Teaching Profession

Update on the N.Y.C. KIPP Edu-Drama

By Stephen Sawchuk — March 23, 2009 1 min read
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Elizabeth Green has the scoop on the latest in the New York KIPP unionization at the Always Mentally Prepared campus in Brooklyn. At least one teacher there has pulled her support for the union. In the meantime, the staff of two other KIPP schools have sent in a petition to sever their contact with the United Federation of Teachers. Commentary from Rotherham here.

UFT pres Randi Weingarten sounds a bit flustered in quotes posted on Alexander Russo’s blog. She tries to draw a connection between the two events, blaming KIPP management for the move. “What is interesting is this move comes after the KIPP AMP teachers started their organizing drive and on the eve of the PERB hearing on recognizing the union at KIPP AMP,” Weingarten said. “KIPP management is obviously fighting hard because it doesn’t want their schools to be unionized.” I’m betting KIPP would disagree with that analysis.

Obvious or not, the timing on this is politically tricky for the union, now that Obama’s gung-ho for increasing the number of charter schools and a number of urban superintendents hope to use charters to get out from under collective-bargaining rules.

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A version of this news article first appeared in the Teacher Beat blog.