Congratulations Forence McCue
Congratulations to our Executive Vice President, Florence McCue, who was awarded the 2021 Sandra Feldman, "Not for Ourselves Alone, Outstanding Leadership Award at this year's virtural NYSUT Representative Assembly on May 1, 2021. This Lifetime Achievement Award was renamed in 2006 in honor of former AFT and UFT President Sandy Feldman. It honors those women who have provided, throughout their careers, significant service and leadership to their local and state affiliates, as well as to the labor movement. There is no one more more deserving of this award than Florence McCue.
Florence is a retired elementary school teacher having taught third grade for 33 years in the Yonkers Public Schools. From her second year of teaching in 1972, until her retirement in 2004, Florence served the Yonkers Federation of Teachers as a building Rep, Exectutive Board Treasurer, political activist, member of the negotiating team, and a NYSUT and AFT delegate. As grievance chair, she handled contract grievance, arbitration, mediations and hearings. Although retired, Florence continues to serve on the Yonkers Federation of Teachers PAC. She is also contract grievance chair, member on the mediation and negotiation teams and reitree director on the Executive Board.
Florence continues her union activisim in retirement serving as the Executive Vice President of the NYSUT Retiree Council of Westchester/Putnam. For many years she has worked tirelessly as the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Team Leader raisng funds for Breast Cancer Research. She is currently the NYSUT Retiree At-Large Director, representing more than 230,000 retirees in New York State and Florida, and serves on the statewide Retiree Advisory Committee.
In 1997, Florence became a delegate to the AFL-CIO Westchester Putnam Central Labor Body and currently serves as secretary-treasurer focusing much of her attention on legislative, political and community service activities. She works tirelessly to promote farm worker rights, fair trade and multi-culturalism.
Over the years, Florence has served with distinction on many boards, and commmissions; among them the Westchester County Human Rights Commission as Director, the Westchester County Charter Revision Commission, as well as being a former member and Vice President of the Pocantico Hills Board of Education. Additionally, she earned her Juris Doctor at Pace University School of Law.
For almost fifty years, Florence McCue has shown not only outstanding leadership, but has provided significant service to the members of her local, the Yonkers Federation of Teachers; the members of her retiree council, NYSUT Retiree Council of Westchester/Putnam; the NYSUT Board of Directors; the members of the AFL-CIO Westchester Putnam Central Labor Body; and her local community. She has strived to better the lives of others. She has championed social justice initiatives and worked closely on issues of mental health, farmworker justice, domestic violence and equal rights. She has worked tirelessly to elect local and state leaders who support public education, social justice , and human rights - the important issues which affect all of us. She has attended rallies to fight for women's rights. She has organized fund-raisers for those who are struggling to pay the rent and put food on the table and advocated for those who can't speak for themselves. She has mentored new teachers and run workshops for in-service teachers preparing to retire. She has lobbied for fair trade, social justice, public education, Social Security, and Medicare. She has made phone calls and knocked on doors in support of candidates who believe in public education and human rights. Her activisim and advocacy work is her greatest, most selfless gift. Florence is a person who recognizes that the goal of being a leader is not to create followers, but to create more leaders.
Florence McCue is a caring, compassionate woman, whose life work emboidies the very essence of this award..."Not for Ourselves Alone".
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Evelyn Partalis was an active in-service member of the Byram Hills Teacher Association serving as a Building Representative and Treasure. Prior to retirement, she represented Byram Hills on the RC 15/16 Advisory Panel.
Evelyn has served as a member and Vice President of the RC 15/16 Executive Board since her retirement in 1994. She has worked to revise the Constitution and By-Laws of the council and participated in the writing of the Retiree Handbook to provide new retirees with important information about retirement and union activism. Evenly has served as an RC 15/16 Delegate to the NYSUT RA, Committee of 100 and ED 52.
As the Vice President of Programs of RC 15/16, Evelyn has organized and implemented numerous successful and diverse programs for our members including topics such as Fraud and Scams, the Opiod crisis, Estate Planning, Long Term Insurance, Defensive Driving and the Importance of Balance.
In addition to planning programs, Evelyn organized and participated in many interesting and exciting trips to various parts of the county as well as local day trips. Local trips included: NYC Museums, Broadway shows and plays, and Tours of Yankee Stadiium, the World Trade Center Museum, the State of Liberty and Museum, and Ellis Island. She also planned several multi-day national trips: Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Mississippi River Boat Cruise, Washington DC Smithsonian Museums, and most recently the National Museum of African History and Culture.
Evelyn was recongized for her service to NYSUT at the Awards Ceremony of the 25th Anniversary of NYSUT Retiree Councils Regional Conference in 2016. Evelyn was inducted into the Westchester County Senior Citizen's Hall of Fame in 2019. In 2020, Evelyn recievied the AFT Living the Legacy Award for 50 years of service to the American Federation of Teachers (which due to the pandemic, has yet to be presented). Evelyn has also been nominated for the 2021 NYSUT Community Service Award.
As Evelyn Partalis retires from the RC 15/16 Executive Board, we thank her for her many years of dedicated service to NYSUT and the Retirees of Westchester/Putnam!
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John Eshoo was an active in-service member of the Yonkers Federation of Teachers as the YFT Executive Vice President. As the Director of the YFT Office, he worked to expand the record keeping and database electronic systems to meet the needs of the growing membership and also organized the minutes of every YFT meeting in meticulous detail. In addition, he gathered and organized all documents needed for grievance arbitrations, negotiations, Board of Education meetings and any hearings before PERB.
After his retirement in 2000, John became active in Retiree Council 15/16 and also remained active in the YFT. He was elected as the council's Vice Presient of Membership in 2005. He has organized, entered and kept the membership data each year for almost 1,000 RC 15/16 members for 15 years. As Membership Vice President, he worked to expand retiree involvment, making personal calls to encourage retiree membership. Additionally, John has served as a delegate to NYSUT and AFT conventions, has lobbied for public education in Albany and participated in numerous meetings and rallies. In 2014, he was elected to the NYSUT Retiree Advisory Council, which meets periodically in Albany to discuss and advocate for NYSUT retirees. John was extremely helpful in providing backgound union information in preparing for ConCon and in wake of the Janus decision. He wrote multiple newsletters, which were shared with the members, informiing them about ConCon and Janus.
John was recognized for his service to NYSUT at the Awards Ceremony of the 25th Anniversary of NYSUT Retiree Councils at the Regional Conference in 2016. John received the NYSUT Community Service Award in 2020, which due to the pandemic, will be presented at the 2021 RA.
As John Eshoo retires from the RC 15/16 Executive Board, we thank him for his many years of dedicated service to NYSUT, YFT and the Retirees of Westchester/Putnam!