In March, Chicago avoided a charter teacher strike, by ASPIRA charter schools through some last minute negotiations, but now after a vote on Thursday, union educators at Passages Charter School voted overwhelmingly to strike. In a statement they said, “After nearly a year of bargaining with management has failed to produce a fair contract. Teachers voted 43 to zero to strike, in a bargaining unit of 46 members. Thursday’s vote authorizes the bargaining committee to set a strike date in the coming weeks if AHS does not make an acceptable offer.”
The strike would be the first of a charter school network in the nation.
They were one of the first charter schools created in Chicago, and today serves roughly 500 students -- including a large population of immigrant and refugee students of Asian and African heritage. With 46 unionized educators -- including teachers, teachers assistants and paraprofessionals -- all certified, last April, as members of ChiACTS Local 4343, which represents educators at 32 charter schools in Chicago.
The strike would be the first of a charter school network in the nation.
They were one of the first charter schools created in Chicago, and today serves roughly 500 students -- including a large population of immigrant and refugee students of Asian and African heritage. With 46 unionized educators -- including teachers, teachers assistants and paraprofessionals -- all certified, last April, as members of ChiACTS Local 4343, which represents educators at 32 charter schools in Chicago.
“We care deeply about our students,” says third grade teacher Gina Mengarelli, a member of Passages’ ChiACTS bargaining team. “Many of our kids, as refugees and immigrants, look to the school as an environment to support the hopes and dreams they bring to their new country. It is simply wrong for management to invest so little in these children and the frontline workers who are responsible for their education.”
Educators charge that the school’s management spends too much on management and overhead compared to other single-site charters, and too little on staff and students. Furthermore, “many teachers with BAs and even those with master's degrees earn salaries in the $30,000 - $40,000 range for work weeks that can easily top 60 hours.”
They also assert that the school is “an outlier when it comes to teacher salaries, with teachers earning 20% less than teachers at other Chicago charters. That low spending level for the school’s dedicated teachers and staff lands Passages far below the average in budget comparisons across charters.”
As with their non-charter counterparts, there have been cuts to classes such as music and Spanish language instruction. which, along with Urdu, is the language most commonly spoken by their immigrant students.
“We really believe in the mission of this school, but management needs to provide us the resources to carry out that mission, says paraprofessional Ann Stella-Tayler. We’ve been negotiating for almost a year, and our members are united in telling AHS that it’s past time that they treat Passages students, teachers and staff fairly.”
Passages has no income outside of what it collects from CPS, and union members charge that the disparity in salaries for Passages educators and those at other charters is driven by AHS mismanagement of funds and the fact that AHS simply does not contribute enough to the school’s budget from its own funds.
“We really believe in the mission of this school, but management needs to provide us the resources to carry out that mission, says paraprofessional Ann Stella-Tayler. We’ve been negotiating for almost a year, and our members are united in telling AHS that it’s past time that they treat Passages students, teachers and staff fairly.”
Passages has no income outside of what it collects from CPS, and union members charge that the disparity in salaries for Passages educators and those at other charters is driven by AHS mismanagement of funds and the fact that AHS simply does not contribute enough to the school’s budget from its own funds.
Chicago’s other single-site charters typically provide 5-10% of their financial resources from private fundraising revenue -- a practice touted in the early days of the CPS push for charters as a way to harness private dollars to support publicly funded education. Passages raises zero dollars from private fundraising revenue.
“These educators are the heart of the school and their students’ greatest advocates,” says Chris Baehrend, President of ChiACTS Local 4343. “No teacher wants to strike -- we want to be in class, with our students, where we belong. But if it takes a strike to force change that improves the education of Passages’ students, then our members will be on the picket line until we achieve those improvements.”
Passages’ union educators will be back at the bargaining table next week.
“These educators are the heart of the school and their students’ greatest advocates,” says Chris Baehrend, President of ChiACTS Local 4343. “No teacher wants to strike -- we want to be in class, with our students, where we belong. But if it takes a strike to force change that improves the education of Passages’ students, then our members will be on the picket line until we achieve those improvements.”
Passages’ union educators will be back at the bargaining table next week.
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