Experienced New Team to Lead OAPSE

 

Carson, Lang, Wheeler to serve as the union’s top officers

 
After 34 historic years as OAPSE State President, JoAnn Johntony has retired from her job with Girard City Schools and resigned her position as the union’s top officer. She has been named President Emeritus by the State Executive Board for her lifetime and will continue to be involved in union activities.

State President Lois Carson

Lois Carson is the new State President of OAPSE, succeeding JoAnn Johntony. Lois is the former State Vice President, a position to which she was elected in November 2015. Lois has been a member of the union’s statewide executive board since 2013, serving as the Central District Executive Board alternate and board member before moving to State Vice President. Lois has been a secretary at Columbus City Schools for 32 years and currently works in the Department of Higher Education, located at Columbus International High School. In 2010, she was elected president of the Columbus School Employees Association (CSEA), made up of 11 local unions with more than 3,000 members who work in the Columbus City Schools. She was re-elected to that post in 2015. Lois is the current vice-president of OAPSE Local 150, the union for Columbus City Schools’ secretaries, and is past president of that local union. She is also an active member of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU), A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI), the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Lois is a graduate of Columbus City Schools. She studied Secretarial Studies and Office Administration at Columbus City School Adult Education and Early Childhood Education at Columbus State Community College. Lois was married for 27 years and has four children with her late husband. She enjoys spending time with her four grandchildren.

State Vice President Mike Lang

Mike Lang was elected by the State Executive Board as the new OAPSE State Vice President. A 10-year OAPSE Local 470 leader at Mount Vernon City Schools, Mike had served as North Central District State Executive Board alternate since 2016. He started with Mt. Vernon City Schools in 2009 as a custodian, but the majority of his decade with the district has been as a computer technician. Mike is from a union family and was a member of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers at Cooper Energy Services. After a plant layoff, he worked at a cabinet manufacturing company, where he was active in union organizing campaigns. Mike was hired at Mount Vernon City Schools in September 2009 and signed a union card immediately. Within a few months, he was vice president of that local, which is the union for more than 120 workers in the district. Mike has served as Local 470 president since 2014 and was elected North Central District vice president in 2019. He is a graduate of Mount Vernon City Schools. Mike and his wife, Dianna, are parents of one son.

State Secretary Sandy Wheeler

Sandra Wheeler is OAPSE State Secretary, a position she was elected to in 1991. Sandy has been a secretary in Lima City Schools for 35 years. She previously served as the Northwest Central District State Executive Board alternate for one year. Sandy has held the position of president of Northwest Central District since 1990 and has been the president of Local 306, the union for Lima City Secretaries, since 1987. Sandy is president of OAPSE Making a Difference, Inc., the union’s charitable organization that works to reduce childhood hunger for students across Ohio. She represented OAPSE as a member of the AFSCME International Union’s Women’s Advisory Committee. She also served as an AFSCME representative to the National Executive Board of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW). She formerly served as one of the two appointed positions as the Northwest Central District PEOPLE Coordinator on the State PEOPLE Committee. Sandy is a member of the Ohio AFL-CIO’s Northwest Area Labor Federation’s (ALF) Executive Board and is a former trustee of the West Central Labor Council (CLC). Sandy and her husband, Ivan, have two children and six grandchildren.

 

The OAPSE/AFSCME Memorial Scholarship Committee has announced the 2019 winners. Eleven children of OAPSE members have been awarded $2,500 scholarships for the fall.

Click here to see all the winners.

The OAPSE/AFSCME Memorial Scholarship Program is available to children whose parent or legal guardian is a member in good standing of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE/AFSCME Local 4/AFL-CIO). Under the program, scholarships of $2,500.00 each are awarded to at least one winner from each of the ten (10) OAPSE Districts selected from the applicants who meet the eligibility requirements.

Any graduating high school senior who is a daughter or son of an active OAPSE/AFSCME member or whose legal guardian is an active OAPSE/AFSCME member and who intends to enroll in a full-time degree program in any two (2) or four (4) year accredited university, college, business or technical school is eligible to apply for a scholarship. The scholarships may be used for any field of study.

To be eligible, all information or supportive documentation requested in the application must be received by the committee by March 1 each year.

https://oapse.org/uncategorized/2573/

Mike Lang has worked at Mt. Vernon City Schools for 10 years, and is an OAPSE local union leader there. Before that, he had a non-union job — so he knows the power and the value of workers speaking with one voice.

“I’ve seen both sides, and I can say with confidence that having a union really matters. It has made a real difference for me and the people I work with,” Lang said.

“With a union, we have good wages. We have good benefits. And we have strong contract language and protections.”

Lang is a computer technician at Mt. Vernon City Schools. He and the tech team keep all the tablets up and running. They install all the smart boards in classrooms. And they are responsible for projectors and smart televisions throughout the district. Without Mike and the tech team, learning doesn’t happen the way it should in Mt. Vernon.

“We are proud of the work we do here. It’s important because it directly impacts how our students learn and the ability of our teachers to do their jobs.”

Mike is also proud of his local union, OAPSE Local 470, which represents 118 workers in Mt. Vernon City Schools. He also serves as OAPSE Executive Board alternate from North Central District and as district vice president.

And, effective July 1, Mike will be OAPSE State Vice President.

“It’s a real honor to represent the 34,000 members of our union. I look forward to working with OAPSE leaders, staff and members across the state to build our union and make it an even stronger voice for all of us,” Lang said.

Mike said he believes in the union and what it has meant for him and his coworkers.

“I’d never leave my union. I’m OAPSE strong, and I’m Sticking with my Union!”

For more about Mike, click on the video below.

CANTON – On May 21, OAPSE local and district leaders in Canton and the North Central District provided meals and snacks to all pre-K-second grade elementary students in Canton City Schools as part of the union’s OAPSE Making a Difference (OMAD) program. The charitable foundation has helped feed more than 12,000 hungry students throughout Ohio and has raised more than $85,000 since its start in 2014.

Officers and members from OAPSE locals 107, 161, 161A, and 609, which represent workers at Canton City Schools, made the delivery to 400 students at Harter Elementary School, and staff at the six other pre-k through second grade schools handed out the meals and snacks to the other 1,600 students. The local union represents bus drivers, bus aides, mechanics, maintenance workers, food service workers, library aides, custodians, security guards, educational aides and paraprofessional workers in Canton’s elementary, middle and high schools.

A 32-year Canton City Schools employee, Jackie Leisure works in the child nutrition department at Canton McKinley High School and is vice president of Local 609. She also serves as an alternate on the OAPSE executive board and as the East Central District treasurer.

“OAPSE started our foundation because we see children every day – in Canton and in schools across Ohio – who just don’t have enough to eat. Our members know that kids can’t be at their best when they are hungry. So, we started our foundation to raise money and provide food for some of the neediest children in our state. As parents and grandparents, OAPSE members know every family can use a little help, and we wanted to make a meaningful contribution,” Leisure said.

Volunteers from locals 107,161,161A and 609 stuffed tote bags with snacks and meals. Union members, local unions, districts and OAPSE staff donated more than $13,000 to make this year’s project possible. And OAPSE has worked closely with Champion Foodservice on all its OMAD projects. Champion Foodservice gives OMAD a great price on the food and allows OAPSE locals to feed students every year.

Past projects of the 501(c)(3) organization include establishing a permanent food bank at Fairland Local Schools in southern Ohio; providing take-home meals and tote bags to 2,000 students at select elementary schools in Columbus City Schools; 1,500 students in East Cleveland City Schools; 1,800 students in Lima City Schools; and 2,000 students in Zanesville City Schools. OAPSE is the union for workers in all five school districts.

“We are proud to serve children and families as members of OAPSE. And it means a lot to us to give back to our communities,” said Sandy Wheeler, state secretary of the union for 34,000 members in Ohio and president of the non-profit OMAD.

Also at Harter Elementary to distribute totes were OAPSE Executive Director Joe Rugola; State President JoAnn Johntony; State Vice President Lois Carson; Local 609 President Ira Essner; North Central District Secretary Sue Harris; and leaders from all the Canton City locals.

To see highlights from the day, click on the video below.