On Thursday, September 28th, Betsy DeVos’ School Choice speech at Harvard was met with protesters! Click the post title to find the link from WBZ, read the article, and see the video with BEU members featured!
Protest De Vos Thursday — 5:00pm
Much Ado About Hacks
Retired Devo teacher Bob Miller is the BEU Financial Consultant (Bob Miller from Heath is BEU vice-president). Here’s Bob’s most recent financial message, including a workshop scheduled for October 5. Save the date!
Much Ado about Hacks
The facts about Equifax – What is Equifax? Equifax, along with Transunion and Experian, represent the (un)Holy Trinity of credit bureaus. When a creditor – like a mortgage company or a credit card company – wants to evaluate your credit worthiness, they enlist one these three agencies who provide credit reports and FICO scores – a numerical grade of your credit risk that ranges from a low of 300 to a high of 850. The three credit bureaus also market a variety of products to consumers that purport to “protect” you from identity theft and fraud.
Equifax breach: It’s difficult to fathom but between mid-May and the end of July, the personal information for 143 million Americans– including SSI number, DOB, email and home addresses – was exposed due to an Equifax security flaw or simply lax security. Even more distressing, Equifax knew that their security had been breached as early as July 29, but failed to inform consumers until early September! (Don’t overlook the possibility that you enlisted Equifax’s reporting services if you’ve taken advantage of a free credit report from Credit Karma.)
Step #1 to protect yourself – Take a deep breath – as I did – and assume that there’s an almost 50% chance that you may have been affected by this massive breach. First, visit the Equifax website: www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/. When you arrive at the site, click on the “Potential Impact” tab and input the last six digits of your SSI and your last name. In my case, the unfortunate response identified me as a potential victim.
Based on the information provided, we believe that your personal information may have been impacted by this incident. Click the button below to continue your enrollment in TrustedID Premier: Enroll
Step #2 for potential victims; Don’t Push Enroll! – Call me cynical, but I’m loathe to trust a company that has betrayed my trust along with failing to protect my financial information. Yes, they’re graciously offering a year of free credit score monitoring, but I’ll pass on engaging the fox to guard the henhouse. And I would absolutely not enroll in the Equifax’s oxymoronically named credit monitoring service, TrustedID Premier!
Step #3 for safeguarding your credit – I’ve decided to implement a three-pronged approach to ensure my financial information won’t be misused. First, I’ve been checking my credit card accounts and banking information on a regular basis. Two, I’ve obtained a free credit card report using AnnualCreditReport.com. Three, I’ve decided to place a credit freeze on my account with all three credit bureaus for the next six months – or until I feel that my credit isn’t imperiled. (While this measure will not adversely impact your credit score or prevent you from obtaining a free credit report, Experian and Transunion will charge you a $10.00 service fee.) https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0497-credit-freeze-faqs.
Let’s conclude with a spot-on comment from Dogberry, the constable from Much Ado that rings true for Equifax today. Marry, sir, they have committed false report; moreover, they have spoken untruths; secondarily, they are slanders; sixth and lastly, they have belied a lady; thirdly, they have verified unjust things; and, to conclude, they are lying knaves.
Brookline Day! Sept. 24 Help staff the BEU booth at Larz
Hundreds of Brookline parents and children visit the BEU’s booth at Brookline Day every year! It’s fun — we’ll collect signatures for Raise Up Massachusetts and encourage children to draw pictures of school activities that students deserve.
We need the help of 3 BEU members an hour between 10:00 and 3:30. (Four to set up between 10:00 and 11:00)
Sign up to help at Sept. 24 Brookline Day!
Race Reels Film Series
An easy way to do your part for the BEU this year!
Become a “One”!
WHAT WILL I DO?
- Be a “1” in the “BEU 1:10 plan”. You’ll communicate face-to-face with 10 of your colleagues at 4 points during the year. In your brief conversations, you’ll gather or pass on specific information about our jobs and work of the union. Your BEU Building or Department Rep(s) will coordinate the plan.
- Attend an hour-long BEU workshop. You’ll learn and practice how organizers have one-on-one conversations that are meaningful and effective.
WHAT WILL I GET?
- You’ll be the first to know what BEU Reps have to report and members have to say about what’s going on in your building, district-wide, and in the larger community — and about what the union can do about it. You’ll hear about the new workload oversight underway, ongoing defense of contractual rights and due process protections, and member concerns and organizing at the building, district, and/or community level involving the new Brookline Alliance for Public Schools and organizing for social and economic justice statewide.
- You’ll become more connected to your colleagues in the building around issues that directly affect our classrooms and our abilities to best serve our students. When we talk with each other about our working conditions, meet, and act together as a union regularly at every level, we support one another and identify and help to resolve issues much more quickly, thereby avoiding feelings of frustration or isolation. The insight of educators has increased impact.
- Your ideas and those of your colleagues will be heard and translated into effective action. We NEED the voices of all members in the union. Collective action is our most powerful tool for meeting the needs of students, educators and allies who are committed to achieving educational justice for all in our schools and communities.
If you’d like to become a “One,” Sign Up here, or if have any questions, please contact Jess at beu-mta@hotmail.com
BEU Community Alliance Partner Event!
Please join us on Sept. 13 at 7pm at the Wheelock Family Theater (200 Riverway, Boston) for the Boston premiere of the acclaimed documentary Backpack Full of Cash.
Immediately following the film, Matt Damon, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, CPS’s Lisa Guisbond, The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood’s Josh Golin, Boston Teachers Union President Jessica Tang and local activists will discuss how we can stop the corporatization of our public schools.
Backpack Full of Cash explores the growing privatization of public schools and the resulting impact on America’s most vulnerable children. Filmed in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Nashville and other cities, it takes viewers through the tumultuous 2013-14 school year, exposing the world of education “reform” where public education – starved of resources and awash in standardized testing – hangs in the balance.
Sponsored by: Citizens for Public Schools, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, and the Schott Foundation for Public Education. This film is free and open to the public on a first come, first serve basis.
RSVPs encouraged at bit.ly/backpack_BOS
Applying for PSB jobs — here’s how
The Unit A contract (teachers, specialists) gives members the right to apply, and be interviewed, for jobs inside the system. Postings are here. What follows is the contract language and instructions on how to apply for internally posted positions.
Promotions. All qualified professional employees will be given adequate opportunity to
apply for any positions normally considered to be above their rank and status. An adequate
opportunity to apply for such promotion means that during the school year the entire
professional staff shall be promptly notified in writing (or via e-mail) that a vacancy exists
and that any professional employee applying for promotion shall be given full opportunity
to interview by persons designated by the Superintendent. The notice shall contain a job
description of the vacancy.
Instructions for viewing job postingEvaluation System is posted under Contracts
See the list of new or clarified protections in the new agreement
M&M 4 MTA!
Brookline Educators Union members have been actively involved in Educators for a Democratic Union since its inception. Here’s some exciting news….
EDU Members Nominate Merrie Najimy for MTA President, Max Page for Vice-President
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