Dear Members,
Staying informed is critical to staying safe, activating our rights, connecting with community and enriching ourselves, our families, our students and their families. Each week, BTU staff seeks to provide you with information that can promote these goals. If you have questions about any of these opportunities, please reach out to the contact information provided in each promotion, or email info@baltu.org.
In Solidarity,
President Brown
BCPSS MID-YEAR PERFORMANCE REVIEW DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 2/11/22
Discussions about employee performance and team goals midway through the year are important opportunities for each team member across City Schools to reflect upon their impact thus far in the year.
The district wants to ensure there is sufficient time for supervisors and their team members to pause and engage in meaningful performance-based conferences, and understand the return from the winter holiday has required each of us to navigate a great deal of uncertainty and to be responsive to the evolving needs of our students and school communities.
With that in mind, the deadline for Mid Year Performance Review for BTU Teacher and PSRP members has been extended by two weeks. The deadline for mid year performance reviews (originally communicated as January 31, 2022) has been updated and adjusted to Friday, February 11, 2022.
SUPPORT THE BTU HIGH FILTRATION MASK DRIVE
BTU partnered with elected officials and community organizations from around the city to launch a high filtration mask drive (N95 and KN95 level). Are you a part of an organization that has access to such masks and would like to make a donation? If so please email info@baltu.org If you are an individual who would like to make a monetary donation that will be used to purchase masks from a local distributor.
So far, because of your contributions, your work, and community support, we have raised $15,141.00 and received 16,300 masks for students and staff. If we have any ask of you today, it is for you to share the link to the fundraiser with friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors.
We give thanks to Greedy Reads for donating 10% of their sales from Sat January 15 to Sat January 22 to our BTU Mask Drive to get high filtration masks to students and school staff. Sales at both stores and online will be included. So head over to Greedy Reads to purchase books like Dr. Bettina Love’s We Want to Do More Than Survive, BTU’s pick for our We Want to Do More Than Survive Book Club taking place during Black Lives Matter at Schools Week of Action.
CLICK HERE TO DONATE
SUBMIT TESTIMONY ON SCHOOL BOARD LEGISLATION
While we fight for the immediate and urgent needs of staff and students inside of a reactive and poorly planned district, we also know that long term structural change is needed in order to shift how decisions are even made by leadership moving forward.
This session Senator Carter and Delegate Wells are championing Senate Bill 157, which if passed will:
-Increase the student members of the board from 1 to 2
-Give student members of the board full voting rights and the ability to participate in executive/closed sessions
-Change the process by which student members of the board are selected so that all 6-12 students could vote on their representatives (with only 11th-12th graders being eligible to run)
-Establish a commission to make recommendations on the appropriate amount of compensation for board members (City Schools is one of 2 boards in the state that currently receive no compensation for their work)
We believe all of these pieces would meaningfully move the board in a more democratic direction, especially in tandem with the 2 elected seats coming on board in 2022. WE NEED YOUR HELP TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN! The most important upcoming hearing is taking place on 1/28/22 with the City Senate Delegation.
Please fill out this interest form if you’re willing to submit written or verbal testimony. BTU and the VOTES coalition, which BTU is a part of, can help you with your comments in any way needed as well as navigating the logistics of the General Assembly to submit. We could also support with union leave for anyone who wants to offer verbal testimony as a witness during school hours.
If you would like to support further or further support around writing testimony and would like access to the VOTES Coalition Toolkit for Supporting Senate Bill 157, please contact Corey Gaber at CGaber@baltu.org.
CLICK HERE TO COMPLETE INTEREST FORM
LISTEN TO PRESIDENT BROWN ON WYPR
Listen as President Diamonté Brown tells WYPR what members have been experiencing and her hope for working more collaboratively with leaders of the school district as the pandemic stretches on.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN NOW
REGISTER TODAY FOR THE PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION SUMMIT
The annual Progressive Education Summit brings together hundreds of educators to bring alive the democratic ideals of progressive education. The summit will occur on January 20, 2022 from 5:00 PM -8:00 PM and on January 22, 2022 from 9:00 AM-12:00 PM.
During this time in our nation, how do we – as educators – create spaces that honor the humanity of our students, our colleagues, and our communities?
How do we foster true care, love and healing for ourselves and with each other?
How do we teach in a way that truly responds to the needs of children?
How do we link arms and navigate these times together?
Join us for:
-Keynote Speakers like Dr. Shawn Ginwright
-Deep-Dive Sessions with Master Practitioners
-Practitioner-to-Practitioner Workshops
-Opportunities to Connect with Aligned Educators
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
FILL OUT THE SUBSTITUTE SURVEY
Whenever you serve as a substitute, whether for just a short period of time or a whole day, BTU leadership requests that you fill out this form to help us collect data and better advocate for policies that support fully staffed, well-functioning schools.
This form does NOT take the place of contacting a BTU Field Rep if you believe a contract violation has occurred, or in the case of PSRPs, you are owed additional pay for subbing. Always contact your Field Representative when you believe the contract is being violated.
CLICK HERE TO COMPLETE THE BTU SUBSTITUTING SURVEY
USE THIS BTU FORM TO REPORT HEALTH AND SAFETY VIOLATIONS
The BTU has created an online reporting form in order to document positive and suspected COVID cases. This online reporting form can also be used to report:
- violations of the Teacher and PSRP Contracts
- violations of the MOU we recently negotiated to protect members, and
- violations of the District’s Safety and Health Guidelines.
This form is NOT meant to replace reported violations sent to supervisors, it is a supplement that will allow union membership a single, consistent, and safe place to report to BTU so that we are able to most efficiently and effectively support staff.
Please email info@baltu.org or your field rep if you have questions about how to fill out this form.