H I C K S V I L L E C O N G R E S S O F T E A C H E R S

Mary Masterson, Editor

Volume 3, Issue 6

Important Dates

to Remember:

August 27-28, 2014,

New Teacher

Orientation

September 2, 2014,

Orientation Day

Schools Closed/

Teachers Report

September 3, 2014,

First Day of School

Officers:

President: Joan Deem

1st VP: Mary Guanti

2nd VP: Mary Masterson

Treasurer: Kathy Rieger

Secretary: Tom Glenn

HCT highlights

President’s Pen

Hicksville Congress of Teachers * 183 Broadway, Suite 302 * Hicksville, NY 11801

Hicksville_teachers@verizon.net

As most of you know by now, there have been some administrative changes in the

Hicksville Public Schools. Maureen Bright, and the Board of Education reached an

agreement that ends her service to the District effective July 31, 2014. This was acted

upon and announced following a long recess in the action portion of the Board of Edu-

cation's regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday July 23, 2014. No details of the

separation agreement between the parties have nor will be made public. At a special

meeting of the Board of Education last night, Marianne Litzman was appointed as Act-

ing Superintendent for the Hicksville Public Schools effective August 1, 2014. This ap-

pointment will conclude when an Interim Superintendent is appointed. The Board be-

gan interviewing candidates for the Interim position last night as well.

At the Board of Education Reorganization meeting on July 2, 2014, the search firm,

School Leadership, LLC was hired to aid the Board of Education in their search for a

Superintendent of Schools. School Leadership, LLC is one of the leading School Admin-

istrator Search firms in the tri-state region. The search for a new Superintendent will be

unlike the search for qualified candidates for teaching and other administrative open-

ings that we are familiar with. We are used to seeing advertisements placed and candi-

dates for interview being selected by the district. In this search, the professional search

company will supply the Board of Education with candidates that meet criteria yet to be

determined. At the open Board of Education meeting held last night, Drs. Charles

Fowler and Kathy Weiss of the search firm, began the process of soliciting expectations

from each member of the Board of Education with the following three questions: What

would attract a skilled administrator to Hicksville? What do you see as the major leader-

ship tasks the new Superintendent will face? What are the qualities or personal leader-

ship style you are looking for in a Superintendent? Following the Board of Education

responses, the audience was asked to contribute their responses to these questions

and a fairly open dialogue ensued.

It is the intention of the search firm to solicit the input of the entire school community to

develop a plan with the Board of Education to select the most appropriate candidates

for the position. Throughout the Fall, Drs. Fowler and Weiss will personally conduct

meetings with focus groups, such as teachers, bargaining unit leaders, administrators,

residents, parents. School Leadership, LLC will create an online and paper survey to

garner community input and there will be open meetings held for all constituent groups

(teachers, support staff, parents, etc.) to allow them to have an opportunity to

Continued on page 6

Rachel Bennett Margaret Lehmann

Dawn Beyer Jennifer Mackie

Lara Bodt Kelli McCutchan

Christine Bohnemann Mary Masterson

Meredith Boonshaft Maureen McMorrow

Lydia Butler Robert Mosz

Shelly Chertoff Jamie Murray

Joan Deem Corinne Pope

Michael Evans Kathy Rieger

Andrea Ferrara Kelly Scobie

Tom Glenn Jadwiga Slupek

Peggy Giuntini Joann Sommerhalter

Christine Janda Polly Trocchia

Linda Johnson Grace Vangi Delise

Rachel Kalmar Robin Zeller

A special thanks to the 30 HCT volunteers whose effort and participation in the phone bank at the NYSUT office

in Woodbury on Tuesday, May 13, 2014, were instrumental in helping to pass Hicksville’s 2014-2015 school

budget. Our volunteers made a record-breaking 671 calls to residents in the Hicksville community encouraging

them to get out and vote in support of the Hicksville school district’s budget. Special kudos to Kelli McCutchan,

who stayed the entire 3 hours and single handedly made over 100 phone calls!

As a special thank you for taking the time from their busy schedules to advocate for the passing of the District’s

budget, thereby ensuring that no teachers would be laid off and that no other hurtful educational cuts would need

to be made, each volunteer was presented with a discount coupon for the HCT end-of-year party.

Lydia Butler - Burns Avenue

Margaret Lehmann - Dutch Lane

Christine Janda - Fork Lane Kelli McCutchan - Dutch Lane

Jadwiga Slupek - Old Country Road - along with other HCT volunteers

On Friday, May 16, 2014 the Hicksville Congress of Teachers hosted their third annual “Ice

Cream Social” for the District’s students. Each student in the Hicksville School District was given

a flyer by their classroom teachers which entitled them to a free ice cream cone from Friendly’s.

The HCT wanted to congratulate their elementary, middle, and high school students for working so

hard this year in preparing for their tests. Seventy-one teachers volunteered their time after school

to attend the social, greet the students, meet the parents, roll up their sleeves, put on an apron

and get to work behind the counter, scooping out the yummy treats! Each year more and more

students look forward to joining us for this special end-of-year event, and this year we scooped out

an unprecedented 890 cones from 3:00 to 5:00 P.M.!

The teachers are so proud of their students and wanted to, in a small way, encourage and reward all of their hard

work and effort and bring smiles to their faces. HCT President Joan Deem explains, “We again chose to patronize a

local business because the Hicksville community means a lot to our teachers!”

HCT members once again participated in a rally on Wednesday, May 21, 2014, at the Huntington Hilton in Melville.

The purpose of this rally held outside of the Democratic Convention was to continue to drive home the message to

Governor Cuomo that public education is an essential component of our democracy. Further we want him to

demonstrate, in his leadership role, that he understands the importance and value of what we as public educators

do for the children in New York State.

contribute to the understanding of the needs of the stakeholders of the community. By December the Board of

Education will have finalized their criteria for candidates and the search firm will begin to solicit candidates from a

national pool and screen those interested candidates according to the Board's criteria. They anticipate a new Su-

perintendent will be hired at the end of March, with a start date of July 1, 2015. I hope that you will participate fully

in the process when offered the opportunity as it is our collective voice that can make a difference.

Many of you have called to ask, "What happens now?" and my answer remains, "We continue to advocate for and

pursue that changes that improve our working conditions, our rights and our benefits." You will hear much in the

coming months about the cases in New York and in California that threaten to do away with teacher tenure and

seniority rights, the cases before SCOTUS that threaten to eliminate the "Fair Share" laws that ensure everyone

pays equally for collective bargaining rights and union representation, and the cases here on Long Island that

could dismantle our benefits under the Tri-borough Amendment and the Faithless Servant doctrine in New York

State. The HCT is committed to providing you our members with the information and resources that you need to

understand how our profession is under attack. But we need YOU to become educated, and engaged with us in

combating these attacks. ALL of our futures depend on it.

In solidarity,

Joan Deem, President

President’s Pen

Continued from page 1

New York State United Teachers today called on its more than 600,000 members and their

families to support the American Postal Workers Union and join a nationwide boycott of office

supply giant Staples.

NYSUT said the U.S. Postal Service’s decision to contract mail service to Staples — with “postal counters” staffed with

low-wage, high-turnover Staples employees rather than unionized postal employees — “wrongly puts profits ahead of

people and will further erode the middle class by lowering the standard of living for all.” NYSUT leaders endorsed the

Postal Workers Union’s boycott of Staples over the weekend at the American Federation of Teachers’ Representative

Assembly in Los Angeles.

In Los Angeles, NYSUT President Karen E. Magee used scissors to immediately cut up her Staples card, declaring, “That

was easy,” in a riff on the office supply company’s slogan.

“Teachers and others who work in public schools and colleges have, in the past, been among Staples’ best and most

reliable customers. But teachers can and will hit Staples where it hurts — the bottom line — by taking their business

elsewhere if Staples does not reverse its decision to help privatize an essential public service,” Magee said. “Refusing to

shop at Staples is the best way to send a message that contracting out good, middle-class union jobs is absolutely

unacceptable.”

The U.S. Postal Service began contracting out mail services in October, beginning a pilot program at 80 Staples stores, the

national AFL-CIO reported. The Postal Service plans to expand the program to 1,500 Staples locations at the same time it

is closing public post offices.

$16 per person

RSVP by September 1

Bobbii Soroka

631 423-0391 or

roreo73@aolcom

2014 Hicksville Retired Teachers

Back to School Breakfast

Wednesday, September

9:30 AM

Celebrity Diner

Jericho Turnpike

(just west of South Oyster Bay Road)

Syosset, NY

516 364-1970

Europ Assistance

Europ Assistance is a service includedwith Accidental Death &

Dismemberment Insurance coverage provided to all NYSUT

members.

More Americans are journeying across the

country and around the globe, and travelers

are often presented with unpredictable

circumstances. Consider for a moment facing

the challenges associated with accidents and

illnesses, the frequent reports of disease

outbreak, natural disasters, political unrest,

and even lost personal belongings.

Winners’ reception

On Tuesday June 17th, the HCT hosted a reception at H.R. Singletons, honoring all of our HCT Scholarship winners

who we awarded a total of $4,250. We welcomed the opportunity to present each of the five Hicksville High

School seniors, Tyler Bentrewicz, Nitasha Bindra, Ashley Danseglio, Cynthia Racz, and Navneet Kaur, with a small

gift and our heartfelt congratulations in person. Two scholarships were also awarded to the children of HCT

members. A $1500 scholarship was awarded to Ryan Lao, son of HCT Building Representative Tammy Lao from

Fork Lane School for academic excellence. Ryan also was awarded a $300 scholarship from the Long Island

Teachers Benevolent Fund. A $750 community service scholarship was awarded to Daniel Sloan, son of Sheri

Epstein, an HCT member from Hicksville High School. We also honored Justin Pinsky, son of Gayle Pinsky an HCT

member from Woodland Avenue School for having been selected to receive the Len Motisi Scholarship from the

Long Island Teachers Benevolent Fund in the amount of $200. We wish these outstanding graduates much

success throughout their college career.

Congratulations to our HCT colleagues Cathy Pocoroba, Mary Pisanti, Mike Dalvano,

Betty Thoma, and Pat Collier. Enjoy your retirement!

On Tuesday, June 17, 2014, the HCT held its annual "End of Year" Cocktail Party honoring retiring teachers, teachers

completing twenty-years of service, and an HCT union activist.

The party took place at HR Singleton's and was attended by 45 members as well as 12 HCT retirees.

At the cocktail party, HCT Secretary Tom Glenn was honored for his ten years of union activism. Ten teachers were

honored for celebrating twenty years of service in Hicksville. Additionally, eleven retiring teachers were honored and

received a gift of a personalized clock. All attendees enjoyed food, drinks, and desserts, as well as the opportunity to

celebrate the end of another successful school year with their colleagues.

Honorees receiving

their retirement clocks.

HCT President Joan Deem presenting

Linda Mandel with her 20-year plaque.

HCT President Joan Deem presenting

Donna Kobilca with her 20-year plaque.

HCT President Joan Deem thanks Tom Glenn

for his 10 years of union service.

HCT President Joan Deem presenting

Jadwiga Slupek with her 20-year plaque.

Congratulations

to the

HCT’s Elementary School Librarians

The HCT’s elementary school librarians guided their RISE students as they participated in the 2014 “Everyone Has

Rights” Public Service Announcement contest sponsored by the HCT, NYSUT, and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for

Justice and Human Rights. Lydia Butler, Betty Thoma, Catherine Altobello, Christine Janda, Maureen Bertolini,

Susan Pummill and Jadwiga Slupek were honored along with over 70 of their RISE students on Friday, June 20,

2014 at the Kristoff Theater at the High School.

Former NYSUT Secretary/Treasurer and Human Rights Activist, Lee Cutler, addressed the assembly and spoke of

his inspiration to become a humanitarian at the age of twelve. Through videoconferencing, John Heffernan the Ex-

ecutive Director of RFK Speak Truth To Power at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights,

praised the students for the effort they put forth in their outstanding videos which were each about a different as-

pect of human rights. He also commended the librarians for their guidance and dedication to this project.

Happy

Retirements

On Wednesday, June 18, 2014 the Superintendent and members of the Hicksville Board of Education

honored the District’s retirees. Teachers who completed their 25th year of service to the District were

presented with engraved silver trays.

Years of Service

HCT Treasurer Kathy Rieger, HCT Secretary Tom Glenn, retirees Mary Pisanti, Pat Collier, Margot Horn,

Silver Anniversary recipient Ruth Davidowitz, retiree Betty Thoma and HCT President Joan Deem enjoyed

the District’s reception in which the honorees were thanked for their years of dedicated service to the

children of the Hicksville Public Schools.

Burns Congratulations to Susan Goulet and Rosemary Lawlor on their retirements.

Dutch Best wishes to Catherine Pocoroba and Elizabeth Thoma on their retirements.

Congratulations to Linda Mandel for having completed 20 years of service in Hicksville.

East Congratulations to Peggy Giuntini on the engagement of her son, Dan to Regina Winter.

Best of luck to Catherine Altobello’s son, Gus who is currently studying French language and

culture in Annecy, France.

High School Best wishes to Margot Horn on her retirement.

Congratulations to Rosemarie Rosenblum for having completed 20 years of service in Hicksville.

Woodland

Welcome back to Maureen Bertolini!

Congratulations to Kristine Nazzaro on her marriage to Lance McAllister on May 23!

Middle School Joe and Jill Hartig welcomed Ethan Derek Hartig on June 4th at 7 lbs. 9oz . Mom and Dad doing

well!

Wishing Mary Guanti a speedy recovery. You are greatly missed!

Best wishes to retirees Charles Arnone and Michael Dalvano.

OCR Best wishes to Pat Collier on her upcoming retirement.

Congratulations to Donna Kobilca, Elizabeth Mustello and Jadwiga Slupek on their 20 years of

service in Hicksville.

Lee

Congratulations to the HCT

The HCT has been awarded the

Dan Sanders Award for the third year in a row.

This award recognizes the HCT’s leadership in

making VOTE-COPE the most effective voice in

politics on behalf of the members of NYSUT and

students.

Best wishes to Mary Pisanti on her upcoming retirement.

Congratulations to Karen Farrell and Susan Pummill on their 20 years of service in Hicksville.

* If you have a name or address change please contact the HCT at (516) 937-1288 and

the Administration at (516) 733-2125.

The Hicksville Congress of Teachers — — A Union of Dedicated Professionals

Hicksville Congress of Teachers

183 Broadway, Suite 302

Hicksville, NY 11801