NYSUT Sends Out SOS: New Orleans Schools Still Need Help

WASHINGTON, DC (04/27/2007)(readMedia)-- They aren't all New Yorkers attending the annual convention of New York State United Teachers this week in the nation's capital. The union is playing host - and opening its heart - to a group of teachers from New Orleans who are educating delegates and accepting donations for their cause.

The Louisiana educators collected thousands of dollars at NYSUT's 35th annual Representative Assembly, which will be donated to the American Federation of Teachers Disaster Relief Fund to assist the city's ongoing rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Last year, NYSUT members raised more than $750,000 in Katrina aid.

Advocating on behalf of all the schools of New Orleans, the educators brought a simple message: "Please do not forget about us," implored Derek Bardell, a high school business teacher. "Things are still in shambles here; a fractured school system - one that is as beleaguered and battered as it was two years ago."

Some children have not been back to school since the devastating storm, Bardell said.

American Federation of Teachers Secretary/Treasurer Nat LaCour paid a visit to the convention calling NYSUT a "super organization." Before becoming an elected official for the AFT, LaCour headed up the United Teachers of New Orleans for 28 years.

Donations will be used at the grass-roots level to help teachers, school support personnel and other members who have suffered losses in these storms.

The United Teachers of New Orleans and its partners - the Louisiana Federation of Teachers and the AFT - are working cooperatively with local, state and national officials to assess the needs of the city's newly reconstructed school system.

NYSUT President Richard C. Iannuzzi lauded his members for their continued generosity, adding that the political and social climate that failed the people of New Orleans after the hurricane was changing.

"We now have a Congress that understands labor and education," said Iannuzzi. "We have a Congress that understands that we must fully address the needs of Katrina victims."

NYSUT represents more than 587,000 teachers, school-related professionals, academic and professional faculty in higher education, professionals in education and health care and retirees. NYSUT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association and the AFL-CIO.

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