Update on School Closing/Merger Plan
As you may have read, the Black Educators Alliance of Massachusetts (BEAM), has filed a charge seeking to enjoin the School Committee’s December 15 vote to close or merge schools. We support their effort.
We have also been engaged with the School Department in negotiations concerning the assignment rights of teachers and paraprofessionals at the affected schools. Here is an update of those negotiations:
We will be meeting with the School Department to discuss the reorganization at both West Roxbury High School and South Boston High School this Wednesday, March 9. Building representatives from each of the seven small schools will be in attendance. It wasn’t too long ago that these schools were broken down into small schools. Now the department is doing a 180 and consolidating the same schools. Things go full circle, don’t they? We hope to resolve all remaining assignment issues at the schools on Wednesday.
At the Lee Elementary and Lee Pilot schools, the BTU and the school department have reached a tentative agreement. We will be visiting the schools shortly to explain the agreement. We also have an agreement at the East Zone Early Learning Center, and we have been out to the school to explain the terms of the agreement.
At all of the other schools affected “ Gavin, the Engineering School, the Social Justice Academy, the Farragut, the Fifield, the Agassiz, the Emerson, and the Clap “ all staff automatically go to the excess pool, or can transfer. Staff at the Gavin can apply to UP Academy, of course, if they wish. Ditto for the Clap “ staff can apply to remain at the Clap Innovation School if they wish.
Schools that are moving “ Dorchester Academy, Middle School Academy, and CASH “ teachers and paras can move or not move with the school. A letter has gone out to those affected so informing them.
Teachers and paras at the Alighieri, because their school is being absorbed by the Umana, will have a right of first refusal at the Umana.
There are all sorts of nuances to the above. Please call the BTU office, and asked for Caren, Michael or Jenna, or call to schedule a visit and we will be glad to your school.
State and City Collaborate to Give UP Academy Charter $1.5 Million. Are There no Other Deserving Schools?
Last week the state announced that 18 Massachusetts schools would receive $28 million in federal funds through the Federal School Redesign Grant program. The state awarded two Boston grants “ one to the Jeremiah Burke for $1.725 million and one to UP Academy Charter School for $1.5 million. Both applications were initiated and forwarded by the Boston School Department.
That’s great news for these two schools, but there were more than a few heads shaking with this announcement. After all, the School Department chose to nominate UP Academy, even though there are many other deserving, traditional schools that are not getting the “jump start” that UP Academy Charter is getting.
UP Academy, which is trying to make a name for itself nationwide (it hopes to have 20 charter schools in place eventually), will be the recipient of much national attention from the moneyed pro-charter business interests. Why does UP Academy “ to the exclusion of other more needy schools “ deserve another $1.5 million? .
It appears to us that the following schools in Boston were similarly eligible for this $1.5 million: the Umana, Madison Park, the Irving, Brighton High School, Charleston High School, East Boston High School. Granted, choosing one of them may not have been a sexy choice, but to most school observers any of those schools would have been a better choice.
UP Academy Charter appears to be the only non-level 4 school chosen for the grant statewide. A natural question to ask is, why did the district focus on UP Academy? We anxiously await an explanation. But we think we know the answer. And we think you do too.
MA Legislative Hearing on Collective Bargaining Rights for Public Employees for Health Insurance
All day today, Tuesday, March 8 at the State House, there will be a public hearing on whether or not health insurance will continue to be a subject of collective bargaining in Massachusetts.
Public employee groups from around the state have been meeting regularly in an alliance that seeks to retain collective bargaining rights for their members’ health insurance. Last Thursday, city of Boston unions representing close to 90% of the city’s employees met with the city seeking to find mutual ground in settling the issue of health insurance.
What is important to us is threefold:
- reining in skyrocketing healthcare costs;
- creating the fairest system of spreading out those costs; and
- maintaining the right to collectively bargain over co-pays, deductibles, and premiums.
Education in the News
Wisconsin Drama Widens
The Wisconsin story continues, and the damage is spreading. Ohio is poised, as we write, to do what what Wisconsin’s Scott Walker is trying to do. There will be more Ohio’s. Read more.
As worried as we are about the events in Wisconsin, we do take some solace that there has been terrific pushback around the country on the potential loss of collective bargaining rights for public employees.
In fact, a recent poll in the New York Times suggests that ant-union sentiment may not be as bad as people have dreaded. In fact:
“a majority of Americans say they oppose efforts to weaken the collective bargaining rights of public employee unions and are also against cutting the pay or benefits of public workers to reduce state budget deficits . . .”
Finally, to bring a little humor into this climate. Jon Stewart did a funny bit on teachers, and also had a brief interview with Diane Ravitch. You can see the Ravitch interview here, along with another funny bit. Trust me, you will laugh, as Stewart tells teachers that the gravy train is over. “All of us have to sacrifice “ teachers, teachers’ assistants, retired teachers, student teachers…”
Teacher Bashing: It’s All the Rage
The New York Times ran a nice piece on how the teacher bashing around the country has mushroomed:
The jabs Erin Parker has heard about her job have stunned her. ‘Oh you pathetic teachers,’ read the online comments and placards of counterdemonstrators. ‘You are glorified baby sitters who leave work at 3 p.m. You deserve minimum wage.’
‘I love teaching, but I have $26,000 of student debt,’ she said. ‘I’m 30 years old, and I can’t save up enough for a down payment for a house.’ Nor does she own a car. She is making plans to move to Colorado, where she could afford to keep teaching by living with her parents.
Around the country, many teachers see demands to cut their income, benefits and say in how schools are run through collective bargaining as attacks not just on their livelihoods, but on their value to society.
Even in a country that is of two minds about teachers – Americans glowingly recall the ones who changed their lives, but think the job with its summers off is cushy – education experts say teachers have rarely been the targets of such scorn from politicians and voters.
A Contrast in Styles: Growth of charters brings trouble in Fitchburg, complacency in Boston
Fitchburg’s North Central Charter Essential School wants to expand by 50 students, which will cost the city $250,000. As a result, there’s a controversy brewing in Fitchburg.
Meanwhile, in Boston, ten more charter schools are opening, and the total loss to the city for all of our 24+ charters will be $110 million per year. Yes, $110 million! But no school official in Boston seems to be concerned at all. Our appointed School Committee, our Superintendent, and our Mayor are quite happy with the charter school status quo.
Read more about Fitchburg and wonder how much better off we’d be if our own officials cared