We hope you all had a restful weekend despite the high temperatures. Over the weekend, we advocated both to the superintendent and directly to the Commissioner for relief from the heat wave. We do not think that it is safe or healthy for so many of our students to be in schools without AC resulting in temperatures above 80 and even 90 degrees, especially while students and staff have masks on. We certainly do not think it was appropriate for students sitting in these conditions to take the MCAS test, either. We responded to calls all day yesterday to ensure there was enough water, fans and cups to help schools that needed them and monitored the broken AC situation at the Horace Mann/Jackson Mann. We thank the operations team for their attention to our calls.
The options for the extreme heat were for the district to 1) call a “heat” day, which then would need to be made up like a “snow day” on June 21 or 2) call for an early release as many other districts did (which may also result in an extra day if the 990 hours required by DESE-prorated for the 170 days-has not yet been met), and 3) postpone the administration of the MCAS – which DESE did allow for. Better yet, MCAS should have been canceled altogether, which DESE, unfortunately, did not allow for. The district has made MCAS testing optional for today. We will continue to advocate that federal funding be used to retrofit schools long-term with HVAC and AC, as this continues to be both a climate change resiliency issue and a health issue.
Thank you to everyone who voted in the BTU election last week! Nearly 3,000 members voted this year, a 15% increase from 2019’s election. You can see the full list of results on our website, but we’d like to take a moment to highlight the fact that you elected the most diverse council in our 76-year history. The Executive Board is now over 50% women and people of color and has an increase in members from the paraprofessionals unit.
The last membership meeting of this school year is tomorrow, Wednesday, June 9 at 4:30 p.m. Please see the tentative agenda. We will be voting on our initial master contract package tomorrow! You can find a copy for review in advance in the member portal.d
As usual, please register in advance. Please note, we will be sharing and approving the initial master contract package at this meeting! Quick reminders for registering:
- Please remember that you must register at least one hour in advance, or you will not receive a link.
- Each link is unique and cannot be shared.
- Links are sent after your registration and membership status are verified – please do not register multiple times if you do not immediately receive a link.
- Remember to include your exact BPS ID# in order to expedite approvals. If you are retired or don’t have an ID# for another reason, please enter “000000″.
- Please make sure that you have updated your Zoom account with the latest update before the meeting in order to avoid complications with your link.
The application deadline to become a BTU Summer Organizing Union Leader (SOUL) is June 16th. We hope you will consider this fantastic opportunity to learn more about organizing and get further involved in our union activities. Our Summer Organizing Institute (SOI) is June 28 – 29 as well, where over four sessions we will Freedom Dream about the future of our school communities. See the Events and Announcements Section for more information on both of these opportunities, which are open to all BTU members, both retired and in-service.
We have an exciting update about the AFT TEACH conference; the keynote speaker will be first African-American female major-party gubernatorial nominee and voting rights activist Stacy Abrams! As a reminder, BTU members can attend this conference for free by attending at least 5 sessions to get registration reimbursed. See the whole line up and register online today.
Don’t forget: Do we have your correct mailing address on file? It is important to us that we are able to reach all of our members by phone, mail or email. If you did not receive a mail-in ballot, it may have been because your address is not updated! Please check here to make sure we have your correct information.