Maya McFadden Photos
Clockwise from top left: Oscaima "Patty" Berrios, Kate Liphart, Joel LeChance, and Maria Solomon at Monday's drive.
New blood at the city’s teachers union arranged to draw blood from educators — along with ideas for how to pump new life into the organization and its headquarters.
That happened at an American Red Cross blood drive hosted by the New Haven Teachers Federation (NHFT) Monday at the union headquarters at 267 Chapel St.
A total of 42 donations were made at the drive, which was organized to help address a national blood shortage, introduce and invite educators to the union hall, and provide educators with student loan forgiveness information. The event was organize by the union leadership team elected in December with a promise to bring new ideas and approaches to the organization.
The union’s goal was to get 79 donors for its first drive Monday. In one room of the hall, community members, current teachers, and retired educators had nearly a pint each of blood drawn. With the blood drawn, up to an estimated 126 lives may be saved.
Monday donors included paraprofessionals, retired educators, and current teachers who have never been to the union hall despite working for decades in New Haven.
In a neighboring room a representative of the Student Loan Fund met with local educators and loan borrowers to provide them with personalized information about Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and SLF’s borrower resources.
Estrada-Perez meets with Patty Berrios.
SLF executive director Cristher Estrada-Perez talked with educators about debt payment programs and heard the stories of how the debt crisis is affecting New Haveners.
She let visitors know that SLF is working to push national student debt cancellation, ending withstanding transcript debt for students, and eliminating the shame stigma associated with debt.
During her sit-downs Monday, Estrada-Perez said, she heard similar stories from attendees about giving up on paying debts or seeking forgiveness programs because of the difficulty of navigating the steps needed to be taken for forgiveness programs.
“Sometimes navigating your student debt is like a part-time job,” she said. “I do this work everyday and still have a $80,000 debt.”
David Weinreb, a magnet resource teacher at Elm City Montessori School, came up with the idea for the drive. Weinreb was a regular donor throughout the pandemic, particularly after his wife’s post-birth recovery was extended in December due to the blood shortage, causing her to be able to receive only half units of blood at the hospital.
Weinreb worked with new union President Leslie Blatteau and the executive team to organize the Monday event.
Union leadership plans to work this summer and coming year to make the union hall a hub for educators to know they are invited to to get union resources and support.
Weinreb added that the union, which is based in Fair Haven, is working to be a better neighbor by also offering events like the blood drive for the community to be invited into the hall.
“We want teachers to have NHFT on their radar and know the building is open for business,” Blatteau said.
Union leadership plans to invite union members to the hall to join working group meetings to involve more voices in the negation process.
Contributed
East Rock School pre‑K teacher Maria Solomon, 43, received an email from the union about the blood drive despite not being a union member. She scheduled her appointment Monday afternoon “without fear or doubt.”
Solomon, who lives in Fair Haven, said the blood drive kicked off her summer of events and her first time donating blood.
“If I don’t financially have it, I figured: What other way can I give?” she said.
Friends often refer to Solomon as the “resource person.”
On Monday it was determined that giving was indeed in Solomon’s and several other educators’ blood.
She promised to make donating a regular task and to introduce the idea to her three sons.
Bilingual kindergarten teacher at Barack Obama University School Oscaima “Patty” Berrios has worked for New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) since 2012.
She described the Monday event as having two motivating drivers for her: the ability to donate for the first time in 22 years, and a chance to learn more about student loan forgiveness.
In her decade of teaching, Berrios had been invited to the union hall only once, in 2016, she said. She said she hopes the newly elected leadership will also use the hall as a shared space to encourage parent engagement in the future.
“It feels good knowing the doors are open now and the that the new union leadership is motivating us to engage and have a voice,” she said.
After donating. Berrios met briefly with SLF’s Estrada-Perez to figure out the next steps she can take for debt forgiveness.
“Our salaries are not competitive. Just because I don’t work for the money but for the passion doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be able to afford the cost of daycare for my twins,” Berrios said.
Nathan Hale math coach Kate Liphart heard about the drive from her building steward and decided to get on a regular donation schedule again.
While laying on the drawing table with her arm laid flat, Liphart recalled her fear of needles. Not long ago Liphart had tried to donate blood but had complications when attempting to get the blood collected. “My blood spurted and it freaked me out,” she said.
Despite the hesitancy she joined the Monday drive to deal with the “minor inconvenience for the greater good.”
Liphart began teaching and joined the union 20 years ago. She had never been in the union hall before Monday. She said she looks forward to the building being a possible resource for her in the future.
Joel LeChance, a retired elementary school teacher, also made a donation after falling out of his regular donation cycle during the pandemic.
LeChance, who currently works as a street vending bike repair man, said he loves to be useful when possible and loos forward to visiting the union hall that he had never been to while an educator.
“It’s interesting in a good way to see how busy it is here,” he said.
