We thank Erica Amato (above, right), admissions counselor at Grant, for her good work in hosting Brentwood High School students on campus to introduce them to our education major as part of the NYSUT Take a Look at Teaching grant program.

It has been a challenging year of transition for faculty and students coming back to fully on-campus classes and student services. In speaking with colleagues it has become clear that our students need us now more than ever.

We all have experienced and observed students who are struggling with mental and emotional health concerns. The pandemic has not been kind to our most vulnerable students—and the labor we perform is imperative for their success, especially now.

The FA has been working and will continue to work hard in order to focus on areas where our students need us most as a support and success system.

We'd like to start by thanking and congratulating admissions counselor Erica Amato for developing and implementing a successful Take a Look at Teaching (TALAT) program at the Grant Campus. On April 29, Erica brought 21 Brentwood Senior High School students to campus for a program to get them thinking about a career in teaching. TALAT is a NYSUT initiative that provided our local with a three-year $15,000 grant. The goal of the program to help build a pipeline of students into a preK-12 teaching career, since the field has experienced massive retirements and expects more to come, and to help diversify the profession.

Also, after this long year of transition, it was such a joy to be present for the college Commencement ceremony. Many of the students who walked across the stage performed a significant portion of their education in remote or online modalities. To see their faces (some of whom I only saw in a Zoom class!) bursting with joy, with their families celebrating this accomplishment, was moving. This is the labor we perform. Commencement is the result of all the work our members do for students on a daily basis.

Looking forward to this summer, there will be plenty of planning for the year ahead as FA officers and leaders will be busy with a number of initiatives to help address the issues our students face. We are excited for the official launch of our JEDI Institute later this month. Building on last year's successful pilot program, JEDI will kick off with three on-campus meetings this summer as participants develop plans to make our college more just, equitable, diverse and inclusive. We will continue engaging in important conversations as we address various changes to the SCCC student body both demographically and academically.

Six FA leaders will be participating in NYSUT's Local Action Project (LAP) in Saratoga in July. The FA was selected from a competitive applicant pool to be a LAP local, and we're the only higher education local to be selected. This three-year commitment allows our local to do a careful examination and audit of our entire union, from how we engage members to how we deliver programming and all of the other ways our union operates. This leadership and local development program will be an important step in our union’s history. We will present our LAP initiatives in our September issue of The WORD.

Additionally, a small group of us will attend AFT Convention in Boston in July. Similar to the NYSUT Representative Assembly but on the national level, the AFT Convention establishes the agenda for our national union for the next two years. Higher education plays an important role in AFT.

Also, as you know, we will begin contract negotiations with college administration this summer. We have been assured by NYSUT Research and Educational Services that they will have our survey results prepared and distributed within the week, and our FA negotiations team will use your feedback via the survey and other communication venues (contract forums, emails, individual conversations, etc.) to guide their critical work as they identify areas of priority.

The summer is already off to a great start, as our union siblings in the Guild of Administrative Officers had their contract proposal unanimously passed by the Suffolk County Legislature. Congratulations to our friends in the Guild!

Have an enjoyable summer, everyone. We hope that all members—ten-month and twelve-month employees, classroom and nonclassroom, full time and adjunct—will all be able to get some rest, take time off and engage in self-care.