A publication of the Massachusetts Teachers Association ... · A publication of the Massachusetts Teachers Association Volume 39, ... policies ESP Conference draws record crowd MTA

A publication of the Massachusetts Teachers Association Volume 39, No. 6/June-July 2009

State budget hits local aid hard — Page 5

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AP teacher says merit pay would be ‘a disaster’ 3 Editorial: Sign up today for MTA Today 4 State budget hits local aid hard 5 Members must act to preserve collective bargaining 5 Honorees go above and beyond to make a difference 6 Delegates approve MTA budget 7 Act now to ensure you keep receiving MTA Today 7Annual Meeting a showcase for public school talent 8 Commentary: The toxic assault on our children 9 Save the date for MTA’s Retired Members Gathering 9 Historic meeting highlights unity 10 Top teachers bring lessons to life for students 11 ESP Conference draws record crowd 12 Grant boosts Springfield effort 13 Suit, math results point to MTEL problems 14 Finalists for Presidential Awards are lauded 15 Offset repeal bills gain support 16 SkillsUSA winners get a big ‘thumbs up’ 17 Grant program helps paras become teachers 18 Web tool makes it easy to inventory your home 19 Museum of Russian Icons has world-class collection 19 APA and MTA fight to protect Salem State members 21 Obituaries 24 Regional retirement consultations available 25 Classifieds 26 Reading game team keeps growing 28

In this issue

2 June/July 2009

MTA TODAY, ISSN 08982481, is published bimonthly by the Massachusetts Teachers Association. Subscription: $2.70 of MTA members’ dues is designated for MTA Today.

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MTA’s Mission StatementThe Massachusetts Teachers Association is a member-driven organization, governed by democratic principles, that accepts and supports the interdependence of professionalism and unionism. The MTA promotes the use of its members’ collective power to advance their professional and economic interests. The MTA is committed to human and civil rights and advocates for quality public education in an environment in which lifelong learning and innovation flourish.

On the cover

MTA President Anne Wass

MTA Vice President Paul Toner

Executive Director-Treasurer David A. Borer

Communications Director/Editor James Sacks

Staff Assistant Janice Morrissey

Publisher David A. Borer

Graphic Arts Assistant Jacqueline Feng

MTA members now need to choose whether they want to get MTA Today in print or receive a link by e-mail when the magazine is posted on the MTA Web site. You are encouraged to make your choice right away so you don’t risk missing out on important news about your association, as well as vital information on leadership opportunities, professional development, member benefits, politics, policies that affect your school or campus, and much, much more. You are being asked to make this decision as a result of a vote by the delegates to the recent MTA Annual Meeting to have members “opt in” if they want to continue receiving printed copies of MTA Today. Making your choice is simple, so please do not delay. For more information, see Page 4 and Page 7 — or just pay a visit to www.massteacher.org/mymtatoday to let us know how you want to receive MTA Today.

Quote-Unquote“The charter movement is putting itself at risk by allowing too

many second-rate and third-rate schools to exist.”

— U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, in remarks prepared for delivery to the annual gathering

of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools

This edition of MTA Today also includes the summer issue of the MTA Advantage

Maritime crisis is personal for academy family

Shane Murphy, the first mate of the Maersk Alabama, holds his young son, Jaycen. Looking on with pride is Shane’s father, Captain Joseph Murphy.

Steve Heaslip/Cape Cod Times

By Sarah Nathan

W hen Somali pirates seized an American cargo ship and kidnapped its captain, the

eyes of the world were suddenly on Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

Although the raid occurred thousands of miles away from Buzzards Bay, in waters off the coast of Africa, everyone on the state college campus was particularly concerned about two top crew members aboard the Maersk Alabama.

The ship’s captain, Richard Phillips, who gave himself up to the pirates to protect his crew, is a 1979 graduate of the academy.

First Mate Shane Murphy graduated in 2001. His father, Captain Joseph Murphy, is a longtime faculty member in the college’s Marine Transportation Department and also the vice president and grievance officer of the MMA chapter of the Massachusetts State College Association.

The elder Murphy, a 62-year-old Vietnam veteran and a seasoned mariner

who spent many years at sea, said his heart sank when he got the news that his son’s ship had been attacked.

“It was frightening,” said Murphy, who teaches about piracy as part of his maritime security class. “Knowledge is a double-edged sword,” he added.

“I knew the threat my son faced and I knew there was nothing I could do about it.”

Murphy said he first heard that four pirates had boarded the Alabama and taken Phillips hostage from his younger son, Kellen, also a merchant

marine, who called from Manila with news of the April 8 attack. A few hours later, he learned that Phillips was being held captive by the pirates on a lifeboat in the Indian Ocean and Shane was in command of the ship.

Fortunately, none of the crew was harmed. Acting on orders from President Barack Obama, the Navy’s USS Bainbridge shadowed the lifeboat in which the pirates had fled and rescued Phillips. The rescue occurred on April 12. By then, Shane Murphy had already successfully skippered the Alabama to a safe port in Kenya.

For the elder Murphy, the situation was especially emotional. He was forced to deal with a family crisis at the same time throngs of reporters were converging on Cape Cod, all wanting to interview him. He continued teaching his classes throughout the four-day standoff while giving interviews to the local, national and international press.

The dramatic incident provided MMA students with a real-life example of the dangers faced by mariners in

Please turn to Crisis/Page 12

Cover design by Jacqueline Feng

3June/July 2009

Success depends on teamwork Veteran Advanced Placement teacher says merit pay would be ‘a disaster’

‘Our students do so well because of the training they receive from the whole department. I could not go to just any place and teach the same course. I happen to be lucky to be in a school where my department colleagues prepare students so beautifully.’

—Eleanor Palais AP math teacher

By Laura Barrett

A dvanced Placement courses and exams are in the news, in part because a growing number of school districts are being

approached to participate in a controversial grant program designed to increase the number of students who take AP classes. The most contentious part of the program is a provision under which certain AP teachers are given bonuses based on their students’ test scores.

AP courses are college-level courses offered in most high schools in Massachusetts. Students who do well on the exams can sometimes receive college credit for their AP work.

The grant program, administered by the Massachusetts Mathematics and Science Initiative, receives funding from ExxonMobil and the Gates Foundation, among others. The MTA supports the part of this program that provides training and support for AP teachers, but opposes the pay-for-test-scores provision under which participating teachers receive bonuses based on their students’ performance, includ-ing $100 for every student who receives a 3, 4 or 5 on an AP math, science or English test.

MTA President Anne Wass explained some of the MTA’s objections in a recent letter to the Telegram & Gazette.

“Such a pay-for-test-scores system threatens teamwork in a school by devaluing the contribution of all the teachers who came before or who teach different subjects, course levels or grades,” she wrote. “It insults the ninth-grade algebra teacher who lays the groundwork for future success on an AP calculus test and the physical education teacher who persuades a potential dropout to stay in school.

“The key change we are seeking would allow teachers to negotiate with school committees so that bonus dollars could be used to directly help students,” the letter noted. “We prefer that the money be spent on such things as textbooks and materials or a college scholarship fund.”

MMSI has refused to allow the money to be spent directly on students and insists that it be spent on bonuses. The Division of Labor Relations has issued a complaint against the Worcester School Committee for implementing the bonus pay system without bargaining. A hearing is expected soon.

MTA Today recently visited veteran AP mathematics teacher Eleanor Palais at Belmont High School to ask her opinion of the bonus provision and to discuss her experiences teaching AP. A Radcliffe College graduate, Palais has been teaching AP calculus for 27 of her 32 years in the classroom. A high percentage of her students receive a 5 — the top score — on the Calculus BC exam, a test that measures performance on the equivalent of a full year of college calculus.

Q. Is Calculus BC a very difficult course?

A. Yes. My students work very hard at an incredible, brutal pace. There is so much material to cover, you must move on before the students totally understand the topic. It’s the antithesis of what you want to do as a good teacher, but we have to do that to get to the end of the material by April so we have time to revisit everything during the review before the test in May.

Q. How do you teach it? Do you have any special strategies?

A. Unwittingly, I have stumbled on something that I think helps. It’s a very difficult subject. I, like other

people, have difficulty with certain very complex topics. I call on my students to help me through it. I pass the ball from myself as demonstrator to them as teachers. They work in groups to get out of holes on very difficult problems.

Q. Why teach college-level calculus in high school?

A. I think calculus is a very beautiful, deep and broad topic that deserves to be looked at from many, many angles. This high school AP program is not a theoretical course, it’s an applications course. It’s meant to introduce a student to the broad uses of calculus. This is a big change in philosophy. It used to be taught in a very intellectual, theoretical, erudite way. It was not very meaningful to high school students.

Some students take this class in 11th grade and then as seniors take a calculus course at a local college. On occasion, I have had students take it as early as their freshman year.

Q. Why do you think your students do so well in this course?

A. It’s not just my students, but also the students of my colleague Anne Mullany, who teaches the Calculus AB course. (The AB course covers half a year of college calculus during the school year.) She’s an excellent mathematician and is beloved by her students. She is a seamless presenter. In fact, I commend all my colleagues in the math department.I have always depended on my colleagues. I first started teaching calculus at Newton South High School. A colleague there gave me her materials, some of which I use to this day.

Our students do so well because of the training they receive from the whole department. I could not go to just any place and teach the same course. I happen to be lucky to be in a school where my department colleagues prepare students so beautifully.

Q. What is your opinion of the AP bonus program?

A. I feel very opposed to individual teachers getting any kind of bonus pay. In departments such as ours, the teachers rotate between teaching the students who have more difficulty with math, as well as AP.

For example, this year, I am also teaching the lowest- level algebra class. We want to encourage teachers to teach students at all levels.

Most importantly, I think it would hurt the collegial-ity and support each of us gives each other — the sharing of materials, the sharing of ideas. I think that merit pay would just choke that off. It would be a disaster.

Q. How do you think your students have changed over the years?

A. I think the kids are doing much more advanced things in one sense. They go much further in various directions. But something else gives. They are not able to dig as deeply into certain topics. They’re not doing as complex geometric proofs as they used to, for example. They are also so much more comfortable with the use of technology, but there’s a cost. Their ability to do things without technology is weaker. Also, I am noticing this attention deficit disorder much more than before.

My seniors look terribly overwhelmed. They are so busy. So many of them do sports and extracurricular activities and take six or seven subjects. When I think of the homework they have, I don’t understand how they have enough hours to sleep.

I see more sleep-deprived students who are imagin-ing that if they sleep less they can accomplish more. When they come back from college, there is a feeling of relief that college is so much easier than those last two years of high school. I think we have to teach our students how to make very difficult choices of not doing everything they want to do but to pick what they really want. Some of them are picking everything and taking five AP courses and not doing as good a job as they should. They are desperate to have the higher courses on their transcripts.

There are different issues with my less-advanced students. With them we have to focus more on organizational skills, like remembering to bring in their calculators. My advanced students sometimes don’t finish every problem because they have too much to do. My algebra students also don’t finish every problem, but for very different reasons. You have to teach those courses in a very different way.

4 June/July 2009

Anne Wass MTA President

Editorial

Sign up today for MTA Today

Letters to the Editor

To the Editor:

It is a fallacy to believe that any single standardized test is a reliable indicator of student achievement — and to use such test results to judge teachers is to compound the fallacy.

Anyone who has spent any time in a classroom recognizes that students are unique and that progress is individual. Furthermore, since children amount to far more than data collections, merit pay would be based more on politics than on sound educational policy.

The successful school culture celebrates cooperation and collaboration. Merit pay would cultivate competition, jeopardizing successful school environments where innovative curriculum practices are shared.

In addition, class placement would become highly politicized. Everyone knows that it is impossible to perfectly “balance” classrooms of highly variable student populations, putting a teacher whose classroom is composed of children with needs (educational, behavioral, etc.) at a distinct disadvantage under this system.

We must recognize that not all progress is equal and value individual growth instead of just blaming the teacher.

Merit pay and vouchers are deceptively simplistic answers to complex problems. Until teachers are respected as professionals and consulted about educational practices, the politicians and newspaper columnists are simply “practicing without a license.”

Nancy J. SwidlerNewton Public Schools (Retired)

MTA Today welcomes letters to the editor from MTA members.

Letters should be no longer than 200 words. Each letter submitted for publication must address a topic covered in MTA Today, must be signed and must include the writer’s telephone number for confirmation purposes. Opinions must be clearly identified as belonging to the letter-writer. We reserve the right to edit for length, clarity and style. For additional information, please refer to the guidelines posted at www.massteacher.org/news/ mta_today.

Letters policy

T he cover of this edition of MTA Today is bright yellow, a color that shouts “Caution!” to let readers know that

action is required of them. Starting now, members are asked to let us know if they want to continue receiving MTA Today in the mail or if they instead want to receive an e-mail notifying them that the latest issue has been posted on our Web site.

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mailings and phone calls you’ll receive from us about this question.

This new system was approved by the delegates to MTA’s Annual Meeting in May to save money in our printing and mailing budget.

Personally, I prefer to read newspapers and magazines — including MTA Today — in hard copy. I like

the feel and look of the printed page. I like to skim here and there, settle down to read a longer article, put the publication down and pick it up again later, all without having to log on to a computer. I also know, however, that some people prefer reading online.

Either way, members can still receive their copies five times a year. Until now, we have published six editions annually, but that will be reduced to five this year in a further effort to keep expenses down.

If you are reading this editorial, you probably are already familiar with some of the information you receive through MTA Today, including notification of professional development opportunities, articles on education

issues such as “merit pay,” feature stories highlighting innovative activities by your peers, information about member benefits, important news on contracts and arbitration decisions, and alerts about political issues that affect your livelihood, such as how to support reforms in the Social Security system.

While printed publications continue to be effective means for disseminating information about such a wide array of issues, the MTA has multiple — and evolving — methods for communicating with members and allowing members to communicate with us.

Our Web site, www.massteacher.org, is a great way to get up-to-date information on association matters. The site is your 24/7 source for breaking news, legislative updates and action alerts. It also serves as a repository for MTA-sponsored research, including reports from the Center for Education Policy and Practice.

From the MTA site, you can send an e-mail to your state legislators, register for association conferences and workshops and connect to the Web site of your local or chapter. You will also find an archive of past issues of MTA Today and Web site news stories.

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to your e-mail box, Internet browser, computer desktop or phone. If you use Twitter, visit http://twitter.com/massteacher to see the real-time news and tips we’ve been “tweeting” this year.

Then there is our new YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/mtacommunications, which features timely videos about pandemic flu planning, as well as features on MTA events. We plan to post more videos in the future and to provide links to member-produced videos about education issues or local matters.

Are you on LinkedIn? MTA also has a group on the popular career networking Web site linkedin.com.

Watch massteacher.org this fall for even more mobile and digital news offerings and tools.

We hope you will stay connected with the MTA by whatever means best suit you and your lifestyle. If you aren’t sure which way will work best for you as these tools evolve, you might want to sign up to keep getting MTA Today by mail for the time being. You can always change your mind in the future and choose the e-mail notification option. However, just as there is still a place for real books and brick-and-mortar libraries in today’s “e” world, there is still a place for printed publications that arrive at your doorstep.

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Merit pay: no teacher left unpunished

5June/July 2009

C ollective bargaining over municipal health insurance continues to be under threat. No changes to municipal health insurance

were made in the new state budget, but a separate bill is likely to be considered soon.

MTA members are urged to act on this issue now. Contact your legislators as soon as possible and ask them to preserve your right to bargain collectively over health insurance. Go to the MTA Web site, massteacher.org, for contact information and updates.

Pressure is building in the Legislature to reduce insurance costs for teachers and other municipal employees, especially in light of the 29 percent cut in general government local aid contained in the budget for fiscal 2010.

The MTA is continuing to fight a proposal by the Massachusetts Municipal Association that would give city and town officials sole authority to make changes in health care plan designs, such as increasing co-payments and deductibles or eliminating coverage for certain procedures without having to bargain with unions.

The Senate approved a budget amendment to reduce health insurance premium costs but preserve collective bargaining rights. No action was taken in the House. Legislative leaders decided not to include changes in the budget, but instead to deal with municipal health insurance in a separate bill.

The MTA supported the Senate plan as preferable to the MMA proposal.

“We would rather they changed nothing in the existing law, but House and Senate leaders made clear that was not an option in this economic climate,” said MTA President Anne Wass.

The proposal adopted by the Senate used the cost of insuring municipal employees through the Group Insurance Commission as a benchmark. The GIC currently provides health insurance to state employees and a number of municipal employees who have negotiated to join the GIC.

Under the Senate plan, if a community’s costs were higher than the amount it would cost to get health insurance through the GIC, the city or town would negotiate, through coalition bargaining, a health insurance plan that reached the benchmark either through the GIC or through another insurer. If the costs were below the benchmark, then no changes would be required to a community’s health insurance.

With bargaining, employees could seek to offset some of the out-of-pocket costs that plan design changes may incur; without bargaining, municipalities would be entitled to make such changes unilaterally. In addition, with coalition bargaining, retirees have a seat at the table.

“The Senate bill is not ideal, but it is much better than the main alternative under active consideration, which is to deny employees any say over their health insurance plans,” Wass said. “Members should contact their state legislators immediately and urge them to protect collective bargaining over health insurance, since this issue is likely to be taken up soon.”

In other benefit-related news, MTA lobbyists were successful at beating back changes in cer-tain public employee pension benefits that were considered as part of the pension reform act.

Systemic changes such as pension caps and the use of a “lifetime earnings” standard for pur-poses of benefit calculations were not included in the final bill. However, these issues are subject to review and may be considered again in the fall.

Act now to protect bargaining rights

Budget hits local aid hardDeep cuts expected in all areas of state spending

By Sarah Nathanand Laura Barrett

A final state budget with deep cuts in local aid and state services was approved on June 19 and sent to the governor, who has until June

29 to sign it or issue vetoes.In order to close a nearly $5 billion gap, the

$27.4 billion spending plan makes major cuts in health care, education, local aid, human services, public employee benefits, public safety and almost every area of state government.

In addition to using funds from the federal stimulus package — formally called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — the Legislature raises new revenues and takes funds from the state’s “rainy day” account to balance the budget.

The budget — which covers the fiscal year that runs from July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2010 — includes a sales tax increase from 5 percent to 6.25 percent, among other measures.

As MTA Today went to press, it was unclear whether Governor Deval Patrick planned to veto the budget or any portion of it.

The following information covers key areas of the budget approved by the House and Senate.

Chapter 70. The budget includes an across-the-board cut of $79 million, or 2 percent, to Chapter 70 school aid. Where necessary, districts are provided with ARRA State Fiscal Stabilization Funds to reach their foundation spending levels.

In addition, the budget adopts the Senate’s inflation rate for purposes of calculating Chapter 70 aid. This method, lower than the rate proposed in House 1 and the House budget, reduces the amount of ARRA funds that districts will receive in FY10 and could reduce Chapter 70 aid in the future.

MTA President Anne Wass said such cuts to public education are a major problem for students and the state as a whole.

“Public education provides hope and opportunity for the future and should be spared from deep cuts during a recession,” Wass said. “We must do all that we can to recession-proof our students and provide them with the opportunity to get the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in life.”

Local aid. Local aid, or general government aid, was cut by $377 million from FY09 levels. For most cities and towns, that will mean an estimated 29 percent cut in the amount of aid they receive from the state in the new fiscal year. Many communities use up to 50 percent of general government aid for education, so this loss will affect schools in numer-ous districts.

“All services sink lower when the revenue tide runs out,” Wass said. “Cities and towns saw this coming, which is why they issued so many pink slips this spring and why students in so many districts could have fewer teachers and programs next fall.”

Public higher education. Public higher educa-tion was also allotted fewer state dollars in the final budget. As is the case with Chapter 70 aid to schools, the shortfall will be shored up with federal dollars, resulting in virtual level funding for community col-leges and state colleges and a $2.7 million reduction in the University of Massachusetts operations line item. In the face of rising costs, even level funding amounts to a reduction.

Funding for other public higher education accounts was also cut, including $9 million for scholarships.

State employee health insurance. The budget adopts the House proposal on state employees’ health insurance premiums, rejecting the Senate’s more drastic increase in the percentage to be paid by

workers. Under the budget, employees hired prior to 2003, who are currently at 85/15, will pay 80/20; those hired after 2003, who are currently at 80/20, will pay 75/25.

“MTA and its higher education members worked hard to keep the health insurance increase at the House level, although we recognize that even the House plan means a serious pay cut and will be dif-ficult for many of our members and their families,” Wass said.

PreK-12 grant programs. Many education grant programs were cut, including:

n The special education circuit breaker (about $89 million, or almost 39 percent).

n Regional school transportation (almost $21 million, or about 34 percent).

n MCAS remediation (about $4 million, or almost 31 percent).

n Kindergarten development grants ($7 million, or almost 21 percent).

n Targeted intervention for underperforming schools and districts (over $2 million, or almost 25 percent).

n Expanded Learning Time grants (almost $2 million, or about 10 percent).

n After-school programs (about $3.5 million, or about 64 percent).

COLA. A 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment was included in the budget on the first $12,000 of retiree pensions.

Taxes. Wass expressed strong support for the revenue increases included in the budget to prevent even worse cuts. In addition to raising the sales tax, the plan includes increases on meals, hotel rooms, alcohol, telecommunications poles and wires and satellite TV.

“New revenues are absolutely essential to prevent even deeper cuts to public schools, public higher education and a whole host of essential state and local services,” Wass said.

In May, the MTA and 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East launched a radio campaign calling for the state to raise revenues to avert further drastic cuts to vital public services, including educa-tion and health care. The unions’ ad asked listeners to make the case for new revenues to their local legislators.

Since the budget process began in January with the release of the governor’s budget proposal, House 1, the state’s revenue projections have plummeted. By the time the Senate began debate on its final budget five months into the calendar year, revenue

Please turn to Budget/Page 16

6 June/July 2009

‘Much more than their part’HCR honorees go above and beyond to make a difference

Horace Seldon, who received two civil rights awards, hugs Louise Gaskins, for whom one of the honors was named. At right, Jacqueline M. Coogan, winner of the Creative Leadership in Human Rights Award for her work on health care issues, shares a moment with longtime friend Erik Champy.

Photos by Sarah Nathan

Alan Jacobson, recipient of the Exemplary Benefactor Award presented by The Massachusetts Child, addresses the crowd as Christine Mulroney, the charity’s current president, looks on.

By Sarah Nathan

I n keeping with tradition, educators from across the state gathered on the eve of the MTA Annual Meeting of Delegates to recognize the work of

individuals who are committed to human and civil rights.

Civil rights activist Horace Seldon, retired teacher and guidance counselor Jacqueline M. Coogan and former Massachusetts Child President Alan Jacobson were this year’s honorees. All three were on hand for the 2009 MTA Human and Civil Rights Awards Banquet, which was held on April 30 at the Sheraton Hotel in Boston.

“Tonight, we celebrate past struggles and past successes and recognize the work that remains,” MTA Human Relations Committee Chairwoman Gladys Durant said as she kicked off the evening. “We are honoring people who have been willing to do much more than their part.”

Since 1983, the committee has been recognizing individuals and groups for demonstrating leadership in fighting discrimination and promoting equal opportunity for women, people of color and the disabled, as well as those who are economically disadvantaged. In recent years, The Massachusetts Child, an MTA charity, has used the occasion to present an award to a person or organization dedicated to helping public school students succeed.

Seldon, who received both the Louise Gaskins Lifetime Civil Rights Award and the Creative Leadership in Human Rights Award, founded a nonprofit organization called Community Change Inc. shortly after the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968. CCI is committed to achieving racial justice and equity through a variety of community activities.

Seldon is a retired college professor, an interpreter of the history of slavery and human and civil rights and one of the leading experts on abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. In December 2008, The Boston Globe called Seldon “an agent for change.”

At the age of 86, Seldon is still promoting civil rights and educating people on the history of the

movement. He currently leads tours along the Black Heritage Trail in Boston as part of his work with the National Park Service.

“Horace Seldon is the unexpected — a masterful historian, a passionate activist and change agent, a university teacher who can speak to children and inspire fascination with history,” HRC member Donia Gobar said as she presented the leadership award to Seldon.

MTA member Louise Gaskins, herself a longtime

activist, described his insights as “deep and perceptive and subtle.”

Seldon spoke to the banquet crowd about early efforts to end racism and discrimination. He referred to Garrison’s fight to abolish slavery and promote the rights of all people.

Seldon, who taught about the history of racism for 26 years at Boston College, now leads a tour focused on the local African-American community’s battle for freedom. The tour, “Freedom’s Trial,” begins at the African American National Historic Site on Beacon Street.

During his remarks, Seldon said that “we are now in a time of hope” and noted several quotations focused on that theme.

“Hope is a song in a weary throat,” he said, referencing the title of now-deceased civil rights activist Pauli Murray’s 1987 autobiography. “My friends, you are a song in my sometimes-weary throat.”

Coogan, who received the Creative Leadership in Human Rights Award, was the founder of the Joint

Please turn to HCR/Page 15

To learn more about the work of the honorees and their organizations,

please visit:

Horace Seldonwww.horaceseldon.com

The Joint Committee for Children’s Health Care in Everett

www.ci.everett.ma.us/Everett_files/jcchc/index.htm

The Massachusetts Childwww.massteacher.org/masschild

7June/July 2009

Photo by Laura Barrett

Delegates approve budget, act on organizing proposals

Delegates take a vote during the Annual Meeting Business Session.

By Laura Barrett

M ore than 1,000 MTA members approved the organization’s budget

and dues and wrestled with a number of difficult issues during this year’s Annual Meeting of Delegates.

The 1,041 delegates who registered for the meeting, held May 1 and 2 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, represented members in 146 local affiliates.

During the Business Session, Vice President Paul Toner reviewed the 2009-2010 MTA Annual Operating Budget and the Public Relations/Organizing Campaign and answered questions from members. The delegates approved a budget of $40.5 million in all: $38.9 million for the Operating Budget and $1.6 million for the PR/Organizing Campaign.

The major issues debated by the delegates concerned whether to organize employees of private early education and Commonwealth charter schools, whether to extend the terms of MTA officers in 2010, whether to add an additional seat to the Executive Committee specifically for education support professionals and whether to mail hard copies of MTA Today only to members who affirmatively choose to continue receiving the publication in that form.

The delegates approved a bylaw change that allows the MTA to organize employees of private early childhood education providers, but, after much debate, voted to maintain the current policy of not organizing people who work in Commonwealth charter schools. The motion to mail printed copies of MTA Today to members who “opt in” was approved, while the delegates voted against instituting longer terms for the president and vice president beginning with next year’s election.

Proponents of organizing charter school staff argued that all workers deserve to have the opportunity to organize and be part of a union. Charter school teachers, they contended, deserve a union just as much as other workers, even if the MTA objects to the policies that fund and govern those schools.

It was also noted that NEA and AFT affiliates in several other states are organizing charter schools and starting charter schools, while AFT Massachusetts has begun organizing charter schools in this state. It was also argued that if charter school teachers received better wages and benefits, it could reduce the profit motive for opening new schools.

Opponents were mainly focused on the negative impact of the current funding formula. The MTA is opposed to the formula and is actively seeking changes. There were also questions about whether an organizing initiative would create a conflict of interest for the MTA or would violate any of the association’s resolutions.

The delegates voted against the bylaw amendment, but voted in support of establishing a committee to study some of the questions that are currently not answered, such as how

a charter school organizing campaign would be staffed.

The association will proceed this year with examining how to organize early childhood education educators in private programs. As things stand, the MTA represents such educators in public school programs, but not in the private sector.

The vote on MTA Today means that members will be asked to “opt in” if they want to receive the printed publication rather than to “opt out” and receive notification by e-mail, the procedure that has been in place until now.

Upon publication, each issue of the magazine is posted as a PDF on www.massteacher.org, the association Web site. Members who have opted out are sent a link to the PDF instead of a paper copy when MTA Today is printed. Approximately 500 members have chosen that option to date.

Now, members will be asked to opt in if they want to continue receiving the publication by mail. Those who do not opt in for the print edition can choose electronic delivery and will need to supply e-mail addresses so they can receive notification.

Supporters of the opt-in provision for paper copies cited cost savings

beyond those that will be realized by cutting the number of issues of the magazine from six to five — a change that was included in the budget initially presented to the delegates.

Members who spoke against the new provision noted that MTA Today is one of the few means by which the organization communicates with all members about a wide array of subjects concerning education policy, collective bargaining, professional development opportunities, legislative priorities and member benefits.

MTA President Anne Wass, who presided over the Annual Meeting, said the MTA will do everything in its power to notify members that they will need to choose whether they want to continue to receive the magazine via the mail or to receive an e-mail link to the online version.

“We will assess the situation in August after we know how many members have responded,” she said.

Procedures are now in place to facilitate the opt-in process. To choose a method of delivery, members should visit www.massteacher.org/mymtatoday, where they will have the option of selecting the print edition or notification by e-mail.

The delegates approved a bylaw change that allows the MTA to organize employees of private early childhood education providers, but, after much debate, voted to maintain the current policy of not organizing people who work in Commonwealth charter schools.

Please turn to MTA’s/Page 8

MTA members now need to choose whether they want to get MTA Today in print or receive a link by e-mail when the magazine is posted on the MTA Web site.The time to make your choice is NOW so that you don’t risk missing out on important news about your association, as well as vital information on leadership opportunities, professional development, member benefits, politics, policies that affect your school or campus, and much, much more.

You are being asked to make this decision as a result of a vote by the delegates to the recent MTA Annual Meeting to have members “opt in” if they want to continue receiving printed copies of MTA Today.

Making your selection is simple, so please do not delay.

And don’t worry! You can change your mind at any time about whether you want to receive printed issues or be notified by e-mail when MTA Today is posted on the Web site.

To sign up, you will need your MTA membership card or an issue of MTA Today that was mailed to you as a member. Once you have either your card or your MTA Today at your fingertips, take the following easy steps:1. Go online to: www.massteacher.org/mymtatoday

A Web form will come up that requests your membership number and your ZIP code. Your MTA member ID number can be found in two places:n On the front of your MTA card in the box marked Individual ID #.n On the back page of this edition of MTA Today or any other issue that

was mailed to you as a member. Just look in the blue and white box for the number directly above your name.

2. Once you have filled in the requested information, click CONTINUE.3. Another form will come up that shows the name, address and e-mail address that MTA has on file for you. You should examine the information, correct anything that needs updating and make sure the form is complete. Don’t forget to check off your MTA Today choice!4. Once your information is correct, click SUBMIT.

8 June/July 2009

By Bob Duffy

D elegates to the MTA’s 2009 Annual Meeting were treated to a compelling musical performance by a gifted student

and his equally gifted teacher.The student, Anthony DeCicco, and the music

teacher, Robert Landry, provided entertainment for about 45 minutes as delegates entered the auditorium of the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. They then offered a rousing rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner as the Business Session opened in the hall, drawing cheers and applause from the hundreds of delegates who were present.

Landry, a member of the Leominster Teachers Association, played an electric piano. Anthony, whose parents are both members of the Ashburnham-Westminster Teachers Association, played the saxophone and sang.

“It was very impressive to see all those union leaders in one room,” Landry said afterward.

Landry first came across Anthony, who just completed his junior year at Leominster High School, when he was a sixth-grader. At the time, Landry was putting together a jazz band at Leominster Middle School, and Anthony joined.

“I knew right away that Anthony’s voice was something special,” said Landry, who went on to cast his student in a lead role in Oklahoma and, two years later, in the lead role of Fiddler on the Roof.

Since Anthony moved on from middle school, Landry has given him weekly music lessons.

“It’s so important that there be outlets for high achievers like Anthony so they have a release for their talent,” he noted.

Anthony excels at more than music; he was ranked first in his junior class, with a grade point

average of 3.983. The weekend he performed for the delegates, he also participated in the state science fair at MIT.

Although he excels in many academic and extracurricular activities, Anthony said that music plays a key part in his school life. He said he is troubled by efforts to cut local budgets by trim-ming music programs.

“I think that it’s very important to be able to

have access to music programs in schools,” he said.Anthony, who is the son of teachers John and

Sharon DeCicco, is also a proud union member himself, having joined the American Federation of Musicians in 2006.

To see video of the performance at the MTA Annual Meeting, go to the MTA’s YouTube site: http://www.youtube.com/user/mtacommunications.

Teacher Robert Landry and student Anthony DeCicco perform during the MTA Annual Meeting.Photo by James Sacks

Annual Meeting a showcase for public school talent

It is not clear what related costs MTA may incur if the organization needs to send members informa-tion — such as the Summer Conference Guide — that they currently receive via MTA Today.

In light of significant education budget cuts at the state level, the MTA could lose some dues income as a result of layoffs this year, and the budget recommended to the delegates reflected that possibility in a number of areas. The Public Relations/Organizing Campaign dues will be reduced from $30 to $20, there will be no Exposition at the 2010 Annual Meeting, and the Summer Conference Opening Fair has been eliminated.

The delegates voted against changing the term limits for MTA’s president and vice president. Currently, those officers may serve a maximum of two two-year terms. Under the proposed change, they would have been eligible to serve two three-year terms, or six years in all.

The delegates also debated and then defeated the proposal to establish an at-large education support professional position on the MTA Executive Committee. There is an at-large ESP member on MTA’s Board of Directors, but not on the Executive Committee. The vote means the current Executive Committee structure will be maintained.

Under new business, the delegates supported establishing a special fund of voluntary member contributions to support MTA’s continuing backing for Mass-Care, a statewide coalition advocating for a single-payer health care system. Notification will be sent to all local presidents.

The delegates also voted to support the advo-cacy efforts of the Massachusetts School Library Association and to create a committee to review MTA’s local office support program.

The Annual Meeting Issues Forum was led by Adam Urbanski and titled “The Union’s Role in Education Innovation.” Urbanski is the president of the Rochester Teachers Association in New York and a vice president of the American Federation of Teachers. He is also director of the Teacher Union

Reform Network, an organization aimed at creating a new vision of teachers’ unions that supports needed changes in education.

During the forum, Urbanski described some changes he had proposed, designed and helped to implement, including a comprehensive internship and mentoring program and a peer review and intervention program in which teachers are involved with evaluating, assisting and sometimes dismissing other teachers.

“We believe that the leadership for teachers should be provided by teachers, not by non-teachers or for-mer teachers. This is popular among teachers but also very popular among parents,” Urbanski said.

In other business, the delegates voted to approve a long list of changes to MTA’s resolutions, most of which were designed to modify resolutions that had become out of date.

The Annual Meeting began with the opening Exposition of booths and displays — the last one for the foreseeable future, given the budget that was passed.

As the Business Session opened, Anthony DeCicco, a student at Leominster High School, sang a powerful rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner. The delegates were also treated to a video that reviewed highlights from the year.

MTA’s new budget reflects economic situation

Parliamentarian Jeff Neurauter and MTA President Anne Wass on stage during the MTA Annual Meeting.

Photo by Meg Secatore

Continued from Page 7

9June/July 2009

Commentary

The toxic assault on our childrenBy Philip and Alice Shabecoff

O ur classrooms are full of kids who don’t listen, can’t sit still, can’t organize their thoughts,

and can’t or won’t learn. In some classrooms, there are aggressive teens and teens with drug problems.

Parents and officials sometimes blame the teachers. No Child Left Behind places a further burden of guilt and reprisal.

But the root of the problem lies elsewhere in many instances. The truth is that our nation’s children are strug-gling with an epidemic of illnesses that saps their physical and mental capacities.

One of every three American children suffers from a chronic disor-der. After five years of investigation, as environmental journalists and as grandparents, we found those statistics by digging through government reports, and then discovered that these illnesses are triggered by the tons (literally) of toxics in our everyday lives.

This generation of children is different. It is the first to be raised in a truly toxified world, from conception on. Compare the 200 million pounds of synthetic chemicals a year the U.S. used when their parents were in school with today’s 15 trillion pounds, an unbelievably huge increase. These chemicals are tested by their manufac-turers, who, using an approval process that differs from the one for drugs, have no obligation to test for safety to humans or the environment.

These chemicals, along with the more than 4.5 billion pounds of pesticides that drench our households and farms each year, as well as the untold burden of heavy metals and byproducts from nuclear power plants, harm children.

Industry does its best, through advertising and through its own sci-ence for hire, to obscure the evidence, so most parents and even pediatricians remain unaware of what’s happening. But independent researchers using new technologies and sciences have uncovered the solid evidence of cause and effect. It is clear that toxins in our everyday lives cause illnesses in genetically vulnerable children.

Asthma, the leading cause of absence from school, has increased 141 percent; childhood cancer, once a rarity, has increased 67 percent; and autism is up 273 percent, all in one generation. Asperger syndrome, hyperactivity, attention deficit disorder, learning disabilities, aggressive behav-ior, dyslexia, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and Tourette syndrome all dog our school-age children.

The toxins that trigger these ill-nesses enter our homes as ingredients of today’s way of life. Air fresheners, a $1.7 billion a year industry, for example, are a mix of benzene, formaldehyde and other poisonous compounds, all unlabeled. Soft drinks contain mercury. Plastic bottles leach bisphenol, while many computer casings exude flame retardants; both of these chemicals upset the balance of hormones in fetal and young bodies.

The rocket fuel perchlorate contaminates drinking water in many localities, as well as 15 brands of powdered infant formula; this chemi-cal damages the thyroid. Mercury wafts across the sky from distant coal-powered power plants. Though they affect the body in different ways, these and hundreds of other chemicals can make children more difficult and

less intelligent. Children are more vulnerable to harm from exposure than adults, and most vulnerable in the womb and early childhood.

In school, children — and teachers — are plagued by chemicals that parents would not allow in their homes. The water spigots may contain high lead contamination. The indoor air may be saturated with residues of industrial-strength pesticides and cleaning products. Shockingly, Massachusetts schools still contain high levels of asbestos and mold. In Pittsfield, a grammar school was built abutting land where a mountain of PCB-laden soil had been dumped.

But, as we were pleased to discover during our research, the MTA has a campaign to find and eliminate toxics. In Springfield, for example, the association’s Environmental Initiative has coupled the EPA Tools for Schools model with the state’s Healthy Schools checklist to create a systematic, team-based structure that identifies and then addresses environmental hazards. The MTA itself offers some of the best materials we’ve come across on identi-fying and getting rid of pollutants.

Getting toxics out of our lives is crucial to the future. Our nation already spends $77.3 billion a year

on special education. If the current generation of children loses what sounds like a “mere” 5 points in average IQ, the outcome on a national level is devastating. Instead of 100 as the mean point, the national IQ shifts down to 95 — increasing the number of retarded adults from 6 million to 9.4 million and more than halving the number of gifted people, from 6 million to 2.4 million.

Teachers, just like parents, cannot run away from the problems posed by toxified kids. So why not work together? Teachers and school staff can educate parents who seem unaware about the environmental forces harm-ing their children and team up with them as allies to educate administrators and officials. Together, educators are a powerhouse for change.

Philip and Alice Shabecoff are the authors of “Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault on Our Children,” published by Random House. The book is a source of information and a call to action on environmental toxification. For materials and information on healthy schools, please visit http://www.massteacher.org/inside/ehs/, the environmental health and safety section of the MTA Web site.

SAVE THE DATE

Registration materials will be available by mid-July on the MTA Web site, www.massteacher.org

8th Annual MTA Retired Members GatheringWednesday, September 30 | Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel, Marlborough

DON’T BE LEFT OUT!

Illustration by Jacqueline Feng

10 June/July 2009

Leaders of MTA and AFT Massachusetts, above left, listen as a speaker makes a point. In center photo, MTA Vice President Paul Toner is pictured with Gale Thomas, a member of the AFT Massachusetts Executive Board. At right, Quincy Education Association President Paul Phillips poses a question.

Photos by James Sacks

Historic meeting highlights unityLeaders of MTA and AFT Massachusetts discuss goals and challenges

Anne Wass, MTA president, and Thomas Gosnell, president of AFT Massachusetts.

G overning boards of the state’s two teachers’ unionsmetforthefirsttimeinlivingmemory onMay30.Thepurposeofthemeeting

betweentheAFTMassachusettsExecutiveBoardandtheMTAExecutiveCommitteewastoexpandonthecollaborationthatalreadytakesplaceamongthetopelectedofficialsofbothorganizations.Belowareexcerpts,editedforbrevity,fromaninterviewwithMTAPresidentAnneWassandAFTMassachusettsPresidentThomasGosnellthatwasconductedbyLauraBarrettoftheMTACommunicationsDivisionandJenniferBerkshireofAFTMassachusetts.

Q. Why did you decide to have the two boards and management teams meet at this time?

Gosnell:AnneandIwereelectedpresidentsofourorganizationsatthesametime.Thepreviouspresidents,KathyKelleyandCathyBoudreau,hadacollaborativerelationship.AnneandIwerereallycommittedtocontinuingthat.Wethinkwehavebroughtittoanewlevelbecausetheissuesaresogreatthatitisinourbestinteresttobeworkingtogether.TheMTAExecutiveCommitteeandAFTMassachusettsExecutiveBoardandmanagementleadershipforbothorganizationsthoughtitwasimportantthattheyhavearealfeelforthecollabora-tiverelationshipbetweenthetwoorganizations.

Wass: Bothorganizationsarefacingsomanyreallytoughissuesnow—probablytheworsteverinhistory.Ithinktherearesomanyattacksbeingmade—notonlyonpubliceducationbutonunionsandonteachers’unionsinparticular—thatthemorewecanbetogetherandspeakwithonevoice,thebetteritisforeverybody,ourmembersandourstudents.

Q. Tom, do you agree with Anne that these are the toughest times?

Gosnell:Thereweretwotrulytoughtimes,thisbeingoneandtheotherbeingwhenProposition2½passed.Theearly1990swerearealissue,too.However,thethreatswerenotnearlyasgreat.Intheearly’90s,wedidn’thavecharterschools,forexample.Intheearly’90s,theyweren’ttalkingaboutmassivelyundercuttingpensionsandhealthinsurance.That’sallpartofitnow.

Q. What are some of the issues you discussed?

Wass:Wehadshort-termandlong-termissues.Short-termissueswerethingslikehealthinsurance,thebudgetdeficitandattacksoncollectivebargain-ing.Forthelongterm,wewerelookingintothingssuchaswhetherwewillhaveanupcomingpensiondebateandthestimulusmoneyandhowit’sgoingtogetused,pluscharterschools.

Gosnell:Wealsospokeaboutpublicrelations.WespentsometimeonhowtogetoutthegoodnewsaboutpublicschoolsinMassachusetts—the

achievementofourstudentsontheNationalAssessmentofEducationalProgressandtheTrendsinInternationalMathematicsandScienceStudy.Wefeltthatnotenoughpositiveinformationisgettingoutaboutourschools.IthinkitisveryunfortunatethattheCommonwealthofMassachusettshasn’tdoneastudyonwhysomanystudentsinMassachusettsareatthisextraordinarylevelofachievementandwhatwecanlearnfromthattohelpstudentswhoarenotachievingatthatlevel.Thestatehasnodataonthat.

Q. Did you discuss whether there are ways the organizations need to work together differently?

Gosnell:IsensednotensionatallbetweentheAFTandtheMTA.Also,therewasextraordinaryconsensusinthediscussionoftheissues.Ithinkprobablythemostpositivethingwiththismeetingwaspeoplecomingtogethertomeet,tosharewithpeopletheyhadnotmetbefore.WhenMTAandAFTMassachusettsadoptedano-raidagreementaboutadecadeago,thatreallywasthebeginningofgreatercollaboration.Thatwasanegative,however,inthesensethatitwas,‘We’renotgoingtoraideachother.We’rewastingourenergyfightingoneanotherwhenthepeoplewhoarefightingeducators,weneedtorespondtothem.’Thatwastheverybeginning.Ithinkwe’vebeenmovinginthedirectionofgreaterandgreatercollaborationsincethen.

Q. Was there any discussion of the two organizations merging?

Wass:Mergerdidn’tcomeup.

Gosnell: Thewordwasnotmentioned.

Q. What do you see as some of the biggest issues on the education policy front?

Wass:Charterschools,ReadinessSchools,alterna-tivecompensation.

Gosnell:Thebiggestissueforme…Idon’tcallittheachievementgap,Icallittheinvestmentgap.Wegrosslyunder-investinpoorkids.

Wass:Ithinktherearealotofgaps.Theachieve-mentgapstartsbeforechildrenenterpublicschool,butitkeepswideningastheyprogress.Thenthere’sthefundinggap,asTomsaid.Sometimesthere’salsoanexpectationsgap.

Q. Are there concerns about the dropout rate and why some students are leaving school?

Gosnell:I’mverybotheredbythelackofdataaboutthedropoutrate.Noonetalkstothemaboutwhytheydropoutofschool.

Wass:Wehavetofigureouthowtoengagekids,boththeoneswhoareimpoverishedandalsothosewhocomeinadvancedandhavesomanyopportunitiesandskills.I’veheardpeoplesay,‘Theirattentionspanissoshort.Theywanttobeentertained.’Wehavetofindawayofmeetingthemontheirlevel.Technologyisahugewaytodothat.Schoolsmaylookverydifferentwithin20yearsorless.Hopefully,we’llbeabletoengagekidsbetterandnothaveasmanydropoutsbecausethey’llseeeducationasmorerelevant.

Q. Funding is obviously a huge issue for public education. Did you discuss any particular revenue enhancement to support?

Gosnell: You name the source of more revenue andwesupportit.Weformallysupportthesalestax.Remember,theoptionsaren’tperfect.

Wass: Totrulysolvealltheissueswearefacinginalarge-scale,systemicwaywouldtakeahugemonetaryinvestmentonthepartofsociety.That’swhatmakesthetimessobadrightnow,becausethewillisnottheretodothat.Sotheydoalittlebitofthis,alittlebitofthat.We’lldoalittleteacherquality.We’lldoalittleExpandedLearningTime.Thebottomlineisthey’reallBand-Aids.Whatweneedisacomprehensiveoverhaulofthesystemthatwillprovidethesechildreninpovertywithwhattheyreallyneed,andthatwilltakemassiveamountsofmoney.ButIalsodon’tthinkwecanusethelackofmoneyasanexcuse.Youstillhavetomakeschoolthemostpositiveexperienceforthekidswhoarethere,nomatterwhatoutsidethingsarehappening.

11June/July 2009

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Bringing lessons to life for studentsTwo teachers are honored for dedication, creativity

Massachusetts Teacher of the Year Jae Goodwin, left, conducts her “whirlybird unit,” in which students learn averages by determining the average time it takes for their whirlybirds to reach the floor after 10 drops. At right, Preserve America History Teacher of the Year Jennifer Leith gives a geography lesson in character as Miss Parker. In the lesson, she and her students are transported back to a one-room schoolhouse in 1865.

Photos by Bob Duffy

By Bob Duffy

T wo MTA members who are passionate about bringing learning to life are the recipi-

ents of the state’s top teaching awards.Jae Goodwin, who teaches at

the Charlotte A. Dunning School in Framingham, is the Massachusetts Teacher of the Year, while Jennifer Leith, who teaches at the Dr. Leroy E. Mayo Elementary School in Holden, is the Massachusetts Preserve America History Teacher of the Year.

Both were honored at a State House ceremony on June 18 that was at-tended by educational leaders including MTA President Anne Wass, Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester and Secretary of Education Paul Reville, along with several legislators.

Wass praised the two award winners for their dedication to students and said they reflect the commitment of educators throughout the state.

“These teachers bring true creativity to their schools and to every class they teach,” she said. “They inspire their students to do wonderful things and serve as examples to their colleagues.

“When I met Jae and Jennifer,” Wass added, “I could feel their

enthusiasm and see how skilled they are as teachers. I really wish I could be in one of their classes.”

Governor Deval Patrick com-mended the teachers in a statement is-sued by the Department of Elementary

and Secondary Education. “A teacher’s positive contributions extend beyond a particular classroom or academic year, preparing our children for a lifetime of success in school, work, and life,” Patrick said. “I congratulate Ms. Goodwin and Ms. Leith on attaining this high distinction and thank them both for their service to our students and our state.”

G oodwin told MTA Today in a recent interview that she dreamed of becoming

a teacher when she was growing up, but that other career paths and having a family kept her from pursuing that goal for a time.

After her daughter and son began attending the Dunning School, she started to volunteer. A few years later, she became an aide for a visually impaired child.

“If I had not taken this part-time job as I re-entered the work force after having children, I am not sure I would have even thought about realizing my childhood desire to be a teacher,” Goodwin said.

That initial job inspired her to pursue a master’s degree in teaching. By the time she started teaching fifth grade at the Dunning School in 1999, her class included children she had instructed the year before while she was still in training.

“It was the very class I had been with since kindergarten and, even better, the special ed student I had been an aide for was now a student in my class,” Goodwin said

Goodwin is also an adjunct instruc-tor at Framingham State College. She

Please turn to Teachers/Page 20

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12 June/July 2009

both private industry and the military.Two weeks before the ship was boarded, Shane Murphy spoke about piracy with cadets in his father’s maritime security class. His recent appearance and the fact that Phillips is an MMA graduate personalized the crisis for everyone on campus.

“It definitely put a sharper focus on everything,” said Murphy. “Not only has this shown us the importance of what we teach our students, it’s also given us an opportunity to really see the quality of the education that we provide here at the academy.

“We’ve all recommitted ourselves to the academy’s goals and values,” he said.

Despite the many distractions presented by the crisis, Murphy did his best to provide his students with up-to-date information and answer their many questions.

The crisis, he said, has definitely had an impact.

“My students are much more curious and much more willing to come forward and ask questions about what they need to know — or what they think they need to know,” he said. “They aren’t going to cut me any slack. They aren’t going to accept ‘I’ll look that up for you.’ They want answers.”

He also noted how impressed he was by the way students handled them-selves during the standoff, offering

quick and thoughtful responses to random questions asked by reporters. (The MMA’s media relations office estimates that more than 100 reporters were camped out at the academy during the crisis.)

“My students really stepped up to the plate,” Murphy said. “That was great to see.”

The entire MMA community had an opportunity to give thanks to Phillips on May 20 when he came to campus to celebrate National Maritime Day and to be recognized as the Massachusetts Maritime Academy’s Mariner of the Year.

Since the attack and successful rescue, Phillips said, there is a real

feeling of pride around campus, as well as an added sense of patriotism.

“Now people are very proud to say they work here and very proud to say they are Americans,” he said.

Murphy, for his part, is feeling very fortunate. He said the offers of help and good wishes sent by his col-leagues and students were humbling, but not surprising.

“When something happens here, we all fall in line together and try our absolute best to help,” Murphy said. “It doesn’t matter if it involves an administrator or a janitor. Everyone does their best to help out.

“We treat everyone like family — and we all help out.”

Continued from Page 2

Crisis brings everyone together at Massachusetts Maritime Academy

By Sarah Nathan

C ompassionate. Tireless. Professional. A natural educator. A strong advocate. Those were among the glowing terms used

by colleagues to describe newly minted ESP of the Year Cynthia Eldredge in nominating letters sent to the MTA.

Eldredge, an accomplished instructional paraprofessional in Brewster, where she works with fifth-grade special needs students, was honored before more than 300 education support professionals during the closing session of the MTA’s annual ESP Conference on Saturday, May 9. A record 330 participants gathered at the Cape Codder Resort in Hyannis to learn, network and meet up with new and old friends at the event, which began the previous afternoon.

“Cindy is highly respected by both union members and school department administrators,” ESP Committee Chairwoman Donna Johnson said as she gave Eldredge her award. “She is able to present issues in a thoughtful, respectful manner.

“Her fellow educational assistants go to her when they have concerns, as they know that she is able to handle all situations,” added Johnson, who is a member of the MTA Executive Committee and serves as president of the University Staff Association.

Eldredge has worked with Brewster elementary school students for 21 years. She is a longtime mem-ber of the Nauset Education Association and served for several years on the union negotiating team.

According to nominating letters sent by her co-workers at the Eddy School, she is the “go to” person — the person who gives students extra help before school and at lunch and is also the colleague whom fellow staffers seek out when a job has to get done. In her union, she is regarded as professional, powerful, positive and a strong advocate for her peers.

Eldredge also values her community. At her school, she spearheaded the Community Services Club, and she assists students on a variety of projects. With her guidance, children have knitted scarves for homeless women, collected food for a local pantry and visited animals at a nearby shelter.

“I don’t do this work for the recognition, but it is heartwarming to know that people notice and that they do care,” said Eldredge, also noting that the attention is humbling. “It validates what I do and shows other people that it is possible to make a difference.”

Learning, sharing and networking

Eldredge’s award was one of many conference highlights. The event provided ESPs from across the state with a chance to attend workshops on a wide range of issues and skills. Sessions on preventing bullying, effective advocacy, building organizational relationships, mindfulness, and environmental health and safety were among the many offerings. There was also time built in for participants to socialize, network and hear from MTA leaders.

MTA President Anne Wass and Vice President Paul Toner both addressed ESP members on the evening of May 8. Wass used the opportunity to update members on the latest news from Beacon Hill, where at that time the state Senate had just released its version of the budget for the upcoming fiscal year in the face of a multibillion-dollar gap. She asked members to call on their state legislators and urge them to make education funding a priority.

Wass concluded on a light note, mentioning that an MTA ESP member had once told her that ESP not only stands for “education support profes-sional,” but also for “extra special person.”

Toner also offered words of encouragement.“If there is only one thing that you take away

from this weekend, let it be that ESPs are valued members of the MTA,” he said.

MTA Executive Director-Treasurer David A. Borer likewise expressed his appreciation for ESPs during his keynote address.

“ESPs have some of the toughest jobs in the schools, but you do them with great dedication and professionalism,” Borer told the crowd.

For newcomers as well as for repeat conference-goers, the event is a welcome op-portunity to share experiences and ideas with other ESPs from all over the state.

Please turn to ESP/Page 17

Conference features informative workshops, presentation of award to ESP of the Year

The 2009 MTA ESP Conference, held in early May, drew a record crowd to the Cape Codder Resort in Hyannis. The ESPs heard speeches by MTA leaders, participated in a variety of workshops, won raffle prizes provided by MTA Benefits and had the chance to share experiences. Above, ESPs applaud one of the lunchtime speakers. At left, ESP of the Year Cynthia Eldredge, left, appears with ESP Committee Chairwoman Donna Johnson after accepting her award.

Photos by Sarah Nathan

13June/July 2009

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Grant boosts Springfield effortHome visits help increase parental involvement, student success

By Sarah Nathan

TheSpringfieldEducationAssociationhasbeenchosen tobeaninitialparticipantin

anNEAFoundationefforttoimproveachievementlevelsforurbanstudentsacrossthenation.

InMay,thefoundationannouncedthattheSEA,incollaborationwiththeSpringfieldPublicSchools,wouldbeawardeda$50,000planninggrantforitsClosingtheAchievementGapsInitiative.TheSEAisoneoffivelargeurbanlocalassociationsthatwillparticipateintheprogramatthisstage.

TheSEAwasamongapoolof14,000localsinitiallyconsideredbythefoundation.Theapprovalofplanningfundingisakeysteptowardapossible$1.25milliongrantfromthefoundation,whichisseekingtodevelopacomprehensiveroadmapforafive-yearefforttobooststudentperformance.

“Wearereallyexcitedaboutthisgrant,”saidSEAPresidentTimothyCollins.“IthastremendouspotentialtohelpthechildrenintheSpringfieldPublicSchools.

“Wewanttoinvolveteachersallthewaythroughtheprocess,”Collinsadded.“Ratherthanhavechangeim-posedonourmembers,wewillbeabletoempowerthemandallowthemtobethearchitectsofthisreformeffort.”

Collinssaidthefunds“willgiveustheopportunitytocontinuetheimportantworkwearealreadydoingwiththePioneerValleyProjecttoincreaseparentalinvolvement,whichhasproventimeandagaintomakeadramaticdifferenceintheoverallsuccessofourstudents.”

“Inaddition,”hesaid,“thegrantwillhelpusdeepenandexpandthejointlabor-managementcollab-orativeworkinwhichtheSpringfieldEducationAssociationandSpringfieldPublicSchoolsareengaged.”

Threeyearsago,Collins,workingwithrepresentativesfrom

theSpringfieldschoolsandthePVP—acommunity-basedorganizinginitiativethatincludeschurch,laborandcommunitygroups—launchedahome-visitprogramaimedatimprov-ingstudentsuccessthroughincreasedparentalinvolvement.

TeachersinfiveSpringfieldschoolsarecurrentlyparticipatingintheprogram,visitingthehomesoftheirstudentstwiceduringthecourseoftheschoolyear.

EffortstoexpandtheefforthavebeenwarmlyreceivedbySEAmembers.

Whenaskedthisyeariftheywouldliketoparticipate,morethan60percentoftheteacherssaidtheywouldbewillingtovisitstudentsathome.Sincethevisitsbegan,participatingschoolshaveseenimprovementsin

studentattendance,studentbehaviorandparentalinvolvement.

“Wearethrilledtohavetheoppor-tunitytobuildtheseprograms,”Collinssaid.“TheseinitiativesareextremelybeneficialtotheentireSpringfieldschoolcommunity—especiallyourstudents—andarealreadyproducingpositiveresultsinschoolsacrossthecity.”

TheSpringfieldlabor-managementinitiativewillfocusonwaystostrengthen:

n Collaborationandongoingcommunicationbetweenthelocalassociationandschooldistrict,inordertogenerateasharedunderstandingoftheproblemsinvolvedandagreementonstrategiestoaddressthechallenges.

n Systemalignmentandcoher-ence,toincreasecapacityatthedistrictlevelandensureschool-levelsuccess.

n Familyandcommunitypartner-shipsdesignedtogeneratesupportforimprovementeffortsanddrawtheresourcesnecessarytoachievethevisionoftheproject.

n Qualityteaching,byimprovingtheprofessionallivesofteacherssotheyarebetterabletohelpclosetheachievementgap.

“Wehavefoundthattheseareasofinterventiontogetherbolsterthelikelihoodthatlocalimpactcanbesustained,astheyaddressandchangetheconditionsandstructuresthatwebelievemostdirectlydrivestudentachievementandperformance,”saidHarrietSanford,presidentandCEOoftheNEAFoundation.“Springfield’sproposalwillassesstheirreadiness,buildcapacityanddevelopasharedvisionandsetofaligned,systemicstrategiesthatclosetheachievementgaps.Anditmayqualifyforourlarger,multi-yearimplementationgrant.”

TheNEAFoundationwillselectthreeofthefivelocalsidentifiedtoreceivethe$1.25milliongrants.TheotherurbandistrictsareKansasCity,Kan.;Durham,N.C.;Omaha,Neb.;andColumbus,Ohio.

‘Rather than have change imposed on our members, we will be able to empower them and allow them to be the architects of this reform effort.’

—SEA President Timothy Collins

Springfield Superintendent of Schools Alan Ingram, left, consults with NEA Foundation President and CEO Harriet Sanford and SEA President Timothy Collins during a recent meeting in Washington, D.C.

Photo by Patrick G. Ryan/NEA Foundation

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Suit, math results point to MTEL problemsBy Laura Barrett

The Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure have come under scrutiny as a result of

a lawsuit charging that the exams discriminate against minorities and non-native English speakers and the news that only 27 percent of all candi-dates passed the mathematics subtest at the recommended cut-score level.

All elementary and special education teacher candidates are now required to take and pass the math subtest. The first administration of the test occurred in March. The news about the pass rate came out in May, four days after the lawsuit was filed.

On May 19, Kathleen Skinner, director of MTA’s Center for Education Policy and Practice, expressed concerns about the testing system in testimony before the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

“The motion on revising the MTEL regulations and recent news of a class action lawsuit on behalf of minority teacher candidates create a frame to review our state-specific teacher tests,” Skinner said.

“As a teacher, if I gave a test and only 27 percent of my students passed, my first thought would not be to assume there is something wrong with the students,” Skinner added. “The most likely explanations would be either that the test was flawed or the students had not been taught the mate-rial on which they were being tested.”

In light of the low pass rate and the short time the initial group of test-takers had to prepare, the BESE approved a motion to lower the cut score to 227 for three years. That increased the March pass rate to 43 percent, which is still lower than the rate in recent administrations of the previous version of the test. However, teachers who are licensed and hired based on the lower score must take the test again and achieve a score of 240 or above within five years or their licenses will expire and they will be ineligible for Massachusetts licensure.

Mary Ann McKinnon, assistant dean of the School of Education and Allied Studies at Bridgewater State College, was one of several people who said they support the goal of improving math skills among elemen-tary and special education teachers, but believe that the DESE moved too quickly by requiring candidates to pass the test before higher education programs had a chance to implement a more math-intensive curriculum.

“We’re not opposed to the math requirement,” she said. “Our concern is about the timing. It takes four years to make major changes in a degree program. When students come to us, they are under contract for four years. They have already embarked on a course of study. The state provided less than two years for us to make this change.”

McKinnon said that her college

offered current students a math “boot camp,” and that, as of last fall, new enrollees have had to take a three-course math sequence. But she said there simply was not enough time for students who had taken courses based on the former set of requirements to take all of the math they needed to meet the new standard.

Even as the math subtest issue is being debated, the BESE is dealing with the legal dispute over MTEL.

Tyler Fox, an employment and civil rights lawyer in Cambridge, has challenged the test in federal district

court, contending that it has a disparate impact on minority candidates, includ-ing African-Americans and Latinos, and on non-native English speakers.

The suit was brought on behalf of three former Boston teachers who are black or Latino and lost their jobs after repeatedly failing the exam despite having earned their master’s degrees and having received positive evalua-tions while working on waivers.

Fox is asking the court to certify the case as a class action suit on behalf of thousands of test-takers over the MTEL’s 11-year history. The lawsuit

asks the state to immediately stop ad-ministering the tests and seeks damages and other relief for those who failed and subsequently were denied jobs.

The number of black and Hispanic MTEL test-takers is low — around 2 percent or 3 percent. And the percent-age of black and Hispanic first-time test-takers who pass is also relatively low. For example, in 2005-2006, 77 percent of white teacher candidates passed the writing exam compared to just 48 percent of Hispanic test-takers and 46 percent of black test-takers.

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Committee for Children’s Health Care in Everett. Since 1994, the community-based organization has strived to provide access to affordable health care and services to adults and children in Everett and surrounding communities.

Coogan, who worked as a teacher and guidance counselor in the Everett Public Schools for more than 30 years, was nominated by longtime friend Erik Champy. “Jackie Coogan is an inspiration to me,” said Champy, a fellow guidance counselor and a member of the HRC. “She is a humanitarian, an educator, a feminist, a leader. She steps up to the plate each and every time to really be the voice for those families and students who really need a champion.”

Coogan urged all educators to use their influence — and their voices — to work for “healthy and happy communities” and health care for all.

“We know that we can’t teach a child who is

sick unless we help the parents first gain access to health care — whether it is physical, mental or emotional,” she said. “All of us must be advocates for the health, the education and the confidence of all people, especially our children, our students.”

Jacobson, the recipient of the The Massachusetts Child Exemplary Benefactor Award, served until 2008 as president and chairman of the charity. He has worked as a guidance counselor at Waltham High School for 35 years.

Christine Mulroney, the current Massachusetts Child chairwoman and a fellow member of the Waltham Education Association, introduced Jacobson.

“Alan Jacobson advocates for children every day,” Mulroney said. “He works around the clock to provide for public school students all over the state.”

When it was his turn at the podium, Jacobson recalled one of his early experiences as an educator.

Upon being asked to buy a student a present at Christmas time, he said, he was led all over a store by a seventh-grader, whom he described as self-assured, charming and streetwise.

Eventually, the student admitted to needing shoes. “I tell you this story because we never know

exactly how and when we will be called on as educators to meet the needs of the children we care for,” Jacobson said. “That is what defines us as proud members of the MTA — providing for the needs of students so that they can maximize their success in the classroom.”

The Boston Gay Men’s Chorus, which was recognized at last year’s awards ceremony for its support for high school gay-straight alliances, per-formed a set of love songs that were well received by the audience. MTA President Anne Wass welcomed the crowd, which included Vice President Paul Toner and several former MTA presidents.

The 2008 Massachusetts finalists for Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching were lauded by education leaders during a recent ceremony at the State House in Boston. From left to right are Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester; math finalist Deborah Seaver, who teaches at the Brookside Elementary School in Milford; math finalist Diana Cost, who teaches at Weymouth High School; science finalist Erin Flynn, who teaches at the John D. Philbrick Elementary School in Boston; science finalist Kara Frankian, who teaches at the Floral Street School in Shrewsbury; science finalist Kristen MacDonald, who teaches at the Fannie E. Proctor Elementary School in Northborough; and state Education Secretary Paul Reville. Also honored during the ceremony were the 2008 Massachusetts Milken Award winner, Chris Louis Sardella, and the recipients of the Asperger Association of New England Awards for Excellence in Teaching Students with Asperger Syndrome. The AANE winners are Ruth Levine Arnold of the Heath School in Chestnut Hill, Terry Belliveau of the Sabis International Charter School in Springfield, Ruth Bluestone of the Parkview Elementary School in North Easton, Donna Kyed of the Cottage Street School in Sharon and Ann Oakes of Brockton High School.

Presidential finalists

HCR honorees are champions for Massachusetts childrenContinued from Page 6

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T he Social Security Fairness Act of 2009 continues to gain support in Congress.

Identical legislation carrying that title has been filed in both the House and the Senate.

The bills would repeal the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision, two Social Security provisions that unfairly penalize educators and other public employees in Massachusetts and 14 other states.

The House bill, H.R. 235, was filed by Representative Howard L. Berman, a California Democrat, and now has the support of 294 co-sponsors.

Senator Diane Feinstein, also a California Democrat, filed the Senate legislation. The bill, S. 484, has 28 co-sponsors.

All members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation continue to be strong supporters of the repeal effort, and all are co-sponsors of the current measures.

The GPO reduces the spousal or survivor benefits of educators and other public employees by an amount equal to two-thirds of their public pensions. The WEP affects people who

Effort to repeal offsets continues to gain support

Budget calls for severe cuts, some revenue increases

have worked in jobs not covered by Social Security and in jobs in which they have earned Social Security benefits.

There are indications that Social Security reform could be considered on Capitol Hill before the end of the year.

“Congressional consideration of Social Security reform could offer an important opportunity to push repeal of the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision,” said Carrie Lewis of the NEA’s

Government Relations department. “Such repeal will be a top priority for NEA in any reform debate.

“There have been indications that key members of Congress from both parties have held tentative talks about overhauling the Social Security system, and Congress could turn its attention to reform as soon as the fall,” Lewis noted.

To receive regular updates on the GPO/WEP repeal effort, please send your name, complete address, MTA ID number, current or former local association affiliation and home e-mail address to Jo Ann Fitzgerald, MTA retired members service specialist, at [email protected].

There are indications that Social Security reform could be considered on Capitol Hill before the end of the year.

forecasts had dropped by $5 billion below the amount needed to maintain current services.

The budget battles have been stressful for educators this year, as local spending plans have been whipsawed by the frequent changes in fiscal projections.

MTA field staff are seeing widely different budget scenarios at the local level. Some locals have made it through the budget season without

facing intense pressure for concessions or the threat of huge layoffs, while others have not been so lucky.

In Tewksbury, for example, the school department issued pink slips to all school department employees and announced that it will rehire only those who agree to a 10 percent reduction in pay and hours.

The local and the MTA are fight-ing this plan.

Other locals have been under pres-sure to pay more for health insurance

or agree to wage freezes, either in current contract negotiations or by reopening contracts that were settled before the fiscal crisis hit.

Almost always, concessions are demanded in the context of a threatened tradeoff: pay and benefits versus jobs. Each affiliate has had to grapple with these issues based on the local situation and the will of the membership.

“This has been an extremely difficult time for our local affiliates,”

Wass said. “Unfortunately, we expect to be in difficult times for several years to come. We will continue to argue for new state and federal revenues and to call for recession-proofing our schools.

“Education funding is too impor-tant for the future of our economy and for the well-being of our students to be on a perpetual roller-coaster ride,” she said. “Schools need adequate support, and that includes fair and reasonable compensation for teachers and other educators.”

Continued from Page 5

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Students who won gold medals in the Massachusetts SkillsUSA Championship were recognized recently by Governor Deval Patrick and other state leaders.

For 35 years, SkillsUSA Massachusetts has provided students enrolled in technical education training programs with “employability skills.” The Bay State chapter, which is the second largest in the country, with more than 25,000 students, provides a series of programs and conferences revolving around leadership and character training.

The 175 gold medal winners advanced through district competitions and eventually won first place at a daylong state competition held at Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School. The competitions, in

which students demonstrate their skills in a number of areas, are judged by people from the local business community.

“Our job is to help these students achieve personal and professional success in their chosen industry,” said John Brochu, a graphics teacher at Bay Path Regional Vocational Technical High School. Brochu, a member of the SkillsUSA Massachusetts Board of Directors, was at the State House with a group of Bay Path students for the June 8 recognition ceremony.

The state champions were all expected to compete in the SkillsUSA national championships in Kansas City, Mo., in late June.

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SkillsUSA winners get a big ‘thumbs up’ at State House

“It’s good to be part of a greater network and know that we are facing some of the same issues that so many others are as well,” said Melissa Rebello, president of the newly orga-nized Shrewsbury Paraprofessionals Association.

Each year, the number of partici- pants continues to increase. To accom-modate the growth, the event was held for the first time this year at the Cape Codder, which is larger than the previous venue. The 2010 conference is scheduled for April 9 and 10, also at the resort.

One of the truly special things about the conference, MTA Board member Sylvia Snape noted, is the positive vibe that flows throughout the weekend. “The first time I came to this conference I got the overwhelming sense that what I do as an ESP has real value and I am appreciated,” said Snape, who works on the Amherst cam-pus of the University of Massachusetts and, like Johnson, is a member of the USA. “I don’t always get that kind of feedback at my workplace.

“This conference provides infor-mation that people can take back with them and use right away,” she added. “This is one of the only conferences in Massachusetts geared specifically toward ESPs.”

ESP Conference continues to growContinued from Page 12

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S tate grants are available to paraprofessionals who live in Massachusetts and want to

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The program is also an attempt to help address the Commonwealth’s teacher shortage.

Financial need is not a require-ment, but recipients must annually file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

To be eligible for a grant, a potential recipient must:

n Be a permanent legal resident of Massachusetts.

n Be a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen.

n Be eligible under Title IV regulations and not in default on a state or federal education loan or grant.

n Enroll in a full-time or part-time undergraduate degree program at a public or private college that leads to teacher certification.

n Have been employed, with certain exceptions, for a minimum of two years as a paraprofessional in a Massachusetts public school.

n Not have earned a bachelor’s degree.

Eligible institutions include regionally accredited public colleges or universities in Massachusetts that offer teacher-preparation programs leading to licensure that are approved by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. They also include two-year public colleges that have signed articulation or transfer agreements with such institutions

for teacher-preparation programs. Students who attend Massachusetts independent colleges that offer teacher education programs are eligible to receive the Paraprofessional Teacher Preparation Grants.

The awards under the program will vary, depending on the type of institution and the candidate’s enrollment status. Due to high demand, the award values for 2009-2010 will be determined at a later date

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Paraprofessionals interested in ap-plying for the grants must complete the Paraprofessional Teacher Preparation Grant Application, provide written proof of employ-ment as a paraprofessional from the employer and file the FAFSA document.

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MTA Benefits

I t’s often said that a house is the most important investment you can make. Yet many people

have only a vague idea of the value of the contents of their home, condo or apartment. Compared to the clear estimating process for a damaged vehicle, resolving losses related to home property can be contentious, uncertain, highly subjective and time consuming.

In assessing claims for both home and auto losses, an insurance adjuster requires specific information and tangible evidence of the extent of the loss. Trying to remember what was in your home after a fire or other disaster can be difficult, if not impossible.

Fortunately, there’s a simple way to capture the wealth of information that summarizes your home and its contents.

Visit the Insurance Information Institute at www.iii.org and click on the link for the free “Know Your Stuff Home Inventory.”

This Web-based tool walks you through the process of completing a home inventory. It’s easy to add information, so you can quickly build a basic inventory with or without photos.

Know your stuff!Free home inventory Web tool simplifies claim process, ensures adequate coverage

The Web tool also provides areas where you can describe the room and contents in words.

List everything in each room, starting with the major items. If you have purchase receipts, note the date and original purchase price. Documentation of electronic devices such as computers, TVs, stereo systems, cameras, etc., should also include serial numbers. After making your room inventory, photograph or videotape each item and take a photo of each wall.

Once you’ve documented the contents of your home, you can print a report with or without images. Know Your Stuff provides options for sorting, viewing and printing reports. Should you ever have to file a claim, this report will help the insurance adjuster work much more quickly.

Place a hard copy of your inventory and photos in a fire-rated document safe. Details and photos entered into Know Your Stuff are securely stored on the same servers that maintain records for several U.S.

government agencies. Even if your home computer and hard copy records are destroyed, these digital records are safe.

By highlighting the total exposure in dollars, the home inventory software can help you see how much additional insurance you may need to cover ac-tual replacements costs. In some cases, you may want to have unique valuables such as antiques, jewelry, furs and firearms formally appraised and documented.

Be sure your home also has enough insurance. In general, it should be “insured to value” — i.e., the replacement cost of your home. If you don’t have adequate coverage and a disaster strikes, you would not be able to collect enough on the claim to rebuild or buy a similar home.

Finally, it’s good financial practice to periodically consult a home insur-ance specialist such as MTA Benefits for complimentary advice about how much coverage is required to “make you whole” following a loss.

For more information, call an MTA Benefits insurance specialist at 888.908.6822 (MTAB).

R evered by czars and peasants alike, icons were once found in Russian households,

monasteries, local churches and the great cathedrals of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Now MTA members can see more than 350 of them — the larg-est collection outside of Russia — at the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton.

The icons displayed in the museum, spanning from the 1400s to the present, portray Jesus, the Virgin Mary and saints of the Russian Orthodox Church. Painted on wood in a one-dimensional perspective, the art is richly decorative with vivid colors often embellished with gold leaf. The most compelling of the museum’s new acquisitions is the monumental 65-inch-high-by-49-inch-wide Christ in Majesty painting, the finest example of its kind ever displayed in an American museum.

A world-class icon collection in a small Massachusetts town

The museum is the inspiration and creation of Gordon Lankton, an indus-trialist with corporate headquarters in Clinton.

His first purchase of icons at a Moscow flea market evolved into today’s expansive collection displayed

in the architecturally stunning museum, which was formerly an old mill building.

In addition to the icons, visitors to the museum can also experience other aspects of Russia through documentary films presenting the country’s complex culture, tempestuous history and vast landscapes.

MTA members are admitted free.

As lifelong learners, MTA members are an important constitu-ency of the museum, noted Kent dur

Russell, CEO and curator. For information on the museum

and its events, call 978.598.5000 or visit www.museumofrussianicons.org.

Christ in Majesty, painted in 1580, is the largest and most important icon in the collection.

Courtesy of the Museum of Russian Icons

Members talk about MTA home and auto insurance

‘After researching all of our options, my husband and I, along with our two teenage drivers, found the best deal in car insurance through MTA Benefits. Customer service is always immediately available, helpful and professional.’

—Patricia Phalan Canton Teachers Association

‘I have used MTA Benefits for auto and home insurance and to get discounted rates or fees at hotels, museums, events and parking garages. Over the years, this has added up to thousands of dollars in savings.’

—Donald Lennon Northampton Association of School Employees

20 June/July 2009

teaches writing to other educators and has run professional development classes and workshops. She has facili-tated study groups and is a mentor for new teachers and student teachers.

She also is a source of inspiration to her colleagues; she has encouraged two other aides at the Dunning to pursue teaching careers.

Goodwin embraces using technol-ogy in the classroom, and whenever possible she tries to apply the cur-riculum to the real world through what she calls “active learning.” She knows that lessons tend to stick better with students if they can see the applicabil-ity of the curriculum.

“Passive learning does not do the trick these days,” Goodwin said. “Students want to know why they have to learn things — and they deserve an answer to this. They deserve to understand the rationale behind what we are teaching.

“I don’t want my students to just memorize their multiplication facts,” she continued. “I want them to see multiplication in their daily lives.”

Goodwin said that while speaking around the state, she will encourage educators to seek creative approaches to their work.

“I want to encourage teachers to take a risk, step out of their comfort zones and embrace technology,” she said. “Extending the walls of our classrooms can be invigorating for us and our students. To truly relate to our students, we must speak their language. Bringing in iPods and music, dancing, digital cameras, blogs, online field trips and videos can transform our classrooms into engaging, interactive environments fit for the 21st century!”

Leith, the recipient of the history award, has taught in the Wachusett Regional School District, which includes Holden and several other communities, since 1975. She has taught fourth grade at the Mayo School since 2000.

“I believe that history needs to come alive for today’s kids,” she said in a recent interview.

For her immigration unit, Leith organizes a simulation of Ellis Island with the help of more than 40 parent volunteers. After students have read literature on the immigration process, they take on fictitious roles as immigrants in the early 20th century, complete with baggage, and keep dia-ries as they go through the re-created Ellis Island process.

The cafeteria is turned into a check-in station, and students complete the activities at different locations around the school. The simulation includes costumes and ethnic foods, and it concludes with a swearing-in process.

In another unit, Leith transforms her classroom into a one-room schoolhouse overseen by a teacher called Miss Parker.

Her students assume the roles of students in 1865 and use chalkboards and maps from that time period.

“From chalkboard to Smartboard, history comes alive,” Leith said.

The Massachusetts Teacher of the Year Program is administered by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, in partnership with Hannaford Supermarkets.

The rigorous selection process in-cludes a series of essays and interviews that are reviewed by a panel of experts,

including past teachers of the year. The purpose of the program is to select a teacher who is worthy of speaking for and energizing the profession while also representing the positive contributions of educators throughout the Commonwealth.

The Massachusetts Teacher of the Year is automatically the state candidate for National Teacher of the Year. The recipient of that honor will be selected this fall.

The Preserve America History Teacher of the Year program is a White

House initiative and is sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History. The institute grants state winners cash awards of $1,000 and presents each winner’s school with an archive of primary historical materials for use in the library or resource center.

As is the case with her fellow honoree, Leith’s selection as the Massachusetts Preserve America History Teacher of the Year auto-matically puts her in contention for a national award.

Teachers bring lessons to life for studentsContinued from Page 11

21June/July 2009

APA and MTA fight to protect Salem State College membersBy Sarah Nathan

T he Association of Professional Administrators, backed by the MTA, recently went to battle

to save the jobs of 14 longtime union administrators at Salem State College.

Citing budget concerns, Salem State College President Patricia Meservey introduced a “major restruc-turing plan” in May that cut numerous

positions held by APA members. On May 18, without prior notice,

the affected employees were informed by letter of the layoffs and then

escorted off the grounds, some by campus security, in clear view of their colleagues.

The APA members were not

allowed to collect their personal belongings and were told that they could not return to the college.

Immediately after the news of the layoffs broke, the APA and the MTA began work on a multi-faceted effort to challenge Meservey’s plan. The campaign was intense and involved. From May 18 to June 3, the day the Salem State Board of Trustees voted unanimously in support of Meservey’s plan, MTA and APA representatives had numerous discussions with executive officials at Salem State, launched an outreach plan and drafted an alternative plan.

Just prior to the vote, Helen Watson-Felt, longtime president of the APA chapter at Salem State and one of the retrenched employees, urged trust-ees to take the time to ask questions and seek additional information before voting in support of Meservey’s plan.

“Understand fully that this decision is affecting people’s lives — their families, their resources and their future,” Watson-Felt said. “We are devastated at the prospect of this loss. Please decline to retrench these individuals or elect to postpone the decision for further review.”

The next day, APA Statewide President Rick McDermott spoke at a meeting of the state Board of Higher Education.

“For many years, the APA has worked to build and strengthen a relationship of trust, cooperation and mutual respect between the administra-tors we represent and the state colleges we serve,” McDermott said. “We all share a commitment to the colleges’ missions and the wonderful students at our campuses. While we have disagreed about a few issues over the years, we have never doubted that the college presidents value and respect the dedicated service given by its professional administrators.

“But I am here to say, on behalf of all APA members, that the recent decision by Salem State College to retrench 14 APA administrators has badly damaged that relationship.”

McDermott went on to explain how the layoffs were badly mishandled and that the employees, most of whom had given many years of service, should have been treated with respect and compassion.

“Good and loyal people getting terrible news were mistreated,” he said. “They were humiliated by being removed from campus after their layoff notification, in view of co-workers and students, some by campus police.”

After the layoffs became official, the APA and the MTA continued to represent the employees in individual discussions with the college in an attempt to change the outcome and improve the quality of their severance packages.

On May 18, without prior notice, the affected employees were informed by letter of the layoffs and then escorted off the grounds, some by campus security, in clear view of their colleagues.

22 June/July 2009

As a result of these factors, the teaching force is much whiter than the student population. According to the DESE, 93.4 percent of teachers were white in 2007-2008 compared to only 70.8 percent of students.

“We need to do a much better job of recruiting non-white teachers into our classrooms,” said MTA President Anne Wass. “Teachers are important role models for students. It is impor-tant that students see teachers in their schools who look like them.”

The lawsuit was filed against the state, the city of Boston and the tests’ developer, the Evaluation Systems group of Pearson.

Fox explained that the first step is for him to prove that the test has a disparate impact on the plaintiffs, something he expects will be easy to do given the data. At that point, the burden falls on the defendants to prove that the test is valid — that it was created using accepted test-making practices and measures what it is intended to measure.

If they can prove that it is valid, Fox said, then the burden returns to the plaintiffs to demonstrate that there are other equally valid assessments the state could use that do not have as large a disparate impact. For example, he said, some states are now using “performance assessments” and other “authentic” measures rather than a paper-and-pencil test to evaluate whether candidates should be licensed.

These recent controversies have underscored the MTA’s push to replace MTEL with the Praxis tests developed by the Educational Testing Service. This position was one of several recommendations in an MTA white paper, “Tomorrow’s Teachers: Preparing the Education Workforce for the 21st Century.”

The Praxis tests are administered to teacher candidates in 46 states and territories. Candidates who pass in one state generally do not have to take the tests again in another state that requires Praxis in order to become licensed, whereas the MTEL is only administered in Massachusetts, and even experienced teachers from other states have to take it in order to be licensed here.

Reasons offered for switching to Praxis include:

n Greater reciprocity with other states will increase the pool of candidates for teaching positions in Massachusetts.

n There are many more prepara-tion materials available for Praxis than for MTEL.

n Praxis has been subject to far greater scrutiny in many more jurisdictions and has withstood legal challenges.

Continued from Page 14

Suit contends tests reduce diversity of teaching force

A warm welcomeMTA President Anne Wass greets fellow educators during the opening of the NEA’s annual American Indian/Alaska Native Issues Conference. The conference, jointly presented by the MTA, the Connecticut Education Association and the NEA American Indian/Alaska Native Caucus, was held June 5-7 on the campus of the University of Connecticut in Storrs. This year marked the first time the conference took place in the Northeast. The event featured a wide range of activities, speeches and ceremonies. Standing behind Wass is Kathleen Roberts, co-chair of the MTA Retired Members Committee and a member of the MTA Board.

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“My student Matt, his mother, Kathleen, my husband, Don, and I all had a terrific time,” said Bousquet, a guidance counselor at the Berkley Middle School. “I’m sure Matt will never forget it. I know we won’t either!”

When the program resumes later this year, it will be sponsored by SBLI, which, like Hanover, partners with MTA Benefits to provide members with high-quality programs and services. Star Celtics point guard

Rajon Rondo will once again act as the spokesperson for the honor roll program, which is entering its fourth season.

Through the honor roll program, students with a B average or excellent attendance are eligible to purchase discounted tickets to select games. A few lucky honor roll participants are selected at random to go out onto the legendary parquet floor at the TD Banknorth Garden and greet the Celtics as they take the court.

The MTA Boston Bruins I.C.E

Karen Bousquet, a Berkley Middle School guidance counselor, and Matthew King, one of her students, got a close-up look at the NBA Championship trophy on April 10 — the same day they enjoyed watching the Celtics beat the Miami Heat 105 to 98 from a luxury box at the TD Banknorth Garden.

Photo by Bob Duffy

School — the letters stand for I Can Excel — provides preK-through-eighth-grade teachers and students with curriculum materials that incorporate hockey into lesson plans that fall within the state’s curriculum framework guidelines.

Through the I.C.E. School programs, students have the opportunity to get discounted tickets and auto-graphed Bruins merchandise. Winners are also eligible for school appearances by the Bruins’ mascot, Blades, and school visits by players.

The program operated in conjunc-tion with WCRB is called Music Matters. It gives schools the chance to have symphony ensembles perform and provide educational music sessions

that include having students identify and hold classical instruments, along with other activities.

To learn more about Reading Matters programs and get tips on raising student achievement, visit www.readingmatters.org.

Continued from Page 28

MTA partnerships promote achievement

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24 June/July 2009

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ObituariesMary C. Armour, 84, of

Marlborough. Taught business administration in Mendon, then taught at Marlborough High School for 29 years, retiring in 1989. March 27.

Dorothy J. Bach, 88, of Holyoke. Taught English in the Holyoke Public Schools for 29 years, retiring in 1984. April 11.

Mary D. Baker, of Brockton. Was an elementary school teacher in Brockton for 30 years, retiring in 1991. Jan. 16.

Mary D. Cadigan, 62, of Holyoke. Taught at the Lawrence, Kirkland and Kelly schools in Holyoke for 39 years, retiring in 2007. April 17.

Camella M. Dintini, 95, of Worcester. Taught at the Charlton Street Elementary School in Southbridge, then became the school’s principal. Also served as the acting superintendent of the Southbridge Public Schools before she retired. April 6.

Dorice A. Goodwin, 94, of Yarmouthport. Was an elemen-tary school teacher for many years in Plymouth. April 20.

Cletus J. Malloy, 77, of Fall River. Was a member of the guidance depart-ments of Somerset High School and Fairhaven High School. Also served as regional director for the College Board, Princeton, N.J. April 20.

Arlene A. Maroney, 95, of Haverhill. Was a middle school teacher at Walnut Square School, Tilton School and Albert B. Consentino School before retiring in 1979. March 20.

Charlotte G. Parrott, 92, of Danvers. Taught physical education at the former Holten High School. Became the first dean of girls’ physical education in the Danvers school system and then became the first direc-tor of guidance. She retired in 1978. April 16.

Robert A. Powers, 76, of Taunton. Was an educator in the Taunton Public Schools, retiring in 1992. April 1.

Winifred Ray, 86, of North Reading and Atkinson, N.H. Was a teacher at Murphy School in North Reading, retiring in 1980. March 10.

Rosemary F. Riordan, 82, of Longmeadow. Was a special education teacher in the Chicopee school system for 35 years, retiring from the Litwin School in 1990. March 31.

Anita E. Rocha, 63, of Lakeville. Was a seventh-grade English teacher at the George Austin Intermediate School in Lakeville for 35 years. April 7.

Bernice M. Scott, 79, of Methuen and Salem, N.H. Taught at the Corliss School for 29 years and the Ashford School for 10 years before retiring. March 15.

Margaret C. Springer, 71, of East Longmeadow. Was a teacher in the Longmeadow school system for 42 years, mostly at the Blueberry Hill

Elementary School, before retiring in 2002. March 23.

Anthony G. Venincasa, 77, of Worcester. Was an English teacher at schools in Worcester, including Forest Grove Junior High School. He retired in 1988. He also taught piano lessons for many years. April 3.

Rudolph A. Zona, 82, of West Boylston. Taught welding at Putnam Vocational Technical High School in Springfield and night school at Worcester Boys Trade. April 30.

Find back copiesof MTA Today

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Master of Education• Bilingual Education H• Early Childhood H I • Educational Leadership H• Elementary Education H I• Higher Education: Student Affairs• Library Media Studies H• Middle School Education: Humanities and Math/Science H• Physical Education• Reading H• School Counseling H• School Business Officer H• Secondary Education • Special Education H I• Technology in Education H

Master of Arts in Teaching• Art H I • Biology H• Chemistry H • English H• English as a Second Language H• History H• MA/MAT English H• Middle School General Science H• Middle School Mathematics H• Mathematics H• Spanish H

Non-Degree Programs• Fast-track Math H• Fast-track Science H• Certificate in School Adjustment Counseling H

C.A.G.S.• C.A.G.S. in Educational Leadership H

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H - Indicates Initial Licensure I - Indicates Professional LicensureLicensure varies by program. Please contact the Graduate School for further clarification.

GRADUATE EDUCATIONPROGRAMS

Throughout the summer, The School of Graduate Studies offers week-long course institutes for teachers of all grade levels and subjects such as art, biology, math, reading, special education and more.

Visit salemstate.edu/graduate for a listing of all summer courses and registration information.

WEEK-LONG COURSE INSTITUTES

For a complete list of graduate programs, visit salemstate.edu/graduate.

25June/July 2009

PITTSFIELD — Ward F. Johnson: second Saturday of each month (walk in), 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., MTA Berkshire Office, 740 Williams St., Williams St. Plaza, Pittsfield; 413.499.0257, or at home, 413.443.1722; e-mail: [email protected].

RAYNHAM — Sandra Stephenson: third Saturday of each month (walk in), 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., MTA Southeast Office, 90 New State Highway (Rte. 44), Raynham; 508.822.5371, or at home, 508.747.2234; e-mail: [email protected]. Edward Nelson: fourth Saturday of each month (walk in), 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., MTA Southeast Office, 90 New State Highway (Rte. 44), Raynham; 508.822.5371, or at home, 508.853.5769.

CAPE COD — Lawrence Abbruzzi: second Saturday of each month (walk in), 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Barnstable Teachers Association (BTA), 100 West Main St., Suite #7, Hyannis; 508.775.8625, or at home, 508.824.9194.

HOLYOKE — Dennis O’Connor: third Saturday of each month (walk in), 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., MTA Western Office, 55 Bobala Road, Suite 3, Holyoke; 413.535.2415, or at home, 413.737.7509.

LYNNFIELD — Mary Parry: third and fourth Saturdays of each month (walk in), 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., MTA Northeast Office, 50 Salem St., Building B, Lynnfield; 781.246.9779, or at home, 978.372.2031; fax, 978.372.2035.

NORTHAMPTON — Dennis O’Connor: second Saturday of each month (walk in), 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 38 Gothic St., Northampton; 413.584.8313, or at home, 413.737.7509.

ASHBURNHAM — Robert Zbikowski: second Thursday of each month (walk in), 4 to 8 p.m., Overlook Middle School library, front entrance, 10 Oakmont Dr., Ashburnham; 978.827.1425, or at home, 978.297.0123; e-mail: [email protected].

AUBURN — Louise Gaskins: first and second Saturdays of each month (walk in), 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., MTA Central Office, 48 Sword St., Auburn; 508.791.2121, or at home, 978.448.5351.

BOSTON — Harold Crowley: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (by appointment only), 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., MTA, 20 Ashburton Place, Boston; 617.742.7950, ext. 8240, or 800.392.6175, ext. 8240.

BRAINTREE — Mary Hanna: second Saturday of each month (walk in), 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., MTA Metropolitan Office, 100 Grandview Road, Braintree; 781.380.1410, or at home, 781.545.2069.

HIgHER ED AT-LARgE — Edward McCourt, Massachusetts Bay Community College, Wellesley; 781.239.2207; e-mail: [email protected].

REgIONAL RETIREMENT CONSULTATIONS AvAILABLE

The MTA conducts retirement consultations throughout the state to assist members. Proof of membership must be submitted when requesting retirement services. This schedule is in effect from September to June. In the event of inclement weather, it is advisable to call consultants in advance.

Note: If you or your association would like to have a retirement workshop at your school, your local president should call Harold Crowley at 800.392.6175, ext. 8240. Please be aware that the MTA does not have a record of your service, so members are advised to bring that information along to meetings.

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CURRICULUM ENRICHMENT

IN-SCHOOL FIELD TRIPS — Hands-on Geography (K-2nd, Introduction to Maps and Globes and Habitats; 3rd, Massachusetts; 4th and 5th, United States Regions; 6th, World). Also: American History — Colonial or Pioneers; Ancient History —China or Greece, Archaeology of Ancient Civilizations. Booking now for 2009-2010 school year. Visit www.nowvoyagereducation.com, call Carol Cohen at 781.784.5197 or e-mail [email protected].

AEXEOUS! — A unique educational 12-foot robot: School technology demonstrations! Aexeous (AX-EE-US): A one-of-a-kind teaching robot! Shows tailored to age group (K-12). Aexeous moves, talks and interacts with students! Personalized programming available at no extra cost. Promotes excitement in learning! Affordable rates! Visit www.aexeous.com. Call 401.523.9905 or e-mail [email protected].

EDUCATION/LICENSURE

QUICK, AFFORDABLE, ACCESSIBLE & PRACTICAL! — Hampshire Educational Collaborative offers Initial licensure programs in convenient locations statewide. PDPs, graduate credit and master’s programs available. Programs include: Teacher of Moderate Disabilities, English as a Second Language, Middle and High School Math and Sciences, Reading Specialist, and Administration. For more information, please visit www.teachinmass.org.

EMPLOYMENT

PAID INTERNSHIPS — From museum education and exhibition planning to marketing and public relations, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass., offers a dynamic, semester-long, paid internship program for high school and college students. Call 978.745.9500, ext. 3217, or visit pem.org/support/employment.php for more information.

TEACHERS — DO YOU NEED ADDITIONAL SUMMER INCOME? Could you accommodate, provide three meals per day and teach English to a foreign student in your own home in the greater Boston area? Rates from $550 per student per week with 15 hours of tutoring. For more information, e-mail [email protected] or call 781.581.5933.

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yearly in outstanding K-12 American/ International Schools in Europe, South America, Asia and Africa. Excellent salaries, benefits and lifestyle. Candidates for September 2009 or 2010 should review www.search-associates.com. If interested AFTER reviewing the Web site, please submit an application.

FIELD TRIPS

PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM, SALEM, MASS. — Bring your students to one of the nation’s leading art museums! Choose from many preschool and K-12 programs on art, culture and language arts, all based on Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. Also get your Professional Development Points with our unique programs. Call 978.745.9500 or visit pem.org.

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COUNTRYSIDE, VERO BEACH, FLORIDA — Fully furnished 2/2 manufactured home with a lovely glassed-in sunroom. Close to the beach, golf and shopping. 55+ park with security. A great buy at $20,000. Photos available through e-mail at [email protected], or call Nancy at 617.328.0691.

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SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHERS! — Want resources, opportunities, professional development? Massachusetts Council for the Social Studies. Visit www.masscouncil.org.

GEOGRAPHY ACROSS THE CURRICULUM — June, July, August (various dates and locations). PDPs or credit. Can be brought to individual schools throughout the school year. Tours: New York City, one day, July 14; Ottawa, Canada, August 2-8. Visit www.nowvoyagereducation.com for more information. Contact Carol Cohen by calling 781.784.5197 or e-mailing [email protected].

TRAVEL

EGYPT: FEBRUARY 20-28 with Peter and Ellie Santos. Journey back in time, visiting Cairo with its pyramids, Karnack, Valley of the Kings and much more! Includes a three-night, five-star Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor. $2,345 from JFK. For more information, contact: [email protected] or call 413.567.3046.

VACATION RENTALS

LOON MT. LUXURY CONDO — Three bedrooms, three baths. Sleeps 8-12. All amenities: linens, pool, Jacuzzi, saunas, health club, gas fireplace and central air. Award-winning winter and summer resort. In the heart of the White Mountain National Forest and Franconia Notch. Call Bob at 978.686.1568 or e-mail [email protected].

SEABROOK, NEW HAMPSHIRE — Two three-bedroom houses. Steps to the ocean, fully furnished AC, gas grills, plenty of parking. Summer attractions include arcades/amusements, deep sea fishing, great restaurants, the “Hampton Beach Casino,” Kittery Trading Post and outlet shopping. Sorry no pets. Call Bob at 978.686.1568 or e-mail [email protected].

CAPE COD WEST YARMOUTH — Colonial Acres Resort on Nantucket Sound. Sleeps four, 8/1-8/8, 8/8-8/15. Call for price and details 781.335.6849.

MYRTLE BEACH, SOUTH CAROLINA — Beautiful 3BR 2BA oceanfront condo in a gated community with many amenities. Photos available. Please e-mail [email protected] or call 508.942.4166 for rates/availability. KISSIMMEE CONDO FOR RENT — Four miles from Disney. Three bedrooms, two baths, sleeps eight. Handicap accessible, all amenities. $75 per night. E-mail [email protected] for availability.

EAST FALMOUTH — Sunny three-bedroom, one-bath Cape. Cathedral ceilings w/deck, outside shower, washer/dryer. Stroll to secluded bay beach, picturesque walkway and public boat landing. Less than a mile to Bristol and Falmouth Heights beaches. Close to shopping. $1,000 weekly. 508.872.5870.

CAPE COD, OCEAN EDGE RESORT, Brewster, Mass. — Perfect vacation resort setting. Spacious, nicely appointed villa, spiral staircase to large loft; two baths, sleeps six. Excellent location within resort, steps from indoor/outdoor pools, tennis. Nearby beaches, shopping, bike trails and more. Owned/offered by MTA member, summer weekly, off-season weeks or weekends. Call 413.594.4056 or e-mail [email protected].

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, CANADA — Incredible ocean-view cottage sleeps six-plus, walk to the beach, fishing, golf, restaurants, shopping. Web site and pictures available. Only $775/wk. Call Jay at 813.767.3537 or e-mail [email protected].

DEER ISLE, MAINE — Sunlit house near the sea, 1½ acres, sleeps six. Sparkling clean, three bedrooms, two baths, walk to beach and boat landing. Hardwood floors, fieldstone fireplace, spacious interiors, fully equipped country kitchen, decks, picnic table, grill. Dogs welcome. $900-$1,050/week. For details, visit www.hardyshillhouse.com. Phone: 978.283.3738. E-mail: [email protected].

NOVA SCOTIA, SOUTH SHORE — Retired teachers offer fully furnished, equipped summer home. Utilities included. $450 week. 203.393.2037.

201 Bear Hill Road, Bethany, CT, 06524.

FAIRHAVEN, MASS. — 2BR elevated cottage. Short walk to beach. Large deck. $700 per week. Negotiable for season. Families only. No pets, no smoking. 508.650.6960.

HILTON HEAD, S.C. — 2BR, 2.5BA villa. Outstanding location: gated community, golf view, near ocean. Free tennis at VanDerMeer. E-mail [email protected] or call 508.678.0898 for details.

DEER ISLE, MAINE — New house. E-mail for slide show. $975 per week. Call 508.543.3043 or e-mail [email protected].

CAPE COD, SO. DENNIS — Family house $1,000/WK. Contact Nancy at 413.259.1403.

SALISBURY BEACH, MASS. — Year-round rental. Two- and three-bedroom units including heat, hot water and electricity. Upper unit has washer and dryer and sun porch, $1,400. Lower unit, $1,000. Two-minute direct walk to the beach. Two off-street parking spaces per unit. 603.362.5992.

CAPE COD BEACH HOUSE — Just steps down a secluded lane to your own private beach. New to the market and recently renovated. Includes many features — gas-log fireplace, granite countertops, new kitchen cabinets and appliances, outside shower and a large family room with a 40-inch flat screen TV. Call 508.685.1805.

CAPE COD, HARWICH — Ready for a getaway? Fall on Cape Cod is delightful! Three-bedroom home, non-smoking, all amenities, lovely setting on cul-de-sac adjacent to bike path. Attractive rates: $750 per week, $150 per day with a two-day minimum. Available Aug. 22 through Oct. 18, 2009. Call 508.432.8825 (home) or 508.941.4529 (cell).

YORK/OGUNQUIT LINE, MAINE — Walking distance to Perkins Cove and Marginal Way. Two-bedroom, large living room cottage. Kitchen area, deck, parking for three cars, sleeps 4-5. $900 per week in season. Call 508.865.3156 or e-mail [email protected] for details.

PALM BAY, FLORIDA — Three-bedroom town home at Malibu Villas. Pool, 10 minutes from the beach, near many attractions, newly furnished, updated kitchen and bath. Pictures available for viewing. Snowbirds and others welcome. Contact M.&J. Monfredo at 508.450.3010 or 508.853.1448.

ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, AREA — Mountain getaway, sleeps eight. Two baths, cable, washer/dryer, full kitchen. $250 security deposit; $750 per week. 508.234.2889.

27June/July 2009

MTA Benefits, Inc. 20 Ashburton Place, Boston, MA 02108-2795

800.336.0990, ext. 5227 | www.MTAbenefits.com

In 2008 MTA members, like other state residents, gained

more choices for auto insurance. That means there has never

been a better time to rely on MTA’s trusted insurance advice

and service — always delivered at a members-only price!

In addition, new savings and discounts for homeowners mean

members can save even more. Plus, qualified family members

are eligible for the same low rates and discounts.

With the leveraged buying power of more than 107,000

members, MTA Benefits offers outstanding value in

auto insurance.

Unlike many insurance programs, MTAB’s is primarily focused

on meeting the needs of MTA members. MTAB uses its

revenue to provide better service and enhanced benefits —

and to keep member dues affordable.

When you add it all up — great prices, special discounts and

dedicated member service — MTAB remains your best choice

for car insurance and benefits.

Underwritten by Citizens Insurance Company of America, a company of The Hanover Insurance Group (www.hanover.com). Product availability and services may vary by state, but our commitment to MTA members does not. Member discount is available to Massachusetts residents only.

* No purchase necessary, but you must be a Massachusetts resident and MTA member to receive the Borders gift card or enter the HDTV giveaway when you request a quote for auto or home insurance. Borders is not a sponsor of this promotion. Borders is a registered trademark of Borders, Inc.

Massachusetts MTA members who receive a no-obligation auto or homeowners quote through MTAB will receive a $5 Borders® gift card and become eligible to win a fantastic high-definition flat-panel TV.

Great News! Extended Service Hours. Now you can call us from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday for answers to your questions and great service on your auto insurance needs.

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MTA-123 Apr09 Auto Ad.resize.indd 1 4/15/09 12:39:25 PM

28 June/July 2009

Official Publication of the Massachusetts Teachers Association

Volume 39, No. 6 June/July 2009

Swine flu news and resourcesSwine flu, or H1N1 influenza, has broken out in numerous countries, and the World Health Organization has declared that a global pandemic is under way. Across Massachusetts and in other states, some outbreaks have temporarily closed schools. For links to H1N1 news and resources, visit:

www.massteacher.org/flu

Reading game team keeps growingSummer events promote baseball, books and student achievementBy Bob Duffy

The Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association has joined The Hanover Insurance

Group and the MTA’s Reading Matters team of literacy champions to encourage kids to read over the summer.

Hanover, which sponsors the MTA Red Sox Reading Game through The Hanover Insurance Group Foundation, is hosting “Legends for Youth” baseball clinics around the country this summer, including two in Massachusetts. The first Bay State clinic was held at Burncoat High School in Worcester on May 30, and the second is set for July 31 in Lowell.

In addition to helping kids improve their baseball skills, the clinics are used to promote student achievement.

The Worcester event featured former big leaguers Luis Tiant, George Foster, Jerry Moses, Lee Smith, Bill Monbouquette, Dave Fleming, David Stenhouse, Mike Stenhouse, Bob Taylor and Tom Yewcic.

Tiant, Smith, Monbouquette, Mike Stenhouse and Moses all played for the Boston Red Sox at some point in their careers.

Monbouquette was a three-time All-Star and pitched a no-hitter while with the Sox. Tiant had four 20-win seasons, three of them with the Sox. Smith, who pitched two years for Boston, had 478 career saves. Moses played parts of four seasons with the Sox as a backup catcher.

The Massachusetts clinics were designed to focus on the fundamentals of books and baseball. All 300 participants in the Worcester event received entry forms and posters for the MTA Red Sox Reading Game, in addition to baseballs and T-shirts.

Red Sox mascot Wally the Green Monster was on hand to sign copies of the MTA’s official reading game poster, which features him and star catcher Jason Varitek.

“We are very pleased to co-host this clinic series with The Hanover,” said Brooks Robinson, president of the MLBPAA and a former Orioles

third baseman. “Our former players understand how important it is to donate their time to provide fun-filled educational opportunities to children who can benefit from the influence of positive sports role models.”

MTA President Anne Wass noted that each year, the MTA’s summer literacy efforts inspire children to read thousands of books.

“Reading opens the door to achievement,” Wass said. “That’s why we’re so committed to encouraging students to read when they are away from school in the summer.”

She added that the MTA is “especially pleased that Jason Varitek and the Red Sox are helping us hit home the literacy message.”

In addition to sponsoring the reading game, which encourages students in kindergarten through eighth grade to read nine books over the summer — one for each position on the baseball field — Hanover provides funding for the MTA Red Sox Most Valuable Educator Program. The MVE Program encourages high school students to nominate school employees for recognition during home games at Fenway Park.

To kick off the 2009 program, Patrick Raposo, a fifth-grader from Fall River, and his teacher, Linda Sirop, were honored during a ceremony prior to a Red Sox-Yankees game on April 25. Patrick was the first student to enter the reading game this year.

As part of the pre-game program, a Hanover representative presented MTA Vice President Paul Toner with a check for $60,000 to fund the summer reading efforts.

The programs are operated under the umbrella of the MTA’s Reading Matters Foundation, which was originally formed to accommodate the reading game. The success of the partnership with the Sox set the stage for a series of other MTA programs to help keep students excited about learning throughout the school year.

Today, the MTA has partnerships with the Boston Bruins, the Boston Celtics and classical radio station WCRB-FM. The partnerships focus on different curriculum areas, but they all share the same goal: to promote student achievement in public schools.

During the spring, five members of this year’s MTA Boston Celtics Honor Roll and educators from their schools were selected at random to watch a Celtics game from a luxury box and get their pictures taken with the NBA Championship Trophy.

Those attending were Matthew King and his guidance counselor, Karen Bousquet, both from Berkley; Tyler Charboneau and his teacher, Luke Reynolds, from Hudson; Jonee Harrison and his guidance counselor, Melissa Wong, from Brighton; Krishna Narayanan and his teacher, Diana Buonopane, from Everett; and Zin Ma and her teacher, Sheila Clancy, from Quincy.

‘We are very pleased to co-host this clinic series with The Hanover,’ said Brooks Robinson, president of the MLBPAA and a former Orioles third baseman.

Please turn to MTA/Page 23

Three-time All-Star Red Sox pitcher Bill Monbouquette signs on the curve for a young fan who attended the baseball clinic in Worcester.

Photo by Bob Duffy

I n this economy where companies arefaltering and failing in record numbers,it’s more important than ever to do

business with insurance companies thatare financially secure,” said Connie Dery,president of MTA Benefits.

She added, “The problem is, few consumersknow how to evaluate ratings given toinsurers. It’s a maze of information thatdoesn’t always match up.”

Dery noted that each of the five major ratingorganizations – A.M. Best Co., Standard& Poor's, Moody's Investors Service,Fitch Ratings and Weiss Ratings – usesits own scoring system, making it difficultto compare ratings.

So what’s a consumer to do?Look to MTA Benefits, suggested Dery.“Members can let us do the work for them,”she said. “We use our expertise to chooseinsurance partners with a long, stable history

and financial strength that indicates anability to pay off claims now and in thefuture. It could be devastating to a memberif an insurance company fails and a claim isnot paid. State and federal governmentsbuild in safeguards in case that happens,but their claims processes are long, tediousand often disappointing. Other reasons forselecting insurers are competitive pricesand quick responses to claims.”

Dery noted that MTAB also acts asa member advocate, stepping in if anyproblems occur.

Prominent partners for auto,homeowners, life, disability andlong-term care insuranceMTAB partners include long-establishedcompanies – ING, SBLI, Unum, MetLife,Hanover, The Andover Companies andHarleysville – for their auto, homeowners,life, disability and long-term care insuranceprograms. Ratings for all MTAB partnersconsistently are among the highest in theindustry. MTAB’s long-term relationshipswith these companies create a climate ofmutual trust and respect.

Because of a strong negotiating positionthrough its more than 107,000 members,MTAB is able to secure discounts of up to10 percent for its insurance programs.

“Once we sign up with companies, theynever want to leave us,” said Dery. “Ourmembers are solid citizens with financialintegrity. And because these insurancecompanies want to maintain our business,they continue to give members exceptionalservice and significant discounts.”

For help in evaluating your insurancecompany or learning about getting insurancethrough MTA Benefits, call 800.336.0990or visit www.mtabenefits.com.

PROFESSION: Geography teacher, seventh grade, Bridgewater Middle SchoolA MEMBER OF: Bridgewater-Raynham Education Association

How she feels about teaching:“I took a position at the middle school herebecause Bridgewater is my hometown. I wantedto connect to students on a personal level, tobe familiar with the neighborhoods they live

in and the places they go on weekends.My students respond to these connections

by becoming more interested andinvolved in my class. This is rewarding

for all of us.”

How she benefits from herMTA membership:“The MTA card opens up newopportunities for me and my

MTA AdvantageVOLUME 21 / NUMBER 4 / SUMMER 2009

The MTA Advantage is a publication of MTA Benefits, a subsidiary of the Massachusetts Teachers Association

The

students. For example, a local coffee companythat buys its beans directly from farmers inSouth America has agreed to share with myclass its experiences with fair trade agreements.I also use my card for free or discountedadmission to museums and for savings onbooks and other purchases.”

What she likes about MTAB:“Because we’re not in a high-payingprofession, the savings we get through MTABare important. Our large membership givesMTAB a powerful negotiating position,which it uses very effectively to get thediscounted programs we deserve.”

An MTA member since 2007

Is your insurance company at risk?

ASHLEY SLATER ~ another fan of MTA Benefits

‘We bought our first SBLI lifeinsurance policy in 1998, thentook out a new policy with thecompany last fall. Rates arequite affordable, the coverageis excellent and the SBLI profileis outstanding.’Tom Estabrook, UMass Lowell – Grant andContract Funded Employees Association

“

‘We use our expertise to chooseinsurance partners with a long, stablehistory and financial strength thatindicates an ability to pay off claimsnow and in the future.’Connie Dery, president, MTA Benefits

To stimulate home sales and reducemortgage payments, the federal gov-ernment is giving an $8,000 tax

credit to first-time buyers and to thosewho haven’t owned a home in three years.The home must be priced at $80,000 ormore and be purchased before Nov. 30,2009.* The credit, offered through theAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act,is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2009, and doesn’tneed to be repaid.

Knowing you will receive the check nextyear, you might be able to justify making alarger down payment, which would lower

the mortgage amount. Or you can applythe tax credit money toward your mort-gage principal. In both cases, you save sig-nificantly over the years with the lowermortgage amount. Another option is tosimply keep the money and save or spendit as you wish.

Other incentives to buyor refinance now“Rates are now in the high 4 percentrange**, which makes homes moreaffordable for buyers and saves thosewho refinance as much as $200 to $400or more a month,” said Paul Gershkowitz,

president of Greenpark Mortgage, partnerin the MTA Home Mortgage Program.“MTA members should reach out tous, whether they’re buying or refinancing,and we’ll help them get the best possiblepackage – sometimes with no points orclosing costs.”

Gershkowitz added that members alsoreceive an average MTA discount of$800 on any closing costs and enjoythe advantages of Greenpark’s “RavingFan” service.

Now is the time to applyGershkowitz advises members to contactGreenpark as quickly as possible if theywant to buy or refinance a home.

“With all the economic incentives, we’reseeing a sharp surge in applications,” saidGershkowitz. “We pride ourselves oncreating a system that ensures the smooth,efficient processing of mortgages. But wealso recognize that when the demand isup, things take a little longer than usual.”

For more information on the tax creditand financing, contact GreenparkMortgage at 866.475.4663, ext. 124.

*For lower-cost homes, homebuyers earn a tax gift of10 percent of the purchase price. Limits apply with the taxcredit. It phases out when the modified adjusted grossincome reaches $150,000 for married couples filing jointlyand $75,000 for single filers.

**Rates are as of the time of publication and are subjectto change.

20 Ashburton Place, Boston, MA 02108Tel: 800.336.0990 • Fax: 617.557.6687Web site: www.mtabenefits.com

No dues dollars areever used to market MTABenefits programs.

Editor: Maryann C. RobinsonThe MTA Advantage is published four times a year asa supplement to MTA Today by MTA Benefits, Inc.

2

Did you know that family members can participate in many MTA programs? A mother,father, sister, brother, son, daughter, spouse or domestic partner of an MTA or MTARetired member – active or deceased – can take advantage of these member savingsand discounts*:

• Insurance – auto, home and life.

• Travel programs – in the United States and around the world.

• Money matters – mortgage, CD and money market accounts, personal loans.

Fast and easy processYou or your family member canstart the process. Just visitwww.mtabenefits.com and click on“Family member” for the application.

We’re all family at MTAB.

*Not offered to those otherwise eligible for activeMTA membership.

We’re looking out for your family, too!Answering our call for member photos,Megan Kelley of the Methuen EducationAssociation sent us hers and listed thesereasons why she likes MTA Benefits: “Ialways use the MTA Discount Directoryto look up good deals. From hotel roomsto the IMAX Theatre – you can alwaysfind something great!”

In response, we sent her a $5 Dunkin’Donuts® card. If you’d like coffee on us,send in a photo of yourself using yourMTA card at any of the more than1,000 locations listed in theMTA Discount Directoryalong with commentstelling us how you savewith MTA Benefits.For information, visitwww.mtabenefits.comand click on“Members Only.”

Megan Kelley likes MTAB

The $8,000 tax creditA ONE-TIME-ONLY DEALFOR FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYERS

‘We chose Greenpark Mortgageinitially to support MTA programsand to get the member discount.Greenpark was extremely helpful andpatient during the process, whichstarted a year before we bought ahome. They gave us a preapprovalletter, then were available at alltimes – days, evenings andweekends – to respond to our calls.They also made it very convenient –everything was done by e-mail andfax except the signing of final documents. A few months after we bought thehome, Greenpark suggested refinancing to get an even lower rate. Greenparkalways had our best interests at heart.’Megan Brodeur, Dudley-Charlton Teachers Association, who, with her husband, Rob, bought and laterrefinanced a home through the MTA Home Mortgage Program

“They always had ourbest interests at heart”

3

The

Almost everything listed in The Tip Sheet offers an MTA discount.For information, check your MTA Discount Directory or visit

www.mtabenefits.com and click on 1000+ Discounts.

SouthCan you hear the Cape calling? Beaches that stretch along both shores of the Cape beckonyou with their luminescent seascapes of sand, surf and sky. Sandwich, Chatham,Barnstable and other villages, many datingto the 1600s, are also alluring destinations,with restaurants that offer that day’s catch,trendy gift shops and fine art galleries.While in Sandwich, tour Heritage Museum& Gardens and stay at the Dan’l WebsterInn; both give MTA discounts.

Cheers for the Pawtucket Red Sox!The PawSox have teamed up with MTABenefits to create special MTA/PawSoxnights at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket,R.I., during the 2009 season. Look forspecial MTA pricing under the “What’sNew” list on www.mtabenefits.com.

NorthSet your compass for the North Shore ofMassachusetts. Stop in picturesque Essex,with its hundreds of historic houses, and atCrane Beach in Ipswich ... one of the mostbeautiful spots in New England. Nearbyis bewitching Salem with its Salem WitchMuseum, Salem Witch Village andother haunting places that offer an MTAdiscount. Also get a discount at Salem’sPeabody-Essex Museum, whichincludes among its treasures a circa1800s merchant’s home brought fromChina and reassembled at the museum.

In New Hampshire, head for the highcountry to Scenic View Campground,where you can stretch out by a river, gazeat towering mountains, swim in the pool,shoot some baskets, play games and swaptales by the campfire. In Maine, take tothe high seas on a windjammer cruiseaboard a historic 151-foot schooneramong the islands of Frenchman’s Bay.Both the campground and cruise offeran MTA discount.

Tip Sheet SummertimeThis is New England at its best – north,south, east and west

EastGet aboard the M/V Thomas Laightonand head through the Portsmouth, N.H.,harbor to the legendary Isles of Shoals,which were a key destination for Europeanfishermen before the Pilgrims landed inMassachusetts. MTA members get a 50percent discount on all cruises, with theexception of the dinner cruise.

See Boston by bike. With UrbanAdvenTours, you and your family can joinbike tours that take you to the historiclandmarks and quaint neighborhoods ofBoston and Cambridge. Ask about theMTA member discount.

WestTanglewood, a palatial estate in Lenox,is the summer home of the BostonSymphony Orchestra. Relax on a blanketand listen to one of the world’s greatestorchestras perform in this spectacularsetting as the sun sets and the stars comeout. MTA members get a 10 percentdiscount, subject to availability, on allbut jazz festival tickets.

Want to trek along some of the mostimpressive trails in the Berkshires?Sign up for one of the AppalachianMountain Club’s “Best Day Hikes” tosee the area’s great natural beauty. MTAmembers get a 20 percent discount onAMC membership.

Pawtucket

Cape Cod

Tanglewood

Boston

Maine

4

MTASM Credit Card – cash, travel ormerchandise rewards. You decide.

The MTASM Credit Card with WorldPoints®

rewards offers no annual fee and a choiceof rewards. Start enjoying the level ofbenefits exclusive to the MTA Credit Card:

• No annual fee.

• 2.99% introductory APR* on balance trans-fers and direct deposits for 12 billing cycles.

• 9.99% variable APR* on purchase withPlatinum Plus® accounts. Also ask about MTASchool Days accounts.

• Redeem for rewards starting at just2,500 points.

• Choice of major U.S. airlines with noblackout dates.

• Over 1,000 brand name items in theRewards Store merchandise catalog.

Apply today for your MTA Credit Card atwww.mtabenefits.com or call 877.721.9398and mention source code UAAQ8Z.

*The Standard Variable Annual Percentage Rate (APR) forPurchases, Balance Transfers and Cash Advances is currently9.99% for MTA Platinum Plus accounts, or 16.99% forMTA School Days accounts as of May 2009. The account youreceive is determined based on your creditworthiness. Thecurrent Introductory APR for Balance Transfers and DirectDeposits is 2.99% through your first 12 statement ClosingDates. Keep in mind if your payment is late or your balanceexceeds the credit limit, the Introductory APR will end beforethe advertised expiration date. After the Introductory APRends, the Standard Variable APR for Balance Transfers willapply to any qualifying Direct Deposits that were subject tothe Introductory APR. Minimum Finance Charge is $1.50.Standard Balance Transfer Fee is 3% (min. $5, max. $75).Transaction fees will be waived on balance transfers requestedat the time of application. Standard Cash Advance Fee is: 3%(min. $5). Transaction fee for purchases of wire transfers froma non-financial institution is 3% (min. $5). Transaction fee forany transaction made in a foreign currency is 1%. We reservethe right to change the Variable APRs in our discretion,including, for example, the margins. If your account hasbalances with different APRs, your payments are applied to thebalance with the lowest APR before any payments are appliedto balances with higher APRs. This means that balances withhigher APRs are not reduced until balances with lower APRshave been paid off. Cash Advances and/or Balance Transfersmay not be used to pay off or pay down any account issuedby FIA Card Services, N.A. This credit card program is issuedand administered by FIA Card Services, N.A. WorldPointsis a registered trademark of FIA Card Services, N.A.

MTASM Deposit Accounts – watchyour savings grow safely.

With the FDIC®-insured MTA-sponsoredCD and Money Market Savings accounts,you can earn competitive rates* withoutrisking your savings. Both programs areprovided by the Bank of America, areFDIC insured up to the maximum amountallowed by law and have rates that aresubject to change weekly.

Let your money grow – here’s how:

CD Program• Minimum deposit of just $1,000.

• Your choice of flexible terms from 90 daysto 120 months.

Money Market Savings Account• Low minimum deposit of just $500.

• Make up to six withdrawals per monthlystatement cycle, three of which can bemade by check.

To open either a CD or Money MarketSavings account, call 800.205.8647 andgive priority code HA02B.

*For information on the rates, fees, other costs or benefits ofthese programs, visit www.mtabenefits.com.

MTASM Personal Loan Account –to help get you on your way tobecoming debt free.

The MTA Personal Loan account can giveyou one less thing to worry about – high-interest debt†. With variable rates startingas low as 7.99% APR*, you can lower yourinterest rates and get out of debt faster.

The MTA Personal Loan from Bank ofAmerica offers all this:

• Affordable monthly payments withrepayment terms of 36 to 60 months.

• Loan amounts from $3,000 to $35,000.**

• No collateral required.

• No penalty for early repayment.

To apply, call 866.266.0211 and mentionpriority code UAANJH.

†We may prohibit use of this account to pay off or pay downany account issued by FIA Card Services, N.A.

*We will set your initial variable APR based oncreditworthiness. APR will be calculated by adding a marginto the highest U.S. Prime Rate as published in The Wall StreetJournal on the last publication day of each month. On 3/31/09,the U.S. Prime Rate applicable using this formula was 3.25%and APR range was 7.99% to 18.99%. We may adjust yourAPR on a monthly basis due to changes to the Prime Rate.We also reserve the right to change your APR, fees, or othercredit terms at our discretion. Repayment term and paymentamount are estimates which may change if, for example: yourAPR changes, you make late or partial payments, we assessfees, or you take additional advances. You will pay a 2%transaction fee on each advance (minimum fee $5; there is nomaximum). Transaction fee is added to balance and accruesfinance charges. Other fees may apply.

**Upon approval, we will establish your credit line between$3,000 and $35,000 based on creditworthiness.

This account is issued and administered by FIA CardServices, N.A.

The Kindle: Amazon's revolutionary wireless reading device

You could have the whole e-bookworld in your hands if you win theMTAB Summer Giveaway. Lighterthan most paperbacks, the slim-lineKindle from Amazon offers wirelessaccess to more than 275,000 e-booksalong with many unique display and memory features.To enter the giveaway, sign up between July 17 and Aug. 9at www.mtabenefits.com and click on the “Free GiveawaysMembers Only” box. The winner will be announced onAug. 10 on MTAB’s home page under “What’s New.”

Sponsored by Heat USA – MTA Benefits’ home heating oil discount program provider. For moreinformation, visit www.mtabenefits.com and click on “All Benefits” then “Heating Oil Discount.”

A star-studded eventTeam MTAB, shown here with Wally theGreen Monster, welcomed MTA membersas “Bene-Stars” during the Annual Meetingin Boston. Member photos and commentstaken at the event may be featured on theWeb site and in future MTAB publications.

Free GiveawaysMembers Only

Make the most of your moneyIN TOUGH TIMES LIKE THESE, IT’S IMPORTANT TO MAKE EVERYDOLLAR COUNT. THESE THREE NEW MTAB PROGRAMS CAN HELP.

1

2

3‘It’s all about helpingour membersget the best fortheir hard-earneddollars – especiallyin a recession.’Maryann Robinson, marketing manager,MTA Benefits

All program and pricing information was current at the time of publication (June 2009) and is subject to change without notice.To find out what may have changed, please call MTA Benefits at 800.336.0990, ext. 5226.