#4(2007-08), September 9, 2007

Good afternoon.

Opening of School Events, Paycheck Information

We hope that your year started well. Teacher paychecks arrived Friday, with the 3% salary increase properly built in. (Another $600 on the base is due 2/1/08.) Para and substitute paychecks are due 9/21, with the 3% salary increase built in. For paras, another $300 is due 2/1/08.

For substitute teachers, a 3% differential (effective 9/1/07) on base pay is awarded to those who hold an active state teaching certification. Retired teachers who are back substituting: Make sure that HR and payroll know to pay you the additional 3% for your work. By the way retired teachers do not have to take the substitute teacher test to enroll as a sub, Call HR if you are having trouble registering.

Teachers who work in superintendent's schools should have received a 15.4% increase in their base salary on the 9/7 paycheck. As far as we know, this adjustment worked smoothly. The coding for the this increase is labeled "SST." For paras, there will be an appropriate adjustment of hours listed on the 9/21 paycheck, For all paras working in superintendent's schools, the paid hours will increase from 6.17 to 7.17. Substitute teachers, too, will receive a proportional increase for working the extended time

We did hear late Saturday that there may have been a problem with the extended pay at Pilot Schools on Friday's check. We will work on that Monday, and get back to all affected shortly;

Note to all: Save your pay stubs and call the union office if you think you are not getting the correct pay.

Again, a reminder on career awards .

Many employees are entitled to career awards based on years of service. Career Awards are supposed to be automatic. The first teacher career award is automatic 99% of the time. The rest are now supposed to be, but our advice is to APPLY ANYWAY.

• Teachers receive a career award the year after reaching maximum salary, another one after 14 years, 19 years, 24 years, 29 years, 34 years, 39 years, and 44 years.
  
• Paras receive theirs after 9 years, 14 years, 19 years, 24 years, and 29 years.

If you have reached any of these thresholds and are not getting your correct career award, fill out a PSO-3 form, check off 'career award,' and send it in to Court St. with a request to pay you for the appropriate career award. If you have any questions, please contact Caren ( Secondary); Mike (Elementary) or Jenna (Para's and Subs) at the BTU office.

Class size

BTU members can now file a class size grievance on-line . The form is easy and efficient. Grievances at both superintendent's schools and traditional schools can be grieved electronically. File any violations here . And check out the class size limits here. Remember: Class size in all regular education classes at superintendents' schools have decreased by two students in every grade level . All class size enforcement powers are intact in superintendent's schools.

You may still complete the traditional form, though we would appreciate that you do this on-line, and submit it to Pat Connolly, BTU Vice President by mail or fax(617) 288-0024.

Reminder: Welcome Back Party on 10/12/07

BTU Building Rep. Information

BTU Building reps are asked to submit their rep election results by the end of this week. Please do so. Any questions on the election, please speak with Caren, Michael, or Jenna. Thank you. If you need to download a form, click here.

The annual BTU conference this year will be held on the weekend of 10/19/21. The conference will follow a different format this year: less of a plenary session-type format with three interactive workshops. We hope to see as many people as possible

A few calls continue to come into the union office on superintendent's schools . Again, superintendent's schools operate under the same work rules and the same grievance procedures as all schools. There is only one change: Class size in regular education is reduced by two students.

A few administrators from Court St. have recently gone to certain superintendent's schools and shamelessly told staff that the union and management are on the same page as they urge our members to bend a few work rules that principals desire. We are on the same page-and the page is called the BTU contract. The contract was jointly negotiated and jointly agreed to. And that contact language on superintendent's schools contains no changes in working condition or work rule language. Both parties will live with this contract language for the next three years. Having said this, both parties want superintendent's schools to succeed. But these schools will only succeed if our members are treated as equal partners and part of the solution to improving our schools.

The Boston School Committee and the BTU would like to  announce the second year of the Professional Leadership Projects, which creates opportunities for professional growth and leadership responsibilities while advancing school achievement goals. Project Leaders earn a 5% stipend for 2.5 hours/week service for the 07-08  school year. Funding for all projects will come out of a negotiated funding source of $325,000. The Joint BPS/BTU Committee invites all BTU members (not substitutes) to apply for the Professional Leadership Project.....read more . Application download can be found here by scrolling down to the bottom of the page.

On September 11th the CLD at Madison Park is having an information session on teacher leader projects in the schools.  Members of the Labor/Management Professional Leadership Committee will be there to talk about the opportunities

The peer assistant position is posted, and the posting is open ended, though some of the four positions are slated to be filled immediately. There is one vacancy remaining. after the rounds of initial interviews . All applications will be reviewed. Briefly, the peer assistant position is a full time BTU position designed to assist and work with teachers who voluntarily seek help in improving their performance.

Email List Serve - If you have received this email but have friends and colleagues who have not, could you please pass this email along to them and let them know they can sign up at http://www.btu.org/topnavbar/esubscribe.html. Thank you. Approximately 6000 members now belong to our list serve. It is the quickest, most effective way to inform the membership.

Senate Bill S 1631

Currently teachers can purchase time in the retirement system for pre-1973 non-public school service.  Parochial school teachers came under Social Security in 1973, so that date was chosen for the cutoff when the bill authorizing non-public school service, Chapter 333 of the Acts of 1992, was passed.  S 1631 allows for the purchase of non-public school service for service in 1973 and subsequent years without regard to Social Security coverage .  S 1631 will be heard by the Public Service Committee on September 27. The hearing room is B2 at 10:30 in the morning. Anyone affected by this bill, please call Patricia Armstrong at 617-288-2000 or email her at parmstro@btu.org .

Professional Development Opportunities

"The 8th Annual Pilot/Horace Mann Schools Staff Sharing Conference  will take place on Tuesday, 10/23 from 5-8 pm. at Orchard Gardens Pilot School and Wednesday, 10/24 from 12-3 at Boston Community Leadership Academy.  This year's conference theme is Focused on Literacy.  Teachers and staff are encouraged to submit workshop proposals and attend.  For the Call for Proposals and more information please contact Mary Doyle at mdoyle@ccebos.org ." 

Making Data Work for You

Presenters:  Al Bird, Denise Henderson and Kristen Pinto

Looking for Candlepin Bowlers!

Want to have some fun and a little exercise? The School Personnel Bowling League starts on Monday, September 10, 2007 at Boston Bowl on Morrissey Blvd. in Dorchester at 3:45 PM . There are cash prizes and a bowling banquet in May. Please plan to join us! All levels of bowlers are welcome. Contact Sandy at 781-340-6281 or Judy at 781-961-5450.

Retirement Party

Retirement Party: Gwendolyn Clark and Cheryl Thompson

When: Monday 9/17, 4-7

Where: Marina Bay

How: $50 to Unified Student Support, c./o Campbell Resource Center , 1216 Dorchester Ave.

Dorchester , Mass. , 02125

RSVP by 9/10

Obituaries

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of two Boston firefighters, Paul J. Cahill and Warren J. Payne, both from the West Roxbury Centre St. fire station. They were killed in the line of duty on August 29. 11 other firefighters were injured fighting a four-alarm blaze. A fund has been established by the Boston Firefighters Credit Union. The BTU will be making a contribution to the fund. Private donations can be made to the following address:

West Roxbury Fire Fund
c/o Boston Firefighters Credit Union
60 Hallet Street
Dorchester , MA 02124
617-288-2420

Firefighter Warren J. Payne of Newton , left his former wife, Cheryl Graham Payne, two children, Jonathan and Jeremy, his mother, Florence , and three siblings, Bessie Poles, Wayne R., and Donald L. Cheryl Graham Payne is a paraprofessional at the Horace Mann School in Boston . The Boston Teachers Union extends its deepest condolences to the Payne family, as well as to Ms. Payne's colleagues at the Horace Mann School .

Firefighter Paul J. Cahill of Scituate , left his wife, Anne (Halpin) Cahill, and three children, Brendan, Adam, and Shauna, his mother, Genilde, and five siblings, Kathleen M. Hall, Jeanne M. Randall, Maria A. Lennon, James M. and Patrick J. Cahill. The Boston Teachers Union extends its deepest condolences to the Cahill family.

Richard Stutman
President
Boston Teachers Union
617-288-2000
richardstutman@comcast.net (home)

TOP