BTU Welcomes Superintendent Tommy Chang
The BTU and our more than 10,500 active and retired members formally welcome new Superintendent Tommy Chang! We wish him well and hope to join him as true partners in improving our Boston public schools.
Read an interesting behind-the-scenes article fromCommonwealth Magazine.
Attention: Excessed teachers, those wishing to transfer or those looking at open postings
Those who have been excessed and/or those looking to transfer, please see here for all vacancies now available. Also, see open posted positions at the same location. Please email Michael or Caren with questions. And please email Paul and see below for questions about updating your resume.
Check your seniority here, and email either Caren or Michael if you have any questions on why you have been excessed.
Proposed School Closings Announced
The School Department has announced that it will be proposing a number of school closings: West Roxbury Academy, the Rogers, the Elihu Greenwood, Middle School Academy, and Community Academy. The School Committee is slated to vote on the closings at its meeting on March 25. See a full listing of meetings leading up to the vote. There’s a helpful report in the Bay State Banner.
(The BTU is sponsoring a series of resume workshops in anticipation that people will wish to update their resumes. See below for more. We will also send out a team of people to work with and explain to staff their assignment options in the event of their school’s closing.)
Staff at all of the above schools in transition are encouraged through their building representatives to call the BTU to schedule BTU visits. That process has already begun.
School closings are always a compelling and controversial issue, not only here, but in Chicago as well, where the decision to close 50 schools has had long-term political repercussions. See this article from the New York Times:
“The sky-blue paint has begun to peel on the three-story building that was once Anthony Overton Elementary. Window air-conditioners are speckled with rust. Doors where children used to rush in and out are sealed with plywood.
“The empty shell of this school on Chicago’s largely black South Side stands as a reminder of one of Rahm Emanuel‘s defining acts as mayor: overseeing the closing of nearly 50 public schools deemed underperforming, underutilized or both. It was the largest closing of schools in memory, with many of them in black or Latino neighborhoods…”
BTU Nomination Papers Due
Nomination papers for all positions will be collected on Wednesday, March 11 from 2-6 PM.