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Hillsborough teachers' union selects new leader

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By ADAM EMERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 22, 2009

TAMPA - The board of the Hillsborough County teachers union has unanimously picked its new leader now that its long-serving executive director is retiring.

Nicholas Whitman, who has led unions throughout the Midwest and Northeast, will take over the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association in August.

Whitman has most recently led the Racine Education Association in Wisconsin. Before that, however, has was the executive director of the National Education Association in New York, responsible for 40,000 members.

He has a law degree from the University of Wisconsin and taught political science at the university's Green Bay campus during the 2001-02 academic year.

He'll be replacing Yvonne Lyons, who has worked for the local union for 29 years, the last nine as its executive director.

Lyons said she'll stay on until contract negotiations between the union and the Hillsborough school district are finished. The district says it has to cut millions from its budget and has proposed two days of unpaid furloughs for teachers. So far, the union hasn't accepted that.

The two sides will continue their talks on Wednesday.

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285.

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