Polls in Boston Open 7am-8pm!!

Today is election day and the polls in Boston are open from 7am to 8pm. If you’re a registered Boston voter, you can find your nearest polling station here. The BTU membership has voted to endorse the following candidates for office:

Mayor:

• Mayor Michelle Wu

At-Large Candidates:

• City Council President & Councilor at-Large Ruthzee Louijeune (Incumbent)
• Marvin Mathelier (First-Time Candidate)
• Councilor at-Large Julia Mejia (Incumbent)
• Councilor at-Large Henry Santana (Incumbent)

City Council District Candidates:

• District 1 Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata (Incumbent)
• District 2 Councilor Ed Flynn (Incumbent)
• District 3 Councilor John FitzGerald (Incumbent)
• District 4 Councilor Brian Worrell (Incumbent)
• District 5 Councilor Enrique Pepen (Incumbent)
• District 6 Councilor Ben Weber (Incumbent)
• District 7 Candidate: Rev. Miniard Culpepper

The mayoral race tends to draw the most attention each election cycle. Mayor Wu no longer has a challenger in this race, but there are multiple competitive contests which will determine Boston’s next City Council. Our schools are better places to work and learn when we have allies in City Hall who will advocate for educators and Boston’s students.

EVERY VOTE COUNTS. If you need a reminder, then refer back to 2019. City Councilor At-Large Julia Mejia, who has become a powerful advocate for our students and communities, won her election in a recount by ONE VOTE.

Monday marked the start of National School Psychologist Week. Thank you to our members who shared some great ideas on how to show appreciation for the school psychologist(s) in your building. Please complete this shoutout form to support your school psychologist. The shoutouts will be read aloud at the Behavioral Health weekly meeting, so don’t hesitate to show some love! Read more at BostonSchoolPsychs.com

Federal Update

As of Monday night, the federal government is still locked in a shutdown. For more than 30 days, millions of Americans who rely on federal paychecks or federal assistance programs have started their day in a state of uncertainty. A federal judge based in Massachusetts ruled over the weekend that the Trump administration is legally obligated to continue funding the federal food assistance program known as SNAP. The administration responded Monday with a commitment to only partially fund their commitments to state food programs.

Let’s be clear here, the federal government has a reserve fund set aside specifically for these types of situations. The Trump administration has the money and authority to continue to support food assistance programs, yet officials said Monday it would only provide about half of the money they have on hand.

Many of our students and some fellow BTU members rely on the SNAP program for food. The BTU is hosting a food drive at next week’s membership meeting. If you are able to attend the membership meeting on November 12th (4:30-6:30 at the BTU) please consider bringing non-perishable foods. The BTU will collect these items and coordinate a drop-off with a local food bank.

Last Tuesday, Mayor Michelle Wu delivered a first-ever State of the Schools address. In the speech the Mayor announced a new program to provide before and after school care in our schools, beginning with Boston’s 20 Community Hub Schools. We applaud this initiative, and the BTU strongly believes the Hub School model is the best investment this city can make to improve the prospects of students. The Mayor also highlighted new investments in our school buildings.  The City of Boston and BPS have opened three brand new school buildings in the past three years, and cut the ribbon on significant renovations on three others. This represents a much-needed start on bringing our schools into the 21st century. At the same time, we are concerned about the possibility that the momentum will stall — and now more than ever we need to continue to prioritize new buildings and significant renovations, because too many of our students continue to learn in dilapidated school buildings.

We look forward to learning more details about Mayor Wu’s plans to improve the quality of our school buildings as well as the programmatic offerings available to ELL students and those with special needs. Read the BTU’s full response to the State of the City speech here.

BTU Charter School Contract Updates

This past Thursday BTU members at the Neighborhood House Charter School held another informational picket before the start of the school day. Educators and staff at NHCS have been diligently working over the past year to secure a fair contract which best serves the NHCS community and its staff. Negotiations have been productive but there’s been some recent friction over the issue of staff pay. BTU charter school educators don’t receive the same benefits as BPS employees. They work longer hours for less pay, yet they continue to show up each day for their students because they are committed to their school communities. They’ve been fighting hard and welcome any support you can give. Stay tuned for updates on negotiations.

BTU Events and Announcements

Safe Routes to School Training Program:
The City of Boston is hosting a training for educators who work with 2nd and 3rd graders to provide guidance on how to discuss pedestrian safety with students. This 30-45 minute pedestrian safety lesson covers 1) how to cross streets and intersections safely, 2) parking lot safety, and 3) outdoor bus safety. If you’re interested, then please schedule a visit here.

Questions? Please reach out to samantha.veth@boston.gov

Volunteer to get Rent Control on the ballot!
Do you want to limit rent increases to 5% per year so that you and your students can afford to live in Boston? Sign up here to gather signatures for the rent control ballot initiative with fellow BTU members from the Housing Justice Committee! No experience needed, all are welcome! Be on the lookout for signature petitions at your school building.

Support the law to reform Retirement Plus
We are so close to passing a long overdue reform to a public retirement system benefit that has unintentionally been inaccessible to thousands of public school educators. Join the BTU and AFT MA in a social media campaign to show your state Senator just how important passing R+ this session is to thousands of dedicated educators across MA. Download a “Support a fair fix for R+” graphic (yellow or blue) and post it to your social media this week from 11/3-11/7.

ABA Working Group Survey and Meetings
The ABA Working Group has released a survey for ALL ABA Classroom Teachers to take! This survey will be administered this Fall, Winter, and Spring as a way of gathering data around class sizes/ratios, missed, services and more, and will also be administered to other districts. Please fill out this survey by Friday, October 31st! The next ABA Working Group meeting is on Monday, October 20th from 5:00-6:00pm on Zoom, and then every other Monday at the same time. Please email Madison Kronheim (madisonkronheim@icloud.com) for the Zoom link.

Join the AFT MA/BTU Latino Caucus
Interested in joining the AFT MA/BTU Latino Caucus? Please fill out the interest form at tinyurl.com/LatinxPower

DESE Seeking Feedback on Inclusive Practices

The MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is revising the Educator Effectiveness Guidebook for Inclusive Practices. This is an opportunity to provide feedback on the Guidebook, highlight what works, and suggest what’s needed to better support inclusive instruction. Your input will directly inform how DESE strengthens this tool to meet the needs of educators and students across the Commonwealth. Please fill out this form to provide feedback virtually. 

NEW AFT MA Fall Conference: November 22nd, 8:30am-2pm

Join leaders, Building Reps and rank-and-file members from across AFT Massachusetts for the AFT Massachusetts Fall Conference! There will be workshop offerings on growing membership density, role of building reps, safe school communities for immigrants, how to create a rapid response and mobilization structure, and more! Register today: AFT Massachusetts Fall Conference · AFT

Petition for Bilingual Programming

Boston parents, educators, and community members are signing this petition to ask the Mayor to make a 10 year plan to ensure every student in Boston Public Schools has access to home language classroom support and high-quality bilingual programs in the city’s major languages. Please sign and share!

Support a state ban on Facial Recognition Technology:
Facial recognition technology gives the government unprecedented power to track our every move. Massachusetts must pass S.1053 (An Act to implement the recommendations of the special commission on facial recognition technology) to protect residents from unchecked surveillance and potential federal overreach under the Trump administration. This legislation implements balanced reforms that safeguard civil liberties while maintaining public safety capabilities. Learn more here.

On the Line Labor History Course:
This course, called “Let Them Tremble: Power, Crisis, and Opportunity in the Labor Movement,” is a 3 week virtual class on labor history in the US, and the lessons we can learn to build a fighting labor movement that can oppose the Trump administration’s attacks on all of our rights! The course is free to take, and you can sign up and access course materials HERE.  Please also join us on November 6, from 6:30-8:30pm, at the BTU Hall, for a screening and discussion of Class 2: RSVP here!

NEW DATE Student Debt clinic Update: Rescheduled to December 4th
Join us for our rescheduled date Thursday, December 4th at 5:00 or register for the October 29 AFT National clinic at https://go.aft.org/DebtClinicWebinar. Thank you and apologies for the inconvenience!

Reviewing support systems for Multilingual students in BPS

The Council of Great City Schools is reviewing the district’s support for Multilingual Learners. BPS is seeking ESL, bilingual, Special education and general education teachers and paraprofessionals. For more information on how to register, please use this link.

Save the Date: BTU Kwanzaa! Celebration on Dec. 12th from 5:30pm-8pm
The BTU will be continuing the tradition of hosting a Kwanzaa! celebration for members at our hall. Save the date and keep an eye out for more details soon!

ALC Course February 3, 2026 – April 26, 2026 6:30 – 8:00PM

Spanish for BPS Educators is an Introductory Spanish Course geared towards adult learners in BPS to learn enough Spanish to welcome Spanish-speaking families and students into the BPS Community. Curriculum is focused on Boston schools and community and 1 ALC will be provided at end of course for students who meet course requirements. Contact jcaldarone@bostonpublicschools.org for more information.

Professional Learning & Development Updates

Each week, we have many new and exciting Professional Learning & Development opportunities to share with you. You can find a full description of each listing on our Professional Learning & Development Updates Page.

• SY 2025-2026 Annual Notice for State Required Assessments
• ODA Back to School PD Calendar Fall 2025
• LAS Links Training Sessions – Fall SY25-26
• MFA Boston “World Religions in Art” Program Series
• Friends of the Boston Schoolyard Newsletter
• Math Working Group
• Telescope Network: Elementary IM Learning Site: October 30th, 10am-3:30pm
• Language and Power summit 2: Nov 19th, 4-7 pm
• Implementing the Stations Model for SLIFE Classrooms
• Early Childhood Inclusive Practices Learning Cohort Sessions 2: Centers and Stations – Nov 5th, 5:30-7:00PM

Community Events

Friends of the Boston Schoolyard Newsletter

The Friends of the Boston Schoolyard is an organization that supports outdoor learning in the BPS. We publish a seasonal newsletter that highlights the work of outdoor learning that is happening in the BPS as well share information about other organizations that support outdoor learning. Link: https://conta.cc/3VnDyTL

Thank You for Reading

Please send your comments and questions to us at bulletin@btu.org, or call the BTU at 617-288-2000.