They’re back.

Those bright yellow school buses are on the roads, ferrying students from sidewalks and street corners to the front door of school.

“It’s GREAT to be back. I love seeing how much the kids have grown every September,” said Long Beach bus driver Joanne Rea.

All drivers are urged to heed laws forbidding the passing of a school bus, yet it is estimated that 50,000 motor vehicles illegally pass New York state school buses every day, according to Operation Safe Stop, operated by the New York State Education Department, the New York State Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee and other organizations.

A bus driver for 14 years, Rea is president of the Long Beach School Employees Association. She asks every driver to consider:

“What if the child crossing the road to get to the bus was yours? Would you stop then?”

She said she has unfortunately witnessed “too many close calls.”

Fines for passing a stopped school bus are a minimum of $250 and a maximum of $400 on the first conviction.

Like other bus drivers, Rea completes annual testing and training to stay on top of the duties of her job.  All school bus drivers must take a minimum of two, two-hour refresher training sessions; pass a physical; have a defensive driving performance review; conduct three bus safety drills each route; have a driving record review; and be subject to post-accident drug and alcohol testing. Every two years, they must also take a road test, as well as a written or oral test. Like most of her colleagues across the state, Rea has driven her bus in torrential rain, whiteout snowstorms and extreme heat.

NYSUT’s Fact Sheet for School Transportation Professionals includes information and resources on professional development, health and safety, and student behavior.

Rea said she greets every student clambering up the stairs in the morning with, “Good Morning, what a great day today is … right?”

The bus is where lunch pails clang against seats; kids buzz with talk about their day; and homework is stuffed in backpacks.

The bus is where safety is paramount. Kids learn about bullying. In Long Beach, Rea said, students are instructed about anti-bullying as part of their code of conduct within the school district, including the buses.

Wherever necessary, that code is enforced by bus drivers, bus matrons and bus aides, she said.

“I treat every child on my bus as if they were my own and

that respect is given back from the kids because they don’t seem to want to

‘disappoint me.’ That being said, they are kids and sometimes have a bad

day. When that happens, I reason with them and tell them the best part of a

bad day is bedtime because, when you wake up in the morning, it’s a fresh

new day!”

NYSUT's Shelly Clements honored by the CBTU.

NYSUT Labor Relations Specialist Shelly Clements was given the Robert Wilson Leadership Award in August at the 2015 Coalition of Black Trade Unionists’ Region One conference in White Plains, N.Y.

In addition to her work with more than a dozen local bargaining units, Shelly is very active in Rochester’s Frederick Douglass CBTU Chapter, serving as a trustee and chair of the education committee. She also uses her experience as a high school teacher leading workshops on public speaking for CBTU International members at the annual conventions.

Shelly’s commitment to action and service is shown in her professional and personal activities. She credits her family with her belief that an individual has the power to make the world a better place.

By Tom Gillett

The retired teacher, and 22-plus year survivor of ALS, is using ice cubes to help raise funds for research and treatment of the disease that has frozen so much of his life and that of millions of others. The average survival with ALS is 3-5 years. He has surpassed many records, and his persistence has also resulted in the establishment of a SUNY Stony Brook University Neuromuscular Disease and Christopher Pendergast Center for Excellence – an ALS Association Certified Center.

Supporters of his cause, ALS Ride for Life, will be asked to dump buckets of ice over their head. They are right now raising money from friends who will pay them to “Ice ALS.” The event is being held at Heritage Park at Mt. Sinai (Long Island) on Wednesday, Aug. 26 from 5 to 7 p.m.  The festivities are free, and feature booths and games, face painting, balloon twisting, hot dogs, soda, juggling, a dunk tank and pie tosses at coaches, principals and teachers. Students should note it’s sweet revenge for that extra homework assignment or the hall pass you were denied.

Those who cannot be there in person can still pledge. Those who are there will stand in formation at 6:50 p.m. to create the words “ICE ALS” as they tip their buckets.

“The field will be lined with those letters,” said Christine Pendergast, Chris’s wife and a retired physical education teacher. “Then the local fire department will deliver water and ice.”

Their son is practicing his aerial drone photography for the event.

Click the following link to create an online pledge form - http://iceals.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=1145144.

“We have teachers involved from Miller Place TA, Mt. Sinai TA and Port Jefferson Station TA,” said Christine Pendergast. “They’re doing anything and everything that needs to be done.”

“I’m going to be in the dunk tank and have pies thrown at me,” Beth Dimino, president of the Port Jefferson Station TA.  Christine Pendergast used to be Dimino’s local union president.

Last year, Dimino and first vice president Brian St. Pierre challenged members of their local union to get in on the Internet ice bucket challenge that swept the country. Many of them did.  According to CNN, the ALS Association reports that $115 million was raised through the ice bucket cold craze. $77 million is pledged to research; $23 million to patient and community services; $10 million to public and professional education; $3 million to launch fundraising and $2 million for external processing fees. Drugs are being tested to reduce inflamed nerve tissues; others hope to stabilize nerve cells in ALS patients.

Pendergast, whose organization has raised an amazing $6 million, decided to get in on the ice bucket craze. Last year, Pendergast’s ALS Ride for Life, sponsored its own event at Heritage Park. The Pendergasts raised about $5,600 from their 2014 ICE ALS event. About 500 people attended the Long Island event — bolding the cold to raise funds.

I did, too, along with other NYSUT staffers, here on the back patio of headquarters. It was, well, rather bracing. But I am from the far North Country, and I’m used to cold water. Usually its feet first, though, and it’s not cubed. Many of us would do much more than that for Chris, who is a guru of inspiration.

There was a different kind of beauty in the summer night last night in the Adirondack Mountain village of Saranac Lake. It was more than the river, the July evening or the grassy park. It was a beauty that came with care, and with candles.

The Saranac Lake Teachers Association, together with the social justice organization John Brown Lives,  hosted a peace event as part of the “Saranac Lake Artwalk”  in the downtown area of the mountain village. The public event was open to anyone who wanted to add thoughts of peace, and to support the “Hate Won’t Win” campaign in honor of the nine churchgoers killed recently in racially-motived murders at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Many people signed a large banner in support of “Hate Won’t Win” at a table set up by the teachers association.

David Goodman (pictured above at center), director of The Andrew Goodman Foundation for social justice and voting activism, sat in Riverside Park and spoke to people after the candlelight walk. He talked about the importance of doing something transformative, to speak up and take action for justice.

“It was really part teach-in, part vigil,” said Don Carlisto, co-president of the Saranac Lake TA along with Melissa DeVit.

Goodman is the brother of Andrew Goodman, slain civil rights activist who was killed while volunteering in Mississippi to help black people get registered to vote. The Goodman family lived every summer in nearby Tupper Lake, where last year a mountain regularly climbed by the boys when they were younger was dedicated Goodman Mountain in honor of Andrew.

The vigil brought out students, parents and teachers, including Gemini Randolph and Martha Swan, members of the Newcomb TA who traveled to the event. Swan is director of John Brown Lives. The event was also supported by Adirondack Voters for Change, a non-partisan, issue-based advocacy organization.

The Artwalk is a regular series on the third Thursday of the month, promoting local artists and inviting people to visit galleries and support small business.

Saranac Lake teacher Maria DeAngelo — who walked from Saranac Lake to Albany in April to protest harms against education — is a working artist, along with her husband, Matt. They have a gallery and are regulars at the Artwalk. She suggested that this month’s event be tied into “Hate Won’t Win,” Carlisto said.

“She’s relentlessly optimistic and relentlessly hopeful,” he said.

Members of the Saranac Lake TA asked people to sign the banner with messages of condolences for victims families, and messages of support for the Hate Won’t Win campaign. At the end of Artwalk, the group marched silently to Riverside Park where they held a candlelight vigil. The names of the nine people murdered in the Charleston church were read out loud.

“The event was in solidarity with the victims. We hope to send the message that hate certainly won’t win in our community and it won’t win nationally,” Carlisto said.

The author saw first-hand the difficulties teachers experienced as they worked to improve student test scores on the Connecticut Mastery Test under No Child Left Behind. He also delves into the devastating impact poverty and low parental involvement has on student success.

In an interview on WAMC radio, Berler talks about the students, teachers and staff at Brookside and how they never give up on themselves or on one another.

Homework Hotline is a statewide call-in show intended for students in grades 4 through 12. Students can conveniently call in to Rochester Dial-A-Teacher — staffed by members of the Rochester Teachers Association — between the hours of 4 pm and 7 pm Monday through Thursday during the school year to get help with their homework from experts in an array of subjects. Certain homework problems are then chosen to be broadcasted on PBS stations across New York state by WXXI in Rochester. In addition to the call-in helpline, Homework Hotline offers learning opportunities to students through wide-ranging daily thematic segments.

At the heart of NYSUT’s mission is a commitment to helping students. Homework Hotline is just one of the direct ways NYSUT achieves this goal. The success of this mission was recently exemplified as Homework Hotline received an award for “outstanding program or series designed for children” from the prestigious broadcasters’ group. The award was accepted last month by WXXI’s president, Norm Silverstein.

– Jessica Bigbie

How many of you are Irish? Italian? German? Dominican? How many of you were born in another country? Or have a father or mother from another country? Grandparents? Great grandparents? In the United States, we are all immigrants or descendants of immigrants, except for the people who are 100 percent native American, and they are few.

As educators it is part of our job to educate all of our students equally, regardless of where they come from. All of our students deserve the right to a complete and adequate education that will enrich their lives and enhance our society and communities. So why is it that the American dream ends for some of our students when they graduate high school? For them, the opportunity for higher education is still just a dream and cannot easily become a reality because they do not have access to college financial aid. It is up to us to speak up and speak out so all of our students have the opportunity to achieve the American dream.

According to the Immigration Policy Center, of the more than 4,500 undocumented students who graduate from New York high schools every year, only 5-10 percent pursue a college degree due to tremendous financial obstacles.

Newburgh Free Academy High School students, from left, David Fernandez, Mario Pineda, Kim Fernandez and Ana Campos shared stories about undocumented students.

Four immigrant students and advocates spoke last spring to Rondout Valley High School and Middle School students. They showed their moving, student-created documentary, “DREAMers Among US,” that focuses on the real-life experiences of being an undocumented student in the U.S. They shared their stories of broken dreams.

“Many people in our country face immigration issues and the Dreamers’ documentary was an opportunity to identify, acknowledge, inform, and inspire our Rondout students,” said high school English teacher Judith Schneller.

The film sparked many animated discussions and deep reflection among students, teachers and community members.

“It is important to bring other people into our school. We’re very sheltered as teenagers as to what’s really going on in the real world, so to hear someone talk about and discuss it is a great learning experience,” said ninth-grader Katelyn Perry.

Joshua Dingman, also a nine-grader, said the country must “erase whatever stigma that has been placed on these students. Being in the auditorium, listening to those kids’ stories, there is definitely discrimination on them and it needs to stop.”

Passage of the NY DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) could make those students’ dreams possible and would be a step toward ending the discrimination. It would allow undocumented students who have resided in New York state for at least two years and graduated from high school to apply for aid from the state’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP).

“It is time to rise above the status quo, above politics, and allow our undocumented college students to receive state financial assistance so they can succeed,” said state Sen. Jose Peralta, a sponsor of the bill. The state Assembly has already passed the bill, but it remains stalled in the Senate.  “I don’t want our college students to keep losing out because we are playing politics. They deserve to follow the American Dream, and we should not keep crushing their dreams and aspirations,” Peralta said.

“Passing the DREAM Act is crucial and very important, and it is not only socially just and fair, but also economically. The bill to provide aid to children of immigrants would cost taxpayers between $20 million and $27 million, but the average college graduate pays about $4,000 in state taxes every year,” Peralta said. “In other words, the DREAM Act would pay for itself. The average taxpayer cost to have the DREAM Act become a reality is 87 cents. Yes, 87 cents.”

We need to make a difference for our students. To show a screening of the documentary “DREAMers Among US” at your school, please contact Katia Chapman from the Rural and Migrant Ministry at hudsondreamers@gmail.com or (845) 485-8627. For more information on the NY DREAM Act, go to nydreamact.org. Let’s all be a part of making our students’ dreams a reality.

Actively support and improve public education in New York, while having fun and making money this summer.

Too good to be true? Not at all!

NYSUT has partnered with Citizen Action and the Long Island Progressive Coalition to offer Education Summer 2015. This is an exciting 6-week voter outreach canvasing program that aims to train NYSUT members to be public education ambassadors who can articulate their personal investment in fighting for public education, while simultaneously testing, assessing and analyzing various methods and messages for educating and mobilizing voters. Ambassadors must be dedicated and hard-working NYSUT members in the Long Island and Capital District regions. The position will pay $15 an hour and will provide flexible working hours.

During a time when public education is under attack, it is more important than ever to educate oneself and others about issues involving our professions and the solutions to these issues. This will be a rewarding and dynamic job where you will truly be making a difference in your community. Do not miss out on this opportunity for activism and extra cash this summer. Apply today by filling out an application form at https://goo.gl/Cq6wBD . If you have any additional questions, send an e-mail to EducationSummer2015@gmail.com.

Make a difference today!

— Jessica Bigbie

(Jessica Bigbie is a communications major at Cornell University who is interning with NYSUT’s Legislative and Political Action Department this summer.)

The food may be fast, but the cash is not.

Flipping burgers and filling drinks for fast-food chains is a starter job for some; longtime employment for others. It is a tough way to make a living. You can support these workers in several ways.

The Fast Food Workers Wage Board meets Monday to hear testimony about raising the minimum wage for the fast food workers who live in New York.  A rally is scheduled at the Legislative Office Building in Albany for  9 a.m., followed by a hearing  from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

If you cannot make the rally, you can still send written testimony by June 26.

Should the wage board raise the minimum wage for these workers, it could help promote minimum wage legislation for millions of other low-wage workers around the country.

The New York State Labor-Religion Coalition reports that two recent wage hearings felt the heat from workers who deserve better wages.

Here is what the coalition says:

“At the first two hearings in Buffalo and New York City, workers and allies packed the room, sharing story after story of why fast food workers need $15 to support their families. In response, opponents of a living wage are also getting organized, launching the so-called “Coalition to Save NY Restaurants” this week.

Those who want to preserve poverty wages will be in Albany on Monday. We have to make sure we are there, too — and that our message of justice and dignity is as loud and clear as ever.

Here’s how you can help:

1) If you can get to Albany on Monday, join us for a rally at 9 a.m. and the hearing at 10.

2) Register to testify at the hearing. We need both workers and community members to tell the wage board why raising the wage to $15 is so important. You can fill out the online registration form here.

3) If you haven’t been able to testify at any of the hearings, you can still submit written testimony to the wage board here. The deadline is June 26.

4) If you haven’t yet signed and shared the petition from people of faith, do so now!

Last week, an open letter signed by more than 200 faith leaders across the state was submitted to the wage board. But the fight isn’t over, and workers need to know that you support them. Join the call for dignity and justice for all workers!

The 50th anniversary commemoration of the civil rights march from Selma, AL., to Montgomery, became a piece of living history when hundreds of North Country students gathered in Lake Placid to see the movie Selma and hear from a former New York City public school teacher Susan Butler,  who marched in that historic event. She is a former teacher at the School for the Deaf in Manhattan.

North Country Public Radio also interviewed Butler, now a resident of Chestertown and a retired member of United Federation of Teachers, who spoke to the students about her experience marching in Selma. She recalled seeing ” knots” of white people yelling in disgust, and knots of black people cheering on the marchers.

Just days before, a storm and plunging temperatures were just one piece of friction that threatened the march, including waiting for permission for the event, since an earlier march became the horrible “Bloody Sunday.” Then Martin Luther King Jr. got word to the crowds that the big march on the 21st would happen.

Before that event, Butler was among many arrested and held overnight during another march. The region was teeming with protests.

While the  Selma march influenced the passing of the Voting Rights Act in 1965,  much work remains.

“The first lesson is: It ain’t over,” Butler said in the newscast. Race relations remains a stormy issue in this country, as evidenced constantly in the news.

She praised the group of North Country teachers who put together the movie screening and discussion. Getting young people involved in some positive organization, civil rights-related or otherwise, is an important move to take, she said.

Action is needed now.

In 2013, the Supreme Court overturned part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act; Texas and Alabama  decided on requiring voter identification within one hour, she said today.

“The people least likely to have voter ID are people who are sharecroppers and live in rural areas in southern states and don’t have transportation or money to get identification. Some of the older black people were born at home and don’t have credible identification. They don’t have birth certificates,” she said. “If you make it impossible for people to vote,what is the point?”

When she marched in Selma, she was a new teacher. She shared with her principal that she felt what was happening at that moment in 1965 in Mississippi would effect all children and people in the United States, and she was granted a leave of absence to attend the civil rights march.

Butler’s activism took shape in many ways.  Fifty years ago, she took a plane to Mississippi, where she taught as a Freedom School teacher in Jackson. On that trip, as a 23-year-old, she found out she was on the return plane from the one that had carried home to New York the body  of Andrew Goodman, slain civil rights activist who was murdered by the Klu Klux Klan  along with James Chaney and Michael Schwerner.

“That was an eyeopener for me,” she said. “I thought, ‘This is very serious. This is very big business.’”

Last summer, she went to the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer.

Now retired, she lives in the Adirondack Mountains, far from New York City but not so many miles from Goodman Mountain of Tupper Lake, named after Andrew Goodman.

For this spring event in Lake Placid where she spoke, students came from North Country towns including Peru, Chateaugay and Newcomb. The event was sponsored by NYSUT, John Brown Lives!, the Saranac Lake Teachers Organization and the Adirondack Film Society.

“Susan was able to answer questions and even critique the film in places based on her experience and perspective. That was valuable for students to hear, underscoring the importance of media literacy skills. She also offered words of encouragement for students to play a role in creating the kind of world they want to inhabit,” said Martha Swan, Spanish teacher, member of the Newcomb Teachers Association and director of John Brown Lives!, an organization committed to social justice causes in honor of abolitionist John Brown.

Swan said the night she went to see Selma, there were 8-10 people in the theater, while a sell-out crowd waited to see American Sniper. She decided then that teachers need to create opportunities for students to see and discuss the film.

Peru teacher Dana Atwood brought his eighth-grade students who are finishing a multidisciplinary study of the Civil Rights Movement.

While many schools have lost funding for projects such as field trips due to relentless state cutbacks, field trips have a solid place in education. In rural parts of the state, where distance to anything outside of a small village is an everyday reality, taking field trips and making connections with other schools is a serious challenge.

“I think it’s very important for students to experience events like this in the company of peers from other schools and districts. It helps impart the feeling that they’re participating in something deemed important and worthwhile,” said Swan, whose students have been learning about Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta and other farmworker-unionists. They are comparing the struggling for the farmworker rights movement to the civil rights movement.

Saranac Lake teacher Don Carlisto, co-president of the SLTA, said the work of  John Brown Lives!, a nonprofit devoted to human rights and social justice issues, aligns well with NYSUT”s social justice activism and educational outreach.

“As a new member of NYSUT’s Board of Directors, I’ve looked for opportunities to strengthen ties and collaborate with JBL as it seems such a natural partner for us,” he said.”I’m hoping this will be just beginning.”