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KIPP UNIONIZES.
When people talk education reform, and the promises of charter schools, they tend to talk about the KIPP family of schools. And one of the key ingredients of KIPP, we're told, is their excellent teachers, who are treated as professionals, something that teacher's unions simply don't allow. But now the teachers at KIPP's Brooklyn charter have unionized.
A super-majority of the KIPP AMP teaching faculty has signed authorization cards for 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 afternoon, 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...The letter stressed that the decision to organize was directly connected to the teachers’ commitment to their students. “[A] 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.
“We organized to make sure teachers had a voice, and could speak their minds on educational matters without fearing for their job,” says KIPP AMP teacher Luisa Bonifacio.
“For us,” KIPP AMP teacher Emily Fernandez explains, “unionization is ultimately all about student achievement, and the ability of teachers to best serve students at this crucial middle school time in their education.”
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. “There is a need to make the teacher position more sustainable,” says Bonifacio, “so that teachers don’t burn out, but are able to make a long-term commitment to the students and the school.”
KIPP's instructors are among the best in the nation. KIPP gets the hype, and so they get the applicants, and so they get to choose the very best teachers. And these teachers want a union. Which makes their letter a useful read. Opponents of teachers unions give a lot of attention to tenure battles, and as such, tend to associate unions with incompetent teachers. But it's often the opposite. Here, you have a bright, young teaching staff advocating for a union. They clearly don't think it will detract from their professionalism. But they do think it will give them more of an occupational voice and allow them put in place structures that will ease the burnout and calm the rapid turnover rate, which isn't good for the school or the students.
This, incidentally, will now mean that three of four KIPP campuses have teachers unions.
COMMENTS (28)
Let's see if this works...
Posted by: James F. Elliott | January 13, 2009 2:53 PM
People who frame unions as merely a method by which to prevent the firing of incompetent teachers miss the fact that it is often some of the brightest teachers that need the most protection from unwarranted termination, as they are most likely to voice their opinions and speak out on behalf of the students. In other words, they are more likely to cause a stir.
Of course, this is based entirely on personal experience working in a small urban public school. I do not have any data to back it up.
I would also agree that unions help protect against burnout, which is a very big problem, especially in places like kipp schools that require an 80-plus hour weekly committment from their teachers (with real working hours probably approaching 100 for many of the most motivated). A high turnover rate - even with a continuous supply of very bright teachers - cannot produce a stable, productive school environment.
Posted by: Kiril | January 13, 2009 3:06 PM
I don't understand the math on the number of KIPP NYC schools that are unionized. KIPP AMP and KIPP in the Bronx equal two - what's the third?
Posted by: Socrates | January 13, 2009 4:38 PM
"Let's see if this works..."
I hear stuff like that all the time, but what exactly does that mean? Keep in mind that the role of the teacher's union first and foremost is NOT to contribute to a child's education, but to fight for the rights and better compensation of their members. Thats not to say that a teacher's union should stand in the way of improving education and I would argue that they very rarely do, though they make for a convenient target for conservatives and an unfortunate amount of liberals to pin failure on.
But at the end of the day, unionization "working" in this instance will mean improving the compensation of their members and protecting their rights in the workplace. Thats how it should be. Education is important, but so too is it important that the people who work in education live a decent life, not just because it makes for better education (which it does,) but also because they are people who are every bit as worthy of a comfortable life as a lawyer, factory worker, etc.
Posted by: Matt | January 13, 2009 7:21 PM
i don't get it. KIPP is supposed to be, like, the most set of awesome schools in the country. so how come they can't build a decent culture such that teachers don't feel the need to unionize? lots of companies do it (exemplar example, google). What's so weird and messed up with the schools?
Posted by: raft | January 13, 2009 8:23 PM
Also KIPP has way more than four campuses... like 66.
Posted by: Danny | January 13, 2009 9:30 PM
KIPP Infinity is already technically a member of the UFT (though they don't often admit unless it is convenient - like when we post high test scores - and they criticize us in their "newspaper" whenever they get a chance).
The UFT called several teachers at KIPP Infinity a few months back to get us riled up to begin negotiating and to my knowledge, no one even cared enough to even call back (I certainly didn't). Unionizing the "UFT way" wasn't really an option for teachers who know what that bureaucratic nightmare entails.
In addition, turnover is incredibly low (I don't know a single person that has ever quit) at KIPP Infinity and for good reason - the culture and the leadership under Joe Negron are far better than any regular public school at which any of us has ever been employed.
Our school already is technically part of the UFT (for purposes of health care and pension), though our only official commitments are to each other and the students, not to the UFT. We've never negotiated a legal contract with their assistance.
I suspect that the UFT is employing a tactic here to get the conversation started and push for KIPP's inclusion in the UFT so they can claim that somehow unionization is responsible for our success.
In order to do that, they will dishonestly use the fact that we USE the UFT for the health/pension benefits (a decision made in 2005 by the then large staff of 5, mind you) as if we have expressed in 2009 a supermajority desire to negotiate a contract.
Posted by: Teacher at KIPP Infinity | January 13, 2009 11:01 PM
Now, I'm confused. Sounds like they aren't going union.
Posted by: Les | January 14, 2009 12:08 PM
There is no evidence that "KIPP's instructors are among the best in the nation," in any meaningful way. Their value can't be separated from the context of their school. How do you know how a young KIPP teacher compares to a veteran public school teacher who succeeds in the midst of a disfunctional system? You don't.
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I know this discussion is old, but I felt the need to comment. As a teacher that has quit her KIPP job, did not work at KIPP Infinity and did not have the same administrative support, I can honestly say that KIPP teachers, as a whole, are-- without fail-- some of the most dedicated, hard working, selfless individuals working in the school system. So, comparisons aside, KIPP schools are pulling teachers from a talented pool.
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