Secretary-Treasurer’s Annual ReportSecretary-Treasurer’s ... · BTU President G ood Morning, In my remarks I want to speak about a variety of issues, local and national – some

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12Armstrong Receives GBLC Leadership Award

Union TeacherAFT Local 66, AFL-CIO • Democracy in Education • Volume XL, Number 4 • December, 2007

The Award-Winning Newspaper of the Boston Teachers Union

6

Every Murder is a Failure of Community

The Dimensions of an Effective School Systems 3

BostonBoston

BTU President Richard Stutman DeliversState of the Union Address to Building Reps.

(continued on page 2)

Secretary-Treasurer’s Annual ReportSecretary-Treasurer’s Annual Report Pages10 & 11

Richard StutmanBTU President

Good Morning, In my remarks I want to speakabout a variety of issues, local

and national – some good, some neutral,and mostly neither. After all, the newsnationally is bad; statewide, it’s not sogood either, though better than before;and citywide, well, we have a lot of workto do. The bottom line, things – policy-wise – are not going in a good direction,and when I finish my remarks, you’ll un-doubtedly feel worse than when I started.

When I saw the boxes of orange con-tract booklets arriving two weeks ago, myfirst thought was that we have a lot to bethankful for.

We have not had teacher or parapro-fessional layoffs in 14 or so years – Phila-delphia, to give one example, has lost 1/3 of its members in the last 6 plus years.The same is true in Detroit. We have nothad school closings either, and you’d behard pressed to find a city that hasn’t, ordoesn’t worry about them each year –charter school creaming being the mainproblem. The number of students in ourschools is slightly down, but not by much– Detroit’s student population is at100,000 down from 300,000 or so in thelast four decades, and down 70,000 aloneover the last six or seven years. Detroithas gone from 12,500 members to 8,000members in that time. The headline inthe Detroit Teacher Union newspaper inSeptember said: Low Enrollment CouldTrigger (further) job cuts because of a $110Million shortfall right now.

We have survived quite well in com-parison. We have managed to maintainour numbers of students and staff; pro-vide reasonable and more-than-competi-tive wage increases for our members; andwe have maintained our basic rights. Notmany city school unions nationally havebeen able to do that.

Even though we have a good 4-yearcontract, there are many problems fac-ing us, some of which we have little or nocontrol over, health care costs chiefamong them. We face a variety of city,state and federal problems, all of whichaffect our ability to survive. These prob-lems are not about to get any better with-out outside help.

Let’s start with our contract that willbe expiring in 2010, and the city’s abilityto pay. The city is not doing poorly, butits tax base is limited. The city’s revenueprojections, and therefore our ability todo much better financially, are hamstrungby a few limitations. The city, unlike manyother cities in the country, cannot raise

Pages10 & 11

its own rev-enue, and isforced to relymost heavily onproper ty taxrevenue, whichis quite limitedby the highnumber of un-taxed colleges,universities andnon-profit institutions in the city. The gov-ernor and the mayor in Boston have beenstymied by their inability to create localrevenue tax op-tions. Efforts to al-low the city tograb a percentageof a new meals’ ora new sales’ taxhave gone no-where.

Adding casinosdoesn’t guaranteea steady increas-ing revenuestream. And evenif casino gamblingwere to raise addi-tional revenue,there are manyworthy causes, statewide, competing forthat increase in revenue. What’s more,there’s the prospect of declining revenuefrom the lottery and so on – all makingthe casinos a marginal bet.

Making matters worse, there are twoinitiative petitions out there that could do

some real harm – there’s a proposal tocut proposition 2-1/2 to proposition 1.0.And there’s another proposal that wouldeliminate the state income tax. If youthink either one of those proposals isdead in the water, think again. And if youthink we could survive either proposal,you have to think again as well. Couldthese happen?

The last time the income tax elimina-tion proposal surfaced before the votersof Mass, it gathered 43% of the vote. Andthere’s little sentiment either to keep in-creasing property taxes. All you have to

do is check out the success rate of Prop.2-1/2 overrides. They get voted down farmore often than not. This petition, Propo-sition 1, would be an opportunity to limitproperty tax increases to 1% per year,down from the current 2-1/2 %. Neitherpetition can be disregarded. We have

learned to disregard the anti-tax senti-ment at our own peril. We will be activein both of those campaigns.

We also have to worry about increas-ing health care costs, the huge elephantin the room. It isn’t going away. Unlessthere is a national solution that will eithersubsidize health care costs or providesome baseline of care, we are in trouble.We are in deep trouble. The pressure wefaced last year will only escalate. The is-sue is not only the percentage we pay, butjust as important, the cost of the premi-ums employers and employees pay. From2000-2006, employment-based health in-surance premiums nationally have in-creased 87 percent, compared to cumu-lative inflation of 18 percent and cumula-tive wage growth of 20 percent during thesame period. (Courtesy of The Henry J.Kaiser Family Foundation. EmployeeHealth Benefits: 2006 Annual Survey, 26September 2006.) We are active statewideand nationally with the AFT on healthcare reform.

Switching gears, we have a federal law,NCLB, that demands that all – not some– students reach proficiency by 2014.Sounds good, sounds tough, but it’s un-

All in all, we have accomplished a lot inthe last year. The contract is completed,successfully, though we still have to dosome work on implementation. We alsohave to step up some of the enforcementand work on some of conditions andcomplaints we see and hear about daily– whether we are talking about bullyprincipals or too much paperwork – wehave to step that up, too.

By Caren CarewBTU Secondary Field Representative

BPS Superintendent CarolJohnson stood on the podiumnext to BTU President Richard

Stutman at the annual BTU BuildingReps Conference in Falmouth, October20, 2007 as he enthusiastically welcomedJohnson to the crowd as an individualwho has a wealth of educational experi-ence including as a teacher, principal andas a superintendent. He cited her ‘historyof strong collaboration with unions as apartner’ and stated he was ‘looking for-ward to working with her in terms of im-proving education for kids in the BostonPublic Schools.’ He added that her ‘hus-band is a teacher and her sister is a shopsteward [building rep] in the Detroit Pub-

Superintendent Carol JohnsonDialogues with BTU Building Reps.

lic Schools.’ The audience of BTU Build-ing Reps gave her a very warm welcome.

Dr. Carol Johnson smiled widely atthe applause sharing, ‘I am pleased to behere. It is my first visit to the Cape.’ Shethanked Richard Stutman and the ‘BTUexecutive leadership team who have triedto educate me as to the issues BTU mem-bers face daily as we face the work that isahead of us. I’ve been in 45 schools in thelast 7 weeks.’ Continuing, she stated she’daddress the Conference a little about thechallenges she’s dealt with so far, answersome questions from the BTU Reps, andsolicit some feedback on a couple of ques-tions of her own.

“Looking across the Nation, the pov-erty in Boston in percentages hasn’t gone


Armstrong Receives GBLC Leadership Award


The Dimensions of an Effective School Systems 3

2 BOSTON UNION TEACHER December, 2007

The Boston Union Teacheris published eleven times a year

September - July, inclusive.

President

RICHARD F. STUTMAN

Vice President

PATRICK CONNOLLY

Secretary-Treasurer

EDWARD A. WELCH

Co-Editors

MARY F. GLYNNGARRET VIRCHICK

Editorial Board

Caren CarewAngela CristianiJenna Fitzgerald

Robert JangoMichael J. MaguireMichael McLaughlin

Eileen Weir

180 Mount Vernon Street Boston, MA 02125617-288-2000 617-288-2463 Fax 617-288-0024 www.btu.org

EDITORIAL NOTE:

The opinions expressed in the BostonUnion Teacher do not necessarilyrepresent the views of the BostonTeachers Union, or those of its members.

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All correspondence to the Boston UnionTeacher must be typewritten and signed.All articles must be appropriate to thepublication, and in good taste.

Letters to the Editor should be sent [email protected].

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BTU President Richard Stutman Delivers State of the Union Address to Building Reps.…(continued from page 1)

realistic, it’s impossible, and it’s punitive.Having all students reach proficiency by2014 is not going to happen, all thecheerleading and hoping to the contrary.In 2014, not all children will be proficientin math and ELA. Not all children will bein schools that benefit from sufficient re-sources. Not all children will be healthy,not all children will be able to take advan-tage of a good pre-school program, notall children will be well nourished, andnot all children will live in adequate hous-ing. This is no reflection on these chil-dren, their aspirations, and our goals andour strong desire to improve our schools,but it is an economic fact of life in theAmerica we live in... And until we dealwith the economic underpinnings thatharm the children we teach and that pre-vent them from reaching their potential,our attempts to really improve ourschools will get little traction.

Not only do we have to get to profi-ciency by a certain date, we have to getthere as on a forced march, with adequate,quantifiable yearly progress every yearacross all subgroups. This isn’t how chil-dren learn, and isn’t how schools, eventhe so-called best schools, operate. Evenif our schools generally improve andmove in the same direction, it is impos-sible that all schools and all classroomswill move forward at a measured paceeach year until we hit 2014. Some kidsmove at a quicker pace, some a slowerpace. Children are not perfectly-honedmachines with predictable daily orweekly outcomes. We have good daysand bad, good weeks and bad. Progressis not always assured and guaranteed. Wecannot be afraid to admit this, even as westrive for progress, and strive to providethe best education we can for the childrenwe teach.

NCLB is up for reauthorization beforeCongress as we speak. The prospects forimprovement and needed changes areterrible. Two weeks ago I attended anAFT president’s conference in Washing-ton. So far, there is only Draft Legislationfrom the House, draft legislation that wewill find unacceptable. The irony is thelegislation is being drafted by a commit-tee headed by a leading Democrat,George Miller from CA, who is regardedas a pro-labor Democrat and who just wonan award named for Paul Wellstone for

being an outstanding liberal leader. I pointthis out to show how mainstream someof the bad ideas I am about to mentionhave become. Here are the highlights ofhis proposal:

• Proficiency for all students is stillmandated by 2014. So are penaltiesfor failing to get there – same as wehave now

• Some of a teacher’s pay will be tiedto higher student test scores – thisis a development worse than wehave now, which makes no such tie-in. Senator Kennedy, by the way, onthe Senate side, is said to opposethis.

• Many of therights we haveworked sohard to retainon teacher as-s i g n m e n t ,among otheritems, will beremoved – andtaken out of therealm of collec-tive bargaining– worse thanwhat we havenow.

• The bottomline from theAFT: The cur-rent law, as badas it is, is betterthan the proposed law. The best wecan hope for: keeping the status quo.

Statewide, the news is barely better.The basic premise that keeps the one-di-mensional MCAS as a sole indicator ofstudent success remains. Add to that, thepassing score in math and ELA has justbeen ratcheted up so that the categoryof Needs Improvement no longer will beconsidered passing for the class of 2010.Need more? Add to that new MCAS inscience/technology and shortly to be his-tory – and there’s little to feel good about.

By the way, spring science test resultswere released earlier this week. Resultsin urban areas were predictably poor.Suburban school folks said that the addi-tion of the science cut into valuable timeaway from labs and experiments. Urbanteachers say, what lab time? You may ormay not have seen the Herald editorial

on Tuesday the 16th, which called formerit pay to attract the ‘strongest scienceteachers.’ You will see more editorialsleading in that direction.

On the positive, we have a new chair-man of the board of education, PaulReville, who has a track record of beingmore respectful of labor than his prede-cessor. The BTU has worked with Paulon a variety of initiatives over the last fewyears through the Rennie Center, on theExtended Learning Time initiative, andother issues, and I can assure you thathe respects the role of labor in matters ofeducational policy. We look forward to

working with him.But the overarching concern we have

remains the MCAS, its ability to controlwhat we teach and what we don’t havetime to teach, and how our schools arerated because of the results. It remainsto be seen whether the new leadershipat the state level will change from thisoverreliance of a single test. The MCAS,bluntly, controls too much of what affectsus. It sets us back in a few ways.

1) Success or failure on the MCAS,can determine whether a school istaken over by the state. We lostEnglish High School last year be-cause its scores, in one form or an-other, failed to meet adequate yearlyprogress. The word ‘lost’ is an ac-curate word. It is now a common-wealth pilot school, as close to acharter school as not. There aremany more English High schoolsin line to be taken over. This year afew Boston schools came off the so-called underperforming list be-cause they made progress.

(By the way, I would like you toremember that whenever you hearsomeone say underperforming,correct them and say so-calledunderperforming. Because theterm is pejorative and it is someoneelse’s description.)

But other first-time so-calledunderperforming schools wereadded to the list. Many more still arein year three or year four or yearfive of that status. We negotiated theconcept of superintendent’s schoolsto try to pre-empt more schools

from falling so quickly into theabyss of state takeover, and thestrategy will work somewhat. Butwe still will lose schools, but at aslower pace.

2) The MCAS limits the time we haveto spend on other subjects. Many,if not most of our students, spendone half of each day now in ELA andmath. Add to that new or soon tobe required tests in history and sci-ence, and there’ll be no time left foranything else. All work and no playmake Johnny a dull boy. All MCASand no art make a dull day forJohnny.

3) The MCAS cheerleading maniafound in our schools creates anddrives a harmful obsession withstandardized testing. It’s counter-productive, limits our ability to cre-ate and educate, and focuses on thenarrow instead of the expansiveanswer. Both of the preceding su-perintendents have been in the fore-front of the cheerleading of thismantra. We can only hope that Dr.Johnson is more thoughtful on thismatter.

4) Lastly, the MCAS gives children areason to drop out of school –maybe because they cannot pass,maybe because they’re sick andtired of being drilled in MCAS-ma-nia, maybe because they need – buttheir schools do not permit – art ormusic or French or Industrial Arts.

Having a single test determine successor failure creates a myriad of problemsfor us, both political and educational. Wedo have our work cut out here. NCLB isonerous and the testing culture that sur-rounds it is not going away. This morethan anything else is where we need todevote our lobbying efforts.

On Charter SchoolsToday, the BPS loses roughly $45 mil-

lion from the school department’s bud-get to pay for 5000 students, many, if notmost of whom, have never been in a Bos-ton school. The number of students andthe number of dollars is capped. There isa perpetual threat to remove those caps.Recently it surfaced in the Globe (again!),under the pen of James Peyser, formerchair of the Mass DOE. In his piece, hetouted the success and the change in NewOrleans, post-Katrina, the replacement oftheir public schools with both state-runcharter schools and privately run char-ter schools. Peyser called it a wonderfulopportunity for experimentation and soon, and pined for it to happen here. To-day, post-Katrina, in New Orleans thereare only five public schools, the rest gonebecause of this “wonderful opportunity”to contract schools out to third party char-ter school vendors.

Currently there is legislation that pro-tects us. But we face a steady threat ofbusiness leaders and politicians who wishto do here what Peyser is glad they didin New Orleans. They seek to remove thecap on numbers of charter school stu-dents, and of dollars spent in our schools

The key to our survival will be tomaintain what we have, increaseunderstanding and education withinour membership, and work to continueto build a cohesive, stronger BTU, whilewe work with other like-mindedorganizations, our state affiliates andothers, to fend off challenges fromoutside. We understand that we cannotgo it alone. Our strength makes us atarget, both inside the BPS and outside.Thank you and thank you for all thework you to do keep us strong.

BOSTON UNION TEACHER December, 2007 3

Where does a City of Boston Employee turnwhen things seem unbearable?

The City of Boston provides a ‘free and confidential’ program for its employees and theirimmediate families called the Employees Assistance Program (EAP). This service isthere to help said individuals with challenges they may be dealing with including substanceabuse issues, job loss, depression, grief, being stressed out, and the like. To speak with anEAP clinician call 617-635-2200, Monday-Friday, 7:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. If in crisis mode, call617-635-4500 to page an EAP clinician who is on call. EAP will continue to work with af-fected individuals as long as necessary.

If I have a child who is a student in the BPS,do I get time off to visit their school?

Mayor Menino signed an Executive Order allowing all full-time City of Boston Employ-ees to utilize up to four (4) hours of work time to visit Boston Public Schools if they areregistering their children as parents/guardians in BPS for the first time or if their childrenwill be moving to a new school for assignment at a transitional grade (i.e. kindergarten,grade 1, 6, or 9). These four hours of work time constitute paid time off and will not bededucted against personal, sick, or vacation time. These four hours need not be taken all atone time; rather they can be divided during “School Preview Time”, subject to the approvalof your Principal/Supervisor. If the request to your Principal is denied, the Principal mustagree to an alternative time with you to visit schools during “School Preview Time”. Youmust furnish your Principal with documentation completed by the school that you visited toconfirm you utilized the time as put forth in this Executive Order. A copy of the appropriatedocumentation is on file at the BPS Human Resources Department. This Executive Orderis in effect during “School Preview Time”, November 5, 2007 through January 18, 2008.“School Preview Time” is the period of time set aside each year during which schools areopen for parent visits and when schools conduct activities designed to assist parents inmaking informed student assignment choices. The City Council also passed an ordinancethat allows parents of school-age children K-12, the opportunity to take up to 21 unpaidhours per school calendar year for school visits providing said parent gives, ‘clear and rea-sonable notice to the parent’s appropriate supervisor of the planned absence’. Refer to Superin-tendents’ Circular #3 on Executive Order- Parental School Visits or contact Christine Hill,Senior Director of Enrollment Services, 635-9501.

Do SPED Teachers get special supplies for their students?As a part of recent contract negotiations, a side letter of agreement was signed by the

BTU and BPS which addresses this issue and its’ contents are as legally binding as if it werecontained within the contract book itself. This agreement details the process for providingessential supplies and equipment to SPED Teachers in the following low-incidence SPEDprograms: early childhood, multi-handicapped, autistic, developmental day care (DDC),and physically handicapped. The agreement states; “Unified Student Services (USS) will beresponsible for identifying schools where programs are located and updating this informationannually. USS will order a sufficient quantity of: medical-grade wipes, changing pads, disinfec-tant, disinfectant wipes, sanitary pads, and non-bacterial soap for SPED teachers at the desig-nated schools based on the enrollment of students in each of the programs outlined above. Thesesupplies will be distributed annually at the beginning of each school year directly to the desig-nated schools to be used exclusively by those teachers assigned to severe low-incidence substan-tially separate classrooms (listed previously). A sufficient amount of changing tables for stu-dents shall be available throughout the school district. In the event that a teacher has exhaustedhis/her annual allocation of these supplies, the school based evaluation team leader (ETF)shall be notified. The school-based ETF will then notify USS Operations @635-7800 who willverify the request and submit the requisition for additional supplies if needed.” You may won-der why this agreement was necessary. During contract negotiations, SPED teachers ofour most vulnerable students testified that they were routinely denied said essential sup-plies and had to go out of pocket for them. Descriptions of changing students on desks &tables not at the appropriate height and structure, without adequate changing pads, pro-vided with gloves for restaurant use rather than for medical use, and the like, were poignant& insulting to both the professionals who had to endure such unsanitary and potentiallyinjurious situations & most importantly to the students who were affected. I urge saidSPEDucators to hold the BPS to their agreement beginning this academic year 2007-08, forthe children’s sake!

As a SPED teacher or related service provider, what do you do ifyou think a SPED student has been placed in the wrong setting?In order to appeal a SPED placement the contract clearly states that the following must

occur. “When a teacher has concerns about the placement of a student, that teacher shall makea request to the Principal or Headmaster to reconvene the team to reconsider the placement inaccordance with the regulations. The evaluation team shall respond to the appeal within twoweeks. If, upon reconsideration, the team finds the placement inappropriate, it shall present anIEP which contains an appropriate placement to the parent.” Since we, as teachers and re-lated service providers, are charged with appropriately identifying and addressing the needsof our students, it is incumbent upon us to advocate for the appropriate placement for saidchild to achieve their potential. We are all sensitive to budget constraints and in some casesa rush to utilize inclusion, often without adequate planning, contractually mandated votes ofeffected staff, and alternatives for those students for whom the inclusion model of servicedelivery is inappropriate. We are the ones in the classrooms; working with the students dayto day and we are also the ones whose voice should be heard when it comes to placementrecommendations. Many parents rely on our expertise to determine the correct course ofaction for their kids. Reaching out to and involving them proactively will help to establishongoing communication and forge a formidable child-based alliance. Let’s keep in mindwhy we entered education, and hold fast to our passion to do what is right for each andevery child in our charge! They are depending on us to do no less.

Know your rights!I’m fighting for you, let’s stand up together! BTUnity!

– to permit the establishment ofmore charters. The leaders of thisdrive, they’re called the Mass.Business Leaders for Charter Pub-lic Schools – and they ought to bementioned – are Paul Grogan ofthe Boston Foundation, CharlieBaker of Harvard Pilgrim, andPaul Sagan of Akamia Corpora-tion want to provide more ‘oppor-tunity’ for the children we teach.Sagan told the Herald that our pub-lic schools are cheating students.

Never mind, the business lead-ers say, that charters are not moni-tored, they don’t have to takeSPED children or ELL children.Never mind that the so-called bestschools, the high-ranking Colle-giate Charter and the MATCHcharter schools, have forced attri-tion rates –actually dropout rates –of 60-70%. By the way, charterschool operators don’t call it a dropout rate; they call it by a gentlername: attrition. What matters tothese business leaders is that theyprovide an option, a union-free op-tion that can ‘compete with thepublic school monopoly.’ This is agreat threat to us. What to do?

First… On the one hand, wehave to continue to work hard atthe state house on this matter. Thismeans supporting the work ofAFT-Massachusetts lobbyist MikeCanavan. Mike works with hiscounterparts in the MassachusettsTeachers Association and to datethey have been successful

Second… I have seen bro-chures for the well-regardedMATCH charter school on Com-monwealth Ave around our build-ings. It’s a fairly good school – forthose who last. It’s no better how-ever than many of ours. Here’swhat their brochure does not tellyou. Last year’s MATCH graduat-ing class of 18 students started offas 65+. Ditto for the graduatingclass the year before. If you encour-age our children to leave the BPSfor the MATCH, and some of usdo, there’s a 75% chance they willcome back to the BPS in order tograduate. And there’s a 75% chancethey would have been better offstaying with us for the entire fouryears. By the way, TECH BostonPilot, among other traditional andpilots, is a very good alternative –but of course you have to knowabout TECH Boston. So let’s do abetter job of promoting ourschools.

If you see a City on a Hill Char-ter School brochure or a CollegiateCharter School brochure – they’reout there too – pay attention to it,and ask why there isn’t a similarinvitation from the small learningcommunities SB, HP, and so on. Ican assure you that our schoolshold their own and then someagainst these charters. These char-ter schools also have tremendousdrop-out rates. We have to be morevigilant.

We also have to do a better jobof promoting our own schools.Along that line, we have an oppor-tunity on October 27 at the Show-case of Schools to be held at theReggie Lewis Center from 10:00am-1:00 pm. We should encouragepeople to attend the Showcase tohelp our schools recruit. The unionwill take a more active role in thiswith the new superintendentwhom, I think will be more respon-sive. Also, from November 5 toJanuary 8 is school preview timein each of our 144 schools. Any-

thing we can do to make ourschools more hospitable, weshould do. Any ideas you have thatought to be applied systemically,please tell one of us, and we willforward it to the Superintendent.

We have met with the two pre-vious superintendents repeatedlyon both of these issues, raised thequestion of why we greet charterswith a welcome wagon when theycome into our schools. Their an-swers, to be blunt, have been un-satisfactory. We realize that we can-not publicly hold out a sign thatsays “Charters Go Home.” It wouldbe used against us. But what wecan do, however, is alert our ownmembers, educate our own mem-bers, and try to do some internalsalesmanship of our own.

Now, let me switch gears to afew internal matters. There are afew things we’ll be working on thisyear, and I’d like to give an update.

To start with, the new contracthas provided us with a list of thingsto do, contract items that have tobe implemented as of September1. For example, there will soon becreated a process for reimburse-ment of fees for those who reachnational certification in their re-spective areas. There’s a cap onthis over the life of the contract.Another example, there’s a 15,000dollar annual allotment of moneyto be spent so individual disciplines(OT, PT, SLP, Nurses, and so on)can hire their own experts to pro-vide Professional development. Alltold, there’s a list of 20+ items likethis that need to be implemented.We have met on these, and expectto unroll these initiatives shortly.

We have also negotiated and areimplementing the Peer Assistantprogram as you have heard MikeMcLaughlin speak about at themembership meeting. We havealso created New Teacher Devel-opment positions, full and parttime, and we have awarded$325,000 in grants to our memberstaking advantage of ProfessionalLeadership Opportunities. Theseare all terrific initiatives, unusualin their entirety in the country. Thepeer assistant program was verydifficult to negotiate and we hopeand believe that it will be success-ful in helping experienced, veteranteachers who need assistance.Mike has worked long and hard onthis with two others, RondaGoodale and Marilyn Marion,and we are grateful for their volun-teer efforts to get this of f theground. Each year we lose manyteachers, and this program, wehope, will allow us to retain them.

We also as part of this are work-ing hard to restore and motivateschool site councils in placeswhere they are dormant and to pro-vide leadership where they are inplace. Caren Carew is working onthis with a team from the schooldepartment, and I am sure she willat some point talk about this. Theseare all good developments.

We also are implementing mem-bership policy in going afterschools that need building repairassistance. We have sent out a sur-vey and while they are trickling in,we need more in order to presenta united effort to call attention tothe deplorable conditions, the lackof good and adequate facilities, inour buildings. Our goal is to gatherthese surveys, collate them, and



Superintendent Carol Johnson Dialogues with BTU Building Reps.…(continued from page 1)

down, but poverty in other parts of thecountry has gone up. This increase else-where means a proportionate share ofTitle I dollars is divided proportionatelyand goes where there is growing poverty.Our allotment is 7 million dollars less thanlast year. Right now we have a 15 milliondollar short fall due to student enrollmentand Title I money both decreasing. Weneed to work more closely with the statein the future around budget concerns. Wemust get the maximum dollars from TitleI and the State and local revenue.”

As a result of this economic shortfall,the Superintendent stated, “I’ve now puta freeze on open positions which will haveno direct effect in schools. It effects pri-marily central office, etc. with hiring forthose positions reviewed on a case bycase basis. I am aware of our budget chal-lenge. We have to look at it and look athow to plan for it better next year. Thereare challenges around decisions peopleare willing to make this year. 75 milliondollars spent on bus transportation whichis unchecked and continues to skyrocketdue to gas, not the Transportation De-partment. We need to look at the big potof money; 80% goes into salary in theschools. We must then zero in on the re-maining 20% and look at using the moneyin the most effective way.”

Dr. Johnson informed, ‘The SchoolCommittee is looking to expand 4 yearolds by 4 classrooms across the city. Wewant to increase the number of kids readyto learn in Kindergarten.’

Issues concerning the reasons stu-dents drop out and ways said studentscould be recovered were discussed by theSuperintendent. She elaborated, ‘Lastsummer PIC [Private Industry Council]called individual students who’d droppedout by phone as outreach. They askedquestions to determine where they hadbeen placed, where they failed to learnand found some schools were too big,some were too small, and alternative edu-cation provided a strong educational pres-ence. A listening campaign is occurringwith community groups BPON and Free-dom House where parents and others areinterested in transforming the system.There are a lot of people out there work-ing to help us – they have to be willing totake some direction from us. They haveto be on the same page with us, not onlyin competition with us for limited fund-ing. A lot of people have created an in-dustry out of serving us. If people alwayswant to serve us between 8 – 3 which isour time, they have 3 – 6, then we’ll haveto clarify their role and expectations. Wecan’t focus on 100 things. We need to fo-cus on things we do and do them welland increase their support in doing them.’

Johnson stated this year she will befocusing on literacy and in doing so shehas spoken to principals and they empha-size certain things relative to literacy.Then she’s spoken to experienced teach-ers and they have another list of thingsthey emphasize. She asserted, ‘readingis too important on the K-5 level not tozero in on it. A lot of middle school stu-dents can’t read. 30% of the BPS dropoutsaren’t with us from K-8. For the ones wehave, we have to figure out a better sys-tem with a broad strategy because theymove from place to place so we need con-

School Superintendent Carol Johnson speaks to Building Representatives as BTUPresident Richard Stutman looks on.

sistency. I’ve received some push backon this. People are worried I’m hung upon wanting one basil series at the elemen-tary level. There is no one that works foreverybody. I know there always have tobe supplements. Teachers haven’t beenat the table when some of the curriculumdecisions have been made. I’m lookingfor teachers’ input. Finally, we do wantparents to choose us. They have a lot ofchoices. The monopoly [for publicschools] is over.’

There are struggles in structuralframeworks where we can make a differ-

ence. Part of it is up to central adminis-tration to provide a friendly and welcom-ing environment. When I came here,people welcomed me. I want 50,000 kidsto feel welcomed when they come intoour schools by the clerical staff, the lunch-room staff, by all staff. We have to bemindful that these students can go else-where to METCO, charters, privateschools, catholic schools, or be homeschooled. People now make otherchoices, even poor people. We have to sellourselves and go out to parents to do so.We have to work through their children.We need to say, when you come to us,speak to us gently. The relationship be-tween you and us is important. If you failto see the relationship you want to see,and then model it for us. I have to seeparents who model this for teachers. Wewill work on being more friendly andwelcoming so we can focus on the mainthing which is working with your chil-dren.’

‘Special Education is a regular issue.The problem is both of ours. The SpecialEd teacher inherits the kids we havetrouble educating. We can’t beat up onSpecial Ed teachers and we have to worktogether. I saw a good example of inclu-sion at the Rogers. We also have to workon some of their parents to get them en-gaged. We have some Parent and Com-munity Engagement people to help us toengage us in this work. We all have towork to engage them,’ Dr. Johnson em-phasized as she brought her remarks toa close and opened the forum up to aquestion and answer session including

the BTU Reps.Linda Simonetti from The Engineer-

ing School stated, ‘Thank you, Dr.Johnson for giving us hope. The past ad-ministrations have had little respect forteachers encouraging [the reign of] bullyprincipals.’ She asked Dr. Johnson howshe plans to change this dynamic withinthe system. Dr. Johnson responded,‘Good teachers will work in the worstneighborhoods in the city if they have theright principal and they won’t stay if theprincipal isn’t supportive. I don’t know allof the principals yet. I do know leader-

ship counts. I want them to be strong lead-ers and share a voice in the endeavor.

Gayle Marrow, math teacher fromMildred Ave. Middle School asked aboutthe difficulty of regular education teach-ers having students demonstrating diffi-culty in reading getting tested or COREd,asking if there was a new process to doso. The Superintendent stated, ‘I will fol-low up on it. There are legal processes.’Gayle followed by observing, ‘We almosthave to go to parents to get what theywant no matter what the problem is, wearen’t getting what the student needs.’

Timo Philip from Brighton Highasked, ‘What plans do you have to in-crease new teacher retention?’ Ms.Johnson replied, “This year we have NewTeacher Developers. They are workingvery closely to assist them. We also needto honor the natural mentoring that takesplace. Some people go into teaching un-aware of the challenges, not prepared forthe physical exhaustion. Most peoplewho’ve never taught don’t know it either.But people interested in teaching chooseit in their first years not later in college.It’s a huge issue. I do not know if we aremeeting all of their needs. Maybe in highschools they have other needs we needto address.’ She then asked Timo, ‘Howlong have you been teaching here?’ Heresponded, ‘Since 1972.’ There was laugh-ter from the crowd. Johnson chuckledback, ‘Thank you for staying.’

Timo continued, ‘Do you have plansfor a comprehensive program to teachparenting?’ Superintendent Johnson an-swered, ‘This is where the partners couldhelp with parent teacher communication.Teachers are very busy, not that they don’twant to communicate with parents. Wehave to give them more time to do so.The ongoing parent complaint is they areonly called when there are problems. Wehave to prioritize who to get back to,which is a reality particularly in HighSchool and Middle School. We have toprioritize how the use of the Family Out-reach Coordinators can now assist usbetter. There were always kids whoseparents were disengaged but someoneelse decided they’d nurture that students’

capacity for potential. We can’t do this forall. For kids who can’t make it, it onlytakes one adult to say I’m going to watchout for this kid. We need to think of howwe’ll work collectively with the FamilyOutreach people. We live in a time withno money where young people still needmore support.’

Marjorie Crosby, OT in East Bostonproclaimed she was also hopeful, but hasworked with, ‘A first year teacher in anLD classroom who was not allowed to useProject Read. She had to hide using it andthen left after one year to go to anothersystem. We hear a lot about differentiatedinstruction. What does this mean to you?How does this impact the demands forgrade level math books and pacingguides? We have to use 4th grade booksfor a kid on the 1st grade level. We arerequired to use pacing guides – period.’

Dr. Johnson responded, ‘The wholenotion of pacing guides creates what paceshould be used to acquire skills at gradelevel. Unfortunately, sometimes imple-mentation becomes so rigid we teach tothe pacing guide when teaching the chil-dren. Some kids out pace the guide. Somekids won’t be able to keep the pace of theguide. We do have to take the kids wherethey are. We may not have experience indifferentiated instruction and accommo-dating the students learning styles. Some-times people have opinions there is onlyone way. Those who’ve taught know –we’ve always supplemented the districtsmandated curriculum. Good teachers al-ways do it. There are gaps in the materi-als of the district and the capacity of theability of the child to learn from them.We have to make adjustments. In the pri-mary grades to develop oral language andliteracy, parents have to ensure kids talkmore. In the Black community, we oftenask kids to be quiet and to go away. Itdiscourages oral talk, it discourages in-terchange and we shut them down in thezest to have them well behaved. We needto tell parents to talk to them, to engagein dialogue. I am Black. I have three kidsover 21. I have to say none of themlearned the same way. Some are verybright with no effort. Some are hardworking and put in all kinds of effort andpractice to achieve at a higher level. Theywere all raised in the same home withthe same everything. They don’t pace thesame way. You have to know how to pacethem as a parent.’

Mary Dooner-Griffin of the IrvingMiddle School asked the Superintendenthow she would deal with bully principals.She asked if Johnson would look over theteacher turnover rate in individualschools of both new and experiencedteachers. She agreed with the Superin-tendent that a welcoming environmenthas a connection with morale in a build-ing. However, bullying principals are notan isolated case overall in the system andcould be detected partially by looking atthe by building teacher turnover rate, sheasserted. Dr. Johnson answered, ‘It isconstructive as a district to monitorteacher mobility – why people leave,sample interviews of new as well as ex-perienced teachers. Teachers leaving abuilding is sometimes because of leader-ship. We need to distribute challengesbetween teachers evenly. The newestteachers are coming on board and weoften leave them with the most challeng-ing kids. It is a leadership issue. Princi-pals must take responsibility for even dis-tribution. It is up to the school’s leader-ship to balance the group of kids so newteachers are not saddled with the tough-est kids with them all lumped together.’

Eileen Weir from Madison Park Highbrought the issue of literacy in high andmiddle schools to the discussion. Sheasserted that in testing, ‘If the studentcould read the question, they could an-swer it.’ Weir explained many students

BTU Members atOctober 27Anti-War Rally

A small but spirited group ofBTU members attended theOctober 27 anti-war rally at theBoston Common.

Submitted by Heidi Winston, R.N.


make a PUBLIC presentation of how many schools arelacking what in the way of facilities. We need your help,and we will nudge you gently so we can accomplish this.

Let me talk a little about superintendent’s schools.We are meeting withall staf f fromsuperintendent’sschool on Novem-ber 15th. We arelooking forward tothe meeting to clearup any misconcep-tions some mayhave. I think theBTU staff has prettymuch gone to allsupt. schools, as wetry to counteract some of the distortions and untruthsCourt St. has been spreading. Here’s what the spin doc-tors have been saying:

The schools are in trouble, they need to improve,and the principals have super powers. The first twoclauses are true – the schools are in trouble and theyneed to improve – at least by the arbitrary state stan-dards. But the principals have no more power or au-thority than they do anywhere. Arguably their author-ity may be too much, but it is no more than in tradi-tional schools. Now we can continue to repeat this –and we will – and it has been written many times, in theunion paper and in the bulletin, and all of this has beenreinforced by our staff in their visits. We have been crys-tal clear, as is the BTU contract: In regard to workingconditions, grievance rights, and anything else thatmatters, there is no difference between supt schoolsand traditional schools, except class size in regular edu-cation classes is lower. Supt. school principals enjoy noadditional license to break the contract. What the schooldepartment is doing is trying to bully people into concedingsomething the department was unable to win in negotiations.

A couple of other internal union matters: We havetwo outstanding motions that we are working on.

One - To revisit the electoral process of how unionelections are conducted. We will be working on that thisyear. We have designed a succession instrument to fillunexpected staff vacancies. The membership passed aby-law change on this last year. And we also have amotion that passed that asks us to investigate what ifanything we ought to do about the mechanics of theelections – and whether or not it would include othermeans of voting.

Two - We also have a motion that passed that calls onthe BTU to set up an educational policy committee tomeet and devise a strategy and/or a position paper on amatter or matters of educational policy. We have another

meeting scheduled, and itis our hope to get thispointed in the right direc-tion, so we can have somereal influence in this mat-ter. With a new superinten-dent, we are somewhathopeful that there is a win-dow of opportunity to havesome influence in matterswe have been shut out ofover the last decade.

All in all, we have accom-plished a lot in the last year. The contract is completed,successfully, though we still have to do some work on

BTU President Richard Stutman Delivers State of the Union Address to Building Reps.…(continued from page 3)

The office staff is aware of the pressureour members face, we are each aware ofeach other’s individual school issues.As much as we can, we brainstorm onfinding solutions. We are a cohesiveteam and I am proud of what we havebeen able to accomplish.

implementation. We also have to step up some of theenforcement and work on some of conditions and com-plaints we see and hear about daily – whether we aretalking about bully principals or too much paperwork –we have to step that up, too. The office staff is aware ofthe pressure our members face, we are each aware ofeach other’s individual school issues. As much as wecan, we brainstorm on finding solutions. We are a cohe-sive team and I am proud of what we have been able toaccomplish.

The key to our survival will be to maintain what wehave, increase understanding and education within ourmembership, and work to continue to build a cohesive,stronger BTU, while we work with other like-mindedorganizations, our state affiliates and others, to fend offchallenges from outside. We understand that we can-not go it alone. Our strength makes us a target, bothinside the BPS and outside. Thank you and thank youfor all the work you to do keep us strong.


can’t stay after school for tutoring and shestruggled with the issue of how the dis-trict could incorporate basic reading inmiddle and high schools. Teaching read-ing is a secondary level issue as well inthat many students leave high schoolunable to read the newspaper, she ob-served. Superintendent Johnson agreed,‘We have several problems in secondaryliteracy. Boston has to use high qualitymaterial on the secondary level. We needbetter technology to do so. We must goto their medium of communication. Tech-nology is more engaging to them.’ Weirrejoined, ‘We would seek permission touse this technology during the schoolday.’

Alice Yong from the Hennigan Schoolstated that there are systemic issues withthe district’s language proficiency testingin that many of the SEI students are ‘notcorrectly slotted. Some students don’t useacademic language, but can speak socialEnglish at home. It is hard to move intoSEI programs after 2-3 years in regulareducation. Parents don’t have the knowhow to move them into SPED.’ Superin-tendent Johnson said, ‘We do have a newDirector of ELL. She will work with twoway bilingual programs.’

Maritza Agrait, OT from theBlackstone put forth that some schoolsnot making AYP have SPED studentscounted towards that determination. Sheworks in schools held accountable for thetesting results of regular Ed and SPEDteachers testing students with a mentalage of 3 years old even utilizing alterna-tive assessments and believes it isn’t fairto the school or the teachers. She asked

what the Superinten-dent will do to removethese individual stu-dents’ scores and nothave them counted inthe total for theschool’s AYP.

Dr. Johnson re-plied, ‘I think federallaw allows urban dis-tricts 1% of the SPEDpopulation not re-ported in MCAS. Bos-ton has 20% ID’ed asSPED. Comparativeanalysis shows Atlantahas the same overallnumber of student’s intheir district as Bos-ton, with 9% beingSPED. Memphis has12%. There is a historical piece to this.Massachusetts was the first state to haveSPED legislation. It was the last state tochange its definition of SPED which isvery broad. Only recently it got changed.Part of it is advocacy groups. In the early1970’s busing in Boston became an issueand a lot of parents wanted to get themout of BPS and into private schools. Par-ents liked the definition of SPED to getthem tuition, etc. Remnants in terms ofover referral exist. We have to figure outour referral process. I spoke to Kennedy’sstaff about NCLB reauthorization con-cerning SPED and testing. An unin-tended consequence of NCLB is to keepELL and SPED kids in school. The fed-eral issue around NCLB reauthorizationre: testing is that the number of students

tested for SPED is higher in urban areas.’Kevin Fagen from the Trotter School

identified as a Superintendents’ Schoolstated that there are pacing guide prob-lems from the 1st to the 5th grades thatthey can’t solve. She requested a meansof easy access to the Superintendent andinvited her to stop by to meet with theTrotter teachers. Dr. Johnson told her, ‘Ihave spoken to some Superintendent’sSchools and have stopped by and spoketo your principal. I will work on meetingwith teachers. Retention is an issue forthe school department and all over thecountry. We said we’d retain kids not atproficiency. Chicago did a study withsome kids over age for the grade and in-appropriate for the setting they are in.Research suggests almost Ω are retained

or dropped out. The school departments’past policy asked, other than summerschool, what are we going to do differ-ently? If they don’t learn the first time,what makes us think doing it the secondtime the same way will change the out-come? What are we going to do to accel-erate learning? It’s really a struggle.’

Laura Delgado-Clemmons from theCondon School expressed concernsaround literacy issues dealing with phon-ics and whole language instruction whenwe also in her opinion, need basic skillsand grammar. She also observed that shewanted someone in the parent center toadminister the correct tests to studentsenabling them to get into the right classearly on, whether it is an SEI or a regular

Mike Konopacki – AFT LeaderNet

Gayle Marrow, Timo Philip and Marjie Crosby line up at the microphone to ask the Superintendentquestions. – Photo by Charles Johnson


Commentary: Garret Virchick

The Dimensions of an Effective School System:Demonstrate Excellence, Equity and High Expectations For All Students

3rd in a series

It’s been over 50 years since Brownvs. Board of Education. Segregationis still alive and well in public educa-

tion. Urban school systems are still pre-dominantly children of color and thewealthier suburbs have schools that arestill overwhelmingly white. ProfessorCornel West, formerly of Harvard andnow Princeton, has pointed out that 86%of white suburban Americans live inneighborhoods that are less than 1%Black. In urban areas there is the con-stant pressure to bring back neighbor-hood schools which promises to furthersegregate an already highly segregatedschool system. As a result urban publicschool teachers are constantly faced withthe issue of equity. And the school sys-tem as a whole needs to be constantlyexamined and challenged when inequi-ties hinder the education of our students.

In this 3rd installment of the series onThe Dimensions of an Effective SchoolSystem, takes a look at the dimension thatstates all teachers (and of course theschool system) need to DemonstrateExcellence, Equity and High Expec-tations for All Students. The schooldepartment’s expressed rationale for in-cluding this dimension is so that we canclose the “achievement gap between sub-groups within the schools”. But too oftenthe focus is on “the achievement gap” andwhat teachers can do to close it while is-sues of equity (especially with respect toresources) are largely ignored.

James Crawford, president of the In-stitute for Language and EducationalPolicy, has pointed out how and wherethis shift in the dialogue took place. Priorto 1999 you seldom heard about the so-called “achievement gap”. The issue ofschool reform was more likely to beframed around the issue of “equal educa-tional opportunity”. Then, the Republicanpresidential campaign of then Texas gov-ernor George W. Bush, spurred on byright-wing political consultant Karl Rovechanged the debate. To promote theTexas model of increased standardized

By Andrea Doremus Cuetara

Every murder is a failure of com-munity and human connection. Somehow, a human being has

become so isolated and cut-off frommeaningful relationships with family,school or work, and from spirit, and fromthe ethical child they once were, to cometo believe that killing is a logical option.And I would venture to assert that thevast majority of the shooters, minus thosethat have moved to our City from else-where or attended parochial schools,have come through the Boston PublicSchools.

There is something about our commu-nity of administrators and teachers thatis allowing, in part, these murderers tobe produced. They are with us for longerperiods of time during the day than theyare with their parents and guardians.

And, as reported in the Globe articleof 11-7-7, it is our community that mustsupport the survivors of the murders forhow to get through the ensuing schooldays while grieving their brothers, moth-ers, cousins, nephews, neighbors and per-haps worse, while wondering if they willbe next. We are called-on to support thethousands of young people who are askedand expected to function academically inwhat is basically an undeclared war zone(to borrow a term from the Freedom Writ-ers Diary), while we ourselves are alsolooking over our shoulders as we driveand walk through the neighborhoods.

dent has access to challenging, grade-levelappropriate content and uses a variety ofstrategies to ensure they meet the standardsand Identifies each student’s learning needs


testing they focused on the term “achieve-ment gap.” This not so subtle change inthe debate can be seen in the followinggraph:

the administrator in the building whothen took offense because my requestmade it seem like he wasn’t giving theteacher the resources to do the job. Nei-

Since I began this article, the BostonHealth Commission has unveiled a com-prehensive, door-to-door, communityhealth initiative to address the violence,and our Superintendent will hold city-wide speak-outs to address the stagger-ing “drop-out” rate. These are very posi-tive steps.

As I write on Veteran’sDay, I hear a report onNPR’s “Weekend Edition”about the huge lack oftreatment for VietnamWar veterans who led tor-tured lives for 40 yearsdue to undiagnosedPTSD, and this sameproblem is now emerging for Iraq veter-ans because the U.S. military, as an insti-tution, is once again dropping the ball.

How could our own students not beexperiencing a form of PTSD from all theviolence and death that surrounds them?What is BPS as an institution doing toaddress it? What is BPS doing to preventthe violence to begin with?

“Education reform” has zeroed in onclassroom instruction (for example, dailyobjectives and the workshop model…)and that is a VERY good thing. But whereis the BPS system-wide, organized andoutraged response to this ongoing crisisof lethal violence?

Why is BPS not calling on enormouslysuccessful and well-known, Boston-arearesources like the Medical Foundation,

Teen Empowerment, Louis D. BrownPeace Institute, Ella J. Baker and Free-dom Houses to be present in every school,every day to be running anti-violence,peaceful alternatives, and peer mediationprograms? What about the long-timeBoston presence of Deborah Prothrow-Stith and the ideas and programs at the

Harvard School of Public Health? Whatis the culture of each of our schools interms of modeling respect and honestcommunication among all staff and stu-dents? How well do we use the excellentresources and programs at Unified Stu-dent Services? I’m sure you know ofmore. There are surgeons at the MassGeneral Hospital Trauma Departmentwho are asking and willing to donate theirtime to give presentations on ballisticsand the gruesome impacts of guns on thehuman body. There are so many gifted“men of color” speakers who have beenthrough the drug/violence/gang life,who came out at the other end and whowant to share their stories to help youngpeople avoid their stupid mistakes. Whyare they not paid to provide regular fo-

rums to educate and inspire?Why are principals and headmasters

left on their own to raise funds and dealwith this? That is SO wrong, don’t youthink? Why are school budgets beingeven further cut? Why are teachers leftisolated and untrained to cope in the class-room with students who are facing thesetragedies? Why is this not a topic on theagenda of every staff meeting? Why arewe not working more closely with mediapartners to publicize positive resourcesand ideas, like the Boston Banner, Chan-nel 3, Boston Cable News, AnnenbergChannel, etc.?

Where is the BPS and School Commit-tee leadership on this?

Why is there not an effective system-wide structure of triage to adequatelyaddress the social and emotional prob-lems of children whose home life hastransformed them into walking time-bombs? We know the children. We knowin our hearts the ones who have truly se-rious problems. We have the opportunity

Oops!In the article “Albert Shanker: Noth-ing to Celebrate,” which appeared inthe November issue of the BostonUnion Teacher, we neglected toidentify the author. It is JohnAllocca. We apologize for this error.


“We are called-on to support thethousands of young people who areasked and expected to functionacademically in what is basically anundeclared war zone.”

In this context, let’s take closer look atthis Dimension. One expectation underthis Dimension states: Sets high standardsand shows through words, actions, andinstruction that they believe all students canmeet them. A good teacher does this ev-ery day, giving students many opportu-nities to go deeply into their thinking byasking probing questions. Shouldn’t weask the same of the school system? Whenthey constantly focus on the so-called“achievement gap” rather than on issuesof “equal educational opportunities” theburden is shifted from the system to thestudents and teachers. Of course we needto believe in our students and have highexpectations for them. But we also needa school system with leaders that ac-knowledge the systemic inequalities thatexist between rich suburban schools andpoor urban schools and demand changein a very public way.

The second and third expectationsstate that teachers should: Explain andpost each day’s learning objectives and howclass time will be used. Ensures each stu-

and explicitly teaches student to identifytheir own strengths and learning needs.Yes, good teaching means that teachersneed to be prepared with good lessonsthat meet the needs of their students. Butit constantly amazes me that so manyadministrators seem fixated on whetheror not an objective is posted somewherein the classroom but seem totally oblivi-ous to the fact that not enough books orresources are available in every class thatcan meet the needs of their students.

Last year, in my role as New TeacherDeveloper, I called an administrator in thecentral office and made a request forsupplementary materials for a 1st yearteacher who was teaching a StructuredEnglish Immersion Special Needs Alge-bra class. He had only been given thestandard regular education text. He waslooking for other resources that mightsupplement his teaching so he could bet-ter serve his students and meet theirneeds. I received a standard reply abouthow all kids deserve to learn what every-one else was learning. This was cc’d to

ences. This column has repeatedly askedthe school department look closely at theflaws in standardization, scripted curricu-lum and pacing guides. If this is all thatwe are given we will never be able to meetthis expectation.

Teachers are professionals. We needthe freedom to go beyond the script andraise issues of social justice. We know ourstudents. We need initiatives that pro-mote teacher leadership in our schoolsso that we can start to address the variedneeds of our students. This is equity. Thisis equal opportunity. Our students bringa wealth of knowledge to the classroom.When we constantly demean them by tar-geting some standardized testing gaprather than the lack of equity in the sys-tem we demoralize them and the drop outrate increases. It doesn’t have to be likethat. Who will stand up for the children?This question should be asked of allteachers AND administrators. Perhapsthen we will be able to DemonstrateExcellence, Equity and High Expec-tations for All Students.

ther administrator, at thecentral office or schoolsite, wanted to hear whatI was asking. And as aresult the teacher neverreceived any supplemen-tary materials that mighthave helped him reachthis par ticular “sub-group”.

The last expectationunder this Dimensionstates that teachersshould: Introduce newmaterial by building onwhat students alreadyknow and help them use itto learn new skills andcontent. Explore themesthat are relevant to stu-dents’ lives and experi-

Art

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Reframing School ReformAs Reflected by Changing Terminology in

The New York Times, 1981-2006

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Equal Educational Opportunity Achievement Gap


By Joan Forcucci

The staff and students at the Hennigan School in Jamaica Plain participated inCancer Awareness Day on October 17, 2007 by wearing pink and donating money

to this cause. There was even a “pink” bake sale. The school raised $1,000 for BreastCancer Awareness.

Everyone who donated to this worthy cause, had a pink breast cancer ribbon withtheir name printed on it. All the pink ribbons were put up on the front windows ofthe school. What a sight to see…every window decorated with these ribbons. Awarm thank you goes to everyone who participated.

(Joan Forcucci is a Paraprofessional at the Hennigan School.)

The Hennigan School Goes “PINK!”

The staff and students of the James W. Hennigan School show their support forBreast Cancer Awareness.

Colman Walsh, James “Timo” Philip andMike Canavan of AFT Massachusetts.

BTU Executive Board Member Eileen Weir urges City CouncillorSam Yoon to visit Madison Park High School.

BTU Vice President Patrick Connolly withExecutive Board Member Cheryl Kelly.

Come to the BTU Holiday PartyFriday, December 21, 2007 • 3:00 to 8:00 pmand BTU Children’s Holiday PartyThursday, December 27, 2007 • 2:00 to 4:00 pmat BTU Hall

Come to the BTU Holiday PartyFriday, December 21, 2007 • 3:00 to 8:00 pmand BTU Children’s Holiday PartyThursday, December 27, 2007 • 2:00 to 4:00 pmat BTU Hall

Photos by Mary F. Glynn

Scenes from the

BTU Business Rep. Conference

Professional Development Opportunityat the Boston Teachers Union

“Making Data Work for You”Presented by:

Al Bird, Denise Henderson and Kristen W. Pinto

Two Saturdays: January 5 & 19, 20089:00 am - 3:30 pm

Participants must attend both sessionsin order to receive one in-service credit

If interested, please call [email protected]

Course Objectives:

1. Participants will surface their assumptions about data.

2. Participants will understand two different types ofassessment data and their uses and limitations.

3. Participants will learn how to analyze data to makeinformed decisions about school improvement andinstruction.


Ed class. She would like the Superinten-dent to look at SEI and SPED classes con-taining 2-3 grade levels each where theprincipal evaluates the teacher by gradeinstruction within these types of settings,which is virtually impossible to do. CarolJohnson replied, ‘We went through warsof phonics or whole language. It’s not ei-ther or. There have been mega analysisand the study details the 5 elements ofliteracy as being; phonics, phonemicawareness, vocabulary, fluency, and com-prehension. All of the above are neededfor establishing good literacy skillscoupled with teaching goals and directinstruction. I hope that we don’t polarizeone another. At the end of the day thereis nothing wrong with asking people totake home drill and practice work.’

Betsy Drinan from the Lila FredrickPilot Middle School stated she liked thedebate going forward changing the per-spective where teachers have beenviewed as the problem not as the solu-tion and as players moving policies for-ward. In the area of literacy she could notecho enough the importance of middleschool literacy. Utilizing assessment,coupled with good instruction, and a ca-

pacity to do in depth diagnostics will, inher opinion, require more staffing andtechnology. She explained the LFPMS isa laptop school and that they use someexcellent materials there to assist the stu-dents to move forward. In the area ofschool climate, Drinan felt the strugglewith building a positive school climatewhen focusing on disciplined populationsand packages which aren’t proactive asis using research based approaches suchas the Positive Behavioral System.

Dr. Johnson stated she’d, ‘Appreciatedthe comments on Middle School literacyneeding to be a team of people – SPEDand SEI included so as to reflect as broadan array of students and their needs aspossible. The NY police constantly moni-tor all methods and keep track of whereproblems are and then target a neighbor-hood strategy, map out a way of trackingincidents and infractions school byschool. Every 6 weeks they look at thenumbers. When they saw problemsaround a certain behavior, they deployedresources. In middle school they had afight free curriculum. The school kepttrack of fight free days. They developedpositive strategies looking at disciplineand communication. They mapped outdata strategies on how the school wantedto intervene. One middle school on thestate list had 160 days that were fight free;another had 179 out of 180 days fight free.There was a fight between two boys on aSunday, which was the one that they re-ported in reducing their fight free days[from 180 to 179]. It was at this point

Superintendent Carol Johnson Dialogues with BTU Building Reps.…(continued from page 5)

when kids began to own it, that they didn’thave to police themselves that they knowthat it works. I certainly have felt thatwhat kids truly want is to be a team ef-fort, not adversarial. I always want to getkids what they need. We need to get theparents more involved in the publicschools. If we fight each other, others willwin with vouchers, etc. When we all goto the legislature we have to go as a teamfighting for resources for the publicschools.’

Angelita Johnson from the KingMiddle School stated, ‘Teachers need tofeel safe emotionally, physically, and safewithin their livelihood. Discipline withoutrelation breeds rebellion.’ She describedscenarios of teachers being vocal andthen being evaluated or disciplined as ameans to attack said teachers, intimidat-ing them. She opined, that speaking updoesn’t make one an adversary andshouldn’t result in having one’s profes-sion stripped from them. Dr. Johnsonreacted by stating, ‘In the 7 weeks ofschool [thus far] I haven’t changed theprincipal problem. How they interact,how they have been trained – what yousee emirates from central office – I don’t

believe Tom Payzant or Mike Contom-pasis were like that.’ The BTU Repserupted in laughter countering the per-ception vocalized by Dr. Johnson. Re-sponding to this outburst, the Superinten-dent continued, ‘People pass on. Peoplewho have worked over me always empha-sized relationships, relationships, relation-ships – as being really important!’

Michael Crain from the BlackstoneSchool reported that as a Special Edteacher for 17 years, he’d never had aSuperintendent visit his class. He encour-aged the Superintendent to do so as itsends a message to the students, princi-pal, and staff that they are an importantpart of the school.

Angela Cristiani, school psychologistat the Trotter, Cleveland, BLA, & BAA,made the case for increased justificationfor a higher percentage of related schoolprovider’s time at each school. She re-ported that each assessment takes be-tween 2-5 hours to complete. In the areaof psych assessments, she relayed, ‘Weare working reactively not proactively. Weare working as psychometricians.’

Lisa McGeorge from the AdamsSchool agreed with previous BTU Rep’scomments on evaluations being used aspunishment to, ‘brow beat, not as con-structive feedback. ‘This is demeaning.You mentioned teachers having au-tonomy. Are you letting the principalsknow that’s what you want to happen?’Dr. Johnson responded, ‘Autonomy is afunny word. It is used a lot in pilot schools,etc. I must use that word carefully. I do

think people should be treated with re-spect. If people are willing to tutor beyondthe call of duty, it should be acknowl-edged. I will have to look into that.’

Sherry Pedone music teacher fromMildred Avenue Middle School stated,‘The arts [in BPS] are haphazard at bestdue to problems with funding, schedul-ing, and a breakdown in sequencing.What are your ideas for the arts and pro-motion of the arts?’ Dr. Johnson reported,‘it is unfair to have a system where a stu-dent gets music dependent upon whichmiddle school they attend. It makes theassumption that the arts are for some, notothers. I have a rich appreciation for thearts. They also provide opportunities todo work around diversity from differentcultures. I just have to find the money.Boston has such music resources;Berklee, the Pops – not to have a strongmusic program to enrich the community.It will be a challenge - I’m sure mainlybecause it’s not on the MCAS.’

Barbara East from the Fifield Schoolbrought forth strengths and weaknessesof the MCAS and honed in on the lan-guage usage which can bias test resultsdue to unfamiliarity and/or cultural con-

cerns resulting in the MCAS not beingan accurate tool for assessment. Dr.Johnson stated that this presents, ‘a largeissue around federal laws. I’m not againstit [MCAS]. When it is used as a one timehigh stakes test, it is not as useful as ifused in conjunction with other studentwork. Nationally there are 50 differenttests, so the testing companies are mak-ing lots of money.’

Superintendent Johnson then asked,‘Two big questions’ of the BTU Reps forfeedback. ‘The first comes out of meet-ings with BPON and Community Part-nership and in other parent groups aboutparental input into teacher evaluations.What are you going to do, they ask me. Iknow there is a new [evaluation] instru-ment; I’m not sure how we’d approach it.There are general surveys; it has comeup a lot as a School Committee policy. Thesecond question is; there are a lot ofthings we want to do. We want morepsych services, counselors, music – whatwould we live without to get to that place– individual resources to benefit teach-ing and learning?’

John Allocca from El Centro de Car-dinal responded that we attempt to do alot with education but a lot of people don’thave an awareness of the big picture. Heexplained that he has kids in the BPS andcares about the world in general aroundsocial justice issues. But as far as parentshaving a say in teacher evaluations heweighed in, ‘They have no clue as to dailylife in school; dealing with bully princi-pals, structural problems with education,

Building Representatives listen to Superintendent Johnson. – Photo by Charles Johnson

and so forth.’ Allocca continued, ‘Parentsshould be a part of the process if there isa way parents can deal with working in acollaborative way. There’s sometimes amismatch between who teaches kids andwho the kids are most of the time. Thesearen’t the kids parents see in the evening.Of course this process must consider our[teachers’] own needs for security andrespect.’

Jewell Bratton from the Trotter ex-plained that she currently has a son en-rolled in BPS and that all 3 of her chil-dren were educated in BPS and that herhusband was educated in the system aswell. She continued, ‘Recently I had to tella teacher [of my son] that I was con-cerned with his education, as a concernedparent. Kids have high expectations, too.He’s getting an A in physics with an IEP.Parents can have a role in evaluating theschool as a whole and what it is doing toeducate our kids. Some teachers call onetime a week to make good calls to par-ents. I don’t have more than 20 studentsto deal with. I worked with BPON. I agreewith parent input within the school, notpersonalized to the teacher. Principals willuse that information in the wrong form.’

Maritza Agrait, OT, answered thatshe’d worked with some students formany years whose parents don’t cometo their IEP meetings. She furtherstated, ‘Parents are their first teachers.We rely on them. Unless parents areavailable to me, I can’t rely on another’sassessment for evaluations for ourjobs. We can try to draw them in more,maybe use some PD time to call out tothem or work on alternative means ofreaching them.’

Gilberto Rivera music teacherfrom the Edwards Middle Schoolspoke to dealing with the legislaturearound AYP, increasing the parentalinvolvement piece and showing signifi-cant improvement. He emphasizedthat through music and theatre andputting on productions kids learn. Con-tinuing he stated, ‘The realities are thatkids deal with 2 – 3 jobs after school.Maybe we could revisit the issue ofcommunity schools to save money onbusing. We [teachers] are a wealth ofknowledge and resources. We [BPS]spend a significant amount of money

on consultants. We should save thatmoney. Dr. Johnson, I’ve been in BPSsince 1992. Watch your back – we wantto keep you a little bit here in Boston.’

Laughter punctuated the crowd asSuperintendent Carol Johnson thankedthe BTU Building Reps saying, ‘I appre-ciate your insight and thoughts. I willwork with your leadership and am im-pressed with the high quality of teachersI’ve met in the BPS. We have some bigchallenges ahead and I will continue toexplore options with you. We have tothink through very carefully how weframe our responses so they [parents]experience us as wanting to work withus. They have to be accountable too – itis a shared event.’

The audience gave the Superintendenta standing ovation. Following this meet-ing, was lunch where Dr. Johnson and herhusband sat at tables with BTU membersdiscussing issues informally, getting toknow each other better. As the groupthinned and the hour waned, CarolJohnson relocated to another table filledwith animated discussion, getting a truefeel for the school system through theeyes of its teachers, paras, nurses, andrelated service providers. People were atease with her and she with them. BTUmembers expressed optimism in theparking lot as they prepared to hit theroad home. Some stating that was a dan-gerous thing because they hadn’t felt itin such a long time. Others just smiledsaying it’s about time – let’s give it sometime!


Question: The teaching staff sees some of what you do every day (i.e. mop, deliversupplies). What are the parts of your job that we may not see?

Chalmus-Johnson: You may not see all the repair or security or parts of what wedo. We call for big repairs plus we do some of the repairs. For example if a window iscracked we remove and clean up the glass before we call for someone to replace it. Wecheck the boiler to make sure it is at the proper temperature and we change lightbulbs. We clean up after all kinds of accidents. On snowy or icy days we get to schoolearly to get the sidewalks and stairs ready. Sometimes we get called in on the weekendfor snow removal. We are expected to help keep the building secure by making sure allthe doors are tightly closed and locked. Sometimes we help out in more serioussituations like a bomb scare to help evacuate and then assist in a walk through.

Question: Who provides the basic supplies like soap and paper towels? Why insome schools do we run out of items like paper towels? Is this due to a lack of suppliesor time in your schedule or other reasons?

Chalmus-Johnson: To get our supplies custodians fill out requisition forms everymonth and send them to a distribution center at Campbell Resource. Supplies aredelivered to the school. Really there shouldn’t be a situation where bathrooms or class-rooms run out of paper towels. But both lack of supplies or time can cause this tohappen. For example we may order the same amount of towels that were enough forlast month. But this month teachers may plan a celebration like a Thanksgiving Feastor a special art project that require more clean up. Then we can run out of towels. Alsothere are some situations where there is no supervision of students in the bathroomand paper towels get soaked and used as missiles that end up on the bathroom ceilingor in piles on the floor. If we run out we can order more from the distribution center. Itwould be helpful if teachers nicely let us know they are running low or that a bathroomis out of towels and then give us a little time to restock the rooms.

Question: Are you under the supervision of the school principal or Facilities Man-agement? What do you need from each in order to do your job well?

Chalmus-Johnson: We are under the supervision of both, and from both we needclear communication. We need respect, cooperation, and to be appreciated. We alsoneed not to be compartmentalized but to be recognized as part of the school staff.

Question: What message would you like to give the new Superintendant, CarolJohnson?

Chalmus-Johnson: I would like to invite Superintendant Johnson to meet with themembers of our Union. We would like to hear about her expectations of custodians.We would like the opportunity for her to hear about some of the issues we have as well.

Question: What are some of the health and safety issues that you address or face inthe schools?

Chalmus-Johnson: We have to deal with mold, pests, blood, urine, vomit, staffinfections, airborne germs and asbestos. When cleaning leaks in a classroom or in theslop sink we may have contact with mold. When we sweep or move furniture we maycome in contact with asbestos. Then we must call for environmental services for saferemoval. We are part of a school team that deals with pests. This usually includes anadministrator, the custodian and a representative from an extermination company. Welabel and set traps. If a rodent is caught we must remove the trap and record this is alog. The exterminator checks the log and makes recommendations to address theproblem. The administrator must super vise the implementation of therecommendations. In order for pest removal to be effective the cooperation of all threeteam members is needed.

Question: What Union do the custodians belong to and how many members are inyour local?

Chalmus-Johnson: We are Local 1952 of District Council 35 International Unionof Painters and Allied Trades. We have 300 plus members in our local.

Question: How did you end up in the Painters Union?Chalmus-Johnson: A few years ago we were just an independent association. The

city was trying to privatize all school custodians, to put our jobs out to bid to privateemployers. The city hoped to save money by using private agencies that pay lowerwages and provide fewer benefits. So we joined up with District Council 35 for support.They helped provide the strength we needed to overturn this attempt. We won thefight to keep our jobs. However we had to make some concessions on the use of parttimers who have limited benefits and rights. We feel this has been and will continue tobe an important fight. If they can privatize our jobs than whose jobs will come next? Wefeel the schools are better served by Union custodians who are hired by and accountableto the city and to the staff and students in each school.

Question: When is your new contract coming up and what do you expect to be thekey issues?

Chalmus-Johnson: Our new contract will be coming up in August 2008. The keyissues will be health insurance, wages and putting staffing back into our 1 personbuildings.

Question: Have you had any special challenges as a woman in your job or union?Chalmus-Johnson: As a woman I sometimes feel that I am viewed as a maid rather

than a custodian, with expectations of me to be more detailed in cleaning. A guy cancome in and clean but a woman can be expected to come in and make it shine.

It is a challenge in a mostly male union to be heard and taken seriously. That is whyDistrict Council 35 has a women’s committee in which I currently serve as vice-chair.

Question: What organizations do you belong to that help support your Union work?Chalmus-Johnson: The Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health

(MassCOSH) has been very helpful in the schools. I am a board member of WILD –Women Institute for Leadership Development and I work with Jobs with Justice.

Question: Are there any other thoughts that you would like to share with yourBTU colleagues?

Chalmus-Johnson: I am proud to be a custodian. I like what I do. It pays the billsand will put my kids through college. I would like my coworkers to remember thatcustodian is what we do and not who we are. We’re individuals who want to be treatedwith respect. Please when you ask for what you need do it with respect. Think of whatyou are saying and how you are saying it. That way we can all work together as a…

Together Everyone Achieves More! Thank you.(The interview was conducted by Marjie Crosby, Occupational Therapist in 4 East

Boston schools. Gretchen Chalmus-Johnson has been a custodian for 18 years and currentlyworks at the Henry Grew School.)

It Takes A Village

An Interview with BPS School CustodianGretchen Chalmus-Johnson

to be the first line of defense againstthe violence.

I teach 9th and 10th grade. It is justobvious to every frontline educatorin every city that in each classroomthere are at least 3 – 4 students whosedisruptive behaviors are crying outfor help/intervention and social/emotional support. This is true acrossthe country. It is on the cover of ma-jor magazines. It is being called aproblem with “discipline.”

There are conditions in the livesof these children that make learningimpossible and how can they NOThelp but try to drag everyone elsedown with them? What else wouldmake sense for their young souls todo, and who can blame them?! Theyare actively resisting an intolerablesituation. Or perhaps they just end uptaking drugs or alcohol and are quietin class and do nothing. I suggest thatit is some of these young people whoare the ones who eventually get socut-off from themselves and themoral sense of all children that theycome to believe that using a gun toshoot another human being is reason-able.

Recent studies in Boston and SanFrancisco have shown that often it isjust 5% of the youth community(sometimes just about 100 youngmen in total) who become the onescapable of such anti-social behavioras killing, and that the reason theyare motivated is not hatred or “superpathology,”but simplythe desire forrespect, andto belong, andto offer theirskills and loy-alty. Theseare all goodand normalmotivationsgone terriblywrong.

On daythree of thisschool year, Imade a for-mal referralto our SST(student sup-port team), about a young man whoshows extreme behavioral problems.Two weeks later, I made a second re-ferral, as did another teacher. Over amonth later, I was shocked to be “in-formed” that the SST was just aboutto meet to consider all the referrals.It is now November, and I’m not sure,but apparently the best-case scenariois that he has been referred for aweekly counseling session with auniversity social work or psychologystudent intern who will leave in May.Due to careful interventions of ourstaff, the destructive behavior of thisboy has greatly decreased, but fornow he is being allowed to sit and doabsolutely nothing as long as he isquiet. Of course that is not educationand it is not acceptable. I also won-der what kind of long-term interven-tion he is really getting.

I am NOT implying that my schoolor my colleagues are incompetent ordon’t care. That is definitely not thecase. There are simply not enoughbodies or hours in the day to attendto all the needs of all our children(and with their clothing, and theirsize, and their world-weary attitudes,it is sometimes possible to forget thatthey are still each just a precious child).

This problem is NOT the staff atmy school, this problem is NOT theability to give good instruction at myschool, no matter how many Ph.D’s

from Harvard that Court Streetchooses to send to our classrooms toinspect and evaluate and advise andjudge us. The problem is that thereare not enough functioning BPS sys-tems in place to triage, respond, andmake timely and effective referrals tomental health and social services thatwill truly address the deeper socialand emotional needs of our studentswith the most obstacles and non-aca-demic crises.

And now I have just heard at ourlast Site Council meeting this weekthat the City is experiencing a finan-cial problem and that BPS is going tohave to cut our school budget evenfurther which will mean a further re-duction in staff. WHAT IS THECITY THINKING? I mean really?

They say you can’t throw moneyat a problem. But you can throwpeople (which means salaries + ben-efits = $$$). From what I have learned,it was people, hundreds of peopleworking together (40 street workers,clergy, law enforcement, probationofficers, after-school programs, anti-violence trainers, teen and commu-nity centers, peer mediators, and ac-tually academic research wonks –Project Ceasefire… that created thehuge anti-violence turn-around of1996-99, the so-called “BostonMiracle.” Google it and see for your-self.

My own students can’t even imag-ine that there could be no murders.

They tell me repeatedly that violenceis a fact of life, that we can’t do any-thing, and that we just have to acceptit. I imagine that this reaction is anemotional coping mechanism. Whocan blame them? I think they justdon’t believe me when I inform themof the fact that in 1996 there wereZERO (0) youth firearm murders,and in 1997 there was only one (1).

Don’t you remember this? It wasso wonderful. But then the major in-stitutional collaborations and the at-tention and the funding and the con-sistent, daily, institutional diligenceand effort began to fade and thedeaths began to mount again. In 1999,there were a total of 31 homicides inBoston and the rates continued to riseto where we are today. It takes a lot ofongoing work and many of us havedropped the ball.

The Boston Public Schools is bydefault a huge part of the lives of ourstudents and we are a big part of the“community” that must be steppingup to address the problem of violencein our neighborhoods. How can weall work together to do this on a con-sistent day to day, month by month,year to year basis? It will do a worldof good. How can we not?

(Andrea Doremus Cuetara teachesHistory at the Academy of Public Ser-vice in the Dorchester Education Com-plex.)

Every Murder is a Failure of Community…(continued from page 6)

Drawing by Henrique Silva, a sophomore at The Academy of Public Service


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Dear Union Member,The CPA firm of Joseph B. Cohan & Associates has examined the balance sheet

of the Boston Teachers Union as of August 31, 2007 and the related statements ofrevenues, expenses and fund balance for the year ended. Its examination wasmade in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards, and accordingly,included such tests as the accounting records and other auditing procedures as areconsidered necessary.

This statement is reprinted below to explain in detail your Union’s financialstatus. With this report as background, the proposed budget for fiscal year 2008will be before you at the January 9, 2008 membership meeting.

Respectfully submitted,

Edward A. WelchSecretary-Treasurer

Boston Teachers Union

Statements of Financial Position August 31, 2007 and 2006

2007 2006ASSETS

CURRENT ASSETSCash (Note 6) $ 1,372,959 $ 1,218,458Investments (Note 2) 1,925,836 1,822,059Accounts Receivable 313,833 60,468Prepaid Expenses 8,788 26,246 TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS 3,621,416 3,127,231

PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT (Note 1)Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment 464,166 448,397Leasehold Improvements 215,287 215,287

679,453 663,684

Less – Accumulated Depreciation and Amortization 519,677 471,522

159,776 192,162

TOTAL ASSETS $ 3,781,192 $ 3,319,393

LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETSCURRENT LIABILITIES

Accounts Payable $ 284,497 $ 91,317

TOTAL NET ASSETS – UNRESTRICTED (Note 1) 3,496,695 3,228,076

TOTAL LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS $ 3,781,192 $ 3,319,393

Statements of Activities August 31, 2007 and 2006

2007 2006SUPPORT

Union Dues $ 6,201,557 $ 5,587,736Interest 5,887 5,367Dividend Income (Note 2) 77,419 60,948Capital Gain on Investments (Note 2) – 1,066Unrealized Gain (Loss) on Investments (Note 2) 26,358 (42,286)AFT Salary Assistance Program 21,600 21,600

6,332,821 5,634,431

EXPENSES (Schedule I) 6,064,202 5,395,683

INCREASE IN NET ASSETS 268,619 238,748

NET ASSETS AT BEGINNING OF YEAR 3,228,076 2,989,328

NET ASSETS AT END OF YEAR $ 3,496,695 $ 3,228,076

Statements of Expenses August 31, 2007 and 2006

2007 2006Advertising $ 129,857 $ 46,168Amortization – 43Arbitration Fees 56,909 85,583Audit 15,023 14,465Communications (Non-Telephone) 1,843 1,048Computer 55,883 67,308Conferences, Conventions and Meetings 483,086 392,569Depreciation 48,156 47,982Donations 12,035 18,779Election 5,050 –Expense Reimbursements

President 6,957 6,091Executive Vice President 5,644 6,896Secretary/Treasurer 6,616 6,373Field Representatives 14,400 14,000Political Analyst 4,800 4,800Committees and Others 4,708 5,039

InsuranceGroup Health 234,573 217,288Teachers’ Liability 51,984 63,469General 12,030 14,272Retired Teachers’ Benefits 20,528 14,035

LegalGeneral Union Issues 817,629 529,645Teacher Assault Cases 26,900 29,900Transcripts and Other Costs 65,539 38,855

Mailing and Machine Room 11,764 7,415Office 21,569 25,451Payroll Taxes 93,916 86,089Per Capita Payments

American Federation of Teachers 1,019,556 962,953AFT Massachusetts 848,150 846,427State Labor Council AFL-CIO 61,560 61,093Greater Boston Labor Council 13,920 13,920

Postage and Delivery 56,800 35,404Printing and Bulletins 77,452 69,817Rent

Conference Rooms and Meeting Hall 25,225 20,525Office 97,169 95,036

Retirement Plan Contribution 109,969 105,991Salaries

President 133,329 128,796Executive Vice President 126,663 122,357Executive Vice President – Severance Pay 49,666 49,666Secretary/Treasurer 119,996 115,917Field Representative – Elementary 113,320 109,477Field Representative – Secondary 113,320 109,477Field Representative – Paraprofessionals 113,320 109,477Political Analyst 113,320 109,477Community Liaison Representative 37,776 36,492Retired Teachers Coordinator 11,333 10,948Assistant Retired Teachers Coordinator 8,500 8,211Building Representatives 145,500 136,000Negotiations 28,655 14,434Editor 32,380 34,972Office 275,520 254,928Homework Helpers 20,495 15,093Telephone Workers 21,050 4,288

Scholarships 64,975 54,000Subscriptions 4,493 5,011Telephone 13,352 11,933

$ 6,064,202 $ 5,395,683

Statements of Cash Flows August 31, 2007 and 2006

2007 2006CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES

Increase in Net Assets $ 268,619 $ 238,748Adjustments to Reconcile Increase in Net Assets to Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities

Amortization and Depreciation 48,156 48,025(Increase) Decrease in Accounts Receivable (253,365) (8,400)Prepaid Expenses 17,458 (19,014)Increase (Decrease) in Accounts Payable 193,180 11,239

NET CASH FLOWS PROVIDED BY OPERATING ACTIVITIES 274,048 270,598

CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIESAcquisition of Investments (77,419) (62,014)Acquisition of Property and Equipment (15,770) (24,680)Unrealized (Gain) Loss on Investments (26,358) 42,268

NET CASH FLOWS USED BY INVESTING ACTIVITIES (119,547) (44,408)

NET INCREASE IN CASH 154,501 226,190

CASH, BEGINNING 1,218,458 992,268

CASH, ENDING $ 1,372,959 $ 1,218,458

BOSTON TEACHERS UNIONFinancial Statements • August 31, 2007 and 2006

Secretary-Treasurer’s ReportEdward A. Welch, Secretary-Treasurer, Boston Teachers Union


Notes to Financial Statements August 31, 2007 and 2006

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2. Investments

The Union held $1,925,836 and $1,822,059 at August 31, 2007 and 2006,respectively, in mortgage-backed securities, government bonds and cashthrough Putnam Investments. The fair market value of the investments atAugust 31, 2007 and 2006 was $1,925,836 and $1,822,059, respectively.The following schedule summarizes the investment return for the yearsended August 31, 2007 and 2006:

2007 2006Dividend Income $ 77,419 $ 60,948Capital Gain $ – $ 1,066Net Unrealized Gain (Loss) $ 26,358 ($ 42,286)TOTAL INVESTMENT RETURN $ 103,777 $ 19,728

3. Transactions with Related Entities

The Union rents office and conference room space from a related entity,B.T.U.H.W.F. Building Corp. on a tenant-at-will basis under the terms of alease which ended September 1, 2005. The yearly base rent is adjustedannually on September 1st to correspond to the change in the “ConsumerPrice Index for all Urban Consumers for Boston, MA, All Items” during thetwelve-month period which ended in the previous July. B.T.U.H.W.F.Building Corporation was responsible for all utilities, including water andsewer, and repairs to the rented space. Payments to B.T.U.H.W.F. BuildingCorporation totaled $96,463 and $93,077, respectively, for the yearsended August 31, 2007 and 2006.

In addition, the Boston Teachers Union pays $15 per day for conferenceroom set-up fees to the B.T.U.H.W.F. Building Corp. under the agreementwhich ended June 30, 2007. As of October 31, 2007, the agreement hasnot been modified and continues under the initial terms. Fees paid underthis agreement for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2007 and 2006 totaled$706 and $1,959, respectively.

4. Retired Teachers’ Benefits

Effective July 31, 1987, dues paid to the Union by retired teachers andretired paraprofessionals for two consecutive years qualify them to partici-pate in eye care benefits. Eyeglasses will be provided not more frequentlythan once in any 24-month period. Full details of benefits and limitationsare described in “Guidelines for Retirees Eyeglass Benefit.”

5. Retirement Plan Contribution

The employees of the Union participate in a defined contribution retirementplan. The Union’s contributions are equal to 10% of the annual salary ofparticipating employees plus administration fees. The Union’s contribu-tions to the plan totaled $109,969 and $105,991 respectively, for the yearsended August 31, 2007 and 2006.

6. Concentration of Credit Risk

The Union has a concentration of credit represented by cash balances in acertain financial institution in amounts which occasionally exceed federaland state deposit insurance limits. The Union’s management continuallyreviews the financial stability of this institution.

7. Advertising

Advertising costs are charged to operations when incurred. Advertisingexpense was $129,857 and $46,168 for the years ended August 31, 2007and 2006, respectively.

1. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Organization and Nature of Activities

Boston Teachers Union (the Union) is a labor union organized, funded andmanaged by current and retired school teachers and paraprofessionalsworking in the Boston area.

Method Of Accounting

The financial statements of Boston Teachers Union have been prepared on theaccrual method of accounting.

Financial Statement Presentation

The Union follows Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No.117, Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Organizations. SFAS No. 117establishes standards for external financial reporting by not-for-profit organi-zations and requires that resources be classified for accounting and reportingpurposes into different net asset categories according to externally (donor)imposed restrictions. At August 31, 2007 and August 31, 2006 the Union hadonly unrestricted net assets. Unrestricted net assets represent net assets thatare not subject to donor-imposed stipulations and include all revenues andexpenses associated with the principal mission of the Union. The Board ofTrustees has discretionary control over all of these assets. The governing boardof the Fund may elect to designate such resources for specific purposes. Thisdesignation may be removed at the board’s discretion.

With respect to contributions, Boston Teachers Union follows FinancialAccounting Standards (SFAS) No. 116, Accounting for Contributions Re-ceived and Contributions Made. In accordance with SFAS No. 116, contribu-tions received are recorded as unrestricted, temporarily restricted, or perma-nently restricted support depending on the existence and/or nature of anydonor restrictions. For the fiscal years ended August 31, 2007 and 2006,Boston Teachers Union did not receive any contributions with donor-imposedrestrictions that would result in temporarily or permanently restricted netassets.

Property and Equipment

Property and equipment are recorded at cost. Depreciation is provided on thestraight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the assets.

Income Tax

The Union is a not-for-profit organization that is exempt from both federal andstate income taxes under Section 501 (c) (5) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with generally acceptedaccounting principles requires management to make estimates and assump-tions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosureof contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements andthe reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period-Actual results could differ from those estimates.


Dear Fellow Teachers,

NCLB has hit the “corrective action” stage at my school. I say “hit”

because the news smacked us with demoralizing force: data-driven labels

of failure, jet propelled pacing guides, scripted curriculum, and the

increasingly burdensome weight of the TESTS – where are our children

in all of this? Staying focused on teaching my students is not easy when

time is consumed in pointless meetings, meaningless tasks, and senseless

deadlines – all of which must be completed before Court Street’s next

“visit.”

Where is the respect for our role as knowledge-bringers? Isn’t it obvious

that improving our schools can’t happen without us? After all, teachers are

the only ones possessing the specific knowledge needed to move each

child toward fulfilling her or his unique potential as a scholar. Still, the

onslaught continues and I see the question in the faces of my colleagues:

“How do we hold onto our passion for teaching – our commitment to our

children?”

I’ve found two essential sources for this project of renewal and

rededication in my own school: my students and my colleagues. I draw

pleasure from the resourcefulness and enthusiasm of my students, who

often impress me with their resolve to master the intellectual challenges

of scholarship. I also draw strength from the wisdom and critical support

of my peers as I try out new teaching approaches and reflect on my

classroom practice.

This year, my fifth grade SEI class presents the usual broad range of

learning needs, abilities, and challenges. Valeria is in her third year in U.S.

schools and has learned that making a mistake is somehow unforgivable.

How can I help her to overcome her fear of risk-taking and use her

creative talent for colors and design to boost her confidence and improve

the quality of her English writing? Alejandra writes with a delightful sense

of humor. How can I bring this engaging charm to her writing on

challenging literature? Leudy is a careful and meticulous mathematician.

How can I channel his passion for numbers and facts into areas like social

studies and the book clubs?

Former students constantly remind me that becoming a scholar does not

happen all at once, or by accident. Yismilka – one of my talented third

graders – is now entering her first year of college; her aspiration is

neonatal nursing. As an 8-year-old in pigtails, she had just arrived in the

U.S. but wanted to tackle the year-end autobiography project in English.

With the help of a writing coach and the dictionary, she tackled the

challenge of telling her own story with enthusiasm – in the process,

discovering a deep love for learning that has shaped her academic career.

Whenever former students visit my classroom, they often relate the fun of

writing their autobiographies, or creating pop-up books depicting a key

moment in the life of a famous historical or literary figure, or polling

teachers and fellow students on various topics of interest and identity. My

students confidently affirm what teachers know well: learning is a human

endeavor; genuine relationships, challenging tasks, creative problem

solving, and having fun are essential ingredients for lifelong learning.

Rather than lamenting over the dismal MCAS results, our fifth grade

teaching team resolved to contribute our knowledge and experience to

influencing the achievement gap conversation in our school. We proposed

taking charge of our professional development hours to refine our

approaches to literacy instruction. Fortunately, our principal is supporting

this initiative and we eagerly convened our first-of-eight PD meetings.

Adopting a collaborative leadership method, one teacher outlined the

essential components of her literacy-building practice: home reading,

readers and writers workshop, word study, and ESL/literacy; another

organized the agenda-setting process for further study; yet a third spoke

about the variety of pedagogical approaches enabling creative

engagement with the ELA standards. The expertise, perspective, and

knowledge contributed by each one of us was considered, valued, and,

most importantly, heard. Next time, we will work with the Harcourt

curriculum to deepen our students’ comprehension of and writing about

literature in our readers’ workshop.

This nurturing, collegial gathering was a marked departure from the

isolation and alienation typical of school meetings where teachers’ voices

are muted by “experts” and administrators. We are the experts. Valuing

and promoting Teacher Knowledge is the agenda. We left this meeting

feeling an unusual lightness in our steps – a mind-numbing weight had

been lifted from our spirits. (We even had enough time left over to go

potty before our next classes!)

Teachers know how to create transformative classrooms able to inspire

our little ones to become capable scholars. Creative ways of reaching our

students is the daily bread that sustains our passion for teaching. It is clear

to all of us that the one-size-fits-all testing regimen of NCLB does not begin

to touch the range of learning needs in our classrooms. We must take our

classrooms back from people who can’t see the children for the test

scores – we do this resolutely for our students’ sake.

Stay strong,

Berta(Berta Rosa Berriz is a National Board Certified Teacher and teaches

5th grade at the Charles Sumner School.)

By Mary F. Glynn

BTU Political Director Patricia Armstrong, along with Joseph Curtatone, Mayorof Somerville received the Greater Boston Labor Council 2007 Leadership

Award on November 14th at the Greater Boston Labor Council 4th Annual Salute toMunicipal Officeholders. The event entitled “Making It Our Business: Labor andMunicipal Government” was held at the Montvale Plaza in Stoneham. It is an honorto all Boston Teacher Union members that Patricia was a recipient of such an award.As an elected official of the Boston Teachers Union and the Greater Boston LaborCouncil, Patricia represents and advocates for better working conditions, not onlyfor public school employees, but also for employees in the many diverse sectors ofthe work force in Boston and throughout the State. Patricia is a true advocate forpublic education and ensures that our agenda is heard and embraced.

Congratulations, Patricia! We appreciate and thank you for all your efforts. Youtruly deserve the award.

(Mary F. Glynn is ETF at the Grover Cleveland and the Oliver W. Holmes School andCo-Editor of the Boston Union Teacher.)

Patricia Armstrong Receives 2007Greater Boston Labor Council

Leadership Award

Greater Boston Labor Council President Louis Mandarini congratulates BTUPolitical Director Patricia Armstrong on her GBLC Leadership Award.

We Must Take Back the Classroom –For Our Students’ Sake!

Kathleen Armstrong, Alison Doherty-Lacasse and Lisa MacGeorge celebratewith BTU Political Director Patricia Armstrong (second from right) on her GBLCLeadership Award.

BTU Secretaries Elaine Catino and Patty O’Donnell applaud Political Direc-tor Patricia Armstrong.

Documents

Secretary-Treasurer’s Annual ReportSecretary-Treasurer’s ... · BTU President G ood Morning, In my remarks I want to speak about a variety of issues, local and national – some