In the 40 plus years since our "centralization' there has been a rich history of staff involvement in our Association's growth. This history has witnessed a number of determined and visionary leaders who championed our march towards an educational system with children as its focus. At the same time, these leaders molded our staff into a cohesive and respected professional organization. The NWTA leaders spent unnumbered hours in adversarial conditions to bring to its members improved working conditions and respectable wage compensation. All of this was contained in a written “contract” for the first time in our history. New members should know that for the most part, there were no written contracts for New York teachers until the Taylor Law was passed in the late 1960’s. In fact, that law allowed teachers Associations to be recognized as bargaining agents for their members - something Boards of Education were not required to do before that.

This leadership has changed over the years but the devotion and dedication to pursue the best for our teachers has never faltered. As one leader retired or moved on, the baton was passed to ready hands - hands willing to make the sacrifice of time, energy and family to work for the common good.

For most of Niagara-Wheatfield teachers today, the names of those past leaders are unfamiliar or unknown - save for the few who have bridged that time span in their careers. For a “new” member to our NW family, it must be hard to envision an era when "times" and "conditions" were not good. The only reference that exists for them now, is a solid contract with an enlightened salary structure. It is easy to fall victim to complacency. It is tempting to become a “follower” and continue with the expectation that things will go on and on as they are now, with little change.

There is danger in that. Those contract provisions that took long hours and years to negotiate and achieve, can be lost…yes, lost, without the commitment of todays Association members to remain united and to ‘get involved”. Some contract clauses would be impossible to regain again, should they be lost due to apathy and the mistaken assumption that “once achieved, always enjoyed”. Do not be fooled. Complacency and apathy can weakened and erode any organization.

Hopefully, this feeling will not consume our young staffers. Theirs are the hands into which the future of our association's progress will rest. They will need to make the hard decisions to volunteer - to get involved, to NOT expect or depend on "another" to pick up this challenge. Indeed it is difficult. There are graduate courses to take, families to raise, “standards” to prepare for. All of these crowd together to demand your time and energy. It will be a difficult decision to commit for some - impossible for others. But for the NWTA to continue as it has, it needs the dedication to this task that others before them had. This cannot be emphasized too strongly. The leadership of the NWTA for tomorrow, is in the hands of our young people today. Make the decision to get involved and offer your time to the NWTA. Do not be dissuaded by a belief that you haven't the talent or skill. All of our prior leaders were "raw to the game" and shy of experience when they began. Learn with our current leadership and help carry on this NWTA legacy into the next generation.