Educators frustrated by plan to uproot St. Paul students

“I don’t think they’ve considered how these changes might push families further away,” Galtier science teacher Peter Ratzloff said.

Staff announce union drives at two Twin Cities charter schools

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 […]

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

  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 […]

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

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 […]

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

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 […]

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

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 […]

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

  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., […]