First of all, we hope everyone enjoys a well deserved break. We are so grateful for all that you do for our students, families, fellow union members and larger communities. Our schools literally would not run without you! We hope you have the opportunity to get some much-needed rest and recuperation time this week.
We are reaching out to share some crucial and time-sensitive updates about inclusive education, especially pertaining to the November 30th deadline set for Inclusion Planning Teams to submit their realignment proposals. Due to additional changes to the SEI plans, the district has extended the deadline IPT deadline from Nov 30 to December 5. Details regarding this communications were sent out by the district just a short time ago today. You can read their release here.
As we have explained before, the district under the direction of DESE and the DOJ, previously announced it would be ending Sheltered English Immersion classrooms for K-8 grades starting next school year. The district, however, is taking into consideration stakeholder feedback about this plan–including ours–and is now rolling out the new SEI configurations only in K2 and 7th grade for next fall. We are still not confident that even the K2 and 7th grade plans are the best path forward, however, we are in continued conversations with the district about how that roll out can be done in the best interests of our multilingual learners, special education students and all students.
We know that these last minute decisions and the shortened timeline for ITPs has made it difficult for IPTs to finalize their proposals. We are glad that BPS announced today that it would be extending that deadline and has clarified what is expected of IPTs. There will also be future opportunities for IPT’s to refine your school’s plan, especially after getting more feedback from your school community and partners. If your IPT needs additional time or has additional questions about this latest announcement, please do feel free to contact our Inclusion Liasion Katie DeLaRosa or your school’s coach or facilitator.
We have heard that many realignment proposals are requiring educators to earn additional licenses or use multiple licenses at one time. If this is part of your proposal, please let us know so we can use this data to further inform our interactions with the district.
Please be sure to check out the latest communication from the district for more details.
Again, we are so grateful to all of you and your commitment to our students, schools, labor movement and communities.
Have a wonderful break!
President Tang on behalf of our officers, E-board and staff