Good day. We hope your summer is going well. We continue to extend our invitation to you to fill out an application (short and sweet) to become a member of the collective bargaining committee. See the end of this section.
We would like to explain the opening of school schedule in more detail: Wednesday, September 2: Teachers and paras have the option of reporting to school and working on room set up and preparation for six hours OR, instead, teachers and paras can do these same six hours anytime, cumulatively, from August 15 through September 2. The choice is up the individual. This 6 hour block — regardless of how it’s done — counts as one full day of service towards the 183 owed in traditional schools. If you choose to do your six hours from 8/15 through 9/2, you have to let your administrator know when you did those hours.
Thursday, September 3: All staff, teachers and paras, report for 6 hours, the first 30 minutes of which is union-sponsored time during which BTU building representatives will run an information session, and the last 5 hours and 30 minutes of which the administrator will use for PD.
What if you cannot attend school on Thursday, September 3?Pursuant to the newly-negotiated agreement that changes the start date of the beginning of the upcoming school year, please note that if you had made plans prior to May 13, 2015 (vacation, travel, and so on) and are NOT available for work on September 3, then you are able to make up that day’s work prior to October 30, 2015 without loss of compensation. Simply submit some evidence of your prior plans to your school administrator. If you have any questions, please email Caren, Michael, or Josefina.
Friday, September 4: No school for anyone
Monday, September 7: Labor Day, no school for anyone
Tuesday, September 8: First day of school for students, except Kindergarten students
Thursday, September 10: First day of school for Kindergarten students
See the official BPS school calendar.
A few reminders:
Salary Schedules: The same salary in effect in June will be in effect through 10/31/15, at which point a 3% across-the-board salary increase will kick in. See both current and new schedules.
ELT (Schedule A) schools: If you are working in a school newly-designated as a Schedule A school, your salary (teacher) will increase an additional $4464 yearly and will be subject to the yearly salary adjustment negotiated. This money will be spread out over your paycheck schedule and will be retirement worthy. All paraprofessionals who are assigned to an ELT school will receive an additional 40 minutes pay at their contractual hourly rate and will work the additional 40 minutes.
Itinerant staff who are assigned to ELT schools will work the 40 minutes on the days they are assigned and their salary will be prorated to reflect that. Disputes as to how itinerants are scheduled and paid will be resolved prior to September 30 by a 3-person panel.
Please note: Itinerant staff (OT, PT, SLP, Nurses, and the like) who work in ELT schools are to receive their 2015-2016 schedule by August 15, 2015. If this happened in your case, please call the BTU office.
Staff who work in an ELT school will receive an additional 35 minutes of P&D per week, either as a single block of P&D time OR as a 7-minute add on to his/her current daily 48-minute block, bringing it to a 55-minute daily block. In addition, these same staff shall receive a weekly 40-minute block of teacher-directed collaborative time (this is not PD time). Staff not receiving this time are entitled to financial compensation. Questions, email Michael or Caren.
The above paragraph is most important to meet our planning needs.
A few announcements:
The negotiating season is almost upon us, and we are seeking members for a newly-constituted Collective Bargaining Committeethat will be appointed and approved by the membership at the regularly-scheduled September 9 membership meeting.So what does the Collective Bargaining Committee do? See this article in the upcoming Union Teacher, and if interested, please apply. All BTU members are welcomed to apply.