Proposal for a Statewide TRIF Webmaster and
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| Instead of having a Links page for each Unit, the TRIF site would have a single Links page that would apply to all the Units, similar to the Links page I created for the Clearwater Unit. |
The Statewide TRIF Webmaster should publish only material sent to him/her by the presidents of each unit. Nothng should be on the Website that has not first met a Unit president's approval. If other members in a Unit wish to have something on the Website, they should first email their material to the president who will decide whether it is within NYSUT guidelines.
The TRIF Webmaster and the presidents of each Unit would receive guidelines from NYSUT concerning what material is acceptable for a TRIF Website. These guidelines would deal with such questions as --
The TRIF website would link to the NYSUT and AFT websites; both of which in turn could link to the TRIF site. A NYSUT retired teacher or an employed- teacher close to retirement -- both thinking of relocating to Florida -- could be led to the TRIF website by the NYSUT and AFT sites.
The TWDA would also be responsible to see that the TRIF Web site is registered with various search engines so that any retired New York State Teacher looking for a NYSUT retiree group in Florida would come across a link to our site whenever doing an online search for retired NYSUT teachers Florida.
These prominent search-hits are not accidents. I spent many hours registering the RTC site with numerous search engines. And then, too, after having the RTC site up and running for over five years now (without any expense to TRIF), apparently the RTC site has become popular among teachers seeking information about NYSUT's retiree presence in Florida.
I do not pay any search engine to list the TRIF/Clearwater Unit site. I have only used free ways to get the site a prominent listing.
NYSUT headquarters would obligate the TWDA (TRIF Webmaster/Database Administrator) to follow the guidelines of what is appropriate to include in the TRIF website. Nothing in the TRIF website, for example, should be at variance with the official policies of NYSUT. My RTC site could serve as a model of what is appropriate. And because any NYSUT officer could at any time monitor what is on the TRIF site, NYSUT could make sure that the TRIF website, including sections devoted to each Florida Unit or Chapter, adhere to NYSUT guidelines. If I were the one person running the Florida Statewide TRIF website, I would be in a perfect position to see to it that NYSUT's guidelines were followed. What puts me in that "perfect position'?
| My ten years in TRIF, my more than five years as the TRIF/CUT webmaster with a proven record of not publishing on the Website anything objectionable to NYSUT. |
I don't believe that NYSUT should have to train the TWDA in the basics of creating or maintaining websites and databases. The TWDA position should require expertise in these fields as a prerequisite. NYSUT training would focus on ensuring that the TWDA and individual Unit presidents adhere to the guidelines for what to include and not include in the TRIF Web site so that no material in the Web site reflects in a negative way on NYSUT or contradicts an officially endorsed NYSUT political position. Through my years of work with the Clearwater Unit, I have already proven that I have the necessary judgment and skills to --
I suggest that each Unit Web site be apolitical or non-political as our
RTC site is, but by linking back to the NYSUT pages, the TWDA would make
it easy for TRIF members viewing the site to get straight from the NYSUT
Web site the politically endorsed views of the our parent organization
-- NYSUT. I suggest leaving the political endorsements and pronouncements
to the NYSUT site while keeping our individual Unit sites neutral in those
areas. Only in this way, I believe, will TRIF attract and hold on to retired
teachers regardless of their political party affiliation.
TRIF Webmaster/Database Administrator (TWDA) would also maintain the database of each TRIF Unit just as I have been doing for the Clearwater (RTC) Unit. Our past experience with our own Clearwater unit would serve as the model as to how database updates would be sent by e-mail from each Unit's president or treasurer to the TWDA. The TWDA would not only keep the database for each Unit, but would also, at the request of the Unit president, prepare mailing labels for each Unit as well as furnish to presidents print-outs of the database. The TWDA could also regularly email to NYSUT (as attachments) the --
The TWDA position would require too much work to be considered a voluntary job. I see it as a part-time paid NYSUT job that for the most part can be handled by the TWDA from his or her Florida home, thanks to the ease of communication through e-mail and the exchange of information on password-protected websites.
Obviously, NYSUT teachers do not only retire to Florida. There may be other States -- besides New York, of course -- where a significant number of NYSUT retirees live close enough together to form other NYSUT Retiree Units. If and when NYSUT retiree Units are formed outside of New York and Florida, the model of a Florida TRIF website could be expanded to a single nationwide NYSUT retiree website. Each section of this website could be devoted to a different State, and subsections to Units within each State. Such a Nationwide NYSUT retiree website, all tied into the NYSUT's main site and adhering to NYSUT's guidelines, would strengthen the ties that NYSUT has with its retired members. And imagine, too, the value NYSUT would find in having up-to-date databases of retired New York State Teachers around the Country.
I just did a search on UFT retirees and was surprised to see that UFT has chapters for retirees throughout the Nation. Coincidentally, the acronym for their chapters is also RTC -- Retired Teacher Chapters. Consider this quote from the UFT website:
The ubiquitous RTC is there for you with organized sections across the country as well as in Puerto Rico and Israel. While Florida is the largest section, Las Vegas is the fastest-growing and active groups meet in San Francisco, Southern California, Arizona, North Carolina, Washington, Philadelphia and north and south New Jersey.
NYSUT, I think, could use a webmaster and database administrator to publicize
and unify all the retiree Units in Florida -- and perhaps, too, perform
the same services for NYSUT retiree Units throughout the Country.
Richard Gordon
richard@gordonrichard.com
www.gordonrichard.com/rtc