Saturday, March 27, 2004.

Walter Dunn announces his plans to retire as second vice president of NYSUT after 19 years of service in the statewide union.

Walter Dunn was present at the very first convention of NYSUT. On Saturday, he announced that the 32nd RA would be his last as the union's second vice president. When he told the audience he will retire in June, the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

"I look back from where we were: The march we had yesterday to support PSC, UFT and UCE was a short walk from here to there - but it's been an awful long walk from that first convention," Dunn said.

Along that path, the life of the union has become intrinsic to Dunn.

"The union to me is not just something you join and pay dues. It's part of your soul. As long as we breathe, the union's breathing right along with us, and always will be," said the softspoken Dunn. He thanked his wife Randy for the support that enabled him to be so involved in the responsibilities of a union officer for 19 years, and expressed his love to her. He also thanked his local from East Islip, where he spent years as local president and teacher. PICTURED AT LEFT: Delegates, including retirees Judy Schultz and Jeanne Gordon, applaud Walter Dunn for his service.

"I never would've been considered for officer if not for my local at East Islip," Dunn said.

Dunn thanked his fellow officers, past and present, and the staff of NYSUT, which he has described as "the best staff of any union in this nation."

Thanks were swiftly relayed to Dunn. From the floor, Stanley Rosengarten of Lindenhurst introduced a Special Order of Business that he said he would read with "dry mouth but not dry eye." It expressed the membership's appreciation of Dunn's service as an "advocate for the members of NYSUT ... [for] his visionary leadership, his commitment to the union movement, and his dedication to improving the lives of our members and their families."

Dunn's duties as part of the NYSUT leadership team have included overseeing the NYSUT Benefit Trust, member benefits, charter schools and the disaster relief fund, and building retiree and new-member involvement.

He leaves his post advising fellow unionists to keep watch on charter schools, which will undoubtedly ask for an expansion in 2005 of their 100-school limit.

Despite the financial strain that charters have wrought upon local districts, there is still room within the current charter school statute for yet another 40 charter schools, Dunn told delegates.

Dunn advocated for an amendment to the Charter School law to protect against high concentrations of charter schools within one district, and he again urged the Legislature to enact a moratorium on new charters.

"The time for discussion is over - pass the moratorium now," Dunn said.

"Come September, we will be at approximately $100 million shifted from local school districts to fund this experiment in public school choice," Dunn said. "Not only is it a large and growing transfer of funds, but we are seeing a concentration of charter schools in some of our cities."

In Albany alone, where school enrollment is more than 10,300, charter school enrollment is 1,302 - or more than 12 percent of the enrollment, with a cost to Albany Public Schools of more than $10 million a year, Dunn said. One more charter school has been approved, and another is rumored.

"The recently completed five-year study of charter schools in New York shows that while a few schools are successful, most are performing below the level of the traditional schools, and several have been failures," Dunn said.

He also reported that:

• The number of locals that have negotiated employer contributions to members' tax-deferred annuity plans has doubled to 150 locals;
• 600 group policies covering 179,000 members are in place under NYSUT's group benefits; and
• Preferred Savings Plus, a MetLife Bank program, is newly endorsed.