Boston public school teachers reach tentative contract agreement with city
It appears that Boston public school teachers have avoided a strike. The union has reached a tentative contract agreement with the city after several months of negotiations.
Boston teachers have been
working without a contract
since August 31. A protest had been planned for Mayor Michelle Wu's State of the City address Wednesday night, but that has now been called off.
An email that went out to teachers in all Boston Public Schools said the tentative agreement is for a three-year contract, which is pretty standard. It is said to include a raise for all educators, specifically the lowest paid educators, which are typically paraprofessionals.
The email was signed by the mayor and Superintendent Mary Skipper. The teachers' union said the deal also comes with more resources for children with disabilities, which had been a cornerstone of their negotiations.
Teachers have been required to be certified in general education, special education and English as a second language. Some were often simultaneously teaching all three types of students in the same classroom.
The union president says that this agreement will now increase classroom staffing levels. The next step is that the union members will vote if they want to ratify this new agreement, or they can go back to more bargaining sessions.
More than 48,000 students attend Boston Public Schools.
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USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
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New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
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Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
L.A. law enforcement's treatment of journalists during protests is once again under scrutiny
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County Sheriff's Department have faced criticism and lawsuits over their treatment of news media during past crises, but some covering the recent events say the situation has only gotten worse with the inflammatory anti-media messaging coming from the Trump White House. "The price for free speech should not be this high," said Arturo Carmona, president and publisher of Caló News, a news site that covers issues that matter to English-speaking Latinos. "Several of our reporters, several of whom are women of color, have been harassed and attacked by law enforcement." In one high-profile case, a CNN reporter was briefly detained by officers while doing a live on-air segment. In another, Australian TV news reporter Lauren Tomasi was shot in the leg by a less-lethal round by an riot gear-clad officer moments after she wrapped up a live on-air segment. The incident became an international affair, with Australian Prime Minister Tony Albanese calling it "horrific." L.A. 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On Saturday, journalist Ben Camacho was documenting the scene in Paramount, where images of people vandalizing and burning cars dominated the nightly newscasts. Wearing his press pass and with a camera hanging around his neck, he watched in shock as law enforcement opened fire on the crowd with less-lethal munitions, striking Nick Stern, a British news photographer, who crumbled to the ground in front of him. After helping carry Stern to safety, Camacho said he too was struck by a round in the kneecap. "I start to screaming pretty much at the top of my lungs," he said. 'It was like a sledgehammer." He noted that many people are working on freelance contracts that don't offer medical insurance, and said officers sometimes brush aside reporters with credentials from smaller independent outlets, which have an important role in monitoring events on the ground. Some police officials — who were not authorized to speak publicly — said officers try their best to accommodate reporters, but the situation on the street involves split-second decisions in a chaotic environment where they find themselves being attacked. They also contend that journalists from newer outlets or those who primarily post on social media act in adversarial or confrontational ways toward officers. Los Angeles Press Club Press Rights Chair Adam Rose said he has been collecting examples of officers from local, state and federal agencies violating the rights of journalists — seemingly ignoring the lessons learned and promises made the wake of past protests. Rose said many of the incidents were documented in videos that journalists themselves posted on social media. As of Wednesday morning, the tally was 43 and counting. The mistreatment of journalists at the recent protests are part of a "history of ugly treatment by police," Rose said, which included the 1970 killing of one of the city's leading Latino media voices, Ruben Salazar, who had been covering a Chicano rights protest when he was struck by a tear-gas canister fired by a sheriff's deputy. Even in cases where police abuses are well-documented on video, discipline of the offending officers is rare, Rose said. With plunging revenues leading to the downsizing of many legacy newsrooms, a new generation of citizen journalists has taken a vital role in covering communities across the country — their reporting is as protected as their mainstream counterparts, he said. "The reality is police are not the ones who're allowed to decide who is press,' he said. Some larger news companies have taken to hiring protective details for their reporters in the field, largely in response to aggressive crowds. On Saturday, L.A. Daily News reporter Ryanne Mena was struck in the head by a projectile fired by law enforcement during a demonstration in Paramount. She wasn't sure whether it was a tear gas canister or less-lethal munition, but said she later sought medical treatment and was diagnosed with a concussion. The day before she was hit in the thigh by another projectile while reporting downtown outside the jail, she said. Covering a few prior protests had taught her to always be mindful of her surroundings and to "never have my back toward anyone with a weapon." 'It's still kind of unbelievable that that happened," she said of her concussion. "It's unacceptable that that happened that other journalists were targeted.' Times staff writers Connor Sheets and David Zahniser contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
