Last week we asked you to join educators across the state in reaching out to DESE Commissioner Jeffrey Riley to demand, among other things, that the 180-day school year be shortened to enable educators to have uninterrupted time to plan for the new school year and the phases of reopening to come. Thanks to thousands of emails and phone calls from all over Massachusetts, Commissioner Riley agreed to a 10-day phase 1 period!
While this is good news, the demands that were left on the table (environmental health & safety reviews of all buildings and tying reopening phases to public health benchmarks) are now ours to bargain locally and in collaboration with other locals in the Merrimack Valley Educators United coalition. MVEU will be holding a forum on Tuesday, August 4th at 6:00PM (via Zoom) to engage members in developing a regional platform to support these efforts. Registration information will be coming soon, but please save the date for now!
Calling All Members – MTA Special Membership Meeting
We are at a critical turning point and that is why MTA President and Vice President Merrie Najimy and Max Page are taking the exciting and extraordinary step of calling a statewide membership meeting. At the meeting we will review the details of changes in DESE guidelines from 180 to 170 days that was won through all of your collective action and the statewide campaign for higher ed that has just been launched — and will hear from health and safety experts, MTA local leaders from across the state, take a poll of the membership on the critical position of how to resume learning in the fall, and plan collective actions to win the schools and colleges our communities deserve during the pandemic.
MTA Membership Meeting
Wednesday, July 29, 4:00 – 5:30 pm.
>>> REGISTER NOW for the July 29 Membership Meeting through this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_y3ItEabNRB-bPWVtSI0FCQ
Note that this meeting is for MTA members only. You may feel free to share the above registration link with your fellow MTA members, but not beyond that audience. Only MTA members will be given meeting access.
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DEADLINE: MUST REGISTER BY 12 Noon, Wed, July 29 The deadline for you to register using the above link is 12 noon, Wednesday, July 29 to give staff ample time to verify membership of participants and provide the necessary meeting access. After that time, there is no guarantee the verification and access processes can be completed in time for the meeting’s 4:00 start, due to the other meeting preparation needs. |
We still need your input!
If you haven’t yet completed our second reopening survey, please take a few minutes to do so now. In this edition we are not only interested in learning how some of your opinions may have evolved since the first survey but also to dig a little deeper into what kinds of hybrid learning models members are willing to entertain should the buildings be brought up to our EH&S standards.
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