Many of you have raised questions about how opting out of standardized tests affects your district, your teachers and your students. A great deal of misinformation has been spread, either unwittingly or deliberately, by school district officials and others. Attached is a NYSUT fact sheet that sets the record straight regarding the consequences and non-consequences of opting out. It also provides guidance about how and when members can speak about opting out without being at risk of disciplinary consequences.

To Download the Opt-Out Fact Sheet Click on the Link Below.

opt_out_fact_sheet_2.pdf

Best Public High Schools ranks 14,431 high schools based on dozens of key statistics and 4.6 million opinions from 280,000 students and parents. A high ranking indicates that the school is an exceptional academic institution with a diverse set of high-achieving students who rate their experience very highly.

An additional 834 schools received a grade but were not eligible for ranking. The list includes magnet, charter, and online schools. 

If you would like to read more about this please click on the below link.

https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-high-schools/best-overall/s/new-york/

Members please read the following Daily News Article, "Cuomo will push new teacher evaluations, vows to bust school 'monopoly' if re-elected" By Kenneth Lovett.

To Read Article, Click on Link Below.

http://m.nydailynews.com/news/politics/cuomo-vows-bust-school-monopoly-re-elected-article-1.1989478#bmb=1

Contrasting Candidates for Governor Information Sheet.

To Download, Click on Link Below.

contrasting_candidates_for_governor.pdf

Election Day Sheet.

To Download, Click on Link Below.

electionday2014.pdf

Dear Colleagues,


Tuesday is Staff Development Day.  In light of recent events, we invite you to wear your Baldwin attire (Keep Calm, BTA, School apparel,etc!)  and please join us in participating in the NYSUT social media campaign
#respectteachers

We welcome participation from ALL stakeholders, members of our community, teachers, all staff, and students!

This week, as you may know, Governor Cuomo has delivered his most disturbing comments to date regarding teachers and public education in New York State .  At a meeting of the Daily News Editorial Board, the Governor vowed to overhaul the public

Time magazine is about to use its cover to blame teachers for the problems in America’s schools. On Monday, Nov. 3, this cover will be in every supermarket checkout line and newsstand across the country—and it’s already online.

And Time’s cover doesn’t even reflect its own reporting. The Time article itself looks at the wealthy sponsors of these efforts. And while it looks critically at tenure, it also questions the testing industry’s connections to Silicon Valley and the motives of these players.

The cover is particularly disappointing because the articles inside the magazine present a much