Boston teachers on the verge of one-day walkout

The city of Boston is bracing for a possible one-day strike today by its schoolteachers, who threaten to walk out because of stalled contract negotiations.

Community centers and public libraries will accommodate children by expanding their hours and bringing in additional staff. The Boston Public Schools system has nearly 60,000 students, and many parents work.

The Boston Teachers Union scheduled a vote to authorize a strike on Wednesday, but it was unclear as of the Banner’s press deadline whether an anticipated winter storm would delay it. In the event that snow caused school cancellations Wednesday, the union said it would postpone its strike vote for two weeks.

Boston teachers last went on strike in 1993. That strike lasted one day and led to a contract agreement.

Union and city officials planned to negotiate through Wednesday night. They are in disagreement over salaries, class size and health insurance contributions. The union wants a nearly 22 percent raise over four years; the city is offering 10 percent.

State Education Commissioner David Driscoll said Tuesday that a strike would set a bad example for the students. He said a strike would be “destructive and self-serving.”

“It’s illegal for teachers to strike and there’s a reason for that — in education, the needs of the children have to come first,” Driscoll said in a statement.

Two years ago, the union threatened to hold a one-day strike, which was avoided when an agreement was struck.

(Associated Press)

Sen. Kennedy and members of Congress introduce bill to award Brooke

WASHINGTON — Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., joined Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and Democratic Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton and members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation Monday to introduce a bill in Congress that would award former Massachusetts Sen. Edward Brooke the Congressional Gold Medal.

“Senator Brooke’s life typifies the best in terms of public service. All of us in the Commonwealth are grateful for his extraordinary career of breaking down the barriers of race and reaching across party lines to bring people together around common-sense solutions,” said Kennedy.

The first popularly elected African American U.S. senator, Brooke represented Massachusetts in the Senate from 1967 to 1979. The D.C. representatives joined in honoring Brooke for his longstanding commitment to voting rights in the nation’s capital.

The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest honor awarded by Congress. Initially bestowed on military leaders, the medal has since been given to Sir Winston Churchill and Tony Blair; civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Height and Rosa Parks; actors Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra; humanitarians Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa; and athletes Joe Louis and Jackie Robinson, among others.

“To receive an award of this magnitude, this honor from my peers, both in the Senate and the House of Representatives, is beyond any expectations or any dream I’ve ever had,” said Brooke, a Republican. “It would be a crowning point in my life.”

But as much as he would appreciate such an honor, Brooke said he would prefer to see passage of legislation giving the District of Columbia a full seat in the House of Representatives. The district has fought for decades to gain a voting seat in Congress.

“I put that as a greater priority than any honor you can bestow on me individually,” Brooke said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Patrick and Murray pledge true partnership with local officials

Gov. Deval Patrick and Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray promised Tuesday to fashion strong relationships with Massachusetts cities and towns at the first meeting of the Local Government Advisory Commission (LGAC).

“Vibrant cities and towns nourish a high quality of life and strong sense of community. When they partner with state leadership, they become engines for economic growth and prosperity,” Patrick said. “[Murray] and I are committed to ensuring we keep the lines of communication open with each of our local leaders to mend and rebuild relationships that are vital to improving Massachusetts.”

Murray will attend the monthly meetings of the LGAC, which the governor’s office said will serve as a “municipal cabinet” of officials from cities and towns across Massachusetts. Patrick will attend the meetings on a quarterly basis.

The lieutenant governor will act as the administration’s point person for cities and towns and, when local officials run into difficulties with state agencies, will serve as an ombudsman to oversee the resolution of the conflict.

“Local officials can feel confident that their voices will be heard in our administration and I look forward to the conversations and successes we will share going forward,” Murray said.

Last month, Patrick highlighted several plans for strengthening local communities, such as opening up the state health insurance program to municipal employees, supporting legislation to allow communities to levy local options taxes, and publishing municipal impact statements on all major legislation and executive actions, which the governor’s office said helped “to better communicate the local impact of actions made at the state level.”

Court victory for City Council in Open Meeting Law case

A Suffolk Superior Court judge has ruled that the Boston City Council did not violate the state Open Meeting Law last May.

The plaintiffs in the case argued that the Council’s Committee on Government Operations violated the statute by issuing a committee report, in which five councilors concurred, without having held a public meeting. The subject matter was the increase in salaries for councilors, Mayor Thomas M. Menino and various city department heads.

During a four-day trial, witnesses testified that when it became apparent there would not be time for a public hearing before the pay raises automatically went into effect, then-Committee Chair Maureen E. Feeney dictated a committee report, including amendments to the pay raise ordinance, to a member of her staff.

The report dictated by Feeney, now City Council President, was then circulated by staff members to staff for other committee members for their concurrence.

“This strong decision of the court is an affirmation of the responsible actions taken by the City Council on behalf of the people of Boston,” said Feeney. “This ruling validates the good conduct of the City Council in its deliberations and is a testament to the hard work and appropriate actions of this body.”

Superior Court Judge Thomas E. Connolly found that committee members, through their staff, individually made a decision whether to allow their staff to add their names as concurring in the report, and that there was no meeting, in person, over the telephone, by letter, memo or e-mail, between Committee members regarding the merits of the proposed pay raises.

Further, the judge found that concurrence in the report did not constitute a vote on the merits and was only intended to move the matter along so that it could have a hearing before the full City Council at its regularly scheduled meeting on May 3, 2006.

Validating the procedures adopted by the Council, the Court said there was “no evidence of any attempt to evade the open meeting law” — especially since no committee hearing was legally required on the measure under City Council rules.

Longtime Boston Streetworker receives National Child Labor Committee award

The National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) has announced that Chris Byner has received its prestigious Lewis Hine Award recently in New York City.

Byner, unit manager for youth services at Boston Centers for Youth & Families (BCYF), was honored for overseeing the Streetworker Program, a violence prevention and early intervention program for adolescents.

BCYF’s Streetworker Program serves high-risk youth by going out on the frontlines to reach out to youth in trouble. They intervene between out-of-control youth and neighbors in fear, negotiate disputes between rival gangs and find jobs and training programs for school dropouts.

Byner grew up in the Orchard Park housing development and later graduated from Brandeis University. Rather than leaving his hometown to seek employment elsewhere, Byner has spent almost 15 years making a difference in the lives of hard-to-reach youths in low-income areas of Boston.

“Chris and the streetworkers do great work with Boston’s young people,” said Mayor Thomas M. Menino. “Chris deserves this national award and I am proud that this dedicated young man is being honored by the National Child Labor Committee and the prestigious Hine Foundation.”

BCYF Streetworkers are certified mediators who seek out and help troubled youths by finding ways to keep them in school, getting school dropouts into job training programs, and connecting youth and their families with health and social services.

Byner’s ability to build relationships with rival street gangs and get them to resolve their differences with words instead of guns has earned him the respect of stakeholders throughout the community, including the young people themselves. The success of the Boston Streetworker Program has caused community and police groups in Buffalo, Memphis and Hartford to seek Byner’s help in setting up similar programs.

Ten men and women were selected by a panel of distinguished judges from hundreds of submissions to receive Hine Awards. Each honoree receives $1,000 and a trip to the awards ceremony in New York.

For information about the streetworker in your neighborhood, call BCYF at 617-635-4920.

Errata

In the Banner’s Feb. 8 edition, the Banner incorrectly reported that U.S. Magistrate Joyce London Alexander was the first African American woman in Massachusetts to become a judge. Alexander is the first African American woman to become chief judge of a court in Massachusetts. Margaret Burnham was the first African American woman judge, appointed associate justice of Boston Municipal Court in 1977. The other African American women who are now serving as judges are Judith Dilday, Barbara Dortch-Okara, Geraldine Hines, Marie Jackson and Emogene Johnson Smith. The Banner regrets the error.