Executive VP Sean Tvelia presents the resolutions and amendments as chair of the NYSUT health care and workplace safety committee. (photo by Cynthia Eaton)

One chair and two vice chairs, one proposed resolution and 16 presented resolutions and three statewide awards.

That brief snapshot illustrates how busy the FA was at this year's NYSUT Representative Assembly. Held on April 6-8 at the New York Hilton Midtown, your FA officers were on the go.

We'll start with the statewide awards received by the FA this year:

1. Local Community Service Award - The NYSUT awards booklet notes, "The Faculty Assocation Suffolk Community College consistently evidences a belief in community service. In 2016 they demonstrated this by participating in the Professors on Wheels program and Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, by contributing $5,585 to campus food pantries for students and two Making Strides walks and by sponsoring the ZimKids Orphan Trust campus visit."
   
   
2. VOTE-COPE Campaign Dan Sanders Award: The FA received recognition for contributing the equivalent of at least $25 per member in 2016.
   
   
3. VOTE-COPE Campaign Lou Cammarosano Award: This award recognizes the FA for outstanding improvement and leadership during the 2016 calendar year.

The 2,000+ RA attendees also saw FA Executive Vice President Sean Tvelia on stage as he presented the resolutions and amendments for the health care and workplace safety committee. As chair of this NYSUT committee, Tvelia and other members addressed resolutions on the issues listed below.

"Even a quick glance at this comprehensive list," Tvelia asserts, "illustrates clearly the importance of unions in our K-12 schools and colleges. Our members are paying close attention to so many issues that impact our students' and members' health and well being every single day."

• Zika awareness and education
• Support for recovery from addiction
• Medicare Part D and prescription drug cost
• Support for caregivers
• Addressing violence in schools
• Hazards of wireless radiation emission
• Every School Succeeds Act (ESSA)
• ESSA and the role of teacher centers
• Setting a consistent timeline for state assessment implementation
• NYSUT opposition to teacher participation in generating test questions for the NY 3-8 math and ELA assessments
• Opposition to computer based testing for grades 3-5
• Opposition to mandatory student performance measures in APPR
• Moratorium on annual professional performance review.

As vice chair of the NYSUT civil and human rights committee, Dante Morelli presented several resolutions to the convention. (photo by Kevin McCoy)

Also representing the FA at the RA was Dante Morelli, FA grievance officer. Morelli presented the following resolutions and amendments on behalf of the civil and human rights committee:

• Reaffirming NYSUT's core value: respect for all people
• Call for all public colleges and schools to be sanctuary institutions
• Freedom of speech and assembly for all faculty, staff and students at the City University of New York

Finally, we're proud to note that the FA wrote and sponsored a NYSUT resolution this year to address adjunct faculty dues structure because adjuncts have to pay dues at each NYSUT-affiliated institution at which they work, K-12 and higher ed.

You can read more about that resolution, which was passed at the NYSUT RA, in this article by adjunct coordinator Kevin McCoy.