KIPP Teachers Organize (first of it's kind in the US)

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Ed Wize

In a ground-breaking development, the teachers of KIPP AMP Charter School in Brooklyn today informed their co-principals that they were organizing themselves into a union and seeking official recognition from the state Public Employees Relations Board.

A super-majority of the KIPP AMP teaching faculty has signed authorization cards with the United Federation of Teachers, well in excess of the threshold needed for official recognition under state labor law for public employees.

In a letter delivered to co-principals Jeff Li and Melissa Perry this morning, the teachers said that they had decided to unionize in order to secure teacher voice and respect for the work of teachers in their school. We want “to ensure that the motto of ‘team and family’ is realized in the form of mutual respect and validation for the work that is done each day,” they wrote.

The letter stressed that the decision to organize was directly connected to the teachers’ commitment to their students. “ strong and committed staff,” the teachers wrote, “is the first step to student achievement.” Unionization, the teachers believe, will help create the conditions for recruiting and retaining such a staff.

Read more: http://edwize.org/kipp-teachers-organize

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A snip from a note I got from one of the organizers about the situation: This is the first KIPP school to be organized in the country. Our organizing drive now has the UFT in three of the four KIPP schools in NYC. Given the prominence of KIPP nationally and in the world of charters, this will likely receive a lot of coverage, and there may very well be a campaign against us by anti-union elements in the charter community.

[NashVegas]

1. Oh, How Interesting

"KIPP AMP teachers believe that the high staff turnover at the school has harmed their efforts to build a positive and consistent school culture for their students."

Sounds like conditions must be pretty bad.

[Fire1]

2. this ought to be good.

[dcsmart]

3. if enough people say it's so, it will be

organized labor has the power. teachers of the world unite :headbang:

[Fearless]

6. Damn right!

:yourock:

[Betsy Ross]

4. LOL!!

Number one reason for charter school? Could it be teachers' unions? Next thing you know, the admin staff and maintenance crew will want to go union too.

[Sabriel]

5. I thought charter school teachers were Union already

In Wisconsin, they're regular ol' teachers, just like the non-charter people.

Is that not true in other states?

[mopinko]

8. some are some aren't

in chicago, about half are union, and the union actually holds some charters. they are likely to organize more, as the union has already agreed to a waiver of rules about length of work days, and start times. this is a big sticking point.
the union here is pretty stubborn.

[davefromqueens]

7. Charter Schools Are Mostly Jokes

They don't want teachers unionized. They want cheap labor and then fire the teachers all while paying themselves higher salaries as administrators.

As a result you don't get quality teachers in most of these places.

[mopinko]

9. there are some good ones here.

the school that the obama girls went to here- the university of chicago lab school- has a charter. there are some other good ones. they fill niches that kids need.

[knitter4democracy]

10. Hot dang! AFT, no less.

Good for them! I taught in a non-union Catholic school (which was highly ironic--run by peace-and-justice sisters, but we weren't allowed to unionize), and I would never, ever do that again. It takes a union to protect a real educator, someone who pushes the envelope just a bit to get the students thinking. It's even worse at private schools considering how much sway paying parents have.

[demigoddess]

11. teachers must be hopping mad since their headline isn't spelled right

first of its kind

NOT
first of it's (it is) kind.

No wonder it takes me longer to read headlines these days