Sachem educators lose pounds, raise $

Like many others trying to get in shape, educators at Chippewa Elementary School in the Sachem district turned to healthy competition to lose weight.

Drawing on the popular television show The Biggest Loser, 28 Sachem staffers formed teams to focus on losing weight.

While several no doubt are eyeing the $325 in prize money, many are also thinking about how their loss will be a gain for a kindergarten student.

Several "big losers" will finish up the competition by participating in the Long Island Half Marathon to raise money for a Chippewa student suffering from a rare genetic disease.

— SCTA Speak Out

UUP members cross paths in Rwanda

For many educators, sabbaticals offer an opportunity to compile important research throughout the world.

For two members of United University Professions, the opportunity also meant a chance meeting a world away.

Shaun Irlam, an associate literature professor at SUNY Buffalo, and David Reed, who teaches emergency medicine at SUNY's Upstate Medical University, crossed paths in Kigali, Rwanda, while doing research on the war-torn country.

Members of the NYSUT affiliate representing academic and professional faculty at the State University of New York, the men met on a street and became quick friends.

Reed said the chance encounter helped him get even more out of the trip.

— The Voice

Central Islip math carnival is fun and educational

More than 300 Central Islip educators, parents and students proved that math is fun at the A. T. Morrow Elementary School's second annual Math Carnival.

The carnival featured activities created by educators using items that can be found at home.

Each student had to participate in at least four activities and parents received information on the third-and fourth-grade state math assessments.

Families had pictures taken with "Einstein," Central Islip TA member Charlotte Spies-Firkser, a literacy coach at the school.

— CITAtion

Greece educators, students help restock food pantry

The Greece Teachers Association sponsored its second annual Stuff a Bus Food Drive recently to support the Greece Ecumenical Food Shelf.

Staffers and students collected 7,350 pounds of food. Arcadia High School led the way with more than 1,800 pounds.

The GTA is led by Don Pallozzi. Last year, the local collected 7,000 pounds of food items.

— GTA Today

PSC members allege academic freedom violation

If a luxury accessory company pays a university $10,000 to offer a course on how the counterfeiting of such brands harms society, does that constitute an academic freedom violation?

That very question is being investigated at Hunter College after a non-tenured professor says he was told to teach the course.

Tim Portlock, a member of the Professional Staff Congress, holds two masters degrees in fine arts but was asked to teach a class where students "created and executed a public relations campaign against counterfeit goods." Coach, Inc., which is run by a Hunter College alumnus, paid $10,000 to the school for the course.

Portlock received course materials from a public relations firm hired by the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition; his efforts to include critical perspective, including an argument that some vendors sell fakes out of economic necessity, were rejected.

The university is investigating the case to determine if academic freedom violations occurred. The PSC is NYSUTs affiliate at the City University of New York.

— Clarion

Frontier retiree breaks ground for SRPs

Frontier Central School retiree Mary Warren was elected president of NYSUT's Retiree Council 1 in western New York.

Warren, a former bus driver, is the first School-Related Professional leader to be elected president of a retiree council.

She served as president of her local, part-time Employee Retirement System consultant and as a member of the NYSUT SRP Advisory Committee.

— The Retiree Observer

Earth Day in the bag

Earth Day 2008, April 22, arrived in a plain brown wrapper at Rox-boro Road Elementary School.

Encouraged by teacher Sara Harrington, a member of the North Syracuse Education Association, first-graders drew enviro-friendly messages like "Save Water" on shopping bags that were put into use at P&C markets.

"The kids are excited that so many people are going to get to see their bags," Harrington told the Syracuse Post-Standard.

P&C participates in the Earth Day Groceries Projects, as do other school districts in central New York, including East Syracuse, Fayetteville-Manlius, Homer, McGraw and Sherburne-Earlville.

— The Post-Standard