We hope you all are having a nice week, and to those who are celebrating Rosh Hashanah, we wish you a sweet New Year!
We had a wonderful time at our 9th annual Book Fair this weekend, where students, families and educators took advantage of the 40,000 books that we were able to give away through a partnership with First Book, AFT and the BTU. Thank you to all who made this fair possible, including both our staff and volunteers, and to our special guests, including Mayor Wu, BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper, Chief of Schools Drew Echelson, Councilor Julia Mejia and Councilor Kenzie Bok.
Our Back to School BTU Party is this Friday! Stop by between 3 and 8 p.m. at the IBEW Hall in Dorchester. We will have food and a cash bar. The party is open to all BTU members. Make sure to rock your school spirit! Registration appreciated for planning purposes, but not required.
We’ll be holding a Student Debt Clinic for AFT members next Tuesday, October 4 at 4:30 p.m. Staff from the BPS Office of Human Capital will be onsite to help answer questions and sign on forms that are needed for student debt cancellation. You can join us in-person at the BTU Hall or online on Zoom. Register here!
The BTU is recruiting new members for our Committee on Political Education (COPE). The COPE committee recommends candidates who are campaigning for an elected office to be endorsed by the BTU after reviewing their questionnaire then interviewing them. Please fill out this form if you are interested in participating. The BTU President appoints members to the committee. Priority is given to members who live in Allston/Brighton and East Boston where we need more representation.
Don’t forget: Our merch store is live Visit BTUSwag to purchase new *long sleeve* t-shirts, and keep an eye out for more coming soon.
Lastly, we are heartbroken to share that yesterday, we learned that BTU Executive Board member and nurse-activist Cheryl Kelly passed away. Recently retired, she has been a leader in the BTU for decades and continued to serve on our current board. We do not have more details to share at the moment, but will send a special bulletin when we do.