ALBANY — A current New York State United Teachers executive with experience in the state Assembly and governor’s office who once taaught Boston sixth-graders, was chosen to lead the nearly 700,000-member union.
NYSUT said Saturday that delegates to the the union’s Representative Assembly elected Melinda Person to a three-year term as president.
Person has been NYSUT’s executive director and political director since 2019, overseeing the union’s staff and coordinating its political action and organizing operations. She initiated and developed statewide programs aimed at amplifying members’ voices on critical policy issues while growing the union’s internal strength through member-to-member organizing, the union said in a statement.
Person, the union said, is committed to creating learning environments where students and educators can thrive, ensuring members’ professions are enticing, sustainable career choices and growing NYSUT’s power.
Before joining NYSUT in 2006, Person worked in the governor’s budget office and the Assembly, and student-taught in a sixth-grade classroom in the Boston public schools. Her New York state teaching certification is in childhood education (grades 1-6). She is a dual-graduate of Cornell University. She and her wife, Kelly, have four children.
“There is no greater honor than to represent hard-working professionals in education and health care from across this state. I firmly believe they are the backbone of our classrooms, communities, and society. They deserve a strong voice in Albany and Washington advocating for better pay, working conditions and respect,” Person said in the statement. “I’m proud to be that voice.”
Delegates also elected Jaime Ciffone of New York City’s United Federation of Teachers as executive vice president; re-elected Ron Gross as second vice president and J….
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply