The expansion of inclusion programs in BPS took several turns last week. First, the district informed elementary schools that grades 5 and 6 would no longer be included in the rollout in SY 25-26, and the only new grades would be grades 1, 2, 8 and 10. We see this delay as a reluctant acknowledgement by the district that their current plan for inclusion is unworkable and the union’s consistent advocacy for more appropriate staffing is bearing fruit.

Second, a wildly unrealistic timeline was issued for Inclusion Planning Teams to fulfill their contractual obligation to determine recommendations for staffing, and to provide those recommendations to the School Site Council before the winter break. The BTU has advocated to allow those meetings with the SSC to happen in the new year, and the district has acknowledged that may be necessary. We strongly encourage all IPTs to meet this week if possible, with an eye to meeting with your school site council in early January and providing your staffing recommendations for new inclusion grade levels at that time.

Meanwhile, the BTU negotiating team had requested information about how many general education teachers were required to have multiple licenses, and after waiting over two weeks, were told: “We do not require any general education teachers to have a second license, the position and classroom would have to be coded for inclusion for us to require the special education license.” This flies in the face of the reality that teachers in BPS face every single day, and the rhetoric the BTU has heard for years from BPS, that all general education classrooms are also inclusion classrooms, and is an absurd response to a request that clearly should have been understood by both parties. The gaslighting inherent in this response is a slap in the face to the hundreds of teachers who have been told they need to get a second license or lose their job. It also demonstrates an admission from the district that general education classrooms should NOT require teachers to get two licenses. If all parties agree this is the reality, let’s see it IN WRITING in the contract. The BTU negotiating team awaits a response to our important information request, and we hope to receive the information soon.

Clarification on IEP Forms Memo

At the end of November, BPS shared a memo that directs educators to stop using annual review forms prior to IEP meetings. This guidance is a reduction in the variety and amount of submitted reports prior to the meeting. The memo instructs educators to:

• No longer use forms, including the New Annual Review form, Re-evaluation Form, Proposed Goal Planning Form, or Original / Initial Evaluation Form, and
• Complete an IEP Progress Report on EdPlan for a student’s annual review meeting or 3-year re-evaluation meeting. In EdPlan, these Progress Reports will be completed under “Reporting Period 5”, and will be shared with the family two days prior to the IEP team meeting date to provide sufficient time for their review.

This change is in alignment with the new MA IEP process where the team should collaborate to write a strong IEP that is grounded in data on student strengths and needs. If you have questions, your Coordinator of Special Education (CoSE) and/or Special Education Assistant Director can assist you.

Walk-ins and Negotiation Session Recap

Last week, 30 schools across the city participated in our latest round of walk-ins to continue our collective call on the district to settle a FAIR CONTRACT NOW! Since the beginning of the school year, the BTU has coordinated walk-ins every morning ahead of contract negotiation sessions later that night. These demonstrations have garnered significant news coverage, grabbed the attention of BPS management, and strengthened solidarity in school buildings across the city.

Later that night, the BTU Negotiating team met for the 30th collective bargaining session with BPS management since negotiations began at the end of February. The BTU Negotiating team presented a refined list of priorities to the district which represent the remaining issues that need to be addressed before an agreement can be reached. Some of the priorities include: the district’s policy of forced double licensure, an adequate wage increase, school safety protocols, ABA strand class size, salary, and providing accurate work hours and salary expectations to employees by the first day of the school year.

As of right now, we are scheduled to resume negotiations on January 16th and January 23rd. Please let us know if you are able to attend these sessions.

Retirement Plus updates and next steps

The BTU has been working with local partners for more than six years to correct a failure in state policy which has penalized some of our members.

In 2001, Massachusetts introduced the Teachers’ Alternate Retirement Plan (TARP) or Retirement Plus, an enhanced retirement option for teachers. All educators hired after July 1, 2001 were automatically enrolled in the new program, but current educators had only six months to opt in. A complicated process and confusing branding meant that many educators didn’t properly enroll, or thought they were enrolled when they really weren’t. As a result, several thousand educators will have to work for 3-5 years longer to earn the maximum retirement benefit.

The Retirement Plus bill would allow current non-TARP educators to opt into the enhanced TARP retirement benefits that current employees receive, by paying the difference between what they’ve paid in deductions since 2001 and what they would have paid if they had opted in at the time.

The BTU and its partners have put together a letter writing template, which you can access here, to address to your state Senator to urge them to support this critical legislation.

Acknowledgements and celebrations

We would like to congratulate BTU member Raquel Jacobson-Peregrino, an environmental science teacher at Boston Latin School, for receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from the TAG (Talented and Gifted) Association at the 35th Annual El Jolgorio Navideno celebration!

We would also like to congratulate the Bradley Elementary School for being recognized as a 2024 National ESEA Distinguished School in the category of exceptional student achievement.

Each year, DESE nominates just two schools across the Commonwealth for this national recognition. The Distinguished School program recognizes schools, which receive federal funds, whose students perform at very high levels, make significant progress in closing the achievement gap, or demonstrate excellence in serving special populations of students. You can read the full press release from BPS here.

Congratulations to the 10 BTU members who recently earned their National Board Certification and congratulations as well to the six BTU members who secured their Maintenance of Certification. National Board Certification is the highest certification a K-12 teacher can obtain in the U.S. You can see the full list of names here!

As a contractual benefit, BTU Teachers who achieve National Board Certification receive a 4% differential on their regular salary and upon certification are reimbursed for the costs of pursuing. If you are interested in exploring certification, check out the BTU/BPS National Board Program

Finally, we would like to congratulate the Chelsea Teachers’ Union for reaching a Tentative Agreement with the city school committee. You can read about their fight and what they won in negotiations on their website.