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Valley Central Teachers Association 



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Valley Central Teachers' Association

1175 Route 17K

Montgomery, New York  12549

Phone/Fax:  845-457-5899

 


 

Pictured above are former Treasurer John Bonagura (retired June 2007), Tim Brown, Rich Steger, Erin Davis, Laurie Councill, Meghan Rilley (Editor) and Patti Lunden. This picture was taken at a BOE meeting in February of 2007.

 

The Valley Central Teachers' Association (VCTA) was founded in the early 1960s as the official bargaining unit representing teachers. The secretaries joined the VCTA in the 1980s and the paraprofessionals joined in the early 1990s. Today the VCTA consists of approximately 440 teacher bargaining unit members, 22 secretarial bargaining unit members, 160 paraprofessional bargaining unit members, and 180 retirees. The Executive Council is the governing body of the Association and is made up of building representatives (one for every 15 members or fraction thereof) from each of the seven buildings (Berea, East Coldenham, Maybrook, Montgomery, Walden, Middle School, and High School), a secretarial representative, a paraprofessional representative, and two non-voting retiree representatives. There are five elected officers (president, two vice-presidents, secretary and treasurer), an appointed newsletter editor, an appointed webmaster, New York State Teacher Retirement System representatives and appointed Benefit Trust (dental and optical) representatives.

 

Executive Council meetings are generally held on the second Tuesday of each month during the school year in the high school professional library and are open to the general membership. Meetings begin at 4:00 p.m. For a schedule of this years meetings and a full listing of officers, appointed positions, committee members and building representatives with their corresponding buildings and email addresses, view the Executive Council page.

 

The VCTA is affiliated with the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT). Our regional NYSUT office is the Mid-Hudson Office located in Kingston. Our Labor Relations Specialist (LRS) is Steve Berman. VCTA officers communicate directly with NYSUT on behalf of our members. NYSUT, the largest union in New York State, is a federation of over 1200 locals,  "representing more than 600,000 classroom teachers and other school employees; academic and professional faculty at the state's community colleges, State University of New York and City University of New York; and other education and health professionals." On the national level, NYSUT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA). NYSUT, AFT and NEA are an integral part of organized labor through their affiliation with the American Federation of Labor―Congress of International Organizations (AFL-CIO) and Education International which represents over 20 million members world wide. All VCTA members are, therefore, members of NYSUT and the AFT. We are NYSUT Local 14-135 and AFT Local 3076. As members of these state and national associations, we encourage all of our members to purchase union made products and services to support our brothers and sisters in the union movement.

 

When possible, buy union products made in the USA. Keep America's economy strong. Support local "mom and pop" businesses (view our Community, Local Towns and Villages Page). Buy products made without child labor.

 

Tim Brown, President

 

Rich Steger, VP

 

Patti Lunden, VP

 

Laurie Councill, Secretary

 

Erin Davis, Treasurer