A decision to dissolve union at a Brighton charter school is the best option for teachers frustrated with the union’s doubletalk, misplaced priorities
The American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts wants it both ways.
AFT officials have continuously badmouthed the state’s charter schools, and fought unsuccessfully to block their expansion because they contend charters are no better than traditional public schools. Charter schools also divert money from unionized schools, and by extension the AFT.
But union leaders have simultaneously led a quiet campaign to unionize the schools they loathe. In five years, the AFT Massachusetts has netted two charter schools: the Conservatory Lab Charter School in Brighton in 2008, and Orleans’ Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School last month.
Teachers at those schools were lulled into believing AFT Massachusetts cared about their school and their students.
They were misled.
Conservatory Lab teachers are now realizing that the union is much more interested in itself than their small school. Teachers contend that AFT leaders contacted school officials to unionize several part-time orchestra instructors, despite the local union’s disapproval, and have tried to pressure teachers into helping with efforts to unionize other charters.
The school’s 10 teachers may soon dissolve their local union because of the AFT’s contradictory stance on charters, and its misplaced priorities in Brighton, the Boston Globe reports.
The move could provide the deathblow to the AFT’s charter unionization effort that it deserves.
Becca Iskric, vice president of the union at Conservatory Lab, told the Globe that teachers are more interested in pay and scheduling than a battle over expanding union membership.
Massachusetts Charter Public School Association President Kevin Andrews put the problem into perspective for the Globe.
“How can a group that has been so critical and not want the existence of charter schools now want to unionize teachers – what is their real motive?” he said. “Is their real motive to destroy charter schools from the inside?”
We believe that the answer is a resounding yes, and the situation at Conservatory Lab should serve as a warning for other charter teachers who are considering an AFT membership. The union stifles the very things that allow charter schools to thrive: innovation, flexibility, and a collaborative working environment.
Conservatory Lab teachers have an opportunity to show AFT bosses they can’t simply say one thing and do another. Either the union supports charter schools or it doesn’t. Judging by the AFT’s conduct in Brighton, there is little doubt about the union’s true priorities.
If Conservatory Lab teachers choose to decertify from the AFT, it would send a clear message that teachers there aren’t interested in being used as political pawns. The mission of charters – to provide a quality alternative to failed public schools – may hang in the balance.
