The Pembroke Pines schools are the first charters in Florida to unionize. “This vote is historic,” says BTU president and AFT vice president Pat Santeramo. “It shows that charter school teachers and staff recognize that unions must continue to be partners in Broward’s educational system.”

AFT president Edward J. McElroy says the national union “believes all teachers deserve an opportunity to bargain collectively for fair salaries, benefits and greater input in making the charter schools of Pembroke Pines schools of excellence. This vote makes that possible.”

Last summer, the BTU attempted to gain representation for the charter staff after more than half of them signed authorization cards, but the Pembroke Pines City Commission insisted on an election. Without access to the schools, the BTU used a strategy focused on home visits, including visits by BTU activists who lived in the same communities as the charter teachers. The strong “yes” vote showed the strength of the union’s campaign, despite  efforts by the charter school management to convince staff they didn’t need a union.

“Our hope has always been that by negotiating a contract, we will be able to give all teachers a voice so our schools remain great not only today, but long into the future,” says Grace Thomas, a Pembroke Pines third-grade teacher. Adds fellow charter school teacher Khea Davis, “With a union, we will have greater access to high-quality professional development courses, the latest resources and a massive network of other education professionals.”

The Florida educators join charter school teachers in Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island who have chosen the AFT as their representative. In addition, the United Federation of Teachers in New York City runs two charter schools.

A school grows in Brooklyn
Lights, camera, action: Union charter school documented in new film

A screening of “Climbing to the Crest,” a documentary about the United Federation of Teachers Elementary Charter School in New York City, was co-hosted by the AFT and UFT in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 17. The 35-minute film chronicles a day in the life of the first union-operated charter school in the country—a school the UFT hopes will serve as a model of education excellence and teacher professionalism.

UFT president and AFT vice president Randi Weingarten said the union used the city’s chartering process to show that it could put together a school, based on a collaborative relationship with parents and teachers, which uses best practices and honors the collective bargaining agreement. Located in the East New York section of Brooklyn, the school opened in September 2005 with kindergarten and first grade. Today, students through grade 3 are enrolled, and eventually the school will expand to the fifth grade. (UFT opened a secondary-level charter school in fall 2006.)

Following the screening, a panel discussion was held featuring Weingarten, Jim Shelton from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Andy Rotherham from the Education Sector, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan education-policy think tank.

Because the teachers at the charter school are covered by the UFT contract, they are able to take risks and to create an environment that respects teachers and parents, Weingarten said.

Noting that parents are eager for more choices in education, Rotherham applauded the UFT for responding to that challenge. Ongoing changes in education, he asserted, “will change the role of teachers unions.”

“Climbing to the Crest” is directed by Barbara Malmet, a New York University  professor and documentary filmmaker.

For more details or to get a copy of the DVD, call 212/777-7500 and request information on UFT charter school film.

Parent and public concern about student discipline and achievement have helped to create “a gathering storm,” said AFT executive vice president Antonia Cortese, adding that one of the ways to debunk the myth that the union is an obstacle to reform is by continuing to put forth ideas for improving student achievement.

“There are issues where we share concerns with some of our critics,” she said. “The difference is that we have different solutions.”

Cortese outlined a plan that includes concrete ways to increase support for teacher quality, most notably in hard-to-staff schools, and provide all students with a rich, diverse curriculum. The AFT agenda also calls for stronger efforts to ensure that all children can read and to make all schools safe and orderly places in which to learn.

Cortese also noted that these are the kinds of issues that our members want addressed. They want the union to play a leading role in dealing with the problems their kids and schools face.

Among the challenges Cortese raised  was the need to articulate these priorities in a way that resonates with members, parents and the public—and provides our political allies with credible positions they can use and defend.

The plan was received favorably by council members, a number of whom said the focus should be on providing appropriate support to children in poverty.

The education agenda is expected to be discussed further at the AFT Teachers program and policy council meeting in early March.

Friends in high places

It should not be a surprise then that some AFT members, including classroom teachers, faculty and government employees, are taking their public service to the next level—elected office.

When state legislatures convened this year, there were current and former AFT members on the roll call, including Wisconsin’s new Senate majority leader Judy Robson, a former nursing instructor at Blackhawk Technical College in Janesville.

Altogether, there are six current and former AFT members serving in the Wisconsin Legislature, including Robson. The others are state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout and state Reps. Spencer Black, Kim Hixson, Cory Mason (a former AFT-Wisconsin staff member) and Barbara Toles.

Montana MEA-MFT member Doug Cordier, elected to the Montana House in November, joined 11 of his MEA-MFT brothers and sisters in the Legislature: Reps. Elsie Artnzen, Gary Branae, Jill Cohenour, Robyn Driscoll, Ron Erickson, Wande Grinde, Robin Hamilton, John Parker, Holly Raser and Veronica Small-Eastman, and state Sen. Sam Kitzenberg. MEA-MFT is the merged AFT-NEA state federation.

Keith Fitzgerald and Bill Heller, both members of the United Faculty of Florida, an AFT Higher Education local, were successful in their races for the Florida House.

And in Ohio, Toledo Federation of Teachers member Teresa Fedor is leading state Senate Democrats this year as minority leader.