Advocacy

NYSSMA Government Relations & Advocacy Committees 

Alan Orloff

Alan Orloff
NYSSMA Government Relations
Committee Chair
grc@nyssma.org

Dear NYSSMA Members:

I am pleased to announce that, at this time, Your Government Relations and Advocacy Committees are moving forward with Music in Our Schools Month plans as always, and that the 48th Annual/First Virtual Joseph R. Sugar NYSSMA Day in Albany. will take place on Monday, March 1, 2021. Please be clear about this:the entire event will take place in a virtual format.We will be utilizing Zoom Plus for our virtual meetings.

Here are instructions on how to proceed with getting ready for our virtual Day in Albany.

  1. First, identify the person in your Zone, County or district who normally makes your in-person Albany appointments during normal years.
  2. Identify the New York Legislators who represent your area. Please have your team leader contact those Legislators, remind their offices that March is Music in Our Schools and ask them for a March 1, 2021 Zoom meeting appointment for your Albany advocacy team. We would like these meetings to take place on March 1st, but in these difficult times, if the Legislative meeting has to be scheduled on another day, please make that appointment.
  3. Once appointments have been made, please click on this Google Form link to let me know when your meeting is scheduled and with whom. Here is the link:  https://forms.gle/UAgyB3Sv8Qkgop5Y7
  4. If you have any trouble accessing the form through this digital link, here is a form link you can copy into your browser, fill out, attach to and send to us via email so that we can input your data manually: https://www.nyssma.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/2021-Day-in-Albany-website-update-2.pdf
  5. Time is of the essence.  This information was sent out to County Presidents and Zone reps at the end of January, and asked that all appointments be made and sent to us by February 5th.  If you haven’t received this information please make these appointments as soon as possible and get us the appointment information.
  6. Once appointments are made, we will provide you with your own Zoom Plus account.  Team leaders will be given their own Personal Meeting ID, and can use the Zoom account to schedule meetings (go to Meetings, Click Schedule a Meeting) which will create Zoom Meeting Invitations.  While sometimes hard to find, once the meeting is scheduled there is a tab on the right side of the page which allows you to copy the invitation information.  This invite then gets emailed to your Legislator’s office and to all members of your team. If you have been making Zoom meetings this will be easy.  If you have not and there are ANY questions or problems, please contact me personally at 631-365-3763 and we will go over it human to human to facilitate all these Virtual/digital plans
  7. Ask Sheets and information will be made available by February 19th.  We are also working on a video link, produced by your Advocacy Executive Board, which can function as a template for how to run the Zoom meetings once you are actually online with your Legislator’s office.

  8. I realize this is not as easy as always, but with “all hands on deck”, we can make the 48th Joseph R. Sugar NYSSMA Day in Albany and Music in Our Schools Month as important as it has always been. Remember, what started here in New York as Music in Our Schools Day became Music in our Schools Week, then, Music in Our Schools Month and is now celebrated in all 50 states and Europe.  We NYSSMA members have much to be proud of when we think that what we created 48 years ago has grown into such an amazing, important Political and Advocacy tool. 

    Thanks,

    Alan Orloff

    Government Relations Committee Chairman

Everything ESSA link

 

 

NYSSMA MUSIC EDUCATION ADVOCACY

The future of music education in the state of New York is dependent on the support of educators, parents, students, communities, legislators, and support groups. This new area on the NYSSMA Web Site features important advocacy information to aid in supporting music education at the local level. The NYSSMA Government Relations Committee presents the information on this web site to assist music educators and parents in supporting the right of every student to receive a well-rounded education that includes a comprehensive, sequential, high-quality program of music taught by a qualified music teacher.  Please credit the source when using this information in your advocacy efforts.

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