Greetings, and we hope that you have had a nice Thanksgiving.

A few announcements...

Primary Day for the election of a senator to replace Senator Kennedy is December 8. The BTU membership has endorsed Congressman Michael Capuano.

The 403.B/tax-sheltered annuity case is winding its way to completion. As a partial resolution to the BTU's grievance, the city has added back Fidelity Investments as an approved service provider. If you had Fidelity, you will shortly receive a letter from the city confirming its restoration. You can call Fidelity now to make plans for a renewal of your plan or you can wait to receive the letter from the city.

The Meeting for New Building Reps. scheduled for 12/17 has been postponed, as it was too close to the holiday for many people. We will shortly announce a new date.

The collective bargaining package has been completed.  We have gathered many items, all of which will be collated and vetted by the Collective Bargaining Committee. After this process, the package will be brought to the membership for review and approval before submission to the school committee. The proposed package will be sent out to members prior to its going to the membership meeting for approval. All members who have submitted items have received a confirmation receipt. If you have not, your item was presumably lost in transmission. In this case,  please re-send the item here .

The BTU membership has passed a motion asking our members to leaflet our schools one day per week in support of educational reform designed to help--not hurt--our schools. We will be in touch.

We are also sending out a letter in mid-December to our members reminding them to contact their state rep. in opposition to some of the components of the bill endorsed by the state senate last week. See here for a look at that bill, which passed 28-11. The bill takes away many important collective bargaining protections from our members.  We have highlighted some of the more negative features of the bill in the below 'talking points' section.

A list of the 11 senators who voted against the bill follows:

Republicans: Richard Tisei, Scott Brown, Bob Hedlund, Michael Knapik, Bruce Tarr.

Democrats: Steve Tolman , Marc Pacheco , James Timilty , Mark Montigny , Michael Morrissey , and Tom McGee .

The legislation process is a complex issue, and with close to 100 amendments considered in this bill, many people voted the right way on specific amendments, although they voted the wrong way on the legislation. Long story short, some who voted for this harmful legislation--though we are disappointed in them--were helpful in supporting good amendments. That said, we do owe special thanks to those six Democrats mentioned above who stood with us throughout. Feel free to email and thank each of these six members (linked above) .

As we go forward, we will reach out to all senators, regardless of how they have voted, with the hope of restoring collective bargaining in all aspects of the final legislation.

A new bill will be voted on by the House of Representatives in mid-January.

We ask that BTU members do a few things in anticipation of the final bill to help maintain collective bargaining rights.

1. First, send the following email to your state representative. The process is very easy, and will take you no more than one minute. Type in your name and address and an email goes out automatically to your state rep. and to the Speaker of the House.
2. We would appreciate it further if you had the time to call your rep. as well. Here's your state rep's phone number   If you want to find out whom to call, see here.
   
3. See Talking Points in below section for help when you make your telephone call.
   

Before the legislature next month will be a bill that will change educational policy for the foreseeable future. The bill was approved by the Senate in late November and will be taken up by the House of Representatives in early January. We would like you to make a call to your state representative and ask that he or she support a few changes in the Senate's bill. Here are just a few talking points. The Senate bill as it stands now:

1.    Allows the superintendent to require all staff in any 'underperforming' school to reapply for their own positions in the schools. The superintendent can dismiss any teacher or fail to rehire any teacher for good cause. 'Good Cause'-as opposed to 'just cause'-is a step backwards and significantly diminishes our due process protections. There are essentially three levels of 'cause': just cause, good cause, and cause, in order of protection granted, with 'just' being the highest level. Good cause is an inadequate substitute for just cause. The original senate version would have allowed teachers to be fired at will. This is a slight improvement on that, but it is still quite inadequate. Anything less than a just cause provision in this section will be a significant loss. According to the AFT-Mass's interpretation of the bill's language, it appears that other staff, (e.g., paraprofessionals, school secretaries, custodians, and others) have no protection and can be dismissed at will.

2.    Allows school committees throughout the state to establish new in-district charter schools (called Horace Mann Schools). Staff remain part of the local teachers' union and get seniority, salary and benefits (undefined)-but that's all. These schools are otherwise exempt from collective- bargaining agreements, according to the AFT-Mass. There is no limit on these creations. Worst case scenario: The school committee targets a school, closes it, then reopens it as a Horace Mann Charter, and so on-without limitation. This number of Horace Manns needs a cap, and these schools need to have collective-bargaining protections.

3.    Doubles charter school spending in Boston over a seven-year period, thereby draining an additional $49.5 million from our already-strapped school budget. This will bring the net annual loss in the BPS to $99 million.  Looked at another way, the loss of $99 million amounts to almost $1800 per pupil currently enrolled in our schools.

Please pick up the telephone and call your state representative. If you don't know whom to call, see here . Let him or her know that you reside in the district, you vote, you work in our schools, and that you care about fixing our underperforming schools. But taking away collective- bargaining protections will hurt--not help--these efforts to improve our schools. The best way to do this is to get together a group of people in your building and make the calls as a group effort. You will feel good about it, and each call made is easier than the last.

Thank you.

• W. Blackstone Elementary - Monday, December 7
• Henry Dearborn Middle - Monday, December 7
• Paul Dever Elementary - Wednesday, December 9
• R. W. Emerson Elementary - Tuesday, December 8
• The English High School - Monday, November 30
• Elihu Greenwood Elementary - Tuesday, December 8
• Curtis Guild Elementary - Monday, November 30
• Harbor (Middle) School - Monday, December 7
• John Holland Elementary - Thursday, December 3
• John F. Kennedy Elementary - Monday, December 7
• Odyssey High - Tuesday - December 1
• Orchard Gardens K-8 - Thursday, December 3
• Maurice Tobin K-8 - Monday, November 30
• W. M. Trotter Elementary - Tuesday, December 1

NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg is proposing that student test scores factor into tenure decisions. Interesting reading...

Now from Diane Ravitch's (*) blog ...

"President Barack Obama is a strong supporter of performance pay. In his recent visit to a charter school in Madison, Wis., the president took the opportunity to remind the nation that teachers should be evaluated in relation to their students' test scores. He then 'went off script' to tell everyone that his daughter Malia  came home from school with a 73 on a science test. Logic should have compelled the president to demand an immediate investigation of Malia's teacher, who had obviously failed in her responsibility to make Malia an A student. But, no, the president said that Malia, apparently upset by her low grade, had 'started wanting the (higher score) more than us,' and on her next science test she got a 95. The president did not seem to realize his little family story had undermined his campaign to blame teachers if students did not score well. Malia got a low score initially because she didn't try hard enough, not because her teacher was ineffective."

(*From 1991 to 1993, Diane Ravitch was Assistant Secretary of Education under President George H.W. Bush and is currently a  professor at NYU and a senior fellow at the Brooking Institute. )

• SSC Budget Basics--12/3, 12/8
• Deferred Comp--12/16, 4:30 to 6:30
• Next Stop HS, Next Stop MS--12/1
• Adult Holiday party--12/18
• Kids Holiday Party--12/29
  

The BTU and the BPS Office of Family and Student Involvement are collaborating to provide a SSC training series to be offered from 4-6 at the BTU. All elected SSC members (BTU, parents, principals) are welcome to attend. Please RSVP or call Caren Carew at 617 288-2000 at least a week prior to the training to reserve a space. SSC manuals will be distributed to attendees.

    * School Site Council 101--1/11 & 1/14
    * SSC Budget Basics--12/3 &12/8
    * SSC Shared Decision Making process--1/25 & 1/28

• Deborah Greene, Kenneth Greenwood, Frances Garland, Ginette Gallant, Maureen Leydon (formerly of the Lucy Stone School) and Anne Kelleher (formerly of the Baldwin School). 
• Monday, December 7, 2009 at 6pm 
• DoubleTree Guest Suites in Boston (400 Soldiers Field Rd.)
• The cost is $65.00; RSVP by December 3rd
• Check payable to Winship Sunshine Fund: 54 Dighton St. Brighton 02135 in care of Rita Sparrow.
• Questions: Please contact Rita Sparrow @ 617.635.8399 or Maxina Rosa @617.594.7364

• Elaine Christo,  David Freeman,   Barbara Hart,   John Koutrobis,  Nancy Maguire
  
• 12/9/2009  from 6 - 10 PM   
• The Common Market, 97 Willard St.,  Quincy, MA.
• Cost  $40
• Please send checks made out to The Condon School  by Nov.  30th.
• JF Condon School (attn.  Ann McLaughlin), 200 D St., So. Boston, Ma.   02127