When Sandra March of the United Federation of Teachers learned she received NYSUT's "Not For Ourselves Alone:" The Sandy Feldman Outstanding Leadership Award, she turned to the booklet In Her Words, published by the UFT and AFT after Feldman died.
"If you read it, you find out who she was and who we are," said March, who was a good friend of Feldman, a former UFT and AFT president. "We are educators with a social conscience."
March said educators and trade unionists built the middle class in this country. "We have to do whatever we can to stop," those who are trying to privatize education as another source of revenue, she said.
Longtime Hewlett-Woodmere FA leader Joan Skowronek also received the Sandy Feldman award. She taught health and science for 45 years, all while being active in just about every facet of union leadership at her local.
She was celebrated for her commitment in serving as building rep, secretary, negotiator and union president. Skowronek was also a NYSUT and AFT delegate.