EWS: The School Year in Review, SY2015

The Winter of 2015 was a rough one and the Albany politicians seemed to be taking their intensity from Mother Nature's playbook.  As Albany continues its agenda of education privatization, NYSUT has held stood fast to her principals.  The NYSUT local leaders have worked tirelessly to deliver the information to their rank and file and we here at Ed Web Services continue to facilitate that communication.  As the 2015 school year draws to an end allow me to share our achievements. 

Expanded Service Area: EWS is now working with NYSUT Teacher and Support Related Professionals locals throughout Central New York and The Southern Tier across a 100 mile diagonal from the Oneida Boces Teachers Association to the Horseheads Teachers Association. 

Working With RC 45  EWS is serving as webmaster of http://rc45.ny.aft.org as well as assisting in editing and producing the NYSUT RC45 with their 'Spotlight' newsletter. 

Ed Web Service's Website: 2015 marked the debut of a redesigned vital hub for clients.  The site hosts a gallery of Ed Web sites to share design ideas and the 'Ed Web Blog' for informational and instructional articles. Check out www.edwebservices.com

Creation of "The Union Buzz": In 'Beta' and ready for testing by you. Now that you have your Union website where you want it and you are communicating within your Local, Its time to start communicating between Locals. Imagine negotiating your next contract with information from nearby Locals at your disposal.  Enter "The Union Buzz’",  an exclusive  social network for regional officers/executives to share, discuss, blog, and post . www.theunionbuzz.com 

Incorporation of Mailchimp for Email Communications: Our Sisters and Brother in the Oneida Boces Teachers Association are now integrating Mailchimp into their site to push their news to their members inboxes. Each email communication is sent to their over 100 site registrants. www.mailchimp.com

Social Feeds: Several of the locals in the EWS family have established Facbook and or Twitter accounts to distribute information to their followers. EWS has incorporated live feeds on their sites that display in real time everytime the site is refreshed. EWS has also added NYSUT United Facebook feed and @NYSUT a Twitter feed to several of the Local's news pages. See the NYSUT Feeds

Southern Tier Technology Conference: Representing The Cortland County Teachers Center, T. Gath of Ed Web Services served on the planning committee for the first Southern Tier ConnectED Conference.  The conference was a huge success attended by hundreds of teachers.  A great conference day had by all. The keynote speech by Dr. Kristen Swanson - How Learning has changed was fantastic.  

Adding AFT Ad Revenue: Two locals got $240 in ad revenue from AFT ads on their home page.  EWS has a relationship with Chistine Teasdale of AFT Member Benfits to assist in getting ads on the sites and securing the annual payments for the locals.  Although EWS cannot receive the payments directly, your Local's Treasurer can and the funds can be used to cover the cost of the website. If your local is not yet getting the ad revenue from AFT is should be.  The following EWS Blog post will explain the steps necessary to get on board: Getting Ad Reimbursement for Your Local's Website .

Well, that is a summary of some of the major achievments for the 2015 school year.  Ed Web Services works tirelessly to keep you website up to date and to keep it working for you. Here at Ed Web Services we take pride in working for you, with you. 

Thanks!