“Isn’t that an oxymoron?” one conferee asked Klein when he saw the badge and realized she belonged to a charter school built not just with union participation, but with union sponsorship through the AFT-affiliated United Federation of Teachers. The man obviously had bought the argument that charter schools and unions don’t mix, that the marriage would only weaken the professional voice of teachers and turn the school into a “factory floor.”

Now it was Klein’s turn to raise an eyebrow.

As a teacher at the UFT Charter School, “you know you’re able to make professional decisions,” Klein says. Personal experience had taught her that the worn argument—that unions would compromise the charter school educational mission—was laughable. In fact, the union and the contract that Klein works under have helped institutionalize a climate that encourages teachers to take the lead.

“This is not a classic top-down approach,” seconds colleague Lorraine Scarsone, a reading teacher at the charter school who also heads the school’s teacher center, a UFT-pioneered concept in on-site professional development for teachers. Union involvement has helped put teachers at the center of decision-making. And it shows, she adds, in everything from the charter school’s differentiated instruction model, which uses two teachers in every classroom, to the emphasis on parental involvement and consistent student discipline.

The contract has promoted regular times for staff to meet, and has encouraged teachers to fully and frankly participate in areas like staffing, curriculum and discipline. It’s provided new professional development opportunities. It’s guaranteed that they will be fairly compensated for the long hours they put in. And it’s allowed staff to accept the challenge of opening a school without forgoing strong health and pension benefits.

The union-charter partnership “is rolling out quite naturally,” Scarsone says. “Teachers have a voice here, without a doubt.”

It’s a collaboration that’s working well on both sides, says Rita Danis, instructional leader for the school. Danis would wear the “principal” hat at most other schools, but the instructional leader title helps convey the emphasis that the UFT Charter School puts on collegiality and shared decision-making. The UFT relationship and the collective bargaining contract in place for teachers “gives you the framework” for that type of professional climate.

So how is it working?

Danis recently went from room to room at the school, asking teachers if they planned to return for the 2006-07 year. At a time when high staff turnover is one of the biggest problems facing charter schools nationwide, Danis says she was heartened by the results of her informal poll. “Everyone so far wants to come back, which is really exciting,” the school leader says. The school is not only a full-scale commitment to the children and the community, “it’s also an investment in teachers,” she adds.

Truth is, neither Danis nor the other 17 teachers at the UFT Charter School spend a lot of time obsessing over their “special union role.” After all, they’ve got a school to run.

Housed in the wing of a city junior high school, the UFT Charter School serves almost 150 students in a low- to middle-income Brooklyn neighborhood. That number will increase next year and in the years to follow, as the school adds one additional grade each academic year.

As the 2005-06 year was drawing to a close, Danis and other teachers were busy interviewing a bumper crop of candidates for new school positions.

And then there’s the limelight. The school has played host to a variety of visitors in recent weeks. It was the focus of an Education Week profile and recently won a $1 million grant from the Broad Foundation to help build on the model. The UFT also has plans to open a second charter school for grades 6-12 next fall.

Liza Carfora, a kindergarten teacher at the charter school and the UFT’s chapter leader, has seen tremendous growth since the team was assembled last fall. Collective bargaining helped, she says, since it assured people that it was OK to take risks and speak their minds about ways to improve.