• Teachers first paycheck for 2008/09 will be issued on 09/05/08
• Para's 26 payments - 08/30/08 to 09/12/08, paycheck issued on 09/19/08
• Para's 21 payments - 09/02/08 to 09/12/08, paycheck issued on 9/19/08
• Subs - Paycheck issued on 09/19/08

Please see the section below for information regarding the retirement board election. Ballots are out and should be received in your homes shortly. Please mail them back promptly and please remember to vote for BTU Elementary Field Rep. Michael McLaughlin and Boston firefighter Sean Kelly. Michael will of course continue to serve as BTU Elementary Field Rep., but he will serve as one of the labor representatives on the retirement board representing our interests at the board's monthly meetings. We appreciate Michael's acceptance of this responsibility and we will work hard to get him elected. Please vote.

Reminder on Day 1, Tuesday, the administration gets 30 minutes at the front of the day for orientation, and our members get the rest of the day for room and course preparation. We negotiated this time a few years ago to give our members set-up time at the start of the year. On Day 2, Wednesday, your BTU Union representative gets 30 minutes for union orientation. The rest of the day is PD time. Newspapers that can serve as a template for discussion on Day 2 have been sent to all union representatives.

An election to fill the two elected seats on the Boston Retirement Board will be held this year. The ballots are out. Please mail your in.  The BTU has endorsed one of its own, Michael McLaughlin (Elem. Field Rep), for this position. Michael has also been endorsed by Edward Welch, Secretary-Treasurer of the BTU and Trustee of the BRB from 1997-2008. Ed is retiring after more than 40 years of service. Please look for the ballots in your mail.

This is a most important election, and the BTU has held one of the two labor seats on the Boston Retirement Board for a good while. We need to continue to hold onto these seats as the board makes many decisions that impact our retirement. Michael has been endorsed by the BTU membership.

The catalogue of upcoming preparation workshops for the fall MTELs is now available on MyBPS (Central AdminàHRàLicensure->Catalogue of Preparation Workshops for MTEL, Fall 2008). The MTEL Handbook is also posted and provides helpful information about the MTELs including online resources for self preparation.

All staff are welcome to participate in the MTEL support and workshops organized by the Human Resources. Workshops often fill quickly so please apply as soon as possible. Applications for workshops need to be made using the online link included in the catalogue.

For more information concerning MTEL, please contact Nick Balasalle (nbalasalle@boston.k12.ma.us or 635-9036).

There are some educational entrepreneurs who believe that the best way to reform our schools is to provide special financial incentives to both teachers and students. To be sure, there are folks on both sides of the issue. In our own BPS, for example, the O'Bryant School administrator acting on his own authority allowed a financial incentive program for teachers that will be based on the number of their students who do well on the AP exams. The BTU has challenged the O'Bryant program inasmuch as its institution was not  negotiated. A similar program--this one for students-- in the New York schools has just concluded its first year with very mixed results. See here and below for more information. We will keep you posted on the Boston experiment and the course of our grievance. Bottom line for us and,  we feel, most members is that we resent the notion that we are not already working as hard and as effectively as we can...and that it takes a financial bribe to make us work better.

Jennifer Stowers was a first year teacher at the Blackstone School when she passed away in 2003. Her family and friends have established a foundation in her name and have raised money for a yearly scholarship. The purpose of this foundation is to promote and maintain the memory of Jennifer Lee Stowers and her personal vision of "saving the world, one child at a time." The foundation will provide funds, gifts, and/or donations to select inner-city educational institutions for the purpose of enhancing the educational experiences of children, supporting their learning environments, and supporting educational initiatives that directly benefit children. See the foundation's webpage for more information. One $4000 grant is awarded each year and is open to both classroom teachers and student teachers.

Questions can be addressed here or to Ellen Stowers, P.O. Box 1784,
Derry NH 03038.

We can honor the memory of this wonderful teacher and support her family by applying for a grant from the foundation. Thank you to the family of Jennifer Stowers.    

Looking for Candlepin Bowlers!

Want to have some fun and a little exercise? The School Personnel Bowling League starts on Monday, September 8, 2008 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.

Project D.E.E.P. is looking for two teachers for its highly successful Examination Preparation Program.  The program will be expanding this year to the Harbor School (on Charles Street in Dorchester, behind the Fields Corner T Station), and we need two teachers for our sixth grade classes there:  one to teach two math classes, and one to teach two verbal/reading comprehension classes.  The classes are 90 minutes long and run for eight weeks, starting the week of September 8th.   All teachers within the program are paid $45 per class; each of these new teachers can earn $720 through the course of the program.  Please call John Hanlon, Project D.E.E.P.'s Executive Director, at 617-733-8186 if you are interested.  You can also send an e-mail to projectdeep@aol.com.  Finally, for more information on Project D.E.E.P. please visit their website at www.projectdeep.org.  

If you are in town this Saturday...the first-ever Back-to-School Jamboree takes place on Saturday, August 30 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on City Hall Plaza.  The event will feature live performances, free ice cream, health screenings, community resources, prizes and more. The first 1,500 students to attend can take home a free backpack full of school supplies.

Carol McNally, currently a substitute nurse, will be participating for the third year in the 10k portion of the Marine Corp Marathon to raise funds for Nurses Organization of Veteran Affairs, NOVA.
This year she is attempting to raise $500 for NOVA.  Anyone interested in helping out a good cause, please see Carol's web page. 

We regret to announce the death of Edward C. Williams, husband of Joyce Martin Williams (Joyce Plummer). Mr. Williams passed away on August 14th. He will be dearly missed by his family and friends.  The BTU extends its most sincere condolences.