Happy Summer! We can’t believe the school year is just a few short weeks away. We hope you are enjoying every last minute of it, and return refreshed and re-energized. We appreciated the opportunity to welcome back BPS school leaders and BTU teacher-leaders with the mayor and new superintendent at the August Leadership Institute, and look forward to seeing everyone who can make it to the Teacher Summer Institute coming up next week. It’s not too late to register!
Over the summer we have been very busy advocating for more state funding for Boston Public Schools. Although, the budget passed this summer included an increase of $268M of state aid, Boston will see only about $2-3M of it. That is about $35-$50 per student. This is insufficient and any legislation released in the fall MUST help Boston, too. We need everyone to sign a postcard, make calls and/or write their legislators to support provisions in the Promise Act that will help Boston get the funding our students deserve.
As we continue to strengthen our union, build power and advocate for the schools our students deserve, we are looking to hire 6 part-time Member Organizers. Member Organizers will help foster a culture of organizing, member engagement and activism among a broad base of BTU members and allies. They will receive training and coaching on the basics of effective organizing. Training sessions will take place on August 28 and 29, after which Member Organizers work a minimum of 10 hours a month, outside of regular work hours. APPLICATIONS ARE DUE FRIDAY!
It is also important that we welcome and invite all new BPS educators to learn more about the BTU and get involved in our work. We are asking members to sign up to volunteer at the Teacher Summer Institute and New Teacher Institute on August 20-21.
To help support our new and returning Building Reps, on September 3 and 7, we will hold Building Rep training sessions. While the orientation is focused on new members, all Building Reps are welcome to attend. Enroll online. Look out for Building Rep Toolkits, arriving in your mailboxes soon. The BTU Leadership conference for all reps and member-activists will take place October 18-20. Please save the dates!
Finally, save the date for our annual Back to School Fair, which will be on September 21 at the BTU. We are looking for as many volunteers as we can get as we distribute tens of thousands of books! Please contact Brenda if you can help out.
NB: Beginning August 27, we will resume the weekly e-bulletins. See you soon!