Greetings!

Good Day,

   We hope you are having an enjoyable summer. We have a few things to get caught up on...

     The school department has decided to use to its fullest advantage the powers it gained under the state's Ed Reform law, and it intends to ask all teachers and paraprofessionals in five additional schools to reapply for their positions as soon as it gets the go-ahead from State DESE Commr. Mitchell Chester. Those schools are the Agassiz Elem., Dearborn MS, E Greenwood Elem., Holland Elem., and English High School . The application process is about to begin. Administrators at these five schools will presumably reject the applications of an unknown number of staff. This process will take place in the next few weeks once the school department has its 'turnaround plan' approved by Chester, who has had the plan since June 29.  Staff not selected will be in effect 'excessed' and guaranteed positions elsewhere. A similar process took place in the spring with seven other 'turnaround' schools.

The BTU Field representatives will have a letter out to all affected shortly. Any questions on this issue ought to be directed to either Caren , Michael , or Jenna .
The school department believes it has the authority to do the above  under the new state law. If we can challenge it, we will. If so, we will communicate directly with those involved. All of this said, the School Department may or may not have the authority   to do the above, but it is not obligated to do so. The law, regardless of interpretation, does not compel the department to take this misguided action. Forcing all staff to reapply for their positions and excessing certain people in August are disruptive and counter-productive  activities (harebrained might be a more apt description).  We are exploring any options we have and we will be in touch.

Last week, the Boston School Committee voted to establish three in-district Horace Mann Charters . One of the charters chosen was given to an outside not-for-profit company, called Unlocking Potential .

It appears that Unlocking Potential (UP) was given a no-bid contract. The school committee approved the bid quickly and unanimously, with little discussion, at its July 21st meeting. The school committee's endorsement is preliminary and up for final approval in the fall. Two other schools were also given charters, Boston Green High School, which has a connection to Fenway Pilot HS,  and Timilty-Roxbury Community College High School, which has a connection (somewhat nebulous) to the Timilty Middle School.

The superintendent announced the department will close one middle school and re-open it as the Unlocking Potential Horace Mann Charter School. The superintendent has not announced what middle school she will offer up for closing. The choices are slim. There are only 12 middle schools. But if you exempt from closing the non-traditional middle schools (pilot, the extended learning time, the Turnaround, Alternative Ed), there are only four left standing--the Gavin , the Irving , the McCormack and the Rogers . A good case can be made--and will be made--to keep each of those schools open as is, so it is anyone's guess which middle school will be subject to takeover.

UP and its principles have no connection to the BPS. UP is an outside company seeking to establish a toe-hold in the public arena by running a network of 20 charter schools. Two of its principle officers come from EXCEL Charter School in East Boston, which is a state-sanctioned charter school. One also has a connection to the KIPP nat'l chain of for-profit-but-not-for-profit charter schools. The question of student demographics at EXCEL came up at the school committee meeting, but there was little discussion. For the record, on a variety of student indicators (language, poverty,) the student demographics, BPS and Excel , are reasonably close. But on a key demographic of detailing the incidence of SPED population served, Excel's falls far short of the BPS's, at one half the rate. Here's what UP promises:

• Relentlessly high, consistent academic and behavioral expectations;
• Seamless and detailed operating procedures;
• Rigorous, standards-based curriculum, instruction, and assessments;
• A wide-reaching network of supports designed such that no child is left behind;
• An obsession with regularly and effectively using data; and
• An atmosphere of enthusiasm and joy.

In its 2nd year of operatio,n the AFT Innovation Fund awarded Boston one of its seven 2010 grants. We congratulate the BTU members who initiated the grant and commend them for their ideas and initiative. The grant was a group project of the BTU Professional Issues Committee, and led by Ted Chambers, Kevin Qazilbash and Tracy Young.  In their words: "Our ultimate goal is to bring teams of great teachers together to create great lessons that are aligned to the standards and can be downloaded by other teachers.  We also intend to create videos of teachers delivering these lessons.  In today's digital age, teachers should not be forced to create their own great lessons by themselves every single day.  They should be able to go online and find entire units of great lessons that they can download.  These lessons will help support new teachers as they struggle to manage the sometimes overwhelming work load, as well as provide a new professional development tool that will allow teachers to collaborate on creating great lessons to share with other teachers.

"The AFT Innovation Fund has granted us a one year planning grant so that we can identify partners and resources, and create a prototype of these lesson units."

Congratulations to all participants, and thanks for taking the initiative.

• have ten or more years of teaching and mentoring experience, especially in the Boston Schools
• may be retired, near retiring age, or working part-time
• can commit to working with mentees over the school year on a weekly or needs-based schedule
• can participate in an EMC learning community meeting once a month, sponsored by Wheelock faculty, and including Boston Induction trainers, BTR staff and other invited presenters