, it's great to have a statewide union that offers so many programs to locals to help us with our jobs and our contracts," said Paulin, the president of the 130-member Alden Central School Employees Association. Locals need to look to themselves and neighboring locals, as well as to their state headquarters, for solutions. In the late 1990s, Paulin was among a group of School-Related Professional locals that formed a regional council. "It's important to network and share our problems because then we share the solutions," said Paulin, who serves on the Board of Directors for New York State United Teachers. Others who help run the council are Joanne Scolese of the Orchard Park SRPs and Rosemary Spano of the Williamsville Association of Education Related Personnel. Besides brainstorming, members get reports on retirement and pension issues, political action activities, and on-the-job topics such as how the No Child Left Behind Act is affecting job titles such as nurses, cafeteria workers, aides and assistants. In recent years the council has branched into offering professional development. Irene Lockwood, a bus driver with the Springville Educational Employees Association, has offered effective communication, managing student behavior and blood-borne pathogens seminars during conferences. Lockwood and others have been trained by NYSUT for workshops in the SRP Professional Development Program. "We learned so much on ways to keep safe, especially for those in transportation, who can't send a child with a bloody nose to a nurse," Paulin said. The trainers bring reality to their sessions. For example, Joyce Barrow of the Frontier Central EA provided a tip to keep anti-bacterial wipes handy doesn't work on a school bus because Department of Transportation regulations don't allow cleaning fluids to stay on a bus. "Joyce told us you can keep wipes in your purse, though," Paulin said. - Betsy Sandberg
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