Friday, April 26, 2024 | St. Lawrence County, NY
MASSENA -- The American Federation of Teachers wants to work with a group in St. Lawrence County to help local students living in poverty, Massena Central Superintendent Pat Brady said at …
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MASSENA -- The American Federation of Teachers wants to work with a group in St. Lawrence County to help local students living in poverty, Massena Central Superintendent Pat Brady said at Thursday’s school board meeting.
He said at an Oct. 31 meeting of The People Project in Potsdam, AFT pledged $165,000 that is being used “to support coalition-building projects such as a summer beach program, a backpack food project, a community book read, a food truck and a welcome program for minority students,” according to a document posted on the district website.
The People Project is a coalition of teachers, superintendents, union officials and local government representatives working to “scout the terrain of possibilities for strengthening St. Lawrence County in its schools, its sagging economy and its heroin-addled communities,” according to the document.
“They focused on three main areas, community schools … preventing addiction … and business opportunities such as outdoor recreation,” Brady said at the school board meeting.
AFT has given similar support in McDowell County, West Virginia, Brady said.
“Now, the American Federation of Teachers is bolstering The People Project with renewable one-year funding that can serve as a foundation for projects among the civic, community, faith-based and religious partnerships that will come to realization from the symposium connections. AFT is similarly supporting a program in McDowell County, West Virginia, which shares a lot of the same strife as this northern New York county. There are now 135 partners in the McDowell project,” the document reads. “Students can stumble a lot when a family member is struggling with addiction or has lost a job. Erratic behavior, depression and loss of income create instability. St. Lawrence County’s General Motors power train factory closed in 2008 and 500 jobs were lost; hundreds more were lost when Reynolds and ALCOA merged.”
The People Project started when Massena’s NYSUT chapter joined with USW Local 420 to protest Alcoa’s decision to close the Massena smelter two years ago.
