Charter school fires teacher for organizing effort

As we know, the Gates Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation will write a large check at the mere mention of the words "charter school," and Gap mogul Don Fisher is a major financial supporter of KIPP and before that Edison Schools (until Edison's ignominious fizzle). The New York Times story below may clarify why these business moguls are so enamored of a "school reform" model that is showing unimpressive results.

June 28, 2006
Teacher Says Charter School Fired Her for Organizing to Improve Pay Scale
By ELISSA GOOTMAN
In May, Nichole Byrne Lau received an evaluation saying that her
students at the Williamsburg Charter High School were "lucky to have
you as their teacher." This month, she was fired.

Ms. Byrne Lau, 33, said she had been singled out for distributing copies of the pay scale for teachers in New York City's traditional public schools and organizing her colleagues to press for better salaries and benefits. "I'm devastated," she said yesterday.

Eddie Calderon-Melendez, chief executive of the school, in Brooklyn, did not respond to several telephone messages seeking comment. Kelly Devers, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Education, said it would investigate.

Charter schools are supervised by the state and receive public financing, but are run by outside groups. Under state law, new small charter schools are not bound by teachers' union contracts. To unionize, charter teachers must go through a multistep process and a formal vote.

Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers, has taken up Ms. Byrne Lau's case, saying it illustrates the obstacles to unionizing in charter schools. Ms. Weingarten's position was central to the State Assembly's recent refusal to allow more charter schools in New York State, against the wishes of the governor and the mayor.

"I am appalled," Ms. Weingarten wrote to Mr. Calderon-Melendez, saying that cases like this "led us to advocate for labor rights in any reconsideration of the state's charter law." In response, he wrote that Ms. Weingarten's version of events was "inaccurate" and that the school had "an exemplary track record."

Ms. Byrne Lau said she had tried to organize a forum for teachers to share their grievances and push for a public and consistent pay scale to replace what she described as a hodgepodge of individually negotiated salaries, some comparable to public school pay, and some below. In fact, the school recently released a pay scale for 2006-7.

When she met with Mr. Calderon-Melendez on June 5, Ms. Byrne Lau said, he said that whoever distributed the city's teacher pay scale "obviously doesn't know how to run a school." He then told her he would not renew her contract, Ms. Byrne Lau said, but refused to say why, saying the school, an at-will employer, did not need to give a reason.

— Caroline