Greetings!  

            Welcome to our new format for the BTU e-Bulletin. Please write us at  rstutman@btu.org   and let us know what you think. Also, please keep in mind that under this new format, some pictures and charts may be blocked by your service. Last week, for example, there was a chart detailing which group of special education itinerant staff got how much money for their respective PD allotment. The remedy is simple. Your email should contain a message asking you if you want to download a picture, etc. Just click on it to download all the attached information, and you will see any relevant charts.

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          Here's a headline you won't see: Boston's Self-Touted M.A.T.C .H. Charter School has the Second Highest Student Dropout Rate in State .   The U.S. Department of Education recently released a list of what they term Dropout Factories, and the M.A.T.C.H. was 2nd from the top on the Mass. list. (The report can be found here here .) The M.A.T.C.H. Charter bills itself as a we-are-better-than-you Charter School, and its director never misses an opportunity to take a public shot at the BPS. The US DOE research showed that the M.A.T.C.H School had an average dropout rate over EACH of the last three years of 67%--significantly higher than the BPS.

        How much better than anyone else does the M.A.T.C.H Charter claim to be? Here's what its web page has to say: "100% of MATCH graduates have been admitted to a 4-year college or university." Here's what its web page doesn't say: According to the federal report, in 2006 the M.A.T.C.H. School graduated 18 students. The beginning enrollment for the same class was 79 students. The dropout rate:  77.2%

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    Here's a headline you can read from MetroWest on October 20: Charter School in Marlborough Evicts Special Education Student . See the full story on our web page.

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Testing chronicles --The BTU is looking for a few teachers who will chronicle for this readership their testing travails: the time spent, the time wasted. How much time do you spend in testing, test preparation, and testing recovery? We will chronicle your testing diary in this space. We would like to share with our readership the tremendous amount of time and energy spent on testing.  Let us know if you would like to be part of this testing chronicle.  We will publish your journal anonymously.

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The new BTU Contract is now available online .

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Election Reminders:

City Council election on Tuesday November 6th
Polls open 7:00 am to 8:00 pm.
See here for the list of BTU-endorsed candidates.

    BTU-endorsed City Council candidate Sam Yoon is looking for retirees from 7:00am to 10:00 am and anyone from 5:00pm to 8:00pm. Please call Andrew Kain at 617-569-2194 or at 617- 970- 2493 if available and identify yourself as a BTU member.


4th Middlesex Senate primary race ;  Endorsed candidate
Representative Jim Marzilli on Tuesday, November 13th.
Special elections have notoriously low turnouts so every vote counts.

  Red Sox--Thank You for a Great Season

        Reminder to elementary specialist teachers. Specialists need to file a separate grievance if there is a class size violation. It is not sufficient to have the grade 3 or 5 teacher to file a class size grievance. Each teacher who is impacted by the violation of the class size maxima must file a grievance individually. Please email Pat Connolly, pconnolly@btu.org .

Paras with more than five years in the system, and permanent teachers who have not yet received their first career award are eligible for a $500 per year tuition reimbursement. See here.

Substitute Teachers who hold teacher certification are eligible for a 3% pay differential. Make sure the school department knows you are certified.

The cap on In-Service Credits for salary lane purposes has been increased from 20 to 30 credits. Doesn't matter how old the credits are. Incidentally, in-service credits are interchangeable with graduate credits for BTU-BPS salary lane purposes, up to the maximum of 30.

All K0 and K1 classes MUST have a full time paraprofessional assigned full time. All K2 classes MUST have a one-half time paraprofessional assigned.

The Peer Assistance program is up and running. Any teacher who has received an unsatisfactory rating is eligible for assistance from a BTU peer. Three peer assistants have been hired. The program is voluntary and very helpful to those who choose to participate. We urge those eligible to find out more about the program. Any questions, please email Mike McLaughlin mmclaughlin@btu.org

      During the last go-around of negotiations it was important for us to get a boost in the city's Health and Welfare contribution in order that we could begin to restore the benefits that were previously lost. This has been accomplished. The H&W Para trustees voted recently to restore the paraprofessional orthodontia benefit , effective 9/1/07, and the H&W teacher trustees have also voted to restore, effective 1/1/08,  Type II and Type III (teacher unit) dental benefits. These teacher benefits which had been cut in 2006, will increase approximately 18% as of 1/1/08.  Typical Type II benefits include fillings and root canals; typical type III, crowns, bridges, and dentures. An official announcement will shortly be sent out in writing. 

Building Surveys are coming in steadily. We will be giving away three pairs of Celtics tickets to those schools that participate in the survey. A drawing for those tickets  will be held shortly. Please spend a few minutes to complete the building survey document.

BTU night at the Celtics is on Friday,  March 14, at 7:30, against the Utah Jazz.  200 BTU, $35-tickets are on sale currently to BTU members, first come first served. Bring your check or Money Order or cash to Pat O'Donnell at the BTU office to reserve tickets. The tickets are in section 320, 327, and 328.  Note: These tickets are not discounted as in years' past. The buyers' market has turned into a sellers' market, as the team has become a hot commodity.   In the meantime, we'd like your survey. Who knows, your school may win two Celtics tickets!

            Contract booklets are in. Please come over to the BTU office and pick up what you need.

There will be a BTU Rep training Monday, November 26 th , from 4-6 at the Union for those BTU Reps who missed it during the recent Building Reps Conference. Topics including the role of the Building Rep, discipline procedures, evaluation issues, writing grievances, and the like will be covered. Please bring your questions & concerns and leave with a BTU Rep Handbook as well as a better understanding of this exciting role! Light refreshments will be served. Please RSVP by November 19 to Caren Carew at ccarew@btu.org or 288-2000.

• NEW EVENT!  Please set aside the following dates for the Science Socials.
  

• All teachers and paras in superintendent's schools are invited to a meeting at the BTU on November 15, from 4-6. We hope to see you there.
  

• The Black Caucus will meet at 4:30 pm on the following dates:

  • November 15

  • December 13

  • January 17

• The BTU has formed an interest group for school environmental issues. The interest group's mission will be to help school based environmental committees and to create a safe forum for all BTU members to discuss school environmental issues.  We know that some schools have environmental committees and would like to help you in your efforts to make schools healthier for students and staff. The interest group is also a forum for confidential discussion about school environmental issues that  have become concerns. The meetings will be held here at the BTU on December 10th, February 12th, April 8th and June 9th.  If you would like to be a part of the school environment interest group or have questions about this issue, email Michael McLaughlin at mmclaughlin@btu.org .

Many people have inquired about this item. That's great news, as it is a terrific, cost-saving program that allows our membership to save a potential of hundreds of dollars each year on a variety of expenses.

Through this negotiated agreement Boston school employees can use pre-tax income to pay certain personal expenses under what is called a Flexible Spending Plan. Expenses allowed under this benefit include most out of pocket medical (up to $5,000 per year), dependent care ($5,000/year), parking ($205/month) and mass transportation ($105/month). Using pre-tax dollars to pay for certain personal expenses, as listed, in effect grants the teacher (paras, too) a discount of as much as 35% on the cost of the expense.

See the vendor's website  or email me for more detailed information. You may also call CPA Inc. at 1-800-544-2340.  The application for enrollment has begun and ends on November 23rd.

Professional Development News

Professional Development Opportunity:
egin the National Board Teacher Certification Process with the Take One option: a 6-week Intro course toward NBCT status; prepares teachers to complete one of four NBCT portfolio entries.

• Mondays 4-6 PM

• November 19, 26 December 3, 10, 17 January 7

• West Roxbury Education Complex

• Sponsored by CLD/BTU  National Board Support

• 1 In-service credit

• Contact: mhoyt@boston.k12.ma.us

Under a new contract provision

staff in the below-listed itinerant service categories will now have a lump sum of money with which to each group can purchase professional development services of its it chooses in cooperation with its director. The idea behind this provision is to allow individual disciplines a mechanism to purchase worthwhile Professional Development.

Each of the disciplines below has been allotted a proportionate amount of the $15,000 allotted citywide. The below amounts correspond to what each discipline is entitled to with a budget cushion of 5%. Building Reps of each discipline should work with their respective directors to plan on how best to spend the allotment below. We realize that not all disciplines currently have directors. We will improvise.

The Showcase of Schools Event was held last week, and many BTU members volunteered for the event. Thanks to all who did. Whenever we have an opportunity to help parents choose the Boston Public Schools for their children, we should do so. Also, from November 5 to January 8 it is school preview time in each of our 144 schools. Anything we can do to make our schools more hospitable, we should do. Memo to the school department: As good as the event was, more parents would have attended had the event been better publicized. Next year spend some money on advertising the showcase. Charter schools have an advertising budget. We need to do likewise. Supermarket handouts and print ads are not enough. Try cable.

Snowden HS Retirement Dinner Claire Hayman and Margie  Hamlett-Cash-Griffin
November 30, 6:30-10:30
Common Market, 97 Willard St., Quincy, Mass. 02169
$60 due at Snowden by 11/1
Contact Ms. Robinson, Ms. Osol, or Ms. Forbes, at 617-635-9989

Madison Park Retirement Dinner Dennis Wilson, Kathy Gerrior, Bob Marshall, Joan Carson, John Oliveira, Charlotte McCullough At The Neighborhood Club of Quincy
Friday, November 16, 2007
5:30 (Change in Time) pm cocktails & hors d'oeuvres
6:00 pm Dinner and Presentations
$50.00 per person (includes gifts)
(Deluxe Buffet includes appetizer, salad, 3 entrees & sides, dessert)
How: Phone: 617-635-8970  x 191 or   x192  or   x 216 Fax: 617-635-9831 or Email: dharris@boston.k12.ma.us , slambert@boston.k12.ma.us ,  ekelley3@boston.k12.ma.us

Comedy Night to benefit Exceptional Citizens Week  at Camp Fatima on Saturday, November 3, 2007, from 7 PM-Midnight
Moseley's on the Charles at 50 Bridge St. (Rt. 109) Dedham, MA
Admission- $30.00 pp, $300 per table
Cash Bar, 50-50 Raffle and more.
Fun and funny all in one night-with four terrific comedians
For more information, contact : Michael McLaughlin at 617-510-6140 or   mmclaughlin@btu.org or  Michael Power At 617-323-2199 or mpower@neu.edu

A new book by renown authors, James Crawford and Stephen Krashen, entitled  English Learners in American Classrooms 101 Questions, 101 Answers provides concise information on all facets of the issues surrounding ELL. Author Crawford spoke to the BTU membership during the UNZ campaign. The book is published by Scholastic, and is written in an easy-to-read format.

The Boston Public Schools now has an on-line professional development (PD) management and delivery system that will allow you to:

1. Easily identify PD that meets your needs

2. Quickly request course registration and enrollment

3. Track your PD and maintain your course completion certificates

The software is available over the internet and is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week from any computer connected to the internet. You may access the website from home if you have an internet connection there.

The system is scheduled to be available beginning November 5, 2007 and you will be able to register for PD sponsored by Teaching and Learning departments and OIIT offered in spring 2008. The Technical Support Teacher (TST) in your building will coordinate training where you will receive information on how to log in and use the system so please inquire as to your school's training date(s). If you have any questions about the program or have difficulty logging in, please email mylearningplan@boston.k12.ma.us

Sincerely,

Richard Stutman
richardstutman@comcast.net (home)
rstutman@btu.org (work)
617-288-2000