As negotiations continue, we continue our advocacy this school year for the Schools Our Students Deserve. We laid out a few of our top priorities in a Boston Globe Op-Ed published last week. We also met last week with members of the Boston Delegation legislators to continue to advocate for full funding. Our hope is that they will join us in advocating for a supplemental budget that fully funds charter reimbursements as well as the special ed circuit breaker funds that would bring immediate assistance to BPS students and schools. With a $1 billion surplus, there is no excuse for a deficit budget.
Over the weekend, dozens of members joined the BTU team to walk in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event Sunday. Thank you to everyone who joined and to BTU Community Liaison Brenda Chaney for coordinating our team. If you missed the opportunity to participate, you can still donate to the cause on the BTU Walkers Team Page or at the BTU Welcome Back Party coming up on Saturday, October 13 from 7-11 PM at the Dedham Hilton.
We will also be holding our BTU Fall Leadership Conference that weekend from October 12-14. Tomorrow is the last day to register! The conference and party are free to all BTU members. There are over a dozen workshops, and guest speakers including union leader Tega Toney from the West Virginia #RedforEd teacher strike, AFT-MA President Beth Kontos, Interim Superintendent Laura Perille and several community and civic leaders. Please see below for more details or visit btu.org/brconference to register and learn more.
Last week the School Committee also shared that co-chairs of BPS superintendent search will be Alexandra Oliver-Davila, current School Committee member and Executive Director of Sociedad Latina, and Keith Motley, former Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Boston. The full search committee will be announced this week, with community forums planned before a job posting is scheduled for the end of November. The goal of the timeline shared is to have a new superintendent by the start of the 2019-2020 school year. We will continue to monitor the process and share opportunities for BTU educators to weigh in.
Join us at our next membership meeting next Wednesday, October 10 at 4:30 PMto hear the latest updates on the search process, as well as Build BPS.
Thank you and have a great week.