unions and charters in philly

when i was working with charters in philly, i did not get the sense that they and the unions had particularly warm feelings for each other.

but according to this article in the philadelphia inquirer, there are 5 unionized charter schools in the philadelphia area, and one school will vote on unionization this month.

it will be interesting to see how their vote turns out; i will keep you posted.

personally, i think it would be a step in the right direction. in fact, i think that union locals will be reaching out to more and more charter schools in the near future. charters may be difficult to organize, since each school requires its own separate contract, but the unions are looking in unlikelier places for members these days.

i think charter schools would be wise to be ready for this, and be warm to it. teachers in unions have access to a wealth of resources and, contrary to popular belief, are not necessarily lazy, combative, and inflexible.

in the 2 schools i work with, one is unionized and the other is not. the one with the union has far higher test scores. now, this may be for any number of reasons, not the least of which could be that it is a conversion school and has been open for twice as long. but the teachers are just as passionate, committed, and professional as those at the non-union school.