A pushcart dolly carrying cardboard boxes filled with over 1,100 letters was wheeled through the state Capitol and Legislative Office Building by Sachem Central Teachers Association President Phil Barbera.
Barbera, a high school science teacher, hand-delivered the letters to Long Island representatives in the state Assembly and Senate on Monday with SCTA Executive Vice President Jon Weston. The notes shared heartfelt messages from educators, parents and students in the Sachem Central School District community highlighting their growing concerns about financial shortfalls affecting the district.
“I love Sachem North,” reads a letter written by a freshman student. “This is like a home to me. These teachers make me [feel] welcome every day I walk through the door. I was looking forward to playing on the football team and after I found out we were short [funding] I got worried.”
Sachem says the union’s goal for the letter writing campaign was to bring the voices of their school community from Suffolk County straight to Albany.
“Over the last week or so, we talked to our community, parents, students, staff members, and asked them to reach out to all of our elected officials … speaking about the specific concerns we have and the requests we have,” Barbera said. “Our primary focus is pushing for equity in Foundation Aid funding so that it adequately reflects the true cost of educating our children.”
Their messages were brought to the offices of Gov. Kathy Hochul, Assemblyman Doug Smith, Assemblyman Joe DeStefano, Assemblywoman Rebecca Kassay and Sen. Dean Murray.
“We're so happy to get the feedback from our community,” Assm. Smith said. “Funding our schools and making sure that our students have the resources they need to be successful in the future is critical to what we do here. So, I couldn't be more happy to welcome our teachers to the People's House and to accept these letters on your behalf. Thank you for taking the time to share your story. We greatly appreciate it, and we'll continue that fight for additional funding for our schools.”
“The Sachem school district is like no other,” said Sen. Murray. “You all come together like a big family. When there’s a time of need, you’re all coming together and you can see that by all the letters here from teachers, students, administration – everyone coming together to pull for what you need to get the job done and what more important resource is there than our next generation?”
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