The BFT is celebrating our members the last week in September. On behalf of the Executive and Stewards' Council, thank you for joining and continuing your BFT membership. We will be highlighting benefits that the union has fought for over the years, while doing some fun activities. Of course, there will be PRIZES for participation! There is something for everyone. The week will end with a family movie night. Once again we were unable to have the Fall BFT picnic because of increasing COVID numbers. We want to keep our members, students and families safe and in school. We will hopefully have a picnic in the spring.

If you are a potential member and want to see the benefits of belonging and the dues structure, please go to our BFT Website Membership page. If there is a new colleague in your building, please connect and share why membership is so important. Tuesday is BFT t-shirt day. If your t-shirt is missing/doesn't fit, please email me your request for size AND put BFT T-shirt in the subject line. We have a LIMITED number so when they are gone, that is it.

After candidate screenings and the League of Women's Voters candidate forum, the BFT is endorsing Tom Bennett, Dawn Steigauf, Matt Dymoke, and Dani Indovino Cawley for the 4 openings on the BPS school board.

Our original plan was to wait until our paraprofessionals settled their contract to show solidarity. We were all hoping that this would be settled by the start of school. However, we are unsure of their timeline and we need to proceed. Many groups wait for the teachers to negotiate, so postponing is not an option anymore.

We will be meeting as a team in October. We surveyed building stewards last spring and have a good sense of the priorities expressed by members. We will continue to pursue Paid Time Off (PTO) and increased flexibility for time-off. We are aware that sick time conversion is a topic near and dear to everyone's heart. New Code Academy will need some language items that pertain to working conditions. Class size and overload pay is being investigated. Snow days have been a hot topic for elementary. If you would like to express more concerns/ideas with the team, please email Jeff Bunkert.

Our district has utilized ESSER funds I, II and III with the largest amount used FTE's to help students and staff coming back after such a traumatic year. As needs are identified by teachers, the union will meet with the district to discuss what else we can do to elevate workload issues.

We continue to work under the 2019-2021 contract as negotiations proceed. Please note that you do not get your step until we have settled. I know this is frustrating a lot of teachers.

Jeff Bunkert is your contact for negotiations. Feel free to reach out to him directly.