We are a group of charter school educators who aim to develop and nurture a positive learning and working environment by uniting to form a union at ASPIRA.
We need a fair contract with a transparent and stable pay scale in order to stop the revolving door of teacher turnover at ASPIRA of PA. Too many good teachers are leaving because of the uncertainty and inconsistency at our school.
Teachers and other staffers at John B. Stetson Charter School in Kensington will be allowed next week to vote on whether they want to be represented by AFT Pennsylvania.
The National Labor Relations Board late Thursday authorized the election, to be held Thursday at the middle school at 3200 B St.
If the teachers vote to join AFT, Stetson would be the second city charter operated by the nonprofit Aspira Inc. of Pennsylvania recently to vote for union representation. Teachers at Olney Charter High School overwhelmingly voted to join AFT late last month.
In its decision, the labor board's regional director rejected Aspira's argument that the NLRB did not have jurisdiction because the Stetson was created by the Philadelphia School Reform Commission.
The NLRB regional director said that while the SRC granted the charter, Aspira was a government contractor engaged to manage the school.
Aspira officials did not respond to a request for comment.
The final tally was 104-38 in favor of the union, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers.
TEACHERS and other staffers at Olney Charter High School voted yesterday to form a union, becoming Philadelphia's largest charter school to unionize.
The final tally was 104-38 in favor of the union, which will be under the umbrella of the Alliance of Charter School Employees, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers.
"It's amazing," teacher Sarah Apt said after the vote count. "It's just an enormous victory for our whole community, not just for our staff but for students and families and for anyone who wants us to be a good school."
Inside the school cafeteria, Olney staffers watched, many standing arm-in-arm, as a National Labor Relations Board agent counted the votes from a cardboard box. The group cheered loudly after AFT representative Evan Lundeen said, "Y'all got a union."
After many hugs and some tears, teacher Hannah Myers addressed her colleagues, telling them she was "proud" of their effort and that "we're going to make this place a better place for our students . . . Si se puede!"
Then Myers added, "How about Stetson is next?" and the gathered staffers loudly endorsed that sentiment. Staffers from John B. Stetson Charter School filed paperwork Monday asking the NLRB for a union vote.
Thomas Darden, chief operations officer of ASPIRA, which runs both schools, said the firm would work with the new union at Olney Charter.
"Throughout this process, we have always said that we would respect a vote of the Olney teachers and staff," Darden wrote in an email. "Now that they have voted in favor of union representation, we will negotiate in good faith with them to reach a fair agreement."
AFT President Randi Weingarten said in a statement: "We applaud the courage of the teacher-leaders at Olney who stood together in the face of [ASPIRA's anti-union] campaign, and we will work with them to ensure they and the kids they serve achieve the respect, dignity and opportunities they all deserve."
ASPIRA’s back in the Daily News, and it’s not a proud moment for Management. CEO Alfredo Calderon has decided to ignore community demands that ASPIRA respect its employees right to organize, and to instead cancel six hours of student instruction time, one full day of parent-teacher conferences and who knows how much in taxpayer dollars to run a campaign of intimidation and misinformation.
How’s that working for him? Here’s the lede:
EXAMS ARE around the corner for city students, and nearly every teacher is squeezing in as much instructional time as humanly possible.
Not so much at Olney Charter High School, whose charter operator, ASPIRA Inc. of Pennsylvania, has pared back instruction and parent-teacher conferences so staff can attend mandatory meetings to hear what a union would mean for the North Philadelphia school.
It's unclear what the cost would be to taxpayers.
Now is a good time to pause and remind you that you can still support our MoveOn petition to Calderon to “Support teachers' right to organize a union without fear at ASPIRA Charters.” Click here.
The story continues:
Unidentified outside consultants will run the informational meetings - some union advocates describe them as an "anti-union" tactic - today, Wednesday and April 28. The aim is "to assist you in making an informed decision on this matter," school board president Frederick Ramirez wrote in an email.
The meetings were announced Thursday afternoon and leave Olney students with six hours less instruction time at a critical juncture in the school year: Keystone and advanced-placement exams will be held in early May.
"It's obvious that the students' best interest is not a priority for them [ASPIRA] in making this decision," said music teacher Erina Pearlstein. "It's straight-up unprofessional."
In addition, the school had scheduled three parent-teacher conference days this week beginning Wednesday, which has been turned into a meeting day for staff. Now parents who expected to meet teachers that day will have to arrange to go in Thursday or Friday, teachers said.
Parent Jocabet Gutierrez, whose stepson Rodinso is in ninth grade, said the administration's decision is wrongheaded.
"Before doing anything, they should think about the damage that they are doing to everyone else," Gutierrez said in Spanish.
Olney does have a longer school day and a longer year than required by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, according to ASPIRA chief operating officer Thomas Darden. But algebra teacher Chris Bishop argued that "to take this time right now is especially inopportune and irresponsible."
Darden told the Daily News in an email yesterday: "We would have obviuosly [sic] preferred to aviod [sic] disruptions to instructional time but, as required by the NLRB [National Labor Relations Board] process, the only time these informational meetings could be scheduled was during work hours."
The NLRB rules don't say that, said one labor expert. Other options include holding meetings after school and paying staff to attend.
The meetings could have been made voluntary, "just like it's voluntary for employees to go to a meeting of union organizers," said Paul Clark, director of the School of Labor and Employment Relations at Penn State University.
Clark said the purpose of these gatherings - also known as "captive-audience" meetings - is to persuade employees not to join the union.
Such meetings are common "in the business world, where employers take a very aggressive stance in terms of fighting unions," he said.
A GROUP OF TEACHERS and staffers at Olney Charter High School yesterday filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board requesting the federal agency conduct an election that would allow employees to become unionized.
The filing included signed union authorization cards from Olney employees and stated that the new union would be part of the Alliance of Charter School Employees, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, according to the petition.
More than 70 percent of the 150-person staff signed on to the effort, which may face a challenge from Olney's charter operator, ASPIRA Inc. of Pennsylvania.
The federal filing came one day after ASPIRA officials met, for the first time, with Olney teachers who began the organizing effort three years ago, organizers and teachers said. The ASPIRA officials - CEO Alfredo Calderon, COO Thomas Darden and newly-hired superintendent Andrea Gonzalez-Kerwin - told the teachers that they would not voluntarily recognize the union, but would respect the results of an election, participants said.
Darden did not respond to an email seeking comment.
An election could be held as soon as 30 days if no challenges are made by ASPIRA.
Calderon "said he would respect the wishes of the majority and I asked him to recognize the union and he said no, he would respect the outcome of an election," said Hanako Franz, a freshman history teacher who has been at Olney for four years.
English as a Second Language teacher Hannah Myers, who has been at Olney for four years, said she believes Calderon and the others want to drag out the process.
"It's very hard for me to believe that he's willing to work with us," she said. "If he really wanted to allocate resources to support our community, they would voluntarily recognize the union, which has been the majority for three years."
The petition requests that a future union include "all full-time and regular part-time professional and non-professional instructional and student service support employees, including teachers, co-teachers, psychologists" and other employees, according to the filing.
To support Aspira teachers, sign their petition here.
ASPIRA teachers wore stickers today showing support for their union by invoking the words of the network's founder and union activist, Anotonia Pantoja: "Together, we make the future."
Help ASPIRA educators have a voice in their schools and be real partners in advocating for the best possible future for their students.
We are dedicated teachers working at ASPIRA charter schools in Philadelphia. We have been striving to form a union at our schools to help us better advocate for our students and ourselves. In order to ensure our effort to have more input in our school is successful, we need your help.
We are proud to be a part of ASPIRA; an organization which has dedicated itself to helping the communities of North Philadelphia since 1969. ASPIRA’s mission has been to bring unity and empowerment to the community, to instill in each citizen a sense of value and self-worth. The staff at ASPIRA is asking for that same respect and support as we exercise our legal right to form a union.
We deserve a peaceful and unobstructed pathway to union recognition free from threats, intimidation, and the waste of valuable resources. Our success in the classroom requires that ASPIRA value us as professionals and include our voices in decisions that affect our students and community.
Please stand with us in asking ASPIRA to respect our decision to form a union.
Respectfully yours,
Hanako Franz, Olney Charter High School
Elizabeth Kim, John B. Stetson Middle School
Estimado Partidario,
Somos maestros dedicados que trabajamos en las escuelas chárter ASPIRA en Filadelfia. Nos hemos esforzado por formar un sindicato en nuestras escuelas para ayudarnos a defender mejor a nuestros estudiantes y a nosotros mismos. Con el fin de garantizar el éxito en nuestro esfuerzo para tener más participación en nuestra escuela, necesitamos de su ayuda.
Estamos orgullosos de ser parte de ASPIRA, una organización dedicada a ayudar a las comunidades del norte de Filadelfia desde 1969. La misión de ASPIRA ha sido traer la unidad y dar poder a la comunidad para inculcar un sentido de valor y autoestima en cada uno de los ciudadanos. El personal de ASPIRA está pidiendo ese mismo respeto y apoyo a medida que ejerzamos nuestro derecho legal de formar un sindicato.
Merecemos una vía pacífica y sin obstáculos para el reconocimiento del sindicato libre de amenazas, intimidación y el desperdicio de recursos valiosos. Nuestro éxito en el aula requiere que ASPIRA nos valore como profesionales y que nuestras voces se incluyan en las decisiones que afectan a nuestros estudiantes y la comunidad.
Por favor esté con nosotros al pedir a ASPIRA que respete nuestra decisión de formar un sindicato.
Cordialmente,
Hanako Franz, Olney Charter High School
Elizabeth Kim, John B. Stetson Middle School
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