Some N.O. charters begin exploring teachers unions
Mark Quirk is like a lot of veteran teachers in New Orleans. He thinks of his job as more of a calling than a career, has watched the growing emphasis on test scores with dismay and worries that teachers have lost important rights concerning pay and job security in the privately run charter schools that have taken over public education in New Orleans.
So he and his fellow teachers at Benjamin Franklin High School, which is both a charter and a magnet school with selective admissions, have done something that is typically thought of as anathema at charters: They formed a union.
“Our hope is that if this is done right, and we ask for reasonable, fair things, and the administration works with us, then we could be a model for other schools,” Quirk said. “We’re not out here trying to get rich. Many of us feel like this is a mission in life, to teach young people, to help society be a better place.”
For New Orleans, the debate over charter schools and teachers unions has always been an either-or proposition. The Orleans Parish School Board voided the city’s union contract after Hurricane Katrina, and charter schools began taking over rapidly thereafter, free of the constraints typically imposed by unions on pay, working hours and other policies. Many point to that kind of flexibility as one reason test scores are up and dropout rates are down.
Now, New Orleans is beginning to find out if this hard divide between charters and unions is really necessary, or if the two can somehow learn to coexist. The city already has one charter, the Morris Jeff Community School, with unionized teachers. Ben Franklin will be next if the Some N.O. charters begin exploring teachers unions | News | The New Orleans Advocate: