Dozens fired at St. Paul charter school in suspected union retaliation

[Omaha Steve]

Source: City Pages

BY SUSAN DU

On Monday, interim administrators Bao Vang and Kazoua Kong-Thao called a meeting with those 33 assistants and told them that their jobs were being terminated.

They also announced that all English as a second language teachers (ELL) for elementary students would be let go.

So far about 40 employees across various departments have been cut.

Assistant Billie Yang says he’s never seen such an extensive staff shakedown in his six years at the school. He was perplexed when Vang and Kong-Thao explained that they wanted regular classroom teachers to fold the students’ language needs into their everyday curricula.

FULL story at link.



CSE is one of St. Paul’s largest Hmong charters with nearly 1,000 students and a budget of $9 million.

Read more: http://www.citypages.com/news/dozens-fired-at-st-paul-charter-school-in-suspected-union-retaliation-8339675

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Surprise

i'll never believe in charter schools, or in separate but equal,
or in union busting if that's what this is, but they deserve credit
for trying to improve this community

When will Donald Trump weigh in on this immigrant school?

I mean hair as a second crop must oppose ESL, no?

[ieoeja]

2. If every Charter School unionized tomorrow, the union busters would still win.

You are far more union savvy than me. But didn't pension calculations take into account assumed future donations from future union employees?

So even if a Charter School got unionized with a decent pension, etc, the Public School pensions would still be underfunded because that money has now been redirected to a different pot.

Do I have that right?

For people who take such a short view of everything else, these people seem very good at the long view when it comes to screwing over employees.

[Omaha Steve]

3. Not a simple answer

I'll try. Unless enough charter schools open to cause public schools to close, it would not have any effect on the public school pensions. The public schools would still have a similar number of employees in the pension.

OS

[ieoeja]

4. Chicago closes a hundred Public Schools, then opens eighty Charter Schools.

So in Chicago at least they are definitely cutting employees in Public schools and using Charters to replace them.

Of course, this is the same city whose former mayor said, "we had to sell parking meters so someone else could raise prices." They don't seem to feel the need to be very subtle in this city.

[Omaha Steve]

6. Are the Chicago charter schools union?

I assume most are not and not putting into a pension.

Then there would be a drain on the pensions. Results could be more contributed by the school and employees, a reduction in benefits, a cap at a certain level, etc.

Hard to say without know more about the Chicago situation.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

5. Privitization rather than improving public schools is something all Democrats

should be fighting against. But now that we're becoming the party of money over people, that will never happen.

[geardaddy]

7. This is the same school that was investigated for not reporting child abuse.

St. Paul's Community School investigated for not reporting child abuse

http://www.citypages.com/news/st-pauls-community-school-investigated-for-not-reporting-child-abuse-7561728

Snip

In 2012, a kindergarten student at Community School of Excellence walked into class one morning with a big black eye. His teacher demanded to know what happened. The student explained: mom’s boyfriend had thrown a fist in his face and beaten him with a guitar.

The teacher’s instinct was to alert Child Protection Services, her legal responsibility as a mandated reporter. She told the St. Paul charter school’s superintendent, Mo Chang, that she knew in her gut and in her heart that this child was being abused at home.

Chang told the teacher not to report it. She said she would take it on herself to call the child’s mother and corroborate the child’s tale. The mother denied it. The child returned home.

Two months later, he returned to school with the same sort of injuries and the same explanation. It turned out that his mother was also being abused, and had called police on the boyfriend the night before. Police notified Child Protection.

Here are more stories about the school and its troubles.

Head of St. Paul charter school resigns, fires beloved teacher who questioned her
http://www.citypages.com/news/head-of-st-paul-charter-school-resigns-fires-beloved-teacher-who-questioned-her-7774812

The Wrath of Mo
http://www.citypages.com/news/the-wrath-of-mo-7943862