Say 'Charter' Fired AP for Unionizing;

Another One Disciplined
Say 'Charter' Fired AP for Unionizing


Two Assistant Principals at a Brooklyn charter school say they are facing retaliation for trying to unionize.

ERNEST LOGAN: Claims improper practice. Nadia Kalman was suspended from Brooklyn Excelsior Charter School less than a month after she and Les King filed for union representation with the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators on Dec. 11. She has since been terminated and Mr. King has had his duties curtailed. School management is refusing to comment, citing legal proceedings.

Tough Nuts for Unions

Education advocates say that most charter schools, which receive public funding but are freed from many regulations, have proven challenging for unions. Just eight of the city's 58 charter schools are unionized.

"We were just doing our jobs," said Mr. King. "We were voicing concerns about the best interests of the children."

The union filed an improper practice charge on January 19, alleging discrimination against both Assistant Principals in the wake of their attempt to join CSA.

"Administrators working at charter schools have the right to unionize and join a collective bargaining unit," said CSA President Ernest Logan.

Excelsior Principal Thomas DeMarco and Board of Directors President Kay Madati both declined to comment, referring all questions to the school's private for-profit management agency, National Heritage Academies, based in Michigan.

NHA refused to comment because of ongoing legal issues. A spokeswoman also said that the company does not comment on personnel matters.

Wanted Job Protection

"We wanted to ensure that we had some job protection," said Mr. King.

"Which is pretty ironic," said Ms. Kalman, "since I got fired." Ms. Kalman had no disciplinary actions against her prior to her suspension.

Both Assistant Principals say that disciplinary measures aimed at them surged after they filed for union representation. Ms. Kalman noted that until that day, she served as Acting Principal whenever Mr. DeMarco was out of the building.

They also assert that the school is disorganized and that they witnessed Teachers disciplining students in inappropriate ways. When they brought the incidents, such as forcing a child to stand in a corner facing the wall during class, to the attention of the Principal, no action was taken.

Excelsior opened in the fall of 2003 and has had three Principals in the past three years. Staff members say that about 25 of the approximately 32 classroom Teachers are new this year. They point to a survey circulated by NHA in which about 87 percent of the staffers who responded said that they were not happy with the structure of the school. "Our Principal is not an instructional manager," said one staff member who asked to remain anonymous out of fear for her job. "He knows how to run a building, and how to get money in, but Les and Nadia are very instructional; they focus on what do we need for the kids."

Several staff members said that Principal DeMarco often told them, "Children should be seen and not heard."

Both Assistant Principals say they decided to work at a charter school because they thought it might provide possibilities not available at traditional schools. "I thought there would be more opportunities," said Mr. King, who was an educational consultant before becoming an Assistant Principal. "I thought I could do something positive."

Ms. Kalman, who was a Teacher before becoming an administrator, said she would try to find a job elsewhere, and would return to teaching if that was the only way to stay in education.

In her previous teaching and administrative positions, Ms. Kalman received satisfactory and excellent ratings and has no disciplinary marks on her record.

Educators say that union experience in charter schools varies by state, but in New York City, organizing efforts have run into roadblocks. Of the eight unionized charter schools, five are "conversion" schools, meaning they used to be traditional public schools whose employees by law must be allowed to retain their union representation. Two of the other schools are run by the United Federation of Teachers, and the final one made the decision to unionize without opposition from its labor-friendly board of directors.

"We have heard of instances of retaliation against Teachers for trying to unionize," said Stuart Marques, the chief spokesman for the UFT, "but we haven't gone public because it would have risked the Teachers' jobs."

Governor Spitzer recently proposed raising the cap on the number of charter schools in the state, including 50 more in the city. The UFT has pushed for additional job protection language and an easier unionizing procedure, known as card-check, which would grant union representation to workers if a majority in a school signed union representation cards.

No Union Animus?

Charter school advocates say they are not hostile to unions. "The concept behind charter schools is that in order to tailor education programs to meet the needs of at-risk children from under-served communities," said Jeff Maclin, the vice president of communications at the New York City Center for Charter School Excellence, "schools need the latitude to tailor instructional methods to meet those needs, to determine staffing, how and who you hire, and the duration of the day."

He added that while some schools had unions and were successful, in other cases "some union rules may restrict their ability to have instruction that will meet the needs of their students."

Educational researchers say that charter schools were originally created to be special schools with focused missions to try new approaches that the "educational bureaucracy" prevented.

"They were going to be unique," said Gary Miron, a professor at Western Michigan University who studies charter schools. "They were supposed to be different than traditional public schools, but now what you hear about a lot is achievement and test results."

Mr. Miron said that most research showed little difference between the overall success of charter schools versus traditional schools, although the data varies by state. He also said that in the first few years, most charter schools have high turnover rates among Teachers, who are usually paid about 10 to 15 percent less than traditional schools. He noted that the stability of a key founder or administrator was one of the best predictors of student achievement.

"The fact that they're at-will employees is antithetical to unions," said Mr. Miron. "But on the other hand, they can allow creative and innovative opportunities for Teachers [and administrators]."

In January, seven schools in Broward County, Fla, decided to join the Broward Teachers Union, affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers. AFT officials say they have seen an increase in unionizing drives at charter schools but that it is an uphill battle.

"Organizing in charter schools is difficult for a number of reasons," said Jaime Zapata, an AFT spokesman. "Every site is so different, it is the virtue of charter schools that they are different one to the next in terms of mission."

Parties Talking

Ms. Kalman said that National Heritage Academies lawyers responded last week to CSA's accusations by denying most of what was in her and Mr. King's affidavits. The two parties have a conference scheduled for March 7 and another one later in the month.

CSA officials said they would continue to pursue the case. "We hope this is an isolated incident, but we will continue to monitor similar situations," said Mr. Logan.

"I'm very upset to have been fired," said Ms. Kalman, "I wasn't even allowed to say good bye to the kids. I can't see how that's a good thing for them."