BUFFALO, N.Y. — For the first time since 1981, the Buffalo Teachers Federation has a new president.
The results of a runoff vote between the pairs of Richard Nigro and Melinda MacPherson-Sullivan versus Marc Bruno and Patrick Foster were published by the Federation on Tuesday afternoon.
Nigro and MacPherson-Sullivan won with 68.2% of the vote.
Their tenure begins on July 1, 2023, after the retirement of current Federation president Phil Rumore.
Nigro will serve as president of the Buffalo Teachers Federation and MacPherson-Sullivan will serve as vice president.
The pair hope to build on the union enthusiasm that has been shown by Buffalo teachers in recent months.
"Our goal really is to kind of unify the membership, improve communication among members," Nigro said.
One of the goals Nigro and MacPherson-Sulivan have is establishing a digital portal to streamline communication between Federation officials and teachers across the district.
"Something that's both mobile-based and web-based would help facilitate communication much more smoothly," Nigro said.
Incoming vice president Melinda MacPherson-Sullivan says she wants to focus on mending fences with the school board.
"I think that the biggest issue is that we have to mend relationships with the Board of Education," MacPherson-Sullivan said. "I believe that we can work together with our administrators with the Board of Education, and with everybody who didn't agree with us or didn't vote for us."
Nigro wants to work with the board in a proactive manner when it comes to future contract negotiations. Historically, contracts would often expire before the BTF administration would reach a deal with the district.
"We've got a long history of not negotiating contracts, by the time the other one expires, and there seem to be delays, there seems like things that that hang that up," Nigro said. "There's a sense, from having spoken at all the schools and all the teachers and various people that we've talked to, a desire to work together."
Outgoing president Phil Rumore announced his retirement in April after hurdles were cleared for a new teachers contract with the Buffalo Public School District.