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Please consider buying a t-shirt for our Making Strides Walk this year, or to support the cause. All the necessary details are located within the form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfaJIgLibjuqDj6T-uDGrP4x8dy8YQfEhffMeFO5ImD62OC7Q/viewform?usp=sf_link -Bruce Reed BMUST/Public Relations As a reminder, our BMUST Welcome Back happy hour is this Friday afternoon! Please see attached for details.
In addition, we are asking our members to wear their BMUST shirt to school that day! After more than 3 1/2 years, student loan payments will resume in the next few weeks. Because of the AFT’s advocacy, the Biden administration has made significant changes to make your student debt more manageable and, potentially, easier to forgive.
This month, President Joe Biden announced the new Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, plan for student loan borrowers. Here’s what you need to know. The SAVE plan is an income-driven repayment plan that calculates payments based on a borrower’s income and family size—not their loan balance—and forgives remaining balances after a certain number of years. The SAVE plan will cut many borrowers’ monthly payments to zero, will save other borrowers around $1,000 per year, will prevent balances from growing because of unpaid interest, and will get more borrowers closer to loan forgiveness faster. The new plan will provide affordable monthly payments, ensure that borrowers never see their balance grow from ballooning interest if they keep up with required payments, and even provide early loan forgiveness for low-balance borrowers. To learn more, or to sign up for SAVE, visit StudentAid.gov/SAVE. Payments under this plan qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. This new program will help thousands of student loan borrowers and builds on the Biden administration’s commitment to making sure Americans are not burdened by their education. In addition to the SAVE plan, and because of the AFT’s advocacy, the Biden administration fixed crucial pieces of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program to make it more accessible and predictable; as a result, our members already have had more than $34 million in debt forgiven. To learn more about the SAVE plan, the PSLF program, or how you can get personalized student debt guidance with our online partner Summer, click here to register for an upcoming AFT Student Debt Clinic webinar. As always, the AFT will continue to push for ways to make college more affordable and accessible and to fight for investment in higher education, so that every student who chooses to pursue higher education can do so. In unity, Randi Weingarten AFT President It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Gerard Swier on September 11, 2023. Gerry was a guidance counselor at Calhoun and Kennedy HS, starting in 1978, then assistant principal at Calhoun until 2010, when he retired. He was 74 years old.
The wake will be held on Wednesday, September 13th at Branch Funeral Home, 2115 Jericho Turnpike, Commack NY between the hours of 2-4 pm and 7-9 pm. The funeral will be held on Thursday, September 14th at 10:30 am at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, 59 Church Street, Kings Park NY. Interment is at Pinelawn Cemetery Condolence cards may be sent to the Swier family at 193 Lakebridge Drive North, Kings Park, New York 11754 Meg HirschThu, Sep 7, 1:04 PM (19 hours ago)
to bcc: meColleagues, If you are interested in a Catastrophe Major Medical Plan, please continue reading. The Trustees of the NYSUT Member Benefits Catastrophe Major Medical (CMM) Insurance Trust are pleased to offer an open enrollment in the CMM Plan from September 8, 2023 to October 13, 2023 -- with an effective date of January 1, 2024. REGISTER FOR AN UPCOMING WEBINAR: Member Benefits will be hosting a number of live informational webinars about the CMM Plan and open enrollment period. These sessions will begin on September 5, 2023. The CMM Plan offers supplemental coverage that you and your eligible family members may need. Once the out-of-pocket deductible has been satisfied, this Plan provides benefits for eligible expenses that your basic plan does not fully cover, including prescription drugs. As of January 1, 2023, the CMM Plan also includes a Critical Illness benefit that pays a one-time $1,000 lump sum in the event that a covered member is diagnosed with a critical illness.During this open enrollment period, NYSUT in-service members have the opportunity to enroll themselves (and any eligible dependents) in the CMM Plan. The open enrollment also avails current CMM Plan participants the opportunity to enroll any eligible family members that are not already enrolled under the Plan. To learn more about this opportunity, please visit the Catastrophe Major Medical page on the AMBA website or contact AMBA toll-free at 888-386-9788. Sincerely, Pete Brideson BMUST 1st Vice President Dear BMUST Members:
Our annual "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer" Walk at Jones Beach (Sunday, Oct 15, Field 5) has become an important charitable activity for our BMUST family. The American Cancer Society started Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walks to unite communities in the fight against this deadly disease. Today, the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk is the largest network of its kind that promotes raising awareness about breast cancer. We also raise funds to support groundbreaking research, prevention, early detection, and treatment of breast cancer. We can’t do any of this without the help of people like you. By participating in this event and raising funds with us, we together contribute to the fight against breast cancer, helping to reduce its impact on the lives of countless people and working toward a world where breast cancer no longer poses a threat. Please consider joining us this year on Sunday, October 15. The attached flyer below will provide more specific details, including locations for the day of the walk. Thank you for your continued support and generosity. Making Strides Brochure Donation/Volunteer Link -Bruce Reed, Public Relations Chair, BMUST The Community Cupboard is in need of adult volunteers on their packing days from 3:30 - 4:30 pm.
Please use the attached 2023-24 Staff Volunteers sign up sheet, if you are interested. Thank you! Dear Union Family:
We are forming our committees for the 2023-2024 school year. If you are looking to get more involved with YOUR UNION, if you would like to work toward maintaining and improving our professional lives, consider joining a BMUST committee as a new member. A description of the work done by each committee can be found at www.bmust.org/committees. If you are interested in serving on a committee, please submit this form no later than Wed., June 7th. If you would like more information about any of our committees, please reach out to me, a building rep., or a current committee rep. If you are currently serving on a committee and are unable to continue, please let your chair know as soon as you can. Thank you. In Solidarity, Bill Morris 2nd Vice President 2vp@bmust.net Dear colleagues,
I hope this note finds you well. I believe we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and I hope you share the same sentiment. I am writing to inform you about a new process we will be implementing regarding the collection of days for our sick bank. As part of the newly negotiated contract, we have reduced the length of time a member must be off payroll before they can begin collecting from the sick bank, from 30 days to 10 days. Additionally, we have expanded access to the sick bank to include critical illness of a parent, child, or spouse. Article X of the contract, located on pages 17-19, addresses this and other matters related to sick days. In the past, we collected days for members who had exhausted their personal bank of sick days on an as-needed basis. However, due to the pandemic and various other reasons, this approach has proven to be problematic. The contract actually allows us to maintain a sick bank equivalent to our membership size, which is approximately 515 members. Therefore, I am requesting that we collect as many sick days as possible at the end of the school year, so that we no longer need to collect on an as-needed basis. While I invite everyone to contribute a day if they are able, there are two groups of people who can donate multiple days. Firstly, our retiring colleagues can donate their unused days. Although our personal sick bank can hold up to 241 days, retirement benefits are capped at 180 days. Rather than letting those days go unused, they can be used to bolster our sick bank. The second group consists of those who currently have more than 225 days in their personal sick bank. On July 1st of each year, 16 sick days for the next school year are added to the bank. Since the maximum allowable days in our personal sick bank is 241, any teacher who has more than 225 days will have fewer than 16 days added to their bank. To illustrate, I'll use myself as an example. By checking Frontline Absences (AESOP), navigating to Account → Absence Reason Balance, and looking at the top line, I see that I am fortunate to have 232 days. As the maximum number of days allowed is 241, I will only have 9 days added on July 1st. I plan to contribute 6 days to the bank, keeping one in reserve since we still have a couple of weeks of school remaining. My hope is that by utilizing some of these days that have previously gone unused, we can build a sick bank that will not require us to continually ask for contributions throughout the year. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly or to your head building representative. Best of luck for a successful conclusion to the school year! In Solidarity, Rob |
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