Message from Mindy

By MINDY BORNEMANN
Chapter leader

I wish you all a happy and healthy New Year.

And as we turn to a new year, with whatever problems and “adventures” that may entail, let me remind you that as your chapter leader I am here to support you and to help you in whatever way I can. In fact, the entire UFT is ready to assist you.

Our speech chapter hotline is available Monday-Friday from 4-6 p.m. at 1-212-598-7774. You can leave a brief message at any time.

Assistant Chapter Leaders Sandy Robinson and Kathy Lewis and I are here to answer your questions and to help you understand your rights so that whenever you need to make an important job decision you can make an informed one.

On our newly revised UFT Web site you will find the many memos that we have asked the Department of Education to write on our behalf. They are related to paperwork reduction, attending IEP meetings, class coverage, special education complaints and annual reviews. Most of these memos were written to protect us, so having them on our Web site gives you quick access should you need to refer to one when a problem arises. Incidentally, we also want the DOE to update the memo on paperwork reduction since it was written many years ago and really needs to be revised. Call our chapter if you are being given unusual or excessive paperwork.

It is important that I point out to you that all of our future newsletters will only
appear on our Web site and will no longer be printed and mailed out. If you want to be alerted that our newsletter is online and I do not yet have your personal e-mail, please send it to me now at Mbornemann@uft.org. I currently have about 900 e-mail addresses of the 1,900 chapter members. That means that half of you may well be uninformed about important news, staff development workshops, other information and upcoming meetings. The union is eliminating printed newsletters because e-mails and posting on our Web site are a much faster and more efficient way of disseminating information.

Our speech chapter newsletter appears several times a year. Both current and past articles are available online. You may want to view these to see what has been accomplished by our chapter and what rights you are entitled to.

Listed on the back page are our elected executive board members for 2006-2008. If you wish to call them to discuss any issues or questions you may have, please do so early in the evening. We also have a group of volunteer liaisons who are in your local district.

Our chapter is currently collecting information to determine how many members need CEUs for ASHA. Over the last few years many of you have contacted me and asked that we get CEUs at our workshops but we do not know how many of you need these credits. We will offer them at the January workshop if you e-mail me or call our office. There may be a higher charge for future workshops to offset the costs of sponsorship. Contact me as soon as possible if you are interested in obtaining CEUs and are ASHA certified. Please leave your name, district, region, phone number and school on our hotline and one of us will call you back to get additional information. I need to see how many chapter members need these Continuing Education Units to get the best rate from the local universities for multiple conferences.

Send me your e-mails and have a great rest of the year. I hope to see you at our next workshop or meeting.

Fraternally,

— Mindy Karten Bornemann

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