The 2025 Representative Assembly in Rochester has wrapped up. After a weekend of celebrations, speeches, resolutions and more, it would be easy to have missed something. But we’ve got everything from the 2025 Representative Assembly, with its theme of “Equality. Progess. Play.” all in one place for you below. Check it out!

Local Presidents Conference

PLAY!

NYSUT Leadership Inspires

Students Inspire Us

NYSUT delegates do the work of the union

RA Highlights

NYSUT honors award winners

Guest speakers fire up NYSUT delegates

NYSUT swag sells fast!

NYSUT RA 2025: Day 1

NYSUT RA 2025: Day 2

Every day, School-Related Professionals, service providers, and healthcare professionals work tirelessly to take care of others, but don’t get paid enough to take care of themselves.

NYSUT members put their students and clients first, and Second Vice President Ron Gross introduced NYSUT’s new campaign, “One Job Should Be Enough,” to will shine a light on the critical — yet chronically underpaid — professionals and the challenges they face just trying to pay their bills.

“Many are working full-time, some for decades, yet still struggle trying to make ends meet under the weight of low wages,” Gross said.

The new campaign will tell members’ stories, including how much training they have and how much — or how little — they make, with the goal of driving real change in their wages.

Kim McEvoy, treasurer of the Rondout Valley Federation of Teachers and School-Related Professionals, shared stories about SRPs who work extra delivery and childcare jobs to make ends meet.

“These are just two stories from many across the state and country that share hardships that so many face,” she said. “School-related professionals and healthcare workers, we work hard and we love what we do, and we are the backbone of our schools. We need to be recognized for our value.”

On Saturday, NYSUT’s Board of Directors introduced two resolutions to protect our students, public schools and public higher education institutions from federal attacks and funding cuts.

The Protect Our Students, Protect Our Schools resolution addresses more than 100 executive orders in the past 12 weeks aimed at eliminating the U.S. Department of Education and threatening the recission of funding and removal of grants for failure to comply.

On K-12 issues, Albany Public School Teachers Association President Laura Franz, a member of the NYSUT Board, spoke in support of the resolution. “This resolution is not a symbolic gesture,” Franz said. “It’s a line in the sand; a declaration of purpose from the people who have always stood between power and the powerless. … We, the educators, are uniquely prepared for this fight.”

Additionally, the Protect Our Colleges and Universities from Federal Attacks resolution stresses the dire impacts of the current administration’s freeze on federal grant funding for lifesaving research, attacks on academic freedom, and slashing of student aid that will further suppress college access and enrollment.

“Whether it’s in research, whether it’s in teaching, the work we do is about bringing the truth to the forefront so our students, as they become citizens of the world, can carry on our work in a fully democratic and just society,” said United University Professions President Fred Kowal.

Delegates unanimously supported both measures.

More details on NYSUT's resolutions and initiatives to protect our public schools, colleges and universities will be coming soon.

NYSUT has welcomed thousands of new members into our union over the past two years. On Day 2 of the 2025 Representative Assembly in Rochester, some of the new locals organized in the last year got up to share their stories.

Trevor Francis, president of Mary Cariola United from the Mary Cariola Center, an 853 School in Rochester, talked about grassroots organizing in the face of union-busting tactics, saying, “Every step of the way, NYSUT had our back.” MCU is now negotiating their first contract after organizing in 2024.

Cecelia Gray of the Neil Hellman Staff Union of the Neil Hellman School in Albany, another 853 School, said, “We knew that if we wanted to create a safer and more equitable environment, we had to take action.” Since organizing in 2024, the NHSU has been working toward fair working and learning conditions for staff and students. “We are so grateful to be walking this path together,” said Gray.

The Cassadaga Guardians of the Hill formed in July 2024 at the Cassadaga Job Corp Center, a rural job school in Western New York, after having difficulty being able to get basic things done. “We did not have basic supplies,” said Jake Brock of GOTH. “At one point, we did not have toilet paper for students in the dorms.” Ninety-eight percent of eligible members voted to form the union, a strong showing of unity as the union is now negotiating their first contract.

Members of Nazareth United Professionals also spoke. The group, made up of over 140 professionals at Nazareth University, recently voted to unionize and are awaiting the results of that vote. They detailed the anti-union activity they have faced, including members of the organizing committee being disciplined or fired. One member said, “Nazareth University, stop the delays. Your employees have spoken and we want a union contract!”

The RA annually recognizes the dedication, professionalism and hard work of NYSUT members. Delegates honored the recipients of “Not for Ourselves Alone:” The Sandy Feldman Outstanding Leadership Award, and the winners of the union’s constituency awards. The RA also congratulated winners of the union’s Humanitarian Award, the Ken Kurzweil Social Justice Award and NYSUT Community Service Awards — both individual members and local unions, and recognized those members added to the NYSUT Life Line Honor Roll for their work to help save lives.

Download the 2025 RA Awards Book for a complete listing of this year's honorees.

Being a unionist is about being involved, and every day NYSUT is spurring our members to action – on behalf of their students, communities and profession. During his address, Second Vice President Ron Gross enumerated the programs NYSUT has launched this past year to activate and empower members, including workplace violence prevention trainings, the mental health network, and the ongoing Union for Life campaign.

“One of the great privileges of being able to oversee a department like Program and Constituency services is that I get to witness every day how NYSUT is committed to providing quality support and leadership training for all our members,” Gross said.

Gross also lauded the string of victories School-Related Professionals have notched this year in their ongoing fight to achieve equity and high-quality education for their students, thanks to the movement they have built.

“Whether it's our annual conference, our leadership institute, LAP, a Fix Tier 6 rally, Committee of 100 or lobby day, our SRPs show up in force and make their presence known,” Gross said. “They have been the force of change in many of our recent legislative victories.”

Program and Constituency Services often form the bridge between the halls of power and the halls of learning, translating legislation into tangible change in the classroom. This year was no different, with the Health and Safety team crisscrossing the state to help school districts implement the Workplace Violence Prevention Act and helping unify NYSUT’s healthcare professionals at the first Healthcare Professional Conference since 2019.

NYSUT Social Services continues to build solidarity for related service providers like school social workers, school counselors and school psychologists through NYSUT’s Mental Health Network and the inaugural Collective Care Team Lobby Day, which took place last May.

Retiree services helps organize and activate NYSUT’s “daytime army,” and Gross noted that when our members say "union strong,” they mean it. “In fact, some of NYSUT retirees have taken our Union for Life campaign very, very seriously as over 30 NYSUT members range from 100 to 107 years of age!” Gross said.

Finally, Gross noted the increasing challenges the labor movement has encountered this year, and ended with the declaration, “We will never retreat, and we will never surrender,” before introducing his daughter Sarah Gross, who sang Bruce Springsteen’s stirring anthem, “No Surrender.”

New York state is one of the wealthiest regions in the world. Our state has the 10th largest economy in the world and boasts 135 billionaires and 340,000 millionaires. The average income of the top 1% of New Yorkers is $2.2 million.

Compare that with the other side of the coin: 2.7 million New Yorkers live in poverty, including 760,000 children. That’s one out of every five children in our state experiencing poverty, worse than the national average. New York state ranks 45th in economic well-being and nearly 150,000 children experienced homelessness at some point last year.

We know that two-thirds of the factors that affect a child’s learning and academic performance occur outside of the classroom. By reducing child poverty in New York state, we can help ensure that students are able to focus in school on what they are there for: to learn.

We can help our students who have health issues from lack of food or the inability to receive medical treatment. We can ensure that students have basic necessities like hygiene products and clean clothing.

To help combat childhood poverty, NYSUT is supporting legislation for universal school meals in New York state, along with a Working Families Tax Credit and New York State BABY Benefit. The union is also committed to ensuring that every New Yorker has access to safe, affordable housing.

Learn more about NYSUT’s efforts to fight childhood poverty at 1in5NY.org.

Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, was not able to join delegates in person at the NYSUT convention in Rochester, but she shared a video message encouraging union members to keep fighting for their students, their colleagues and their communities.

“You shine as an example of the power that is found in collaboration as we continue to fight to promote, protect and strengthen public education,” Pringle said. “This nation’s students need your courage, your compassion and your commitment like never before.”

Pringle said the union’s Public Schools Unite Us campaign is a rallying cry that points to how we will keep our democracy alive.

“You need an outstanding system of public education available to all. … NYSUT, this is your moment. In the midst of these chaotic times, you seek common ground. In the midst of cruelty you seek community.”

“I have no doubt you will continue to fight forward. Keep building, keep believing, keep steady in the bold, joyful work of lighting the way for us all.”

In a moving address that acknowledged his personal and physical losses over the past year, NYSUT Secretary-Treasurer J. Philippe Abraham entreated members to choose bravery when faced with challenge.

“In these times, it is understandable when one feels despair, but I beg you to not let that be an option,” he said. “For if we do not have hope that things can be different and find the courage to act, we will not have the power to make change personally or collectively.”

NYSUT’s social justice work builds our collective power creating opportunities for members to lead. It is training and resources for members to build campaigns that fight for shared values. It is bringing people together to foster the community that is vital for activists to persevere, he said.

Since 2021, NYSUT’s Sticks and Stones workshops have enlightened over 10,000 educators; the Social Justice Academy is growing the next generation of locals to make positive changes in their communities; and the Members of Color Affinity and Action Project provides a place for members to be seen and heard.

Abraham, who serves as the union’s fiscal head, is also in charge of the NYSUT Member Benefits department. He assured delegates that the union is fiscally sound and yet alert to the financial challenges that the organization may face in the future.

Looking to the future, Abraham encouraged delegates to ask for help when needed, to look to our predecessors for inspiration, and to find joy and community in the work. “My friends, our fight is a marathon, not a sprint,” he said. “Find others who share our vision and laugh, cry, argue and scream together. And most importantly, be there for one another.”

Under the leadership of NYSUT Secretary-Treasurer J. Philippe Abraham, in 2024 and 2025 NYSUT's social justice and community involvement initiatives grew exponentially. Initiatives such as the Members of Color Affinity and Action, Civil and Human Rights Committee, Women's Committee and LGBTQ+ Committees came together to advance our work. Learn more at nysut.org/socialjustice.

Delegates at the 2025 NYSUT Representative Assembly in Rochester received a photo book highlighting NYSUT’s past year, including several of the union’s wins and initiatives. The book highlighted the union’s vision to support schools where students and educators thrive, to ensure members’ professions are enticing and sustainable career choices, and building the power of the union.

Since the previous RA, NYSUT has defended school districts across the state from proposed budget cuts, addressed extreme temperatures in our classrooms, addressed the impact of cellphones and social media, promoted Career and Technical Education programs and pushed for a New Deal for Higher Education. Along with these initiatives, NYSUT has continued working to Fix Tier 6, passed major fixes to APPR, and connected with members through the Educator Inspired and Know Your Rights series.

Finally, NYSUT has continued the work of building the union with the Common Ground Over Chaos bus tour, finding areas to work together for all working families, by winning school budget and school board victories across the state, coming together with a coalition of unions to save SUNY Downstate, and organizing multiple new locals and members across the state to grow our numbers and provide our voice in new areas.

Read book below or download here.

Dr. Redetha Abrahams-Nichols, United University Professions – Downstate Medical Center Chapter

Dr. Redetha Abrahams-Nichols, president of UUP’s Downstate Chapter, has emerged as a formidable advocate for healthcare access in Central Brooklyn. With 27 years in healthcare — 22 at Downstate — she holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree and a master’s of public administration.

Rising from staff nurse to leadership roles, she transformed Downstate’s emergency department from a unit with two to three nurses to a robust team serving 70,000 patients annually. When SUNY announced plans to close Downstate in January 2024, Dr. Abrahams-Nichols mobilized immediate resistance, confronting the Chancellor directly and insisting,

“We want a hospital. We’ll have nothing less.” Her leadership philosophy — “We’re all in a circle. We’re holding hands. I’m just in a different place in the circle”— guided her innovative weekly “Walk-A-Mile” protests and her instrumental role in forming the Brooklyn For Downstate coalition. Dr. Abrahams-Nichols’ efforts helped secure continued funding for Downstate, protecting vital services including Brooklyn’s only kidney transplant program for a community where nearly 90 percent of patients rely on Medicaid or are uninsured. Her advocacy is deeply personal — 60 percent of Downstate employees live in the communities they serve.

She demonstrates her commitment to nursing education as an instructor, and champions healthcare professionals through her service on multiple healthcare committees.

Moncef Righi, Federation of Nurses/United Federation of Teachers

Moncef Righi, an operating room nurse and chapter leader for Federation of Nurses/UFT at NYU Langone Hospital–Brooklyn, discovered his calling to nursing through a deeply personal experience. When his mother faced a life-threatening medical emergency in his home country with limited healthcare resources, Righi’s quick thinking saved her life — and changed his career trajectory from physics to healthcare.

After working on a surgical floor and spending six years in the emergency department, Righi moved to the operating room, where he noticed many nurses weren’t aware of their contractual rights. This observation propelled him into union activism, culminating in his election as chapter leader. Under his leadership, the 1,200-member unit successfully negotiated a groundbreaking two-year contract, securing higher wages than neighboring hospitals and requiring the hiring of 100 additional nurses to improve staffing ratios. Notably, Righi helped establish an innovative compensation system where nurses automatically receive additional pay when working short-staffed — a move that rewards nurses for extra work while providing incentives for the hospital to maintain safe staffing levels.

His data-driven approach to negotiations surprised even hospital management, who were unprepared for his detailed knowledge of hospital operations and patient census numbers. Through persistent advocacy and meticulous documentation of 8,000 staffing grievances, Righi has transformed working conditions while improving patient care across the hospital’s diverse units.

SUNY Brockport student government president Tenin Sidmea took the stage at the second day of the 2025 NYSUT Representative Assembly in Rochester with an inspiring message of progress and hope.

Sidmea, a Brockport senior, shared how she is a first-generation college attendee, a child of immigrants, a woman of color, and a Muslim woman. “My story is built on resilience, power and access to opportunity,” Sidmea said, sharing the opportunities that education provided her even with those potential roadblocks.

“I’m here because of programs that believed in students like me,” she said, highlighting the Educational Opportunity Program. “I have been given more than just resources. I have been given belief, mentorship and family.”

Sidmea praised the higher education system as a way to uplift.

“Education is not just a pathway, it is a lifeline and it keeps its promises.” She called on higher education institutions to protect, invest and uplift diversity and thanked teachers and asked them to make sure their students feel heard and that their stories matter.

Executive Vice President Jaime Ciffone promised to continue to defend the teaching profession from the forces that seek to demean it.

During her address, Ciffone spoke passionately about the advances made to the education profession this year, including a wholesale rejection of a New York State Education Department proposal that would reduce education requirements for teachers, as well as the enthusiastic adoption of a new approach to literacy.

“We have successfully fought back to protect our profession, and because of our collective voice, when I sit in meetings and engage in conversations, everyone knows I’m bringing the voices of our 700,000 plus members with me,” Ciffone said.

Ciffone recounted how in November of 2023, the state education department outlined six potential changes to certification, including a proposal to eliminate the requirement that teachers obtain a master’s degree. Understanding that the proposal would deprofessionalize educators and cause harm to our higher education members by decimating education programs across the state, NYSUT members sprang into action, advocating strongly against the approach and convening a workgroup to offer alternative remedies to the stalls in the teacher pipeline. As a result of NYSUT’s concerted efforts, the proposal was abandoned, Ciffone said.

“When discussing why the proposal has been abandoned, SED representatives refer to there being ‘resistance in the field.’ That’s us! We are proudly the resistance in the field!” Ciffone told the crowd jubilantly.

This year, NYSUT educators also advanced literacy by releasing a new curriculum that promises to put an end once and for all to the so-called “Reading Wars,” Ciffone said. Thanks to NYSUT advocacy — and to the $10 million grant from Governor Kathy Hochul — NYSUT produced the “Science of Reading” professional training, the new “for educators-by-educators" course that will help literacy educators across the state use the latest research-based pedagogy for literacy instruction. The 30-hour blended course model, which was piloted successfully this year and introduced to representatives in a short feature video, will now be offered to all New York educators at no cost via NYSUT’s Education and Learning Trust.

“This is the time where we, as educators, get to raise our voices to take back the ability to make informed decisions about our students’ full literacy development,” Ciffone said.

Member voices are at the center of NYSUT’s advocacy, and Ciffone finished by thanking members for making themselves heard and actively investing in what matters most: teaching and learning.

“We are the leaders of our own learning. We are the experts. We are the professionals!” Ciffone said. “Together, we are the union.”

Angie Rivera, Rochester Association of Paraprofessionals

For the past 10 years, Angie Rivera has led more than 850 members in the Rochester Association of Paraprofessionals as their president and fierce advocate for fair pay, professional training and respect on the job.

“We are in the lives of the students all day long,” Rivera said. “But we really, really feel that we are not valued the way that we should be. We are a very important piece in the education of students.”

In 1991 as a single mother of two daughters, Rivera moved her family from Puerto Rico to Rochester. In 1998, she began working in the city school district as a pre-K paraprofessional. Right away she joined her local union and has held many roles since then, from chair of the grievance committee to chair of the public relations committee. In 2003, she was elected to the union’s executive board. She quickly rose through the union leadership ranks and 10 years later, in 2013, Rivera was elected first vice president. Just two years later she was elected president, a position she still holds. Rivera also currently serves on the NYSUT Board of Directors as SRP At-Large Director.

The self-described proud, Puerto Rican unionist has spent her decades-long career in education not only advocating for her students, but for her colleagues. From fighting for a living wage to fighting back against staffing cuts, Rivera has devoted her time and energy for 27 years to improving the lives of her members and SRPs across the state.

Raul D. Garcia, United Federation of Teachers

Raul Garcia believes that school social workers and psychologists are superheroes, but they need the proper support to keep doing their work well.

Elected as UFT chapter leader in 2017, Garcia represents 3,800 school social workers and psychologists. Garcia has spent his career advocating for mental health support for students, and says that begins with supporting social workers, psychologists and counselors.

“For our members, the burnout is real,” he said. To prevent burnout, these trained professionals have to be used appropriately, and that includes showing appreciation for the critical role they play.

Garcia organizes annual appreciation days, which includes professional development, self-care, and other resources. He also works hand-in-hand with members to ensure that they know the ins-and-outs of their contract and how to advocate for themselves and their students.

Garcia began his career as a bilingual school psychologist in 2009, working at multiple high schools in Williamsburg, the same Brooklyn neighborhood where he was born and grew up. Garcia is the child of immigrants; his parents arrived in the U.S. from Ecuador in the early 1980s. Garcia said as a child he didn’t even know he had access to school counselors and psychologists, and so during his career he’s focused on being visible and vocal. Garcia lives in Williamsburg with his partner, Michelle, and their three sons.

Colleen Keough, Schenectady Federation of Teachers

When students enter Colleen Keough’s second grade classroom at Hamilton Elementary School in Schenectady, they know they are coming into a space where they are loved. In fact, it hangs on the classroom wall.

“Before they leave this class, we always say, ‘I love you. You matter. You can do anything. And I believe in you,’” said Keough.

Within the walls of the school, Keough is known as an anchor point: a person around whom the entire building orbits. Nowhere is that seen more than in her efforts to revive the school mascot — the Hamilton Husky.

The students at Hamilton Elementary know they have a fierce advocate for getting what they need and deserve. Whether that means supporting older students when they prepare to take state tests, or making sure students have a safe place for an important part of every school day — recess. Keough was instrumental in an effort to complete the school playground, making call after call until the job was done.

The sense of community at Hamilton is felt strongest in Keough’s classroom, where every year she makes and serves her students a Thanksgiving dinner that combines traditional fixings with other foods from across the globe.

Literacy is also important and Keough makes sure learning is fun. Every year, she and her colleagues head to student homes in the neighborhoods surrounding the school and drops off a bag full of books. Those bags also contain fun activities and if the students return the bag, then Keough and her colleagues will sneak back and do it all over again, dropping off a new selection of books and activities.

Keough had previously turned down being Schenectady Teacher of the Year. But when she saw the nomination letters that students had written for her, she changed her mind.

“Ms. Keough takes the time to talk to me and calm me down,” reads one of the student letters. “She makes me feel safe, because I know she cares. She cares about everybody at Hamilton.”

Now, she’s the 2025 New York State Teacher of the Year.

“I don’t know if they’ll remember everything we did in second grade. But I’ll always want them to remember that they are important and they are loved.”

Beverly Voos, Webster Teachers Association

After a more than 20-year career working in computer science, Beverly Voos decided to begin a second career as a teacher. She earned her master’s degree in Math, Science and Technology, and started teaching middle school students in the Webster Central School District.

The Webster TA member retired in 2013 and got to work advocating with NYSUT’s daytime army in Retiree Council 6. Voos became a co-chair of NYSUT’s Retiree Advisory Committee where she fights not only for issues that are important to retirees, but also to in-service educators, including NYSUT’s campaign to Fix Tier 6.

“The retirees that are out there have your back,” Voos said. “We know these times are challenging. We are fighting for the things that will keep you in the field, that will make your career and your profession rewarding and enjoyable and, most importantly, an investment for the kids that you have in front of you.”

Voos also spends her retirement serving as an instructor for NYSUT’s Education & Learning Trust, a role in which she provides professional learning opportunities to other educators. Voos has served on a variety of NYSUT committees, has participated in NYSUT’s annual Committee of 100 lobby day in Albany, and is also a social justice instructor. When she’s not doing the work of the union, Voos enjoys spending time with family, especially her grandchildren, and traveling.

Thomas Murphy, United Federation of Teachers

Tom Murphy began his career in 1964 as a social studies teacher on Staten Island, driven by a passion for social good that would define his professional life. After being encouraged by colleague John Soldini to volunteer for the union, Murphy discovered his calling in labor activism.

In 1990, Murphy was appointed as the union’s political legislative director, a position he held for 16 years. During his tenure, he expanded the union’s advocacy beyond traditional education and labor issues to embrace human rights causes, creating a more inclusive vision for the organization’s mission.

Upon retirement in 2006, Murphy transformed the UFT’s Retired Teachers Chapter into what UFT President Michael Mulgrew calls “the daytime army.” Under his leadership, the chapter grew to over 80,000 members who advance social justice initiatives when in-service colleagues are in classrooms.

Murphy pioneered a nationwide network of retiree sections, establishing offices in Florida and organizing volunteers for crucial labor campaigns across the country. His philosophy that “if you’re doing it alone, you’re doing it wrong” fostered unprecedented collaboration among retirees.

For his decades of service building institutional memory and advancing labor’s social justice mission, Murphy was recognized with the prestigious Charles Cogen Award, the UFT’s highest honor.

In 2024, NYSUT mobilized with partners to fight against addictive algorithms and protect the data of our children. This led to historic legislation passing to limit what social media companies can show kids and restrict those companies trying to profit off them.

Building off of that success, NYSUT began looking at providing distraction-free learning environments for students and educators. Members highlighted the issue of cellphone use during class on school visits across the state. Knowing what the problem was, NYSUT began looking for a solution. This resulted in the Disconnected conference in Albany in the fall of 2024, bringing together experts in law enforcement, mental health, education and districts where they had already successfully implemented distraction-free learning to find the best way forward.

Coming out of the Disconnected conference, NYSUT advocated for bell-to-bell restrictions on cellphone and personal electronic device usage, to give students seven phone-free hours a day to learn and be kids. This proposal was supported by many parent groups, along with members of law enforcement. The governor included the proposal in her executive budget, setting the stage for a push for a statewide, but locally controlled, policy.

NYSUT convened several regional Disconnected conferences, bringing the conversation directly to communities so they could share best practices for policies and implementation. More and more, lawmakers heard that bell-to-bell distraction-free learning was necessary for improved learning conditions and improving mental health among students. A bell-to-bell restriction is expected to be included in the 2025 New York budget.

NYSUT delegates were joined by Greece Arcadia High School student Michael Salters who extolled the virtues of distraction-free schools, saying, “with the phones away, there were suddenly less fights. And there were other changes too … it makes a difference, for the better.”

The Sackets Harbor Teachers Association was recognized for extraordinary work in organizing their school community to bring home three students who were taken during a nearby federal immigration raid in April.

Those children and their parents are valued members of the community, and their community wanted them back, SHTA President Jonna St. Croix told cheering delegates on Friday.

“As educators we do not dictate who our students are or who should or shouldn’t be in our classrooms,” she said. “That isn’t our job.”

Read more here.

Labor is strong in this country and it’s strongest in New York.

New York State AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento took the podium Friday afternoon to recognize NYSUT unionists for building a movement that continues to drive the conversation across the country.

During Cilento’s address, he noted that 1 in 4 workers in New York are union members, which is two times the national average, and 1 in 7 union members come from New York.

He called attention to NYSUT’s heap of recent legislative victories, ranging from APPR reform to the extreme classroom heat bill, and added that scoring this many wins in just two years is unique.

“Let me be clear,” Cilento said. “That’s a good decade’s worth of work.”

Such success begets success, and as a result of these triumphs, NYSUT is poised to increase its influence, Cilento continued. That strength is vital to the statewide union’s mission, but it also fuels organized labor as a whole, and with recent federal shakeups threatening to upend the country’s public schools, that power is more critical now than ever, Cilento said.

“We have to put everything else aside in this moment that we are living in right now, and we have to fight back. We have to fight to protect our standard of living and quality of life in this country. We have to fight back to protect our public education system, our public schools and we have to fight back to protect the future for our children,” Cilento said.

“We will be successful because we all share a bond in this movement, every single one of us,” he said.

In a passionate address Friday, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten told delegates, “We have a fight on our hands.”

Weingarten highlighted the work AFT and NYSUT are doing to fight for public schools that are safe and welcoming for all; for academic freedom; for dignified retirements; for an economy that benefits all; and for equitable access to healthcare. And she praised educators for the work they are doing in classrooms every day to teach reason, critical thinking, and honest history, and to build hope over fear.

“You are a critical part of our communities that fights to protect our kids, our schools and our democracy.”

Weingarten congratulated recent, hard-fought union victories – specifically applauding the NYSUT-backed executive proposal for bell-to-bell restrictions on cellphones in schools as revolutionary.

NYS Comptroller Tom DiNapoli assured NYSUT members that despite the current turmoil in the financial markets, resources dedicated to support New York’s retirees remain among the best funded in the country.

“New York’s pension plans have a diversified portfolio that’s built for the long term,” DiNapoli said, adding that retirement security will not be compromised while he’s in office. “Not on my watch!”

DiNapoli thanked educators for the difference they make in students' lives and reiterated that a well-funded public education system, pre-K through post grad, is the key to transforming communities. He noted the importance of professional development and called for continued support of the state’s network of teacher centers.

In a nod to the scrutiny around finances for the state’s public schools, DiNapoli said the same level of transparency must be required of charter schools.

The challenges we face may seem daunting, but there is light beyond the darkness, DiNapoli said.

“The labor movement is key to resisting attacks on workers and retirees. Are you united and ready for that fight? I’ll always be proud to stand with you.”

Hope moves us forward, together. This was NYSUT President Melinda Person’s message to delegates on Friday when she took the stage in Rochester.

“It is an act of faith that the knowledge and skills we pass on every day will create a future that is more compassionate, more innovative, and more just,” she said.

That belief in a brighter future is what drives New York educators to facilitate groundbreaking CTE programs with limited resources, to nurture unique talents in each student, and to spend their own time and money ensuring classrooms are safe and supportive learning spaces, she said. It is also the crux of union work. Fighting for safe working conditions, fairness in wages, and dignity and respect are battles not just for better contracts, but for a better world.

Person applauded the union’s statewide victories of the past year — made possible by members who show up consistently with both strength and compassion. Those wins included combatting classroom heat, fixes for Tier 6, re-creating the broken teacher evaluation system, protecting student learning from social media and cellphone distractions, and ensuring universal school meals across New York.

She rallied NYSUT members to keep fighting, organizing, teaching and advocating as an antidote to looming challenges at local, state and federal levels. Unions were made for this moment, she said.

“In classrooms across the state, that hope is not just alive—it is being built— brick by brick, student by student, every single day,” she said. “You persist—because you see the importance of your work, not just for today, but for the long-term future of our world.”

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was a special guest speaker at the 2025 Representative Assembly in Rochester.

She touched on her long history with NYSUT beginning in 2005 when she ran for office and had the support of educators and other unions when she won her first House seat in 2006. “We know how to amplify our voices, we know how to fight hard,” the senator said, touching on the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in New York state.

“When we fight, we win,” Sen. Gillibrand extolled the gathered delegates as she called on educators to be on the vanguard in protecting students and democracy.

Adam Urbanski, president of the Rochester Teachers Association and Angie Rivera, 2025 NYSUT SRP of the Year and president of the Rochester Association of Paraprofessionals, provided the Native Land Acknowledgement as the program began. The invocation was delivered by Dr. Julius Jackson Jr.

Rochester Mayor Malik Evans welcomed delegates to Rochester and talked about the history of the city and some of its most famous inhabitants, including Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony and praised educators for the work they do raising our nation’s next generation. Monroe County Executive Adam Bello talked about the power of organized labor and the wins NYSUT has notched, from fixes to Tier 6 to increases in school funding.

Assemblymember Harry Bronson spoke about the goings-on in Albany, including increased funding for districts and BOCES CTE programs and bell-to-bell cellphone restrictions and praised the advocacy efforts of teachers in pushing for distraction-free learning environments.

Rochester is home to leaders who fought tenaciously for equal rights. NYSUT paid homage to them in the RA opening video and promised to continue their legacy, and fight for equality, progress, and play.

The second day of the Local and Retiree Council Presidents Conference began with coffee with the NYSUT officers before local leaders dove into their work. The morning session featured a slew of updates from the New York State Education Department. Deputy commissioners addressed recent uncertainties around federal funding, testing — the good, the bad, and the bungled — as well as alternative pathways to graduation.

The morning panel included Daniel Morton-Bentley, counsel and deputy commissioner for legal affairs, and deputy commissioners Jason Harmon and Angelique Johnson-Dingle. The discussion touched on educators’ most pressing concerns, beginning with the rash of recent executive orders and the federal government’s attempt to claw back unspent COVID-19 funds. NYSUT Executive Vice President Jaime Ciffone moderated the panel and reiterated members’ willingness to support issues near and dear to their hearts, like learning standards.

“I always say, ‘Whenever you need us, we are here.’ Our voices are here,” said Ciffone.

In April, two days of glitches in computer-based state tests thwarted students in many districts from logging on; causing frustration across the state. Today, Harmon, who leads the Office of P-12 Operational Support, equated the system failures to “too many people trying to walk through a door with their suitcases at the same time,” he said. Ultimately, the platform added “25 extra-wide doors” and was able to successfully accommodate all the students.

Teachers were forced to pause testing, making an already stressful time of year that much more stressful, he acknowledged, and that’s not acceptable.

“We've had the opportunity to have this conversation, but again, it means so much to our leaders to be able to hear it from you, so they can pass that word to the members,” said Ciffone.

Now in its second year, the retiree flash mob that graces the NYSUT Representative Assembly has become a huge hit.

Filling the exhibition hall floor, retirees from all over the state came together to dance to Chubby Checkers' hit "The Twist," showing just how active our retiree members continue to be in and out of our union.

NYSUT’s “daytime army” is one of the most active and successful union retiree groups in the country. Organized through the NYSUT Retiree Services Program, retirees regularly take part in our rallies and conferences and volunteer in many of our other endeavors.

Local and retiree council presidents kicked off the union’s annual policymaking meeting at a pre-RA conference. Leaders from around the state gathered at the Joseph A. Floreano Rochester Riverside Convention Center for seminars and panel discussions on a variety of topics essential to the business of local and retiree chapters.

During the opening lunch and plenary session, members got a chance to hear more about the distraction-free schools movement NYSUT is pioneering in New York. Panelists Josh Golin, executive director for Fairplay, Gaia Bernstein, author of Unwired: Gaining control over addictive technologies, Regent Wade Norwood, who is At-Large Regent for Rochester and CEO of Common Ground Health in Rochester and Michael Bulger of Common Ground Health commended NYSUT for its efforts to enact statewide school cellphone restrictions for the health and safety of students.

“When we have a bell-to-bell policy, that means for seven hours a day, we are giving kids a break from the constant pressure of being on (their) phone. We are giving them a break from being constantly on and thinking about what’s on social media. We are giving them a break from … packaging themselves for their friends and followers,” Golin said. “That is a tremendous gift that we can give our kids and that you are going to be giving your kids here in New York state.”

The phone-free school day will also help shield children from powerful tech giants that seek to exploit their weaknesses – poor impulse control and a lack of discernment.

“This technology is addictive because it’s supposed to be,” said Bernstein. “The tech industry’s business model is based on giving us products for free … but this is not really free. We pay with our time and with our data.” The longer tech companies keep children online, the more advertising they can sell, and the more data they can collect about them, which in turn, they use to trick them into staying online ever longer, Bernstein explained. Taking phones away from kids will help them break that cycle.

The speakers also reiterated students’ need for play, and talked about the essential role recess and freeplay have in positive student outcomes, even as the adults in their lives push for more test prep and schedules packed with extracurriculars. “We adults have adulterated childhood,” said Norwood.

Too often dismissed as trivial, free unstructured play actually does some heavy-lifting in the community-building department, teaching children how to socialize, build relationships and resolve conflict, Norwood said. Common Ground Health advocates for greater investment in play in childcare and school settings. “School is more than a test score,” he said.

Communities are created in schools and educators are the “magicians,” Norwood said, and phone-free schools contribute to that.

During a panel discussion on negotiating paid parental leave in the workplace, members shared personal stories of how they and their colleagues have been affected by a lack of paid parental leave, while others shared how their locals were able to successfully negotiate this benefit into their contracts.

United Federation of Teachers members Emily James and Trish Arnold recalled hearing from members who couldn’t afford to have a second child because they had no sick time left; who had to accept donations from their neighborhood to take unpaid leave; and who were having contractions in the classroom because they couldn’t afford to take a single day of sick time before the baby arrived.

Caitlin Morrow, Elmira Teachers Association, shared how she tried to plan her due date around when she could use the least amount of her accrued sick time. “But I have a chronic kidney disorder, and it causes me to have a low immune system and I work in an elementary school so there’s a lot of germs,” she explained. “I had a lot of doctors’ appointments, and I was sick my entire pregnancy. If I had gone unpaid, we wouldn’t have been able to pay rent.”

Both the UFT and Elmira TA were able to negotiate paid family leave in their contracts as well as North Shore Schools Federated Employees and Ogdensburg Education

Association, which were also represented on the panel. The locals hit home that paid family leave is an equity issue, a powerful recruitment and retention tool, and a way for districts to show they value the well-being of their employees.

Other seminars at the pre-RA conference included: SRP mentoring: Increasing professional satisfaction and member retention; the future of healthcare and health insurance task force; NYSUT’s Workplace Violence Prevention Program; and negotiating new APPR plans.

For coverage of the 2025 NYSUT Representative Assembly, be sure to head to nysut.org/ra.

Delegates arrived at this year’s Representative Assembly bursting with excitement, buoyed by recent victories and ready to tackle an ambitious slate of priorities.

Joseph A. Floreano Rochester Riverside Convention Center will play host to approximately 1,700 delegates who have traveled from across the state to celebrate equality, progress and play at this year’s convention.

Today and tomorrow, delegates will hear updates on NYSUT’s signature issues, including distraction-free schools, APPR, CTE, Fix Tier 6, childhood poverty, paid family leave, equitable funding for schools, and begin to hammer out next year’s priorities, based on dozens of submitted resolutions.

NYSUT is excited to welcome nearly 2,000 delegates from across the state at this year's annual Representative Assembly conference in Rochester.

“The Representative Assembly is our largest and most important governance meeting, but it’s also a time to come together to celebrate our successes and have some fun with our extended union family,” said NYSUT President Melinda Person, noting the theme for the 2025 Convention — Equality, Progress, Play — is fitting for a city that was home to Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony and houses The Strong National Museum of Play.

Leaders will kick off the work of the convention Thursday, May 1 at the pre-RA Local and Retiree Council Presidents Conference. Workshop topics include negotiating Paid Family Leave; Workplace Violence Prevention Program; APPR Plans; SRP mentoring; and understanding current threats to Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.

During the RA, NYSUT officers will report out on their progress in implementing goals from last year and highlight the many successes the union was able to achieve in 2024.

Delegates to the convention will consider more than 40 resolutions on education, civil and human rights, healthcare and workplace safety, legislative and political action, and pensions and retirement. For members not attending, follow the action at nysut.org/ra.

Photos below from the 2024 NYSUT RA in New York. View the full gallery here.

Delegates at this year’s RA overwhelmingly supported Career and Technical Education programs by approving resolutions that direct NYSUT to advocate for safe supervision of CTE classes, and equitable funding and resources for the vocational education programs.

“CTE is essential, powerful and a valuable opportunity for so many,” said NYSUT Board member Andrew Jordan, BOCES United Professionals. “We want more opportunities for students to explore a career in the skilled trades. We cannot sacrifice safety to do this.”

Today’s Career and Technical Education programs aren’t just the key to gainful employment for students, they’re opportunities to spark joy and instill confidence through authentic skill-building.

By meeting students where their interests are — whether it’s welding, forensics, agriculture, public safety, media and graphic arts, robotics, healthcare, or construction — CTE is also finding new ways to engage students in the classroom and coax them forward toward graduation. In fact, New York high school students who take CTE courses boast a 92 percent graduation rate, and 98 percent of them go on to pursue post-secondary education.

CTE programs are also critical to addressing workforce shortages in a number of different sectors, including construction and trades, manufacturing and healthcare. According to recent labor analysis, the current wave of baby boomer retirements is expected to spur the largest labor shortage in U.S. history, and BOCES are the solution for training the next generation of America’s workers.

And yet, BOCES programs across the state are still being forced to turn students away due to lack of funding.

Learn more at nysut.org/CTE.