Good day and we hope all is well. The union office is open throughout the summer during regular business hours. We will have periodic mailings throughout the summer.

In the last e-bulletin we reported that the school district had -- on the very last day of school -- announced a decision to cut back the extended school hours at two of our schools, the Timilty and the Umana. This decision came without notice or warning and will affect the families of 1,300 students this fall. Parents and students will have to change their after-school plans to accommodate a new dismissal time in September wherein students will be released at least one hour earlier than parents were promised when they chose the school last winter.

The school department has been silent on this issue. No apology for the inconvenience, no announcement of a plan to remedy. Well, the district has done something. It finally changed the school hours on the district web page to accurately reflect the change. But it took the district until five days after the end of the school year -- after we alerted them -- to finally update their web page. 

On behalf of the teachers and paraprofessionals affected, we have already challenged the department's decision. But the affected families have no one to stand up for them. So we will. We will be taking out full page ads in a variety of weekly newspapers shortly.

NEW: BPS-BTU to Co-sponsor Workshop on New Evaluation System

The BTU and the BPS will co-sponsor a workshop on the new evaluation system and focus on Goal Setting, Plan Development, and the new online system for collection and presentation of evidence and tracking of one's plan. The workshop will run three separate times, July 17, July 19 and August 9. The time for each presentation is from 9 AM to 1 PM. Please contact Patrick Connolly at 617-288-2000 to register or if you require further information.

Some health insurance copays and deductibles have increased as of July 1 in accordance with the 4-year deal we (and all other city unions) negotiated with the city last year in an agreement that will run through 6/30/2015. You may recall that we negotiated a few changes in our health coverage structure in order to prempt the changes that were about to take place at the state level. The changes at the state level -- which our action has forestalled until 2015 -- will place all public employees in Mass into coverage that more closely parallels the state's GIC plan, which is inferior as well as more more costly than our current city-sponsored array of plans. See here, pages 6 and 7, for a list of changes that took effect in our plan as of July 1. 

Members of Neighborhood Health Plan should have recently received a note describing a rebate process under a federal health insurance law. The notice from NHP is mandated under the  Affordable Care Act but isinapplicable to city employees. Therefore no one in the city's group insurance program who uses NHP (or any other health plan offered by the city) is eligible for the rebate. It would have been preferable for the NHP document to have added the information concerning city employees' ineligibility -- or, even better, to have not sent the notice out at all. Apparently the specific wording of the mandatory notice cannot be amended under federal guidelines. (It's sort of like the Do Not Remove label that comes attached to pillows: remove at your own peril).

If any other health provider sends out this notice, it, too, is irrelevant.

Boston school nurses gathered at the Mildred Avenue School in Mattapan in collaboration with BPS and the Boston Haiti Health Support Team to connect health 

BPS Nurses Serve in Our Community

services and academics in a joint effort on Saturday, June 16 from 10-2. The event was called "Nurses in Your Corner." The BTU sponsored lunch and the T-shirts, and the nurses did the rest. Thank you, BPS nurses, for helping out in our community. You make us proud! 

"...Snowden is a unique school. Our location, rare status as a campus school (operating in  more than five different buildings around Copley Square over the last decade), and our recent success in becoming the only district high school in the BPS that offers the International Baccalaureate all render us a competitive, popular, idiosyncratic, and challenging school to run. The key to Snowden's successes over the past twenty years lies in the tight-knit, supportive faculty and the dedication of so many individuals to our international, college preparatory mission. We, the Faculty Senate of Snowden International, are eager to build on our recent successes with the International Baccalaureate Program and study abroad trips. We look forward to working collaboratively with our next headmaster to further grow our vision of global-mindedness and academic excellence, yet we find it hard to build collaborative spirit when we are entirely left out of the search and hiring process. It is our firm belief and modest request that members of the school's faculty, teachers and support staff alike, as well as students and parents, should be provided opportunities to meet the candidates and given a voice in the selection process. We sincerely hope that such activities can begin immediately and, if the school department does not see fit to do so, that we deserve, at the very least, a prompt, thorough explanation of why we are being excluded..."

Your help is needed. Lots is happening this election cycle! Contact our Political Director, Angela Cristiani, and get involved.

BTU members are canvassing, helping at various campaign headquarters, sign holding, and can attend events to support ourendorsed candidates. We are reaching out to BTU members one by one this election cycle! Check the BTU Facebook page for political events, opportunities to help the candidate of your choice, and up-to-date information.

Join labor activists on July 24 at 4:30 PM at the Ironworkers Local 7 Union Hall (195 Old Coliny Ave, South Boston) for a Labor Walksponsored by the GBLC and AFL-CIO in support of BTU-endorsed Elizabeth Warren. Your help is appreciated. Your voice and activism make a difference!

Visit the BTU website.

Sign up for our e-bulletin. Those who sign up are joining a protected list, which will be used for the purpose of sending these e-bulletins only. The list will not be used for any other purpose.