Three teachers at Summit Public Schools (privately managed charter schools calling themselves ”public”) were terminated without cause. The three were trying to organize a union to improve working conditions and had been offered contracts for next year when they were suddenly informed that they were no longer wanted. No teachers other than these three were fired.
The Summit charter schools are funded by the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative and are noted for their infusion of computer instruction into classrooms.
This is the teachers’ website.
This is their petition on Change.org.
In January, teachers at Summit Public Schools, a group of charter schools in the Bay Area, formed a union, Unite Summit, in order to promote teacher retention, improve student support services, and increase teacher voice in important decisions.
On June 7, the last day of the school year, three Summit teachers and union leaders were fired without cause. We believe this action is unlawful, unethical, and harmful to our students.
In each case, employees were not provided any rationale for their termination beyond “business reasons.” The removal of such outstanding teachers from our school communities not only impacts the quality of education provided to our students, it also shows that Summit is not respecting teachers’ democratic decision to form a union.
Unite Summit has worked to promote the retention of high-quality educators who are invested in our students’ success. Educators have the right to speak out about how to improve their schools without fearing retaliation. The California Educational Employment Relations Act, Section 3543.5.a, states that it is unlawful for an employer to “impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, to discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter.”
We are therefore calling on SPS leadership to respect Summit teachers’ legal rights to unionize, to own their responsibility to refrain from intimidation, harassment, threats or retaliation, and to immediately reinstate the three fired teachers — Aaron Calvert, Evelyn DeFelice, and Andrew Stevenson.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
signed
signed
Signed
Signed.
Students and communities deserve (1) the social stability and career longevity that organized labor assures in the work environment and neighborhood at large (2) the professional status and credentialing protected by organizations of united workers (3) adequately compensated community members and, (4) the positive economic multiplier effect derived from education dollars remaining local -revenue to personnel not Silicon Valley products.
I just want to show you how the language ed reformers use changes the questions.
This is how they phrase the question on whether charter schools impact public schools negatively:
“What is the fiscal impact of charter schools on California’s school districts?”
Do you see what they do? They erase public schools. They make it about a charter school versus a “district”.
There’s a deliberate effort to pretend that nothing they do has any effect on public school STUDENTS, who are never, ever mentioned.
It’s really nutty because to a person outside the echo chamber it’s a given that if they weaken the kid’s SCHOOL that impacts the student! But not in ed reform. Just “districts”- not schools or students. Public school students must never, ever be mentioned.
So my son attends school in a district. That is true. But he attends a school! And what happens in that district and that school impacts him as a student!
This distancing they do with language is really interesting and in my opinion, really revealing because it only applies to public schools/ students. It doesn’t apply to charter schools/ students. Charter schools have kids in them. Public schools apparently do not.
Hi, Diane,
Don’t know if I can reach you this way, but wondering if you’d followed the developments in the Adams 14 district of Commerce City, CO. Though our State Board has a Democratic majority, it is a corrupt board and has gamed our “failing” district for privatization. It disregarded the community’s wishes and the local board’s first vote for a true public support (we lost a board member so the state thought it had grounds to disregard the vote). Now MGT has an eight million dollar four-year contract (plus incentives), and, from what I understand, relationships to both Relay and Teach for America. Here’s a letter I wrote to our State Board before it put the final nail in the coffin. I was wrong on one count, at least; we got a competent board member to fill the vacated seat. However, the letter may provide a little back story. Also, CEA has since filed suit against both the state and local scool boards.
Thanks for your work on behalf of public school children across the country.
On Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 8:03 AM Diane Ravitch’s blog wrote:
> dianeravitch posted: ” Three teachers at Summit Public Schools (privately > managed charter schools calling themselves ”public”) were terminated > without cause. The three were trying to organize a union to improve working > conditions and had been offered contracts for nex” >
I’m so sick of Mark and Priscilla (Chan) Zuckerberg posing as “Bay Area progressives.” In their vicious and abuse treatment of teachers/workers, or any such worker seeking to unionize to stop this abuse, the Chan-Zuckerberg’s are worse than Walmart.
Unite Summit should elicit aid from the California Teachers Association to pursue legal action against Summit on behalf of the three teachers. The CTA wants to help charter teachers who unionize. Million dollar lawsuits three.
I’m conflicted. I do not condone the actions of this charter school. Period. But am grappling with the idea that the NEA and/or AFT represent any person that identifies themselves as a “teacher”. I don’t know these teachers, the situation that led to their employment, or their credentials. I value my union membership because I can stand with other professionals with the shared goal of ensuring fair and professional wages/benefits that ultimately put qualified teachers in front of students. How can the AFT and NEA represent people that might not even be credentialed and work in a school that is likely parasitic to real public schools? How am I supposed to call them my union “brothers and sisters” when they have willingly accepted employment in a charter school and may have skirted becoming a fully licensed teacher? Please don’t read this as snarky. I’m being serious.
I agree with you. Also something to think about….Does anyone do any kind of research before going on a job interview or before accepting employment? Any Google search would let these 3 people know that this is a Charter school AND all the problems associated with employment at a Charter school.
Former TFA and charter school workers are omitting the experiences on their bio’s (an attempt to hide and distance) at a rate that will leave future generations perplexed by what charter schools and TFA were, in the scheme of things.
It will be like the scam of whole life insurance.
And I just saw your post about Adams 14, posted more than five hours before I wrote you, LOL. For some reason, some of your posts come to my primary inbox and others go to “social,” which I don’t open as often.
Thank you for writing and posting. We need all the help we can get right now.
This is good feedback on Summit. What I am most interested in is how much time Summit students spend on their computers working individually on core subjects and at what age this starts. What do they do with special ed students? Put them on the same lessons? What does their contract with schools say about time spent with a classroom teacher?