Tuesday, May 05, 2009
NYC charter schools try to escape the teachers union.
But the union doesn't intend to let them go...
ESCAPING THE UNION
Teachers at two of the most successful charter schools in New York City made a simple request of state officials last week: Free us from the United Federation of Teachers.
The UFT, usually so concerned about teachers' "voices being heard," made their response clear in the two sides' first conference before the Public Employment Relations Board on Thursday.
To paraphrase: "Shut up."
So now PERB has a choice to make: It can allow the teachers at the KIPP Academy in the South Bronx and KIPP Infinity in Harlem to promptly decertify the UFT as their bargaining representative, as teachers at both schools have requested by way of unanimous petitions, or it can leave them chained and paying dues to a union they want nothing to do with.
Employees demanding they not be represented by a union may seem an odd spectacle but it makes perfect sense if you understand the contours of the education-reform terrain ... [the rest of the story]
