New York KIPP schools fight over unionizing
There's an interesting battle playing out at the KIPP schools in New York City. At Brooklyn's KIPP AMP school (AMP is short for "always mentally prepared"), teachers want to unionize and KIPP is resisting. Teachers at two other KIPP schools that are already unionized want out, and the union's leaders are angry.
Unionizing is a tricky subject for KIPP's national network of 66 schools, which require their teachers to work long hours and be available for students in their spare time. That commitment has led to high turnover in some cases, but also is a factor in the schools' success in getting poor, minority children to college.
Meanwhile, KIPP founders Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin have been named the winners of this year's Charles Bronfman Prize, which awards humanitarian work of people under age 50. They will use part of their $100,000 award to set up a KIPP-inspired school serving Jewish and Arab children in Israel.
Categories: Around the Nation, Charter Schools
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Comments
Very interesting, eager to see what will happen next.
Thank you for posting!
Posted by: Hofstra University | March 31, 2009 1:03 PM
Interesting that the comments haven't grown on this post. I expected this one to be a thought-generator.
Posted by: Bill | April 1, 2009 8:03 PM
Perhaps everyone is too depressed about the budget slashing that's going on. I know I am. At this point all I want to do is have a drink and try to forget that we have more than eight years to go in a school system that seems to constantly going to pot, and discovering new ways to make children and teachers suffer.
Posted by: a parent | April 1, 2009 9:03 PM
I am a great admirer of the KIPP program and its founders but the fact still remains that no matter how much KIPP resists, teachers have a constitutionally protected right to form and join a union.
I am surprised that these teachers are pushing back on the very standards that define KIPP. Were the administrators negligent in their hiring practices? It's interesting that they attracted teachers whose beliefs are obviously not in alignment with the KIPP philosophy. Is unionizing the only way to avoid working long hours and being on 24-hr call?
Posted by: Alrighty Then... | April 2, 2009 1:07 PM