This is what the Chapter Leader at Bryant High School shared with her school staff.
Dear Colleagues,
I know you are dealing with a lot, and I do not want to
burden you with grief. However, yesterday we all lost a brother when James
Eterno passed away.
Very few of you knew him personally, but he has done a lot
for us all. He was a teacher for many years and a Union activist. In fact, he
has attended a couple of our chapter Meetings in the past. He served as a
Chapter Leader in Jamaica HS, and he was a member of the UFT Executive Board
for many years. He knew that new ideas come from conversations and
disagreements, so he was a founding member of the ICE-UFT caucus and ran the
ICE-UFT Blog for many years and in the last UFT election he helped organize the
United for Change coalition to ran in opposition to the Unity caucus governing
the UFT since its beginning. https://iceuftblog.blogspot.com/
James knew the contract in and out and every single
Chancellor’s Regulation and he was there every time I needed information,
support, advice, guidance, or somebody to vent about the frustrating position
of a Chapter Leader caught between a heavy-handed administration and an
intimidated chapter. Generous with his time, he answered the phone even if he
was in the middle of helping his children with homework and their evening
routines, and he posted whatever I wrote and sent him for the blog. I will be
forever grateful to him, and I feel lucky and honored to have met him.
I am sharing this with you because he is an example of
activism. People like him since the formation of our union have carried the
weight for most of us who are afraid to even take an anonymous survey or voice
an opinion in a meeting. Thank you, James! May you rest in peace and still be
able to watch over the beautiful family you left behind.
My condolences to his family and his loved ones.
Georgia Lignou
No comments:
Post a Comment