Great River staff union reaches first contract with St. Paul charter

September 26, 2023 by

Two years after voting to form a union with Education Minnesota, the teachers, support staff and other frontline workers of Great River School in St. Paul entered the 2023-24 school year with a first union contract in place.

Representatives of the Great River School Union and the charter school district drafted the agreement in bargaining over the course of about 18 months.

GRSU spokesperson Abby Mesnik, a high school math teacher, said the contract delivers on many objectives Great River employees had in mind when they sought a union election in May 2021, including pay transparency and greater stability in their benefits and work rules.

“People wanted some things in writing,” Mesnik said, noting that Great River was on the cusp of a leadership change during the union drive. “It wasn’t that they were necessarily unhappy with the current practices, but they wanted it preserved, and they wanted some consistency in what working in the school looked like. And I think the contract does that.”

Mesnik credited school administrators for taking a collaborative approach to negotiations. The district even brought in its own pro-union consultant to better understand the process and its staff members’ perspectives.

“We brought a draft of the contract that was very pro-union, and we just negotiated from that draft,” Mesnik said. “They never brought us their own version that we would try to reach a middle on; we would just make edits to ours.”

The contract covers about 120 employees at the Montessori charter school, which serves students in grades 1 through 12. GRSU is a “wall-to-wall” union, meaning teachers are in the same bargaining unit as support staff and even student workers, potentially.

That created a bargaining dynamic that’s unique in public education.

“We could not be separated in bargaining for funds,” Mesnik said. “We’re not just trying to move teachers up or just trying to move support staff up. We all rise together.”

The new contract puts every position covered by the unit into one of three pay scales, ensuring greater transparency and equity, Mesnik added.

“Now we can clearly track down what step and what lane people are on, what salary scale goes with which position,” she said. “Previously, there were not clear raises for folks. Some people were getting 5%, some were getting 2%, some knew to go talk to their boss and ask for a certain amount. Now there’s clarity.”

Other highlights of the contract include new incentives for advanced training in some positions, language around paid-time-off rollover, and a new independent retirement savings benefit, with an employer match after one year.

The contract also spells out for the first time what constitutes a working day and how many working days there are in Great River’s school year.

GRSU is one of five charter school unions in Minnesota. Teachers at the Twin Cities German Immersion School in St. Paul formed the state’s first charter school union in 2014.

Charter schools are publicly funded but exempt from some state laws in order to increase flexibility, autonomy and innovation. Minnesota is considered the birthplace of charter schools, having passed a first-in-the-nation law establishing their framework in 1991. Now, 180 charter schools serve about 76,000 pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade students statewide.

Mesnik said she and other GRSU activists often get asked by fellow union educators what it’s like to bargain a contract from scratch.

“I tell them it takes a lot of effort from a lot of people,” she said. “But it’s really exciting to join the labor movement and take power back as workers. We have a lot of power collectively, and it’s really cool to be on the other side with a contract and be able to say that these things are enforceable.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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Educators frustrated by plan to uproot St. Paul students

October 15, 2021 by

Art teacher Lindsay Walker greeted returning students at Benjamin E. Mays elementary school with sidewalk chalk and confetti in one of several back-to-school celebrations staged by members of the St. Paul Federation of Educators last month.

Plans to close five schools in St. Paul and merge or consolidate 10 others drew a swift rebuke from union educators, who called the proposal heavy handed, shortsighted and disruptive to students and families.

Members of the St. Paul school board received the recommendations, generated through a realignment process called Envision SPPS, from district administrators during a special meeting Oct. 11.

The board is scheduled to take action on the proposals Nov. 16.

Officials can expect to hear plenty of public response before then, members of the St. Paul Federation of Educators said, after not doing enough to engage the community while putting together the plan.

First-grade teacher Annaka Larson said Envision SPPS working groups never convened a meeting with stakeholders at Wellstone Elementary, where she teaches in the Spanish dual immersion program. Staff were stunned to find out the school was among those slated to be closed.

“The idea that you would make a decision about the bilingual program without consulting teachers, without consulting families? It’s incredibly frustrating. We worked so hard to build that program,” Larson said.

Seeking the ‘correct alignment’

If the school board approves the Envision SPPS recommendations, Wellstone and four other elementary schools – Highwood Hills, Jackson, John A. Johnson and Obama – would close before the start of next school year. Obama would reopen as a magnet school after a remodeling project.

LEAP High School would also close next fall, and 10 other schools, mostly elementary, would merge or consolidate programming. Most of the impacted schools share a low “utilization rate,” meaning their enrollments fall well below their building capacities, compared to other schools in the district.

Administrators justified the upheaval as necessary to ensure students have access to specialists and enrichment opportunities, which smaller schools can’t always afford. Jackie Turner, SPPS’s chief of operations, pitched the plan to board members as a step toward right-sizing the district’s programming with its declining enrollment – a key factor in state and federal funding formulas.

“We need to make sure we have correct alignment,” Turner said.

Where’s the plan to grow?

Birth rates are declining in St. Paul. So, too, is the district’s “capture rate,” or the share of school-age children residing in the district who enroll in SPPS schools. In the 2012-13 school year, SPPS drew 67% of eligible students. It has since fallen closer to 60%.

But educators worry that uprooting hundreds of students – and drastically changing the learning environments of hundreds more – will prompt more families to consider open enrollment in another district or a charter school, draining more funds from SPPS and, ultimately, leading to another realignment down the road.

“I don’t think they’ve considered how these changes might push families further away,” said Peter Ratzloff, a science teacher at Galtier Community School, where students will relocate to Hamline Elementary as part of a merger.

Educators, Ratzloff said, want a plan to bring students back to SPPS, while it seems administrators “are just looking to make the numbers work.”

A step away from equity

The proposed realignment also raised equity concerns. SPFE President Leah VanDassor said Envision SPPS would leave programming in the city’s predominantly white neighborhoods mostly intact, while the East Side and West Side neighborhoods would see big disruptions.

“These buildings that are closing are the buildings that have, specifically, not been funded over the years, and now they’re being closed,” she said. “Chronic underfunding has brought us to where we are, and so has lack of foresight about how charter schools would impact our district.”

Those concerns have been echoed by labor-endorsed candidates for school board this fall: James Farnsworth, Halla Henderson, Clayton Howatt and Uriah Ward.

“If we accept this an equity issue, consolidating is a step away from that goal,” said Ward, a financial aid counselor at Augsburg University, during a candidate forum sponsored by SPFE this fall.

“There’s nothing equitable about shuffling students and closing schools,” added Henderson, a policy director at the MN Alliance with Youth. “When we’re taking resources away from our communities, all we’re doing is continuing to disenfranchise and defund communities that desperately need those resources.”

Farnsworth, a graduate of the district who works as director of the Highland Business Association, criticized the district for failing to work in partnership with staff and families on Envision SPPS.

“Families deserve upmost transparency,” he said. “The biggest thing that’s missing is any sort of real engagement structure in this.”

Howatt, a PTO president who works in construction, said the district needs a plan to increase enrollment, and it must include dealing with charter schools directly. He supports pushing a moratorium on new charters while experts study their impact.

“While SPPS is looking at closing elementary schools, two more charter schools are slated to open next year and another two or three the year after,” Howatt said. “This system of taking a limited amount of resources – our students, our tax dollars – and spreading it thinner and thinner, it makes no common sense.”

‘Mad and fired up’

Still, it’s likely decisions about Envision SPPS proposals will be made before new board members take office.

Educators and families, meanwhile, were already planning to push back at virtual public information sessions, scheduled by the district Oct. 26 and Nov. 8 from 6 to 7:30 p.m., and at listening sessions at the district office, 360 Colborne Ave., from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28 and Nov. 11.

After the initial shock of learning Wellstone could close, Larson said, staff members’ mood soon changed to “extremely mad and fired up.”

“There was a meeting for families that I listened into, and families were confused and angry as well,” she added. “Wellstone is such a welcoming place. We have a very diverse student body and a diverse group of educators. I don’t understand why the district would want to mess that up.”

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Staff announce union drives at two Twin Cities charter schools

May 4, 2021 by

Teachers from Great River and Hiawatha announce their union campaigns during a video conference with Education Minnesota.

Staff at two Twin Cities charter schools kicked off Teacher Appreciation Week earlier this month by filing for recognition of their unions.

Teachers, paraprofessionals and support staff from Great River School in St. Paul and Hiawatha Academies in Minneapolis went public with their campaigns after filing signed authorization cards with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), triggering the union-election process.

“We are all incredibly proud and honored to be working with the amazing staff, families and students who really make our school run,” said Janiru Herath, a teacher at Hiawatha College Prep – Kingfield. “Through unionizing, we can have a seat at the table in which the decision-making process includes all voices.”

About 70% of workers eligible for the bargaining units signed authorization cards, according to Education Minnesota, the union of 89,000 education workers statewide, which is supporting both organizing drives.

The bargaining units would bring together as many as 122 school employees at Great River and 202 at Hiawatha.

Employees at both schools pushed administrators and board members to recognize their unions voluntarily, hoping to bypass the NLRB and get to work on first collective bargaining agreements that will strengthen their learning communities – but to no avail.

Instead, Great River staff members are scheduled to vote June 3 in person. Voting at Hiawatha will take place by mail, with ballots set to be counted June 8.

A bridge to support students

In a discussion streamed live on Education Minnesota’s Facebook page during Teacher Appreciation Week, Herath and other union supporters laid out their reasons for pursuing a collective voice at their schools. Each of the speakers said a union would increase staff members’ power to advocate for themselves and their students.

Great River’s Sarah Garton likened forming a union to building a bridge between staff and the school’s administration, so the two groups work together better. That would only benefit students, Hiawatha’s Tory Waggoner agreed.

“Students are the center of every- thing we do,” Waggoner said. “By prioritizing the voice of the people who work most closely with them, we can improve student outcomes and increase the satisfaction of workers as well.”

Growth at the schools has factored into workers’ decision to organize, too. Since the school’s founding in 2007, Hiawatha has expanded from a

single elementary campus into a net- work of one elementary school, two middle schools and one high school. Great River, a first- through 12th-grade Montessori school on Energy Park Drive, also has grown in recent years.

Great River teacher Nadine McNiff said growth is an opportunity “to expand what is working and improve what isn’t,” and a having a union will ensure staff members are part of that process.

“One thing that’s really important is continuity and foundation,” McNiff said. “Especially through a time of growth and changes at Great River, a union offers support for those things.”

Staff members at Great River, McNiff added, strive to create “space and structures that give students agency and voice.” And what better way to model that work than by forming a union?

“Our hopes are that unionizing and having that consistency in place, having that stability in place, can really help with maintaining working conditions that can feel supportive to workers, so they can focus and really invest their energies and thoughts on connections with students,” McNiff said.

Unions gaining favor

Charter schools are publicly funded but exempt from some state laws in order to increase flexibility, autonomy and innovation.

Minnesota is considered the birth- place of charter schools, having passed a first-in-the-nation law establishing their framework in 1991. Now, 168 charter schools serve about 68,000 pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade students statewide.

Teachers at the Twin Cities German Immersion School in St. Paul formed the state’s first charter-school union in 2014. Currently, Education Minnesota represents four bargaining units at three charter schools.

– Updated May 5, 2021, with reporting on NLRB election dates.

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After tumultuous month, staff at St. Paul charter school near first contract

June 23, 2016 by
Backed by members of her union, CSE kindergarten teacher Meaghan McMillen addressed school board members after being informed her position would not be renewed.

Backed by members of her union, CSE kindergarten teacher Meaghan McMillen addressed school board members after being informed her position would not be renewed.

 

Earlier this month, teachers at Community School of Excellence in St. Paul pushed back against administrators’ plan to cut classroom programming and lay off personnel, including most members of the fledgling staff union’s bargaining team.

Now, not only have several programs been taken off the chopping block, but members of the Federation of Charter School Employees will vote soon on a tentative agreement for a first contract.

“Things, as of now, certainly seem to be moving in the right direction,” said union spokesperson Aaron Porzelius, a kindergarten teacher at CSE.

That’s a dramatic improvement from where things stood June 8, when 50 teachers and aides at CSE were notified they would not return next school year. Among them were four members of the union’s five-person negotiating team.

With support from Education Minnesota, the statewide educators’ union, CSE teachers and staff mobilized quickly to put pressure on administrators to reverse the cuts, which included elimination of the curriculum for English-language learners – a puzzling move, considering CSE’s focus on serving the Hmong community.

“The educators of CSE have been working for years to build a school that serves the special needs of its community,” local union president Blythe Inners said. “More than three quarters of our students are English language learners, and we’re proud of their progress.”

CSE staff and supporters packed the school's June 9 board meeting.

CSE staff and supporters packed the school’s June 9 board meeting.

Staff packed the CSE school board’s meeting June 9, imploring board members to consider the impact proposed cuts – combined with increased staff turnover – would have on students.

“With 50 CSE staff members losing jobs, is that the kind of change needed for our students?” Porzelius said at the board meeting. Rather than replace existing staff with inexperienced newcomers, he urged board members to “continue to invest in these teachers and you will see those test scores rise.”

Within three weeks, CSE administrators had reinstated the ELL program and several staffing positions, including one classroom teacher who was let go. Further teacher reinstatements, Porzelius said, were potentially in the works.

Meanwhile, the staff union’s negotiating team reached a tentative agreement with CSE on a first contract June 19, after negotiations extended into the early-morning hours. Union members will take a ratification vote before July 5.

It’s a big accomplishment for members of the CSE staff union. About 100 employees voted two years ago to join the Federation of Charter School Employees, an affiliate of Education Minnesota, but school administrators dragged out negotiations and refused to respect employees’ decision to unionize.

web.CSE-groupThe school drew a stiff rebuke from the National Labor Relations Board last year for retaliating against union supporters with disciplinary actions, and in January the NLRB’s regional director dismissed an attempt by CSE to decertify the union, citing a “tainted” atmosphere.

Administrators finally got serious about negotiations after the school lost its authorizing organization, Concordia University. All Minnesota charter schools must have the backing of a legal authorizer, and CSE has until July 1 to find a new one or it must close.

Fortunately for CSE teachers and staff, the school’s best hope for opening at all next year is the Minnesota Guild, a charter-authorizing organization sponsored by the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers. The Guild’s governing board includes current and former local union presidents, who probably do not look kindly on layoffs targeting union activists.

“The school is still trying to work things out with the Guild,” Porzelius said. “But having this labor contract and reinstating staff will help.”

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Staff cuts at embattled St. Paul charter school target union leaders

June 8, 2016 by
Community School of Excellence is a charter school focused on Hmong language and culture in St. Paul's North End.

Community School of Excellence is a charter school focused on Hmong language and culture in St. Paul’s North End.

A St. Paul charter school’s campaign to deny employees a voice on the job reached a new low yesterday, when administrators announced a wave of staff cuts eliminating several key areas of classroom programming and decimating the union’s bargaining team.

The number of teachers and support staff let go remains in flux, union leaders said this morning, but at least 22 teachers and all 30 aides at the Community School of Excellence have been told they will not return next school year. Among them are four members of the union’s five-person negotiating team.

“We had finally been making some progress at the negotiating table, with a number of (issues) tentatively agreed upon,” said Blythe Inners, president of the bargaining unit, whose job teaching English language learners was among the cuts. “But this move by the administration certainly appears aimed at slowing that down.”

Inners said teachers and staff members are holding out hope that administrators will reverse the cuts and do what’s necessary to save the school they helped to establish. Staff and supporters plan a show of solidarity at tonight’s school board meeting, scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. at 170 Rose Ave. W. 

“The educators of CSE have been working for years to build a school that serves the special needs of its community,” Inners said. “More than three quarters of our students are English language learners and we’re proud of their progress. We’re willing to keep fighting to provide the education our students need to thrive.”

CSE, located in the North End, delivers a curriculum focused on Hmong language and culture. About 100 teachers and other staff members voted two years ago to join the Federation of Charter School Employees, an affiliate of Education Minnesota.

Since then, school administrators have dragged out negotiations of a first contract and refused to respect employees’ decision to unionize.

The school drew a stiff rebuke from the National Labor Relations Board last year for retaliating against union supporters with disciplinary actions, and in January the NLRB’s regional director dismissed an attempt by CSE to decertify the union, citing a “tainted” atmosphere.

The current wave of layoffs, Education Minnesota President Denise Specht said, is an indication that CSE hasn’t changed its ways.

“We’re shocked a school would decimate its curriculum to punish its employees for exercising their right to bargain collectively,” Specht said. “It’s appalling that a school for an immigrant community would deny its students access to dedicated teachers of English language learners, gifted and talented programs, educational support staff and media specialists.”

CSE’s troubles prompted its original authorizing organization, Concordia University, to drop the school. All Minnesota charter schools must have the backing of a legal authorizer, and if CSE does not find a new one by July 1, it will be forced to close.

Ironically, CSE’s best hope for opening at all next year may be with the Minnesota Guild, a charter-authorizing organization sponsored by the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers. The Guild’s governing board includes current and former local union presidents, who are unlikely to look kindly on layoffs targeting union activists.

“We urge the administrators of the Community School of Excellence to reconsider these foolish and vindictive staff cuts and save their school,” Specht said. “The more than 86,000 members of Education Minnesota are standing behind the educators of CSE today. We will help them save their school, which they helped build with dedication and caring. But if the school cannot be saved from the destructive decisions of its current leaders, we will be there to assist our colleagues in the next stages of their careers.”

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In victory for staff, charter acknowledges workers’ union rights – in three languages

October 6, 2015 by
Community School of Excellence is a charter school focused on Hmong language and culture in St. Paul's North End.

Community School of Excellence is a charter school focused on Hmong language and culture in St. Paul’s North End.

Staff at Community School of Excellence in St. Paul, still fighting for a first contract more than a year after organizing their union, have compelled Superintendent Mo Chang to acknowledge her administration infringed on workers’ legally protected rights on the job.

The admission comes in a notice to all employees, signed by Chang, affirming CSE employees’ legally protected rights to union representation and to engage in collective action for better wages and working conditions.

Posted Friday in English, Hmong and Karenni, the notice (view PDF) reiterates for staff members of all cultural backgrounds “that the federal government and the National Labor Relations Act are advocating for them,” CSE teacher Eric Johnson said.

CSE, located in St. Paul’s North End neighborhood, is a charter school focused on Hmong language and culture. About 100 teachers and other staff members voted in June 2014 to join the Federation of Charter School Employees, an affiliate of Education Minnesota.

“I don’t know many other situations where you’ve got notices like this to employees in these specific Southeast Asian languages,” Johnson added. “It’s a step forward in educating a variety of immigrant groups about how unionization can help them.”

CSE agreed to post the notice as part of a settlement agreement stemming from charges of unfair labor practices filed by CSE employees last winter. The Minneapolis regional office of the National Labor Relations Board approved the settlement last month.

The notice references interactions between workers and management last school year, after employees voted to unionize, and it provides a glimpse into the backlash workers faced for publicly supporting the organizing drive. For example:

“We will not threaten employees that their comments are appalling because they exercise their right to discuss or protest working conditions with employees, or because they publicize labor disputes at meetings with third parties.”

As part of the settlement, CSE agreed to “engage in further training” on workers’ rights under federal law, provided by the Minneapolis branch of the NLRB. And the district rescinded disciplinary actions against four pro-union employees, including Johnson, who is now president of the Federation of Charter School Employees.

“Because a lot of the events coincided with unionization, including reprimands of union leadership, we felt these things were all just too coincidental and seemed to be retaliatory,” Johnson said. “But as a union these issues now have been resolved, and we look forward to negotiating a first contract with the school.”

The two sides have held six negotiating sessions, and they plan to meet regularly until reaching a tentative agreement, according to Johnson.

CSE is one of two unionized charter schools in St. Paul. Teachers at the Twin Cities German Immersion School, who voted for union representation in January 2014, approved a first contract earlier this school year.

When union members at CSE have a tentative agreement of their own to vote on, Johnson said, “we’ll continue to legitimize charter school unions in Minnesota.”

Filed Under: Organizing Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Turnover Problems: Union staff want charter-school board to address ‘revolving door’

February 16, 2015 by
Teachers and staff wore matching blue shirts with gold stars on the back and the text "because our WORKING environment is the students' LEARNING environment" to the CSE board's Jan. 21 meeting. (submitted photo)

Teachers and staff wore matching blue shirts with gold stars on the back and the text “because our WORKING environment is the students’ LEARNING environment” to the CSE board’s Jan. 21 meeting. (submitted photo)

After another third-grade teacher at the Community School of Excellence in St. Paul “got fed up with some of the disrespect” and resigned last October, Eric Johnson saw the number of students in his classroom swell from 22 to 31.

“The third-grade teachers, we agreed we’d absorb the kids,” Johnson said. “It’s better than the alternative – getting somebody who’s not the best teacher who we have to help teach our curriculum.

“But it’s not in the best interest of the kids at all.”

Johnson, vice president of the Education Minnesota Federation of Charter School Employees, was among roughly 30 staff members who showed up at a Jan. 21 meeting of CSE’s board of directors to register their concerns about the high rate of staff turnover at CSE, a 900-student school, located at Rice Street and Rose Avenue, that focuses on Hmong language and culture.

After a vote held last June, CSE teachers and support staff became the just the second group of charter school employees to unionize in Minnesota history. Negotiations on a first contract remain in the preliminary stages.

But by speaking up en masse about the turnover problem, Johnsons said, CSE staff put administrators on notice that they remain committed to winning a voice on the job.

Speaking up at the meeting “took guts,” Johnson said. “Especially with some of the intimidation that’s going on at the school, it’s hard to get people to participate in this stuff because of that track record of the past.”

Fourth-grade teacher Bong Xiong, second from right, was active in efforts to organize a staff union at CSE. He was fired over the winter break.

Fourth-grade teacher Bong Xiong, second from right, was active in efforts to organize a staff union at CSE. He was fired over the winter break.

‘A revolving door’

Most of the staff turnover at CSE this school year has been voluntary. Staff members and parents at the Jan. 21 meeting urged board members to investigate why the school has trouble retraining – and attracting – qualified staff.

Meanwhile, the turnover has continued. Two days after the board meeting, two middle-school teachers resigned, bringing the total number of resignations this school year to seven, Johnson said.

Fourth-grade teacher Bong Xiong, who was active in efforts to form a staff union at CSE, was terminated over the winter break.

All eight former staff members were “qualified people that a school like this really needs to have around to improve the achievement of the students,” Johnson said.

But high turnover rates “are not unusual for this school – and that’s the problem,” he added. “It’s a revolving door.”

Why? An outside investigation, initiated by state regulators in 2013, provided a glimpse of the work environment at CSE. In addition to confirming reports of financial and procedural mismanagement at the school, the investigation revealed an incident in which Superintendent Mo Chang disclosed the identity of a teacher who reported to authorities suspicions of child abuse at home.

Staff members described a culture of fear within the school, plagued by instability and poor communication, as a motivating factor in their successful organizing campaign last year.

Recruiting qualified applicants to CSE has been difficult as well, Johnson said.

“If a qualified candidate is going to go out on a limb with a charter school, they want to see what’s going on at the school,” he said. “I would imagine some of these questionable ethical activities come up on a Google search, and I would assume that has something to do with why we’re having a hard time recruiting qualified candidates.”

Kids suffer

Whatever its cause, the high level of staff turnover at CSE isn’t good for the students’ learning environment, teachers, parents and community members told board members. They asked board members to look for answers to the school’s turnover problems by reviewing exit interviews conducted with outgoing staff.

“We know for a fact some of the people who have left have done exit interviews” with administrators, Johnson said. “We’re asking the board to do their own inquiry, without an agenda, of why so many people working here are less than happy.

“Finding the answer to this problem isn’t tough. It’s what are you going to do with the answers you find? That’s the tough part.”

Filed Under: Union Events Tagged With: , , , ,

Staff at two St. Paul charter schools are back to school, union strong

September 25, 2014 by
More than 100 teachers and support staff at Community School of Excellence in St. Paul voted to form a union with Education Minnesota last June. Activists in the union drive included (L to R) Mee Yang, Casey Seeling, Bong Xiong and Billie Yang.

More than 100 teachers and support staff at Community School of Excellence in St. Paul voted to form a union with Education Minnesota last June. Activists in the union drive included (L to R) Mee Yang, Casey Seeling, Bong Xiong and Billie Yang.

 

The state that introduced charter school legislation to the country has its first union of charter-school employees, as teachers from two St. Paul schools returned to the classroom this fall as members of Education Minnesota.

About two dozen teachers at Twin Cities German Immersion School, a K-8th grade charter located at 1031 Como Ave., voted in January to form a union. Five months later, more than 100 staff members at Community School of Excellence, a K-8, Hmong-culture charter on Rice Street and Rose Avenue, did the same.

By voting to unionize, TCGIS and CSE educators and support staff gave the Federation of Charter School Employees its first two chapters – but hopefully not its last, Federation President Susan Johnson said.

Susan Johnson

Susan Johnson

“We felt really proud, like we were pioneers,” she said. “As we continue to grow, it will give charter-school teachers an opportunity to network, exchange ideas and collaborate.”

First, each chapter of the new federation must negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with its employer, work that will begin this fall. Members spent the summer electing negotiations committees and learning the nuts and bolts of collective bargaining.

“It’s not going to be a fast process, we know that,” Billie Yang, an education assistant at CSE, acknowledged. “But the end result will be beneficial for both staff and the students.”

Charter schools are publicly funded but exempt from some state laws in order to increase flexibility, autonomy and innovation. Members of the new unions said they are approaching negotiations with an open mind, hopeful their new contracts will reflect the unique identities of their schools.

“There is no template,” Johnson said. “Teachers in most public school districts already have a contract to go off of when they enter negotiations. We start from scratch.”

“We know, as educators, it’s not just about ourselves; it’s about other people too,” CSE kindergarten teacher Casey Seeling said. “We’re working together for the kids.”

Seeking fairness

While teachers at CSE and TCGIS are looking forward to working collaboratively with school administrators now, their organizing drives were not without challenges.

CSE was the subject of an outside investigation, initiated by state regulators last year, that confirmed reports of financial and procedural mismanagement at the school, including an incident in which Superintendent Mo Chang disclosed the identity of a teacher who reported to authorities suspicions of abuse at home. Teachers and support staff said the working environment at CSE was characterized by fear, mixed messages and high levels of employee turnover.

“There was no grievance process or process for disciplinary actions,” fourth-grade teacher Bong Xiong said. “Many of our colleagues were let go for what seemed like miniscule things, and there wasn’t really a process. It was just one person deciding we don’t really want you here anymore, and the next day they were gone.”

Mee Yang, a Hmong language teacher, lost nine colleagues in CSE’s middle school before the 2013-14 school year. She feared not only for her own workload, but her students’ learning environment. “All those teachers leaving, I think that definitely had a direct impact on our students,” she said. “The teachers that they trusted were leaving.”

Superintendent Chang is well regarded in St. Paul’s Hmong community – “she has done great things,” Xiong said – and many working inside the school worried that forming a union would be viewed as an attempt to tear down the institution she oversees.

“A lot of people were scared, and a lot of it was cultural,” Xiong said. “For many of us who are Hmong, it was a tough situation. A lot of staff I talked to who were Hmong, they were for the union but they did not want anyone to know.”

Pushback from parents

Teachers at TCGIS had similar concerns about turnover and grievance procedures as CSE staff. Their organizing drive, however, drew pushback from an unexpected source: parents.

Johnson, who teaches Spanish at TCGIS, said a “vocal minority” of parents approached teachers with concerns that a union would undermine parents’ role in decisions that affect the school.

One parent, Johnson said, told her, “Don’t negotiate for seniority because it’s going to be harder to get rid of those bad teachers.” But as the process played out, she added, some parents’ views softened. “They realized we actually have the same goals, and it was fear that was keeping us apart.”

A ‘First Amendment’ for charter employees

The success of Education Minnesota’s charter organizing drives in St. Paul is a good sign for the state’s largest teachers’ union. According to the U.S. Department of Education, charter schools are on the rise both locally and nationally.

The number of charter schools in Minnesota as a percent of total public schools has increased from 2.6 percent in the 1999-2000 school year to 7.3 percent in 2011-12, and the share of public-school students enrolled in charters has increased from 0.9 percent to 4.7 percent over the same time.

Still, teachers in most charter schools remain unorganized, and problems arise as a result, Education Minnesota President Denise Specht said.

“We often hear from teachers who are afraid to speak out about problems in their charter schools,” Specht told the union’s official publication, The Minnesota Educator. “A union contract can be their First Amendment, and the first step toward bringing back passion and patience to their classrooms.”

By winning a voice on the job, Yang said, staff at CSE and TCGIS have shown other charter school employees what’s possible.

“If they want greater stability and consistency for themselves and their students, other teachers can organize too,” she said.

 

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