The AFT announced that a charter school in Cleveland chose to join the union, despite the efforts of the charter operator to dissuade them. This is a tricky situation. On one hand, charter advocates don’t want their teachers in a union. Of an estimated 7,000 charter schools, very few have union teachers. So it is a victory when charter teachers join a union. On the other hand, as small numbers of charters unionize, the national union becomes less likely to take a stand against charters, even though many–if not most–were created by rightwingers like the Waltons to bypass unions.
“For Immediate Release
May 5, 2016
Contact:
Andrew Crook
607-280-6603
acrook@aft.org
Educators at second Cleveland charter school unionize
Northeast Ohio College Preparatory High School staff join national charter union wave
CLEVELAND—Teachers and support staff at Northeast Ohio College Preparatory High School (NEO High School) voted 21-3 today to join the Cleveland Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff, the Ohio Federation of Teachers, and the American Federation of Teachers, after a two-year fight to improve conditions for children and educators. NEO is part of the network of charter schools operated by Cleveland-based I CAN Schools.
The victory at NEO High School follows years of persistence in the face of employer attacks. In 2014, in response to teachers’ organizing efforts at NEO and University of Cleveland Preparatory, seven teachers were illegally fired. The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against the employer, and teachers were offered settlement to make them whole. Then, in March 2016, the NLRB issued a further complaint finding evidence of illegal surveillance and intimidation of teachers engaged in organizing at NEO High School.
NEO High School is the second I CAN school to unionize in recent months, after fellow University of Cleveland Preparatory School educators also voted overwhelmingly in March for representation.
Miles Paterson, a high school science teacher at NEO, said: “Our efforts the last two years were all about the students in our classrooms. Students need stability in the classroom and the halls of their school. We voted to form our union today to make sure we can retain the passionate, talented teachers and staff that make our school effective.”
Jessica Coleman, a ninth-grade physical science teacher, commented: “Forming our union is about having the freedom to advocate for student-specific needs in the classroom. My co-workers and I want to teach in memorable and long-lasting ways, but too often we see talented teachers walking out the door. We want to be the teachers who show up for our kids, day after day and year after year. This is why we organized our union.”
Cleveland Teachers Union President David Quolke, who is an AFT vice president, said: “After two years, the principled and brave teachers and support staff at NEO refused to back down. They stuck together and stayed committed, not only to raise their voice and improve conditions, but to secure the best education possible for their students and families. We’re proud to welcome our new AFT members at NEO High School who join their sisters and brothers at UCP and across Cleveland in our collective effort to raise standards.”
Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper, also an AFT vice president, said: “Charter operators like I CAN are finally getting the message that for standards to improve, frontline teachers and support staff must be involved. We welcome the teachers and support staff of NEO High School into our union. The values of shared accountability and unmatched commitment to students we share, and working together, we can make an impact on education policy and practice.”
Across the nation, charter educators are exercising their rights to demand dignity at work and a better school for their pupils. Today’s victory brings to 226 the number of charter schools represented by the AFT across 15 different states.
AFT President Randi Weingarten said: “The win today at NEO High School shows a growing movement by teachers at charter schools to have a real voice in their students’ education and in their profession. The fight at NEO—like so many others—is driven by educators joining together and raising their voice to have a real say in the workplace to demand better teaching resources and quality in their schools.”
###
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I don’t think charter teachers should be able to join existing unions.
That beast needs to be starved- not enfolded.
Sounds harsh but teaching in a charter is anathema to supporting public schools.
I do not seek to vilify said teachers personally
but the conflict of interest is obvious.
LikeLike
Off topic: what’s up with the Teacher2Teacher banner ad on the New York Times front page? What IS Teacher2Teacher? I click on it and see a sea of banalities about teaching. What’s its point? It’s “powered by” the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I’m sure there’s some charming ulterior motive.
LikeLike
IMO, it’s an astroturf group. The last I looked, a month ago, or so, Teacher 2 Teacher was featured on a web page, at the PR firm, 270 Strategies.
The Gates Foundation identifies who gets its money, like the “Senior Congressional Education Staff Network”, an Aspen Institute program. Type in the organization in question and the Gates Foundation, the internet will tell you how much and when, the group received money.
IMO, it’s the Gates’ level of visibility that led Laurene Powell Jobs (Emerson Collective and REIF) and Z-berg, to go with the cloaked, LLC’s for their vulture philanthropy.
LikeLike
Reblogged this on 21st Century Theater.
LikeLike
“On the other hand, as small numbers of charters unionize, the national union becomes less likely to take a stand against charters, even though many–if not most–were created by right wingers like the Waltons to bypass unions.
I am not sure who wrote this statement (not that it really matters), but one needs to add the following facts and frustration in response to it:
1. The UFT under Randi Weingarten had its own charter school which I believe folded three years ago.
2. The AFT has partnered with people like Eli Broad, who once referred to Weingarten as an “ally”. The Broads hate public schools and LOVE charter schools.
3. The AFT accepted money from the Gates foundation, which also hates public schools and LOVES charter schools.
The national education unions have NOT “become” opposed to charter schools; they have always slept in bed with reformers and danced with many a devil in the education reform movement. They have complied and cooperated. There is nothing for the large unions to “become” when it comes to taking a militant stand against charter schools.
Please let’s not misreport or mischaracterize the larger education unions when to comes to defending the true interests of public school teachers.
Anyone care to chime in here about the larger teacher unions?
If charters increasingly unionize – which I think they should – it is only a matter of time when they discover how impotent and corrupt the large educaiton unions really are . . . .
The concept of unions is one that is favorable and critical to me personally and professionally. The actual reality-based functioning of the UFT, AFT, and NEA are but a sad, sad joke, and it’s on us. Yet, to live without the concept and philosophy of a real union is not a worthwhile life, I think.
We need unions! Boy do we need them!
LikeLike
Thanks for the accuracy, Robert Rendo. To rewind the clock, with the AFT led by someone with sentiments and skills, similar to the former head of the Communications Workers of America, would have changed the world. We wouldn’t be 13 years down the road to privatization, without the public even knowing about it. Gates/Walton/Broad saw the vulnerability and exploited it.
The AFT had the unique situation in communities, to marshal citizens in opposition to the theft of local taxes by corporate funded-politicians, for the richest 0.1%.
The AFT, late to the game, is funding some important activities but, why did it take self-initiators like Diane Ravitch and Mercedes Schneider to build a movement based on information, when teachers collectively contributed to the AFT for years, to have the organization show how children, communities, taxpayers, the nation and world, benefit from public schools?
LikeLike
Cx:
The actual reality-based functioning of the UFT, AFT, and NEA is but a sad, sad joke . . . .
LikeLike
Robert…..
Precisely said sir. Precisely. The real fight is to take back or re-establish member-interest based teachers unions. Only after that task is completed can we face off, properly, against the reform movement.
Why is this not a bigger thing? Why is this only something talked about in comments sections of blogs? Why aren’t members in full revolt?
I have my opinions as to why, but they aren’t too polite.
LikeLike
There was a charter school a year or so back that decided to unionize and decided that neither the AFT nor the NEA would really represent them well, so they went with the Teamsters.
LikeLike
They should also consider the Communications Workers of America union.
LikeLike
Ohio charter schools now have to report which entity sponsors them and which entity operates them.
They didn’t really comply- about 3/4’s of them didn’t identify an individual to contact at the schools (“not specified”) but the public can now find out where the charter management companies are located- Ohio, Colorado, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland.
Charter management is a big business. I’d love to see Ohio media look into the management companies- who runs them, how many employees, how much they’re paid.
Public schools in Ohio have to report all that information- administration staff and budgets. I don’t know why charters would be exempt.
http://www.10thperiod.com/
LikeLike
Real analysis of Ohio’s charter sector:
“One of the signs of a healthy charter school sector is whether teachers want to teach in the schools. Teachers are like the canary in a coal mine; if they flock to the school, it’s probably doing all right, regardless of the test scores; if they don’t, well, perhaps the performance data means more.
So even though charter schools overall perform worse than Ohio’s local public schools, perhaps teachers want to teach in them because of the innovative environments they create, regardless of performance data. And if the schools can attract those kinds of teachers, perhaps the performance data will turn around for these schools.
What’s fascinating is that in about 15% of Ohio’s charter schools, the average teacher experience is 0 years. What’s that mean? It means the typical teacher in these schools have never taught before. That’s just stunning, frankly. How stunning?
So what that tells us is in many cases, charters are populating their teacher ranks with freshly minted teachers who couldn’t find jobs in their local public school districts. In other words, Ohio charters are the stepping stone to a public school job, not the destination.”
It’s anecdotal of course, but this has been what I’ve observed in my district. It’s also true of the (religious) private school here- we get their teachers after they have a couple of years of experience.
http://www.10thperiod.com/
LikeLike
I don’t know much about any sinister activity within NEA…only thing I can think of is not wanting to ruffle the feathers of politicians too much. Which could be understandable. To make change it takes time. Baby steps towards the main goal for public school unions is very different than than charter unions just fueling the divide.
Always remember, these unions are seperate for a reason…okay, many reasons.
Not to mention that you don’t have to be a union to stand up and say something is wrong and it needs to stop. If people cared about a quality public education for our kids the easiest way to start going in the right direction is to stop voting republicans into local offices who favor whomever is throwing the most money at them or wants the return of segregated affluent schools.
LikeLike
Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown supports charter schools. Democratic Mayor 1%, in Chicago, is on DFER’s fund-raising page, as is, Democratic Senator, Cory Booker.
Our local county Democratic Chair, described a rift in the Party, over ed phorm, i.e. Gates et. al. have big bucks and, politicians need big bucks to run. Politicians, regardless of party, covet revolving door employment and lobbying jobs, after ripping off the citizens, to make the richest 0.1% , richer.
But agree, all Rethugs work to return the US to the hard scrabble lives of the earliest waves of immigration.
LikeLike
When I read the Hill was considering Sherrod for VP, I know right away he is not as progressive as I thought. His support for charters corroborates it further . . .
LikeLike
Detroit Free Press slams ed reformers in the state legislature- “ideological malice” towards public schools:
http://www.freep.com/story/opinion/editorials/2016/05/05/dps-reform-gop/83970894/?utm_content=buffer3fa9e&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
It’s notable because the Free Press are ed reform cheerleaders. Maybe they finally figured it out 🙂
LikeLike
Things are heating up in the battle over AFT unionization at Lusher Charter School in New Orleans: http://theadvocate.com/news/neworleans/neworleansnews/15691135-86/lusher-charter-school-administration-challenges-federal-agencys-right-to-oversee-teachers-unionizati
LikeLike
And now the board is attacking the administration: http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/news/15709790-86/lusher-board-chair-member-take-administrators-to-task-over-union-challenge
LikeLike
A TFA salesman has probably already called and offered to staff that entire charter school with short term amateurs that will stay two years or less but only if they fire all the full-time teachers and block the unions move. And I wouldn’t be surprised of the Waltons, Bill Gates or Broad offered to pay for the unprofessional and under trained TFA recruits.
LikeLike
I will state openly here that even Joe Nathan has spoken positively on this blog about charters becoming unionized. And he’s a big charter fan.
But I think these newer unions should not be hooking up with NEA or AFT.
For unions to be honest and really be advocating in their constituent’s interests:
1. They must first be set up democratically so that voting protocols reflect a true majority, and not some delegate cover up.
2. They really should be in on the accounting books of ANY employer so that they understand the realities of funding, financing, cash flow, and distribution of compensation. With that knowledge, they could more realistically tailor their advocacy, as do German and Italian labor unions.
People might be forgetting that the formation of unions here in the United States initially involved great and unspeakable violence, with all sorts of civilians, politicians, judges and police forces acting aggressively against strikers, organizers, and the creation and growth of union activity, and with union people striking back. People were beaten up, shot at, had their homes set on fire, etc from the 1930s through the 1960s, although the violence towards unions was far more prominent and frequent in their early formation.
We have regressed, and I hope it never reverts back to the level of violence of the past. Violence is unacceptable, and yet without condoning it, I can report out historically that it has been utilized to establish many civil rights and catalyze major social change for equity and justice.
Many a GOP and Democrat in Washington maintain, “Never waste a good crisis!”.
The same applies for us. Now is the opportune time to reinvent our unions both large and small as we reinvent ourselves . . .
LikeLike
Robert, even a new union is susceptible to corruption because the democratically elected leaders of a traditional democratic labor union are human. Instead of throwing out the baby with the bathwater, take the labor unions we have and vote out the corrupt elected reps all the way to the top and replace them with a new slate knowing that even they can be corrupted by the 0.1% that is willing to spend any amount to get what they want and achieve their twisted personal agendas. Being wealthy does not make them gods or right but it does make them powerful.
Have you read “The Bully Pulpit” by Doris Kearns Goodwin and what President Teddy Roosevelt said about labor unions when there were complains of corruption during the early years of the labor movement?
Corporations that are often managed by psychopathic CEOs (the number one professional choice of psychopaths) and/or billionaire oligarchs that are also probably psychopaths are just as susceptible to corruption and this cancer spreads to all forms of government and labor unions are democratic organizations. Who controls the formation of a new labor union to represent teachers in for profit, often fraudulent, opaque and autocratic corporate charter schools? In this war to save the public schools, know your enemy, and six of the top ten professions that attract psychopaths are involved in the destruction of traditional public education.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyclay/2013/01/05/the-top-10-jobs-that-attract-psychopaths/#1edc22f773c3
How much clout will a much smaller labor union with less money and members have to fight the for-profit, corporate public education reform movement that worships at the alter of avarice?
The larger teacher unions have more members, more money (that will never match what the billionaire oligarchs have to spend and are spending) and more power to fight back. If the members, mostly public school teachers, wake up and realize their national leadership has been bought and is not serving their best interests, then the members can vote those corrupted leaders out. Teaching is a profession that tends to attract empaths, and about 76% of public school teaches are women that are not as combative as men even if others may disagree with that fact.
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d13/tables/dt13_209.10.asp
Education
Students tend to learn better from teachers who demonstrate they care about their students. Empathetic individuals make very good teachers, especially for students with learning disabilities, who have even greater need to be treated in a patient and kind manner.
http://work.chron.com/careers-empathetic-people-7809.html
LikeLike
Lloyd,
I agree with you, and as usual, your analysis and articulation are always profound and empowering.
LikeLike
Thank you
LikeLike