1. What is the union’s position nationally and locally on charter schools?
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and United Teachers of New Orleans (UTNO) support charter schools that are accountable to the public, are open to all students, give their employees a real voice in decisions, measure student achievement in the same way as other public schools, and pursue sound classroom-tested strategies to help children learn.
AFT-UTNO supports an educational environment in which every school and every child matters. Teachers and students in New Orleans will not benefit if we pit charter schools against RSD schools. Doing so would create a destructive rivalry that divides parents, isolates educators, and discourages them from sharing ideas and insights with other types of schools.
2. I read somewhere that unions oppose charter schools. Is this true?
No. In fact, many education policy analysts credit the American Federation of Teachers with helping to develop the concept of charter schools. In a 1988 speech, even before the first charter school was created, AFT President Albert Shanker urged public school officials to consider “new models” of schools that would meet the needs of all students. Shanker proposed that local school boards support the creation of “charter” schools that are designed by groups of teachers — or teachers and parents — and that use innovative curricula and special programs to meet the needs of their students. Shanker promoted a vision of charter schools that would act as agents of reform within the broader system of public schools.
AFT-UTNO remain committed to this vision. In the decades since Shanker proposed the charter school concept, many charter schools have been created. Unfortunately, some individuals and organizations have used the concept of charter schools to advance an agenda of privatization or to weaken the salaries, benefits and professional rights of teachers. UTNO and AFT are determined to ensure that the charter school vision is not corrupted by individuals who wish to profit at the expense of students and educators.
3. Are there charter school teachers in other cities or states that belong to unions and are covered by union contracts?
Yes. UTNO is part of a national union — the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) — that represents teachers and staff at 65 charter schools across the country.
4. What led teachers at these charter schools to decide to join a union?
Research shows that charter schools tend to have higher rates of teacher turnover than other public schools. Some of the reasons for this relatively high turnover — lower salaries and benefits, inadequate professional development and support, and a feeling of isolation — are the same reasons why many of these charter school teachers decided to belong to a union. Many of them were driven by the desire to strengthen teaching conditions.
Other teachers were more focused on the need to improve salaries, health insurance and other benefits. Still other teachers were interested in belonging to a union because it gave them access to professional development and resources that they weren’t getting within their school. Some pro-union teachers wanted access to a network of charter school colleagues with whom they could share ideas and insights. All of these are good reasons to want a union voice.
5. Can having a union improve the educational climate at a charter school?
We firmly believe that it can. As three charter school advocates acknowledged in their book Charter Schools in Action, it is “difficult to launch successful charter schools.” This is because it is a tremendous challenge to effectively fund, hire faculty and staff, develop curricula and programs, and carry out the other critical tasks that are involved in operating a good school.
Even more important is carrying out these tasks without losing focus on what matters most — the needs of students. The success of a charter school (or any school) depends on the ability of educators to come together, share their professional needs or concerns, and have a process for regularly communicating these needs on an open and ongoing basis with the administrators or management of charters.
Charter school teachers and many charter school leaders recognize that they can have both the freedom and reforms that charter schools foster, and the respect and fairness that teacher unions ensure. When educators have a voice, it translates into students who excel academically.
6. What does the union know about charter schools?
The AFT has conducted a lot of research and analysis on charter schools — how they are funded, how they are staffed, and so on. In New York City, the local AFT affiliate has sponsored and opened two charter schools. When the union’s second charter school opened in 2006, the president of the AFT affiliate, Randi Weingarten, described the school’s philosophy: “Lower class sizes, focus on school safety and let great teachers do their job. That’s what we tried to do at our elementary charter school, and that's what we're doing here.”
Locally, UTNO leaders and organizers have been talking with faculty and staff at virtually all New Orleans charter schools. These conversations are giving us a solid understanding of the specific issues and needs that these schools face.
7. What kinds of changes will the union try to make at my charter school?
If you decide to form a union at your charter school, that question will be answered by you and your colleagues. That’s because you are the union. AFT-UTNO believes in creating Organizing Committees at each school that empower the teachers and staff to monitor and respond to issues at their schools. AFT-UTNO leaders, staff and legal assistance provide support, training and guidance along the way. It would make no sense for our union to pursue changes at any school that did not have the broad support of faculty and staff at that school.
8. What kind of contract would be negotiated for my charter school?
Contracts in charter schools will take a variety of forms — as they should. Charters are meant to be laboratories of innovation, and contracts should reflect the needs and interests of the faculty and staff who work at each charter school. Of course, contracts should reflect our core values of fair pay, fair treatment, and a voice in the workplace.
If you and your colleagues want to form a union and work under a contract, this contract would be negotiated based on the priorities that your faculty and staff identify in surveys and meetings. This is why a union contract is put up to a vote — to ensure that the terms and policies of the contract have the broad support of teachers and staff.
9. I’m proud to work in a charter school, but I’m uncomfortable with the efforts by some individuals to create a rivalry between charter schools and other types of public schools. What is AFT-UTNO’s position?
We share your concern. Instead of pitting one system of schools against another, we need to create an educational environment in New Orleans in which teachers in the different systems are not placed in an adversarial position. AFT-UTNO wants to serve as a unifying force that brings educators together behind the common goal of giving all children a high-quality education — regardless of which type of school they attend.
10. What other positive contributions can the union make on behalf of charter school teachers, staff, parents and students?
There are several other ways in which the union’s strength and advocacy can benefit charter schools. Teaching in a stand-alone charter school has its advantages (autonomy, for example), but it also has a few potential disadvantages — such as being isolated from your colleagues in other schools (charters and non-charters).
Like most professionals, teachers grow by sharing and collaborating with each other. Although the New Orleans public schools are divided into different school systems, this division shouldn’t keep educators in the different systems from sharing ideas and information freely. Successful teaching strategies and other best practices shouldn’t remain a secret because they can benefit children in all schools. In a recent report on the New Orleans public schools, the Boston Consulting Group identified “limited collaboration” among schools in the different systems as an obstacle for improving student achievement. Because our membership extends across all of the school systems in New Orleans, AFT-UTNO is in an ideal position to help encourage this kind of collaboration.
11. I heard that AFT-UTNO got involved in a dispute at Einstein Charter School, but I’m not sure if I got all of the details. What happened at Einstein and what prompted the union to get involved?
Teachers and parents came to AFT-UTNO and shared serious concerns with us — concerns that centered on racial and ethnic tensions, administrative nepotism, and the unjustified firings of some teachers. Although they had tried to address their concerns with the principal and school director (a husband-and-wife team), teachers and parents did not receive a satisfactory response.
AFT-UTNO agreed to support these teachers and parents by helping to bring these issues to the attention of Einstein’s governing board. The board at Einstein recognized the concerns and took swift action, including the reinstatement of the teachers — the board agreed that their firing was inappropriate. Thanks to AFT-UTNO’s willingness to back up the concerns of teachers and parents, the educational climate at Einstein has improved. We were proud to assist teachers and parents who felt they had nowhere else to turn.
Sources
Charles S. Clark, “Charter Schools,” CQ Researcher, a publication of Congressional Quarterly, Dec. 20, 2002.
Chester E. Finn Jr., Bruno V. Manno and Gregg Vanourek, Charter Schools in Action: Renewing Public Education, 2nd edition, Princeton University Press, 2001.
“The State of Public Education in New Orleans,” a report to the Greater New Orleans Education Foundation prepared by the Boston Consulting Group, June 2007.
“Union-Run Charter Schools Show What Works,” New York Teacher, October 19, 2006, see: http://www.nysut.org/cps/rde/xchg/nysut/hs.xsl/newyorkteacher_5175.htm
