Nationally, more than 90% of charter schools are non-union. That is the main reason that the Walton Family Foundation (of non-union Walmart) subsidizes so many of them. So, it is newsworthy when charter teachers ask to join a union. But in this case, it is newsworthy for other reasons.
The Los Angeles Times reports that a majority of teachers at the St. Hope charter chain in Sacramento have signed a petition to join the Sacramento Teachers Association. This charter chain was founded by former Mayor Kevin Johnson, husband of controversial Michelle Rhee. Johnson is no longer associated with the chain, but Rhee heads its governing board.
Kingsley Melton, a teacher at Sacramento High School, which is part of the St. Hope network, said some teachers had decided to unionize after attempts to resolve disputes with the organization’s leadership failed. He said frequent turnover of teachers and administrators and a general “lack of transparency” had fueled the push.
“Our desks are old, we have to fight for resources for kids — and when we asked where the money’s going, we never get a full answer,” he said.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
That’s charter schools for you. The money goes to the CEO’s and not for the children’s education. What part of for profit don’t people get? It’s a scam of the 1% ers.
It is reassuring to know there is Karma!
Off topic- Kellogg’s announcement that it is giving $51 mil. to Battle Creek Public Schools is a source of hope that the message about attacks on public schools has found important audiences. In presenting the company’s reasons for not funding contractor or private schools, the company said, “Those who lack resources are not mobile”. Paraphrasing, they further stated, public schools need the means to meet student needs.
Kellogg’s words, quoted by media, make visible the threat to public education and identifies why the privatization plan harms vulnerable students..
Where do they think the money’s going? I worked (very briefly) for Bright Horizons. The pay and benefits were crap. I didn’t have to ask where the money was going….
If teachers and “so-called” teachers would stop working for charter schools, they would have to shut down, wouldn’t they? We know they’ve got the parents duped. The teachers are the ones who see the reality, so get out!
How many certified teachers work for charters? At Kipp, there is a revolving door of tfa “teachers” – unqualified, uncertified, without real experience, and they get those quickie lube weekend masters degrees, and plenty of perks – in Newark, NJ, they get reduced rent housing, and many get gifts from the colleges where from they graduated. Some teacher, new ones perhaps, are just needy of that first job, at a charter, because they couldn’t find one in a public school. Entire urban cities had/have partnered with tfa and novice teachers can’t get a foot in the door. I agree with you, if only …. the charters couldn’t get teachers to work there, they’d shut down – but the reformers have workarounds for that, hence the tfa pipeline into Kipp and other schools…Kipp in particular, started by Wendy Kopp’s husband. Interesting, that.
My daughter worked at Bright Horizons for a year. She hated the place but loved the kids and it put something on her resume. If a teacher can work there, creating lessons, running a class, helping the location get NAEYC accreditation, tolerating the B.S. from management, the shenanigans with shifting kids around for extra paid for nonsense like square dancing and a lizard show, plus the lack of benefits and the long hours….they can work anywhere.
I would think they’d want to keep the two of them off campus. Ugh. When does KJ go to jail? When will the world have enough of these two turds?
Miracle Gro hired Rhee for its board- that tells you what you need to know about the company.
unionizing non-credentialed teachers who have not gone through a college or university training program may create more problems than it solves.
They should unionize. However, I will say that the quality of administrators is also a problem. My younger sister got her administrator’s certificate, did an 18 month principal residency then did coaching for 2 years and is finishing up her doctorate in education leadership. She has done interview coaching, spent hundreds of dollars on her resume and cover letter workshops. She has applied over 150 places and 10 interviews in 2 years. No job offer as of yet. When she did get feedback they told her she needed more experience. One person in a district told her she needed a preliminary credential which she has from her Masters coursework and residency. Yet, she has seen many people with no clear knowledge of school systems nor curriculum or leadership skills and no experience get jobs she interviewed for.
Let’s talk about that travesty as well.
I did a spit-take when I read the official statement from the St. Hope Charter School Chain — which is basically Rhee talking through a spokesman.
Here you have Michelle Rhee, one of the U.S.’s all-time great media-spotlight-hog-atten-seekers and one of the all-time great instigators of political theater — she never met a news camera she didn’t like.
In the latest statement, she makes this unintentionally hilarious (or at least deeply ironic) response to unionization at her charter school chain:
(thru St. Hope spokesperson’s statement):
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“The fact the CTA has brought outside media attention to this shows that their priority is on creating national political theatrics.”
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Pot — kettle — black.
Michelle obviously doesn’t like it when people use her own tactics against her.
I think Freud would read that statement as classic “projection”, which according to wikipedia, is …
… “a theory in psychology in which humans defend themselves against their own unconscious impulses or qualities (both positive and negative) by denying their existence in themselves while attributing them to others.[1] For example, a person who is habitually rude may constantly accuse other people of being rude. It incorporates blame shifting.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection
Keep in in mind that Rhee is the same person who orchestrated an on-camera firing of a principal — with Rhee the on-camera person doing the firing — knowing that this would bee seen by millions in on PBS, and later in WAITING FOR SUPERMAN.
If that’s not “political theater,” then what the-hell is?
Here’s an account of that on-camera firing from a N.Y. Times article about the D.C. cheating scandal:
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NY TIMES:
“Always, she preens for the cameras. Early in her chancellorship, she was trailed for a story by the education correspondent of ‘PBS NewsHour,’ John Merrow.
“At one point, Ms. Rhee asked if his crew wanted to watch her fire a principal.
” “We were totally stunned,’ Mr. Merrow said.
“She let them set up the camera behind the principal and videotape the entire firing.
” ‘The principal seemed dazed,’ said Mr. Merrow. ‘I’ve been reporting 35 years and never seen anything like it.’
“And yet, as voracious as she is for the media spotlight, Ms. Rhee will not talk to USA Today.” (about the cheating scandal … but that’s another story.)
… from
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Here’s a 26-second video of that firing:
What’s interesting is that, on camera at least, only one person has ever called Rhee on this outrage, and it’s quite riveting viewing.
Mary Bousted, a British teachers’ union leader, was on a news talk show with Rhee and she proceeded to blast her about the on-camera firing. Rhee’s not used to being challenged like this, and it shows.
This is friggin’ awesome:
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( 5:00 – 5:44 )
http://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-politics-18592185/headteacher-sacked-on-tv-humiliation
( 5:00 – 5:44 )
(After Rhee blathers about how much she “faith” she has in teachers, and how much she “values, and supports” teachers.)
MARY BOUSTED: “So your ‘faith’ in teaching means that, as, you know, the chief (education) executive in Washington, you take a TV camera to actually film a principal being sacked. At THAT MOMENT, where that teacher is undergoing the ultimate humiliation, you actually broad cast it to the nation? And that’s your view of ‘valuing and supporting’ teachers?”
MICHELLE RHEE: “Because, you know what? That- ”
MARY BOUSTED: “Why couldn’t you do that in private?”
MICHELLE RHEE: (nervous, inappropriate laughter) “I did plenty of firing in private.”
MARY BOUSTED: “Well, why did you do EVEN ONE in public?”
MICHELLE RHEE: “Because you know what? Here’s the bottom line: that principal was not providing the teachers in that school with the leadership that they needed. ”
MARY BOUSTED: “And so she lost her job, BUT WHY BROADCAST IT?!”
MICHELLE RHEE: “Because it… because it … actually builds confidence in a lot of our teachers to know that I was listening to them about the kinds of administrators that were in that building”
MARY BOUSTED: (shaking her head, look of disgust) “It was an exercise in public humiliation.”
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Here’s more of the St. Hope statement expressing Rhee’s reaction to her charter chain’s teacher unionizing:
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“While that’s unfortunate, the focus of St. HOPE Public Schools will remain on students and ensuring they get the education they deserve.”
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In other words, she’ll keep putting “students first”, even when her charter chain’s own teachers — the ones seeking the forming of union, that is — and CTA won’t.
Good for her!
Seriously, though, the on-camera firing, and the total lack of compassion and disregard for basic common decency must have filtered down from Rhee to the St. Hope leaders, and this was likely manifested in their treatment of and attitude towards their teaching staff, and this is likely a large part of why not just a majority, but a super-majority (67% or higher) of the St. Hope teachers have signed on to form a union.
The verbal exchange you posted solidifies the truth about the Gates/Koch/Walton cabal.
To get the full impact, you really need to watch it: (while expanding it to full screen)
(and again, remember that the firing that’s being discussed below WAS RHEE’S IDEA, not John Merrow, the documentarian’s. In fact, he’s on record at being taken aback at the whole thing:
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( 5:00 – 5:44 )
http://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-politics-18592185/headteacher-sacked-on-tv-humiliation
( 5:00 – 5:44 )
(After Rhee blathers about how much she “faith” she has in teachers, and how much she “values, and supports” teachers.)
MARY BOUSTED: “So your ‘faith’ in teaching means that, as, you know, the chief (education) executive in Washington, you take a TV camera to actually film a principal being sacked. At THAT MOMENT, where that teacher is undergoing the ultimate humiliation, you actually broadcast it to the nation? And that’s your view of ‘valuing and supporting’ teachers?”
MICHELLE RHEE: “Because, you know what? That- ”
MARY BOUSTED: “Why couldn’t you do that in private?”
MICHELLE RHEE: (nervous, inappropriate laughter) “I did plenty of firing in private.”
MARY BOUSTED: “Well, why did you do EVEN ONE in public?”
MICHELLE RHEE: “Because you know what? Here’s the bottom line: that principal was not providing the teachers in that school with the leadership that they needed. ”
MARY BOUSTED: “And so she lost her job, BUT WHY BROADCAST IT?!”
MICHELLE RHEE: “Because it… because it … actually builds confidence in a lot of our teachers to know that I was listening to them about the kinds of administrators that were in that building”
MARY BOUSTED: (shaking her head, look of disgust) “It was an exercise in public humiliation.”
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One more thing on the subject of Rhee being challenged:
Do you remember the highly anticipated debate that Rhee agreed to with Dr. Ravitch?
1) both Ravitch and Rhee agree, and set a time and place that’s months down the road;
2) Rhee changes her mind, says she wants to have a partner in the debate, and so can Dr. Ravitch, so it’s then changed to 2-on2, not 1-on-1;
3) Ravitch agrees and the debate is still on;
4) Rhee changes her mind again, says she wants to have two partners in the debate, and so can Dr. Ravitch, so it’s then changed to 3-on-3, not 2-on-2;
5) Ravitch agrees and the debate is still on;
6) A week before, Rhee backs out, and blames a scheduling conflict, even though, on the day of the debate, Rhee is in the same building as Ravitch at the event with plenty of time to participate in a debate.
Only one error in your chronology, Jack.
The debate was held at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. Rhee was not in the building. She was far away. I ended up debating myself.
Okay, thanks for that clarification.
Wasn’t she at least in the same city on that day?
No, you were right. I just checked it.
Lehigh is in Pennsylvania.
Rhee was in Minnesota.
In the video of the firing of the principal and then the interview, what’s being missed here is that principals are not considered teachers in charter or public schools. It doesn’t matter how many years they have taught, the teachers consider them to have “crossed over” and they are no longer in their league. They are management. So perhaps it is principals who need a union, because they often are attacked by teachers, upper management, and parents. Notice that Rhee has no eye contact until she realizes the principal isn’t quite getting it.
Rhee imported and promoted 70 or more principals, with the claim that they would help save and turn around Washington D.C. schools.
A few years later, according to John Merrow, virtually all of them had quit, and/or were replaced. Later, all of those replacements were later also replaced and/or quit. Such instability and churn is the absolute worst thing for students.
Yes, it is the worst for students, Jack, but it happens in certain public school districts all the time as well. And the principals have no recourse, no union.
Story according to the Sacramento Bee, 3 May 2017
Kevin Johnson’s charter schools have long angered unions. Now teachers there may join one