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

BTU 2022 Officer and Delegate Election

Complete Election Rules and Guidelines Are Available on the BTU Website

FOR THE OFFICIAL BTU ELECTION UPDATE, SCROLL TO THE END OF THIS EMAIL

General Membership Meeting #3 Monday, March 7, 2022 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm

The March 7th General Membership Meeting will be a virtual webinar. Please register so your membership can be checked by Marisha Ingram, Membership Associate, and you will be sent the Zoom link so you can join the webinar. The email will be from “BTU Admin #2”. Check your spam folder!

General Membership Meetings are held quarterly (Sept 27, Dec 6, Mar 7, June 6) from 5:30-7:30pm.

DEADLINE FOR REGISTERING FOR THIS WEBINAR IS MARCH 6TH AT 11:59PM. NO REGISTRATIONS AFTER THIS DATE/TIME WILL BE CHECKED.

Full registration link: https://aft.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2swH750dT6aFvQafBaSLzA

Teachers and School Based Staff

Please Share the School Police Report Card with your Students!

Students can take the survey here and please share this URL with students: https://survey.k12insight.com/survey.aspx?k=RQsUVRYsUXTYsPsPsP&lang=0&data=

Upcoming Virtual Opportunity Designed to Specifically Support the Mental and Emotional Health of High School-Aged Students!

The Healing City Summit will take place February 28 to March 5 with March 2 specifically designed for young people ages 14-24. The summit is being hosted in partnership with Baltimore City Public Schools and is focused on building community, increasing trust, and increasing healing–both individually and collectively.

Healing City’s organizers are hoping to involve as many youth as possible, and is asking teachers to help by spreading the word to your students, colleagues, and families! This event could be a good virtual field trip and could accommodate as many or as few students as you think might want to attend.

Healing City Baltimore may be of particular interest to:

English Teachers (there are sessions with CHARM Lit Magazine and Dewmore — both focused on writing as a healing process)
Technology/Media teachers (there is a session with Wide Angle Youth Media),
Student Government & Leadership Group Teachers (there is a session from the Maryland Youth Advisory Council and the Emerging Leaders Committee)
Health Teachers & School Social Workers (so much content centered on mental health including NAMI, House of Ruth, and Roberta’s House).

The summit has a day designed specifically by youth, for youth on Wednesday, March 2 from 11 am – 3:30 pm. Youth are leading a day full of VIRTUAL healing-focused conversations, workshops, panels, and performances for 2022 Healing City Summit. Topics covered at the summit include entrepreneurship, art, writing and storytelling as healing practices, discussions around confidence and being “the best you”, and using humor to heal—just to name a few. We will be closing the day with a Cypher that all are welcome to join!

Teachers and other leaders of youth can register students collectively to attend as a virtual field trip, or students can register individually to participate on their own.

Healing City Baltimore is working to curate bags that are focused on healing as part of the summit! The bags will have t-shirts, art and writing contributed by Baltimoreans, treats, and other resource items that will connect you to organizations and individuals who are doing healing work across the city. These boxes are limited and not guaranteed. However, we are prioritizing young people. Please make sure to register for bags through Whova in order to be considered. We will be coordinating drop off at schools for teachers who want to register their class.

Last Week’s Flyers

Hello New Educators!!

The BTU New Educator Steering Committee is hosting a Meet and Greet for new educators on Thursday, March 3rd from 4:30pm – 6:00pm. We want to meet the wishes and needs of our new educators, so please fill out our survey and give us information about where we should meet, what type of appetizers we should eat, etc. We are excited to host a social gathering for our new educators!

CLICK HERE TO COMPLETE THE SURVEY

ACTION ALERT! SUPPORT NEEDED: JON DONAIRE WORKERS ON STRIKE

The BCTGM Local 37/ Rich Products workers who make cakes for Baskin-Robbins, Cold Stone Creamery and retail outlets have been on strike since Nov. 3.

DO NOT BUY these cakes until their employer negotiates a fair contract so they can return to work!

LYRIC BALTIMORE DREAM BIG STUDENT CONTEST

Submission Deadline: March 11th

Essays, Poetry, Video Submissions Accepted

Click here to learn more

BTU NEEDS TO KNOW!

Substituting and safety violations are widespread, but BTU Staff doesn’t know about it, unless we hear from you.

PLEASE FILL OUT THE FORMS BELOW IF YOU ARE SUBSTITUTING (OR “COVERING”) OR IF YOU’RE CONCERNED BY HEALTH AND SAFETY GAPS IN YOUR SCHOOL(S) OR WORKSITES.

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.

CLICK HERE REPORT HEALTH & SAFETY VIOLATIONS

BALTIMORE TEACHERS UNION
ELECTION UPDATE

2022 NOMINATIONS FOR OFFICERS OF THE BALTIMORE TEACHERS UNION OPEN FEBRUARY 18, 2022

This message contains official notice of the 2022 BTU Officer Elections. It has being sent to all BTU members’ work email addresses, and is being mailed to all BTU members’ home addresses. BTU members may access the complete Elections Rules and Procedures on the BTU Website.

The following office is open for nominations for the Baltimore Teachers Union:

President

The following offices are open for nominations for both the Teacher and the PSRP

(Paraprofessional and School Related Personnel) chapters:

Chair

Vice Chair

Secretary

Treasurer

4 Elementary School Vice-Presidents

2 Junior/Middle School Vice-Presidents

2 Senior High School Vice-Presidents

1 Vocational Education Vice-President

3 Special Services Vice-Presidents

4 Members-At-Large

The following regulations will govern the nominations and election procedures as outlined in Article VI, Sections 1, 2, 13 and 14 of the BTU Constitution:

Nominations are by pre-printed petition only.

Petitions will be available in the BTU office, 5800 Metro Drive, 2nd Floor, Baltimore, MD 21215, beginning Friday February 18, 2022 between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. and Monday through Friday until Friday, April 1, 2022 between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
A member must pick up the petition for the office that he/she is seeking. (If a member is unavailable to pick up a petition due to extenuating circumstances, he/she must submit a letter to the Nomination and Election Committee Co-Chairs designating the member who will pick up his/her petition and the office he/she is seeking.) Only members in good standing with a valid picture ID may pick up petitions. No member may pick up petitions for more than one office. Petitions must be physically returned by the member seeking office to the BTU.
No individual may run for more than one (1) office. Each candidate for office must provide a separate pre-printed petition for that office.
Petitions will not be sent via U.S. mail, pony or any other method.
No member shall be eligible to hold office who has not been a member in good standing of this organization for at least one (1) year* immediately preceding the final date for nomination. (*April 1, 2021)
Any member in good standing of the Teacher or PSRP chapter is eligible to be nominated for the office of President.
Petitions, biographies, and resumes (resumes are optional) must be returned to the Baltimore Teachers Union, 5800 Metro Drive, 2nd Floor, no later than 8:00 p.m. on Friday, April 1, 2022.
Signatures for office of the President must be from at least 100 members in good standing (50 members from the Teacher Chapter whose signatures shall be affixed to the Teacher petition for President and 50 members from the PSRP Chapter whose signatures shall be affixed to the PSRP petition for President.) No more than 25 signatures may be obtained from any one school/worksite.
For all other offices, signatures must be from 50 members in good standing of the respective chapter with no more than 25 signatures coming from any one school/worksite.

Failure to comply with any of the above regulations will automatically disqualify a member from running for an office.

The Election will take place via mail-in voting between Friday April 22, 2022 to Tuesday May 24, 2022 and in-person voting on Wednesday, May 25, 2022 between the hours of 12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

In order to vote, a person must meet the following requirements:

Be a member in good standing by Friday, April 1, 2022
Appear on the Baltimore Teachers Union membership roster
Appear at the polls between the times stated above or have a mail-in ballot received by May 24, 2022. Mail-in ballots may be delivered at a polling site on Wednesday, May 25, 2022 between the hours of 12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Present picture identification for in-person voting (BCPSS ID is acceptable)

The election shall be by secret ballot via mail-in or in-person voting. There will be no proxy voting. A list of those nominated and who qualified will be sent out in advance of Election Day in a BTU Election Update.

Delegate Election Notice

The American Federation of Teachers’ Convention will be held July 14-17, 2022, in Boston, Massachusetts. The Baltimore Teachers Union will elect approximately 70 (exact number provided by AFT in March 2022) delegates and no alternates to the AFT Convention.

The procedures for the election of delegates to the AFT Convention are governed by Article VIII, Section 1 of the AFT Constitution, Article I of the AFT-Maryland Constitution Bylaws and Article VI Section (14)(b) and Article VII, Section 3(i) of the Baltimore Teachers Union Constitution. In accordance with AFT Constitutional Mandates and the Baltimore Teachers Union’s practice, full-time staff of the BTU who are members in good standing of the BTU may vote for and be elected as delegates to the AFT Convention.

The President of the Baltimore Teachers Union will be a delegate to the aforementioned conventions and will receive all reasonable expenses for transportation, housing and food incurred while attending the conventions.

Any other delegate elected will receive round trip transportation (of the Union’s choice) and $500 towards expenses for the AFT Convention.

Delegates’ Nominations and Elections Procedures

Any member of the BTU who has been in good standing for one (1) year preceding the filing of the nomination, may be nominated by either another member in good standing or by himself. Nominations must be submitted in writing and hand delivered to the Union office at 5800 Metro Drive by 8:00 p.m., Friday, April 1, 2022.

The Election will take place via mail-in voting between Friday, April 22, 2022 to Tuesday, May 24, 2022 and in-person voting on Wednesday, May 25, 2022 between the hours of 12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

In order to vote, a person must meet the following requirements:

Be a member in good standing by Friday, April 1, 2022
Appear on the Baltimore Teachers Union membership roster
Appear at the polls between the times stated above or have a mail-in ballot received by May 24, 2022. Mail-in ballots may be delivered at a polling site on Wednesday, May 25, 2022 between the hours of 12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Present picture identification for in-person voting (BCPSS ID is acceptable)

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Delegate Nominating Form

Please print this form. This form must be hand delivered to the Baltimore Teachers Union by a member in good standing of the BTU. Valid ID must be presented

Return to: Baltimore Teachers Union, 5800 Metro Drive, 2nd Floor Baltimore, MD 21215

Deadline for Submittal: Friday, April 1, 2022 8:00 p.m.

Date: ______________________

I nominate _______________________________________from worksite#_______, who is a Baltimore Teachers Union member in good standing for one year or more, as a delegate to the American Federation of Teachers’ (AFT) Convention which will be held July 14-17, 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Signature: _____________________________________________________

Print Name: _____________________________________________________

Worksite #: ___________________