Anonymous wrote:How do you know they hired a union buster? I’m not surprised, just curious how you figured it out. I really hope MV isn’t using school funds to pay for it.

Because the language is an exact template and isn’t written like someone who knows the DC education landscape very well. If it were a real parent group, why not send it out under their own name? Or sign a public petition or something?

I doubt MV is using school dollars directly but who knows (it could be easily be slid into a budget under ‘consulting’). More likely FOCUS or a school choice foundation is paying for those services on their behalf.

The NLRB has set the election date. It is May 15.

How do you know they hired a union buster? I’m not surprised, just curious how you figured it out. I really hope MV isn’t using school funds to pay for it.

*HIRED a union buster

Hopefully they won’t make the mistake of firing any activist teachers. They’ll waste a ton of time and money.

And they’ve fired a union buster...

Seriously. The margin of staff who signed cards was huge. They are making things worse by playing dirty. They really should just cut their losses and shut up until the vote.

I’m sure the next tactic will be trying to delay bargaining a first contract. Disgusting.

Just came across this video featuring the MV teachers and why they need a union. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnzhZCU5A0w&feature=youtu.be

Anonymous wrote:Interestingly, Scott Pearson, the executive director of the PCSB, wrote a couple of years ago calling for charter schools to try unionization: https://educationpost.org/weve-considered-lots-of-other-innovative-ideas-why-not-unionize-charters-too/

I would not have expected this. Agree with him pm this one. Charter teacher unions are vehemently opposed by the foundations that incubate or support charters in DC such as the Walton Foundation, and their pass-through organizations.

Interestingly, Scott Pearson, the executive director of the PCSB, wrote a couple of years ago calling for charter schools to try unionization: https://educationpost.org/weve-considered-lots-of-other-innovative-ideas-why-not-unionize-charters-too/

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like the issues at MV specifically don't have anything to do with dissatisfaction with the quality of the teachers or the teaching. The turnover talk seems related to predictability, how many students in a classroom, health insurance changing after the beginning of the year.

Unions are also legal, and if the teachers and staff want to start one, they should get to vote. Admin and PCSB should stay out of it.

+1. Another concern is the policy and/or criteria around end-of-year bonuses.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not at mundo, but I definitely have all parent emails. This could also be someone who fundraisers for the school (that’s how I have the emails), a classroom parent, the school pto leadership, etc. Doesn’t necessarily mean it is the administration. Hope this helps.

It is not cool if MV has shared all parent emails with someone outside the school UNLESS they have permission from each parent to do so.

There are specific ‘directory’ information that can be collected (this is a FERPA) issue, but giving the information to an outside fundraiser isn’t one of the allowed uses.

Im not an outside fundraiser- I’m a parent volunteer who participated in school fundraising.

It sounds like the issues at MV specifically don't have anything to do with dissatisfaction with the quality of the teachers or the teaching. The turnover talk seems related to predictability, how many students in a classroom, health insurance changing after the beginning of the year.

Unions are also legal, and if the teachers and staff want to start one, they should get to vote. Admin and PCSB should stay out of it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC has the worst teachers in the country, the goal should be to have more accountability over them not the teachers having leverage over families. I would also recommend pta and parents hold the school administration and the teachers accountable, they have both failed the country.

In no universe would teachers in a union have leverage over families. That doesn't even make sense.

In a charter school, the parent organization has ZERO oversight or role w/r/t the Administration. It is not like DCPS which at least has a veneer of accountability and transparency through the LSAT. Only 2 of a charter school's Board of Directors must be parents, and those parents are handpicked by the Board/Administration -- not elected by the parents to represent them.

It sounds like the parents need a rep to hold the teachers and administration accountable. Not enough bad teachers are fired, imagine if the teachers created a union, further down the gutter.

Those don't exist in a charter environment. And administrators like it that way.

Even the PCSB can't hold a school accountable unless it misses academic targets or grossly mismanages its finances -- and they often turn a blind eye to parent complaints saying it isn't their role (see LAMB post-pedophile and MV parents begging for the expansion not to be approved).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC has the worst teachers in the country, the goal should be to have more accountability over them not the teachers having leverage over families. I would also recommend pta and parents hold the school administration and the teachers accountable, they have both failed the country.

In no universe would teachers in a union have leverage over families. That doesn't even make sense.

In a charter school, the parent organization has ZERO oversight or role w/r/t the Administration. It is not like DCPS which at least has a veneer of accountability and transparency through the LSAT. Only 2 of a charter school's Board of Directors must be parents, and those parents are handpicked by the Board/Administration -- not elected by the parents to represent them.

It sounds like the parents need a rep to hold the teachers and administration accountable. Not enough bad teachers are fired, imagine if the teachers created a union, further down the gutter.

Anonymous wrote:DC has the worst teachers in the country, the goal should be to have more accountability over them not the teachers having leverage over families. I would also recommend pta and parents hold the school administration and the teachers accountable, they have both failed the country.

In no universe would teachers in a union have leverage over families. That doesn't even make sense.

In a charter school, the parent organization has ZERO oversight or role w/r/t the Administration. It is not like DCPS which at least has a veneer of accountability and transparency through the LSAT. Only 2 of a charter school's Board of Directors must be parents, and those parents are handpicked by the Board/Administration -- not elected by the parents to represent them.

DC has the worst teachers in the country, the goal should be to have more accountability over them not the teachers having leverage over families. I would also recommend pta and parents hold the school administration and the teachers accountable, they have both failed the country.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re the letter, I chuckled at the bit that mentioned DCUM.

Me too. But they called it "UrbanMoms". No one calls it that. Where were the letter writers from?

I have a couple of guesses. But it really reeks of the paid union busting messages from corporate hired guns. Maybe here they are volunteering pro bono, but the themes are all pulled directly from the standard union busting talking points. As soon as anyone says “union,” employers start singing “We Are Family...” and acting shocked and appalled anyone would want to turn their back on “the family.”

Really? I was wondering about this. Don't they have any actual evidence or data to present against the union? If not, I'm not seeing much of a reason not to have one.