The nine-inch snow storm that hit the city of Annapolis Monday, March 17th, delayed the schedule to which legislators are expected to adhere. Monday, March 17th, officially was “Crossover Day,” the last day when bills passed in the House or Senate can be sent to the corresponding subcommittee in the opposite chamber for consideration. Bills that fail to “crossover” are sent to the Rules Committee for review and a decision. Generally, legislation sent to the Rules Committee is considered more difficult to get passed.

Dear PATFA members:

Members of the Part-time Faculty Association of Maine ratified the 2013-2015 contract with the University of Maine System by a vote 95-2 last month, and the board of trustees has approved it as well.

We concluded our negotiations with UMS on Friday, March 21.

The agreement is a miserable one, one I can barely find the energy to articulate.

-- A 2% increase in pay in 2013-14 (retroactive to Sept. 1, 2013) and 2014-15.

-- No retirement incentive, despite the hundreds of thousands of dollars set aside for AFUM retirement incentives.

While many of us were eagerly following the Sochi Winter Games, 21 Onteora High School students were excelling in a very different kind of ‘Olympic’ competition. Onteora’s Science Olympiad Team recently took home a third place trophy as well as 25 individual medals at the Mid-Hudson Region Science Olympiad Competition, which took place at SUNY Ulster on February 8. The third place finish qualified Onteora to compete in the State tournament, to be held March 14-15 in Long Island.

During the month of March, the Bennett staff donated much-needed items for the Ulster County SPCA.  The Ulster County SPCA is an independent, no-kill shelter which is a private nonprofit organization whose mission is to prevent cruelty to animals by providing temporary shelter and finding adoptive homes for homeless abused and neglected animals.  Since this organization doesn’t receive funding from Ulster County government, the donations were greatly appreciated.  For more information please access their website at http://www.ucspca.org, email

For the past two weeks the front entrance of our school has been adorned with boxes disguised as adorable little yellow school buses and pet houses waiting to be filled with food and supplies for our local food pantry in Woodstock and at the Saugerties Animal Shelter.  Each morning my first graders could be heard persuading faculty, staff, and students to: "Fill the buses, fill the buses, fill the buses...PLEASE!  These filled-to-the-rim gifts of kindness from all of us were very appreciated by their recipients.  ~ Carol Brower

Stay active with your local and state representatives.  Use this link to find who the representatives for your area are, and show support for public education and the Minnesota Education Association.

Teacher Recognition Celebration & STEM Awards - Date, Details & Nomination Forms

The MHFT deadline for submissions is April 15 at 4:00. Letters of recommendation can be submitted to tsmhft@garlic.com. We hope that all sites nominate a teacher of the year for recognition at the general meeting and district board meeting.

Stem Nomination Form

Stem Application Form

Teacher Recognition Form

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