Published On: October 27, 2015

Good day. This past Saturday, President Obama announced a new infinitive that might lead to a cap on standardized testing. Check out the following excerpt from this New York Times article:

“Faced with mounting and bipartisan opposition to increased and often high-stakes testing in the nation’s public schools, the Obama administration declared Saturday that the push had gone too far, acknowledged its own role in the proliferation of tests, and urged schools to step back and make exams less onerous and more purposeful.
 
“Specifically, the administration called for a cap on assessment so that no child would spend more than 2 percent of classroom instruction time taking tests. It called on Congress to “reduce over-testing” as it reauthorizes the federal legislation governing the nation’s public elementary and secondary schools…”

The devil will be in the details, and therefore many observers greeted the news with restrained glee, taking a wait and see approach. Even were this to come to fruition, the bell of high-stakes consequences cannot be un-rung. Years of high stakes standardized testing and endless classroom preparatory hours have already caused havoc and pain with children, schools, and staff. Still, this is a positive move, and we welcome the debate that will follow.

This weekend we held our annual Building Rep Conference in Dedham, and more than 140 representatives and school leaders attended the 1.5 day conference. There’ll be more to report in the upcoming BTU newspaper.

BPS Superintendent Tommy Chang spoke on Sunday, and we will invite him to the BTU to speak at an upcoming membership meeting. We will give plenty of notice for this yet-to-be-scheduled event.
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Please read this special note to grade 6, 7, and 8 teachers in ELT Schedule A schools. The following issue has arisen:

Secondary teachers in traditional schools are obligated to teach up to 240 minutes per day or 1,200 per week. Add to that 40 additional teaching minutes per day, and our teachers can work up to 280 minutes per day maximum. At one of our schools in this category, some teachers are teaching 300 minutes per day, ostensibly because the schedule “cannot be made to work.” The schedule has to work. And these teachers cannot be asked to teach more than 280 minutes per day. We have filed a grievance on this matter, and should you fall into this category, we ask that you speak with the appropriate field representative.

Notwithstanding the above, if you are a secondary teacher in a Schedule A ELT school, you are entitled to five 48-minute P&D periods per week, PLUS another 35-minute P&D block (either a solid block of time or seven minutes per day for five days) per week — PLUS another 40 minute block of planning and discussion time that is facilitated by a BTU colleague. All of the above requirements are independent of one other.

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Tonight at the BTU at 6 PM we are holding a meeting for all athletic coaches in order to develop a negotiating package for the  upcoming negotiations. All coaches are invited to attend. There’ll be food, and we expect the meeting to last more than 90 minutes. See you then.

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