Bryan Thomas, the New York State United Teachers Web site coordinator, conducts these workshops. Many locals use their Web sites to recognize achievements by members and students. Shenendehowa TA in Saratoga County, Sayville TA in Suffolk County and Hyde Park TA in Dutchess County all have pages dedicated to award winners. The Shenendehowa site, for example, recognizes Judith Morley, a third-grade teacher who became the first capital district teacher to be awarded national certification. The Sayville site tips the local's hat to Eileen Ratto, a teacher aide who received the American Federation of Teachers' Robert G. Porter Scholarship.
Web sites are ideal places for interacting with the community.
The Rochester TA provides an eye-catching introduction with an animated spinning globe that tours the entire site in only eight clicks. The West Genesee TA in Onondaga County includes a thank you letter from a college graduate who took advantage of the local's scholarship and is teaching second grade near Atlanta. The royal blue background and crayon border at the North Babylon Teachers Organization site offers a colorful way of displaying names and schools of new members while welcoming them to the union. It's very important to make them feel a part of the local and to get them active. Our members do more than just go into the school and teach, they are community minded.