Good day.
Snow Update…If school is closed on Wednesday, 1/12/11, the union membership meeting is postponed until Wednesday, 1/19/11, by our union by-laws. If school is in session, the membership meeting is on, as scheduled, even if there is an early dismissal.
School Closing Update
We have been promised school-by-school information as to which students in schools-to-be-closed-or-merged will be attending which new school in September, 2011. The information is supposed to be given us on Thursday, 1/13/11. Shortly after we get this information we will again reach out to all schools and schedule a meeting to go over what we know. Meetings with your staff and BTU Reps will help the BTU inform our position at the bargaining table when we do impact bargaining on the school closings.
Please call (or email) the BTU office to schedule a meeting with BTU staff if you want to get a head start on this process. We do have some meetings already scheduled. (Note to BTU Building Reps: Please look for periodic emails from the BTU office that are sent only to you as BTU SPECIAL-e Bulletins. Thank you.)
Contract Negotiations
Negotiations on the Master Bargain continue on the Thursday, January 13th, from 3-8 PM.
Important Dates and Deadlines
January 15th is the deadline for a series of decisions and announcements in our Turnaround Schools. See here.
February 1 and 15 each represent a rollout of deadlines for a variety of programming and assignment activities, including some in pilot schools. See here.
Education in the News:
Using ‘Student Data’ to Rate Teachers is Imperfect At Best, Misleading at Worst
A good piece in the New York Times, “Hurdles Emerge in Rising Effort to Rate Teachers,” suggests that moving quickly in the direction of using ‘value added student data’ may not be the answer.
“For the past three years, Katie Ward and Melanie McIver have worked as a team at Public School 321 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, teaching a fourth-grade class. But on the reports that rank the city’s teachers based on their students’ standardized test scores, Ms. Ward’s name is nowhere to be found.”
” ‘I feel as though I don’t exist,’ ” she said last Monday, looking up from playing a vocabulary game with her students.
“Down the hall, Deirdre Corcoran, a fifth-grade teacher, received a ranking for a year when she was out on child-care leave. In three other classrooms at this highly ranked school, fourth-grade teachers were ranked among the worst in the city at teaching math, even though their students’ average score on the state math exam was close to four, the highest score.”
” ‘If I thought they gave accurate information, I would take them more seriously,'” the principal of P.S. 321, Elizabeth Phillips, said about the rankings. “‘But some of my best teachers have the absolute worst scores,'” she said, adding that she had based her assessment of those teachers on “‘classroom observations, talking to the children and the number of parents begging me to put their kids in their classes.’ ”
Another piece in Rethinking Schools made the same point in this article: “Neither Fair Nor Accurate · Research-Based Reasons Why High-Stakes Tests Should Not Be Used to Evaluate Teachers.”
“Current and former leaders of many major urban school districts, including Washington, D.C.’s Michelle Rhee and New Orleans’ Paul Vallas, have sought to use tests to evaluate teachers. In fact, the use of high-stakes standardized tests to evaluate teacher performance à la VAM has become one of the cornerstones of current efforts to reshape public education along the lines of the free market.”
“On the surface, the logic of VAM and using student scores to evaluate teachers seems like common sense: The more effective a teacher, the better his or her students should do on standardized tests.”
“However, although research tells us that teacher quality has an effect on test scores, this does not mean that a specific teacher is responsible for how a specific student performs on a standardized test. Nor does it mean we can equate effective teaching (or actual learning) with higher test scores.”
“Given the current attacks on teachers, teachers’ unions, and public education through the use of educational accountability schemes based wholly or partly on high-stakes standardized test scores and VAM, it is important that educators, students, and parents understand why, based on educational research, such tests should not be used to evaluate teachers.”
Cash-Starved States, Communities Look to Employees for Bail-Out.
Revenue Part of Equation Gets Overlooked as Tax-Exempt Institutions Get Off Easy…
Cash-starved communities are increasingly looking to employees for cash bail-outs instead of going after other, fairer, sources of revenue. The New York Times recently wrote a piece, entitled, “Strained States Turning to Laws to Curb Labor Unions,” showing how states are seeking to control employee costs:
“State officials from both parties are wrestling with ways to curb the salaries and pensions of government employees which typically make up a significant percentage of state budgets.”
And locally, some cities, based on a Boston Foundation report that blames rising health care costs, have jumped on the bandwagon as well. The Lawrence Eagle Tribune has written a piece headlined, “Money Intended for Students Going Toward Teacher Health Care:”
“Merrimack Valley mayors are calling for reform following the release of a new study showing that state education aid is increasingly going toward teacher health care costs instead of students.”
The Boston Globe has written similar pieces. Wouldn’t it be great to wake up one morning and read the following headline: “Money Going to Tax-Exempt Harvard and Mass General Ought to Go To City Instead.”
Learn more about nonprofit taxation issues …
Union News
BTU Monthly Membership Meeting: January 12
On Wednesday, 1/12, we hold our monthly membership meeting. We will hear a presentation from BSAC, the Boston Student Advisory Committee. We invite BSAC to give us an annual update as to their priorities and concerns. They reciprocate as well, and the BTU visits BSAC once or twice per year.
BTU Elections Committee Notice: Biennial Elections Timeline
- January: Nomination Papers available in BTU office
- February: Nomination of Election Committee at membership meeting (Anyone running for full-time office or Executive Board may not serve on the Election Committee.)
- March: Election Committee receives nomination papers from candidates for all positions at March membership meeting
- March: Nomination papers are validated by Election Committee
- May: 1st Wednesday – Preliminary Election (if necessary)
- June: 1st Wednesday – Final Election
Positions on Ballot:
Full-time:
President; Executive Vice-President; Secretary Treasurer; Political Director; Paraprofessional/Substitute Field Rep.; Elementary Field Rep; Secondary Field Rep.
Other:
Executive Board
Delegate to AFL-CIO, AFT, AFT Massachusetts and Greater Boston Labor Council
SPED Faculty Senate News
John Verre, Assistant Superintendent for Special Education will join us in our regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday, January 20, 2011,from 4:00 to 6:00 PM to hear and discuss concerns regarding upcoming proposed and current changes in SPED. Please join us for this event! All BTU members are invited since we are all impacted by these changes.
Professional Issues Committee
The Professional Issues Committee will meet on Tuesday, January 18th, at the BTU, at 4PM, in the small conference room. All are welcome.
BTU Reps: Please Read your Special E-bulletins
BTU Building Reps are reminded to keep a lookout for e-bulletins created specifically for BTU Reps. It is the only way to get in touch directly and efficiently with you.
Upcoming Events
Seminar on BTU Benefits
The seminar will be held on Wednesday, January 19th, from 4-6. Learn about the BTU contract’s sponsored benefits with Richard Stutman, BTU President including:
* Tax-Sheltered Annuities (403B),
* The Deferred Compensation (457) Plan
* The Health and Welfare Fund
* Sick Leave
* Sick Leave Bank
* Leaves of Absences
* Health Insurance
* Life Insurance, Disability Insurance
* Retirement Planning
* Flexible Spending Plan
Please RSVP here so we can get a reasonable count. Thank you. Refreshments will be served.
BTU Member Presents School Closing Film “ Democracy in Inaction
Filmmaker Robert Lamothe has condensed more than 20 hours of enlightening school closing testimony into a short, moving film. You’ll see strong advocates for public schooling being brushed aside by school committee member indifference, an indifference that manages time and time again to vote unanimously “ always unanimously “ on a variety of issues. View the video here.
In Bob’s words…
TEACH, The People Behind the Curtain – What’s Happening to Our Public Schools, looks at the recent hours of testimony about the closings and the vote by the appointed school committee. It focuses on the school closings and shows the school committee vote of each individual committee person. It also shows testimony from the hearings at English, and a few other things. This segment is entitled “TEACH, The People Behind the Curtain, What’s Happening to Our Public Schools” and is 19 minutes long.
We are looking to begin “TEACH Coffees” at people’s/teachers houses similar to the political coffees that take place in people’s homes gathering together friends, family, and all those concerned with the direction that education is going in this country. We are also going to begin showings at some colleges and universities.
GLSEN Annual Education Retreat
Hello Educators–
As the new year begins, I know you’re all swamped with work. However, I hope you have a couple of minutes to consider GLSEN’s (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) annual Educator Retreat that will run the weekend of January 28 to January 30, 2011 in Provincetown.
What is the retreat?
You might tell yourself that you can’t possibly become a better teacher in three days. Sure, it seems like that kind of feat is long shot at first, but in reality, GLSEN’s annual Educator Retreat will take you through informative and enjoyable workshops and presentations that you will take with you to improve your school. Skills and actions that you will improve upon and learn about include : strategies for building support networks, networking, and coming out.
In addition, you will meet dozens of other educators who, just like you, are interested in bettering their school communities. Plus, when working with GLSEN, you know that you will always be receiving the highest quality of presenters and trainers. All of this in a safe environment.
If you’ve attended the Retreat in the past, we are very pleased to let you know that there will be new workshops this year.
Please use this link for more information and to register.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me, Frank Pantano.
Volunteers Needed for Citywide Science Fair
Current and retired teachers are requested to volunteer for a few hours for registration on Friday, March 4th (from 1 PM to 4 PM) or on Saturday, March 5th for the fair (to volunteer for any block of time between 8 Am and 5 PM). The fair will be held at the Cabot Center at Northeastern University. Please email your name and contact information to Ruth M. O’Day.
This year is the 65th birthday of the Boston Public School Citywide Science Fair.
Obituaries
The BTU is saddened to announce the passing of Yolanda Pokaski, on January 9, 2011, a retired ESL teacher in the Boston Public Schools. Yolanda was also a long-time BTU building rep., and one of our five BTU Health and Welfare Fund trustees. Yolanda Pokaski passed away peacefully at her home in West Roxbury surrounded by her family. Yolanda leaves her husband, Paul,. a recently retired teacher from Madison Park, and two terrific, loving children, Paul Jr. and Julie.
Yolanda was courageous throughout her illness, and left her mark and her spirit in many aspects of union and family life. Yolanda was compassionate and most thoughtful, caring and smart. She worked diligently as a Health and Welfare trustee and quickly grasped the intricacies of that important position. She was most respected for her work in that regard. She also was an extraordinary teacher and mentor to all. More than that, she was a friend to many of us, and we are so saddened by her passing. She leaves a loving family to mourn the loss of a remarkable woman. The Boston Teachers Union sends its most sincere condolences.
Complete details will be available in Tuesday’s papers. Funeral from the William J. Gormley Funeral Home,2055 Centre St. WEST ROXBURY on Thursday January 13th at 10:30 followed by a Funeral Mass in St. Theresa Church at 11:30.
The BTU is also saddened to announce the passing of Mary Anne Bergin-Laxton who passed away Sunday. She had retired from the Blackstone as an early childhood teacher, but had taught in many schools around the city. She was a strong union rep. In the words of one of her colleagues: “No one dared to miss a union meeting at the Blackstone, let alone not come to a rally, walk a picket line, or ever even think of crossing a picket line. She took lots of us under her wing, got lots of people out of all kinds of trouble and advocated for teachers and students, She was a friend to many.” Mary Anne was a life long resident of South Boston and leaves her husband Wayne Laxton and many friends. The Boston Teachers Union sends its most sincere condolences.
The wake will be Thursday, January 13, 2011 from 4 to 8pm at Cassidy-Keaney Funeral Home, 743 East Broadway, South Boston, MA, The Funeral Mass will be on Friday at 10am at Saint Brigid Church, 845 East Broadway (and N Street), South Boston. Burial at Cedar Grove Cemetery.
The BTU Online
Visit the BTU website at www.btu.org.
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.
Sincerely,
Richard Stutman
President
Boston Teachers Union
rstutman@btu.org
617-288-2000