Left: BTU President and Mayor Michelle Wu greet students at the 10th Annual Back to School Fair. Right: Councilor Julia Mejia reads “Different Kinds of Hurt: Isaac’s Story” to children at the fair. Thanks to all who came out to our 10th annual Back to School Fair this weekend! Check out our Facebook album for all of the photos.
We hope you all are having a great week! To those that observed Yom Kippur yesterday, we hope that you had an easy fast.
This past weekend, nearly 1,500 students, educators, families and community partners showed up to the Back to School Fair at our union hall to take home some of the 40,000 free books we offered and enjoy food, games, face painting, bounce houses and obstacle courses. The BTU has distributed more than 440,000 free books to the community since the inception of the Back to School Fair ten years ago. When we work together, we can have a powerful impact in our community! We owe a deep gratitude to our staff members Michelle Frank, Brenda Chaney and Katina McClain for spearheading the organizing of this year’s event in addition to other BTU staff and, of course, our incredible volunteers. Check out the full album of pictures on Facebook!
Across the country, we’ve seen a dramatic uptick in school boards banning books, especially those focused on topics that reflect the experiences of our students, families and communities. We’re proud to stand up against these practices and provide our community with culturally relevant and important stories, as well as tips and tools to promote literacy. In partnership with AFT, we continue the mission to ensure every student can explore books that reflect their lived experiences. Check out media coverage and our press release to learn more!
The Back to School Fair was also BTU organizer Katina McClain’s last day at the Boston Teachers Union. She will continue to be in the BTU family as a rank and file member, but has gone back to an educator’s role as an equitable literacy coach in BPS. We wanted to take a moment to thank Katina for incredible work over the last three years at the BTU. She always stepped up when needed, including Saturday, and we will miss her in that role very much! Please contact Organizing Director Natalia Cuadra-Saez until we fill that position.
In last week’s bulletin, we addressed an op-ed published in the Boston Globe opinion section written by the group Educators 4 Excellence that touted a bill they claim would increase educator diversity across the state. The bill they are supporting would dismantle job protections for all teachers and harm the effort to improve educator diversity. To top it off, the op-ed piece featured a picture of our members from a completely unrelated event, implying they endorsed this misguided bill. We coordinated with the teachers from the Lila Frederick school whose images were misused and their response was published in the Globe’s Letter-to-the Editor section. Make sure to give it a read and thank JoDee Hall, Taharri Turner, Shanti Caiazzo, and Kendra Martin for speaking up!The BTU has made increasing educator diversity a priority for the past decade and is supporting the Educator Diversity Act this legislative session. The bill would create a comprehensive statewide accountability system that would remove roadblocks for educators of color to serve their communities without destroying essential job protections for all educators. We were proud to testify on behalf of the bill along with dozens of others who are all a part of a broad coalition supporting this bill.The BTU, AFT and statewide partners will be showing up at the State House again at the Thrive Act hearing on October 4! Do you have a story to share about how school rankings, high stakes testing or state takeovers has negatively impacted your students or school? Do you want to take action in passing the Thrive Act and the new MCAS ballot question? Please complete this form to let us know! Learn more about all of our legislative priorities in a new video featuring members of our political action team and COPE Committee.
We’re thrilled to announce that our Community Contract listening forum is approaching. Our goal is to submit a contract proposal by January of next year and we want to make sure we have input from families, students and community allies so we can all fight for better schools together. Please share this contract survey with your families as well as this flyer. Food, childcare and transportation are available with advanced registration. This is event is targeted at BPS parents so please share it within your schools.
We’d also like to once again remind you to vote for BTU Secretary-Treasurer Karen Cross and Boston Firefighters Local 718’s Michael O’Reilly for the Boston Retirement Board. For more information, please see here! If you have lost your ballot, you can call 866-384-9978 or email Help+Boston@
Every year ONE building rep can be the point person to check on work orders for your school through Asset Essentials, the portal to submit and monitor the progress of facility work orders. Please fill out this form to let us know which building rep will take the point on this this school year. Check out these slides put together by BPS to see a step-by-step guide on how to submit work orders.
The Boston Teacher Union sick leave donation program enrollment will be available from September 5 through October 31. If you would like to join the sick bank, please follow the instructions below and one sick day will be deducted from your accrued balance. To make your donation, navigate to ess.boston.gov, select the “BPS Sick Bank Donation” tile, read and acknowledge the terms and conditions, and click “Submit”. If you would like to withdraw from the sick bank, please request to do so.
The first edition of the BTU Inclusive Education Newsletter is coming out this week. This newsletter will provide you with useful updates, highlights, tools, and resources on a monthly basis. To make sure you receive this newsletter each month, please sign up. If you have ideas to be shared in future editions of the Inclusive Education Newsletter please send them to Katie DeLaRosa.
BTU Events and Announcements
Explicit Writing in K-12 Virtual Edcamp: September 26, 5:00-7:00PM
Let’s join together for an Edcamp to talk about how to support students and educators. The Telescope Network is hosting a virtual Edcamp on Zoom, where the main topic for discussion will be: what explicit teaching moves support our students in becoming engaged and empowered writers? Teachers, paras, and other educators can share questions and challenges, connect with colleagues from across the district, and discuss solutions. Participants will earn 2 PD hours. Register and help spread the word!
Power Saturdays – Build your Leadership and Knowledge Skills: Applications due October 1
Power Saturdays are a monthly day to connect, learn, and grow our power together through three unique year-long learning and leadership development opportunities. Choose the stipend or credit opportunity that’s right for you, and chart your path to building our collective power and your own leadership. Check out the flyer and our website for more details on these great opportunities. The deadline to apply is October 1st and all programs begin October 14th and then the first Saturday of each month thereafter.
NEW- Community Contract Forum: October 3, 6:00-7:30PM
Union contract negotiations are an opportunity to improve our schools. Join us for an important conversation on what changes we want to see in our schools. Register now!
NEW- Thrive Act Hearing at State House: October 4
The Thrive Act would end MCAS as a graduation requirement and end state takeover practices, such as receivership. Join us at the state house on the afternoon/evening of October 4 for a Thrive Act hearing! Do you have a story to share about how school rankings or state takeover has harmed your school? Do you want to take action in passing the Thrive Act? Please complete this form to let us know!
Para 101: October 5 & 26
Para 101 is about building a community of paras who are knowledgeable about their rights and are aware of the support and strategies that they can use to build stronger relationships with students and teachers in the classroom. This is a two-part session. We will also be discussing our contract, and our goals for the next bargaining session. Learn more and register here!
Paraprofessional Informational Meeting & Resource Fair: October 18, 5:00-7:00PM
Come join us for important information and great resource materials from colleges, housing agencies AND MORE! You can register here.
BTU Fall Conference: October 20 – 22
Join us for the BTU Fall Conference at the Omni Providence Hotel! Our theme is BTU Building Blocks: Together and United as One. Open and free to all building reps and member leaders! Deadline to register is October 2. Register today at btu.org/fallconference.
NEW- Political Action Updates
It’s election season! Make sure to check out our BTU-endorsed candidates for City Council, and sign up to phone bank.
Faculty Senate Trainings
In order to proactively solve work site problems we truly believe in strong Faculty Senates! Is your Faculty Senate collaborative and inclusive? Is your Faculty Senate a place where members feel safe to problem solve? Join us for a Faculty Senate training this year to learn more about how to run a faculty senate that truly helps move the work forward!
NEW- Para Pro Assessment Prep Class
Gain study skills, access to online resources, BPS coaches and testing experts. Individualized coaching and office hours available! Register now.
Lit with Lea is back for the 2023-2024 school year!
Last year Lea read to over 100 classrooms and is excited to do it again! If you would like the opportunity to have your class have a reading visit from Lea please do so by signing up here!
NEW- BTU Homework Helper Program
The Boston Teachers Union has co-sponsored the Homework Helper Program with the Mayor’s Office and the Boston Public Library for 19 years. We have a BTU member at each library that is open late, one or two nights a week (Copley four nights), to help any child who is need of help with their homework. See the full schedule of locations.
Unafraid Educators Meetings
Unafraid Educators, BTU’s immigrants’ rights committee, is meeting the second Monday of each month from 4:30 – 6 p.m. on Zoom. Please join us!
Professional Learning & Development Updates
- AFT Member Benefit Virtual Workshops
- Bilingual Education Certificate Cohort 5 at Boston College
- Asynchronous Spanish for BPS Educators: Fall 2023
- ERAFANS Outdoor Teacher Retreat
- EL Education Planning Cohort for Gr 3-6 ELA & ESL Teachers
- NAEP 2024 Job Opportunity
- Mentoring For Professional Licensure
- SLIFE Edcamp
- Secondary Open Up Math Unit Virtual Previews
- K0-2 Planning Cohort
Community News & Events
Shore up your spirit and refill your inner calm at our wellness restorative retreat at a local organic farm. You’ll be able to connect with nature and foster community with like minded folks. A great way to rejuvenate and start off the year feeling refreshed. For more information, please visit ourfirecollective.org.NEW- El Grito De Lares: September 30
Join members of the Teacher Activist Group for food, art, a film screening of “El Antillano”, and more at the Boston Liberation Center from 12-4pm on Saturday. Learn about the untold history of the Afro-Caribbean revolutionary Ramón Emeterio Betances and the fight against colonialism in Puerto Rico and across the Caribbean today!
Do you know anyone who wants to become a teacher? Massachusetts is offering a $25,000 a year scholarship for each year of study to help the cost of education at a state college or university. The scholarship also applies to a Master’s degree. The recipient must agree to teach a year for each year they received the scholarship or it converts to a loan. The deadline to apply is Oct. 1.
The BTU has once again signed up to fight breast cancer and you can, too! Are you ready to join our team, BTU Walkers, and participate in the American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event happening this October? Together we will raise money and awareness to save lives from breast cancer, and have a great time celebrating at the event this fall. You can join the team by visiting the team page for the BTU Walkers, or Brenda Chaney’s personal page.NEW- Our Schools, Our Communities, Our Voices: October 7
This public event organized by BPS brings together teachers, students and families affiliated with Hub Schools to focus on introducing Equitable Literacy definitions, resources, and partners to achieve evidence-based support for these communities. The event is happening at the Bolling Building in Roxbury, pre-register to secure dinner and childcareNEW- Hopewell Organization: RISE Program
The RISE program pairs experienced educators with children in the Massachusetts foster care system. The Educator specialist will work in person with youth from kindergarten through 3rd grade, their caregivers and school personnel to ensure that they are receiving the services they deserve and reaching their academic goals. If you are interested in this program please email Peter Newman.
Donations to Support a Member in Need
One of our members from the Blackstone Elementary community, Haven Daniels, tragically lost their home and most of their family possessions to a fire last week. The Blackstone community is asking for financial support by accepting donations through Venmo; you can send contributions to @NikkiMcMaster.