It's all in the family in the Smithtown district — since the independent support staff local voted overwhelmingly to join NYSUT in the fall. After an intensive information campaign, more than 90 percent of the 535 votes cast said "yes" to NYSUT.

"It's a great way to start the new year, with all of us, teachers, security guards, nurses and all of the support staff titles now under one umbrella," said Jim Markey, a maintenance worker in facilities since 1979 in the district that educates more than 11,000 students in Suffolk County.

The Smithtown Schools Employees Association includes more than 600 members in clerical, maintenance, food service, transportation — as well as monitors at times during the year. Markey is electrician and preventive maintenance supervisor for the district, scheduling work on 3,000 pieces of HVAC equipment and 40 boilers. He and Rosemarie Geronimo are co-presidents of the group.

Organized as an independent union in 1981, the group had success at gaining contracts and benefits for the variety of job titles.

"As legal issues became more complex and complicated, we realized we needed extra help," Markey said.

"Ro" Geronimo has been a secretary for 21 years, working in several of the district's 14 school buildings. She is looking forward to the training opportunities available through the statewide union. NYSUT offers statewide and regional conferences geared for groups such as School-Related Professionals, retirees, BOCES, community-college faculty and health care.

Members network and share success stories and bargaining strategies with colleagues from across the state, while at regional conferences they share information across job titles and work to increase solidarity in a region.

Following suit

Turning to NYSUT was obvious as the teachers, led by Richard Forzano; security guards, led by Anthony Petrucci; and the nurses, led by Liz Chitkara, were already affiliated. Forzano started working with the local last year on health-insurance issues; he is the labor trustee for the Suffolk School Employees Health Plan, a consortium of four districts.

"I told them what a resource NYSUT's regional office and labor relations specialists are," Forzano said. "Especially since NYSUT has every other district in this area, all the information on what other districts are doing for health insurance is all just a phone call away. There's so much data on negotiations that NYSUT can supply."

The recent settlement of the security guard contract was also a positive (see related article).

Debbie Flynn, a secretary in the transportation department and an officer in the local, said solidarity is important. "I believe in strength in numbers," Flynn said. "I have seen how you accomplish more as part of a team than as one individual."

Since its unification with the state affiliate of the National Education Association in 2006, NYSUT represents nearly all of the state's K-12 teachers and SRPs in public districts, and in many private schools as well.

The Smithtown schools have an strong academic record, with scores of students in all schools meeting or exceeding state and national standards. Famous recent graduates include television journalist Soledad O'Brien, novelist Jodi Picoult and major league baseball player Frank Catalanotto.

Markey and three of his children are also alumni. "Not only did I play sports for Smithtown, I was able to come back and coach with the football coach I played for," Markey said. "There's a lot of that here — people all working together."

— Betsy Sandberg