Showing posts with label Melinda Person. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Melinda Person. Show all posts

Sunday, February 12, 2023

NYSUT News: Going - Pres. Andy Pallotta, Coming - Melinda Person Who? Has Never Been a Teacher - Succession or Coup?

Putin Cites Mulgrew/Randi Takeover of NYSUT as Inspiration for Crimean Invasion
I admire the Unity Caucus operation tremendously. I only wish I had such control....My next invasion will be Brighton Beach to protect the Russian speaking population in Brooklyn.... I am looking for a condo in Brooklyn as a base of operation but the real estate prices are crazy.... Vladimir Putin 
Ed Notes, March 4, 2014
Sunday - February 12, 2023  - Happy Birthday Abe

Ok, so Putin lied about his next invasion. The breaking news Friday night of a coming change in leadership at NYSUT brought up memories of the last change of leadership in 2014, one of only two times where there was a contested election. But lots more on 2014 later in this post.
UPDATE 7:30: Trusted source says Pallotta just retired. No drama. Also - no signs of early resistance to the move to Person.
Traditionally, the top levels of NYSUT have been occupied by former teachers and local union leaders, not by bureaucrats. Even Randi, who was a lawyer first when the top level oligarchs chose to make her the next president, did a quick teaching hit job to give her creds and meet UFT constitution requirements. NYSUT doesn't seem to have a similar requirement that officers had to teach.
 
Thus, we see a change coming with the announcement of candidacy for NYSUT President by Melinda Person, currently NYSUT Executive and Political Director - an appointed position, seemed sort of strange less than three months before NYSUT Delegates meet to elect its officers in late April. 

 
By all reports, Melinda Person is well-liked but it is interesting she shows no teaching background in her resume (see below), though she says she wanted to be a teacher. But all you have to do is look at her salary over the past 15 years (below) for a reason she did not teach. Even Randi seems to have had more teaching experience than her.
 

I was confused when I first heard of the announcement Friday night. 
 
She announces she is running while Andy Pallotta is still president? My first thought was she is running against him. But how could that be since she is running under the Unity line? This came across like she woke up in the morning and decided to run for NYSUT president but we know she was chosen by the hierarchy. 
 
I wondered. Who is Melinda Person and what is going on with Andy? Is he being forced out? Another coup in NYSUT?  (See 2014 story below). 
What forces in the UFT/NYSUT/AFT sphere are behind Person?

We got our answer shortly after with this twitter announcement by Andy Pallotta:
  
The order of announcement seemed strange. How mixed were his emotions? A change in leadership at that level involves some preparation. Some introduction around the state to the rank and file of someone no one except maybe the insiders know. Apparently Unity/NYSUT had a meeting the other day and the change was made. Did Andy decide to retire or was he pushed? Most probably, the former. (He must have noticed how much I've been enjoying my 20 years of retirement.) Usually, there are rumors in advance.
 
One thing we noted was that Person has been the NYSUT political director since October, 2014 and was assistant director of legislation for 6 years from 2008-2013 with a gap of a year, right in the middle of NYSUT turmoil over the 2014 election. She occupied the same position at the state level that Cassie Prugh, who recently left the UFT, had. Prugh replaced the popular (with soccer fans) Paul Egan after a fuzzy type scandal. She had been a somewhat shadowy and unpopular figure who came directly out of the Cuomo administration to the UFT. Some saw Prugh as the Cuomo plant in the UFT or vice versa. It is not clear who is replacing Prugh in the UFT. Sources say that she’ll still be working for the UFT on retainer. And who is taking Person's place as political director of NYSUT? Might as well let Cassie do both jobs for a double retainer - I'd love to what the retainer pays.

The UFT/NYSUT/AFT hierarchy is fundamentally run like a monarchy