Bronx charter staff wins UFT representation

“We’re making history for our school. We’re paving the way for people who come after us to commit fully to both the institution and the students who attend it.”

That is how Lissette Velazquez, a first-year English teacher and member of the teachers organizing committee at the New York Charter HS for Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industries in the Bronx, enthusiastically described her colleagues’ recent victory in their fight for union recognition.

The 19 teachers at the school declared their intention to join the UFT as a new collective-bargaining unit on Jan. 13. The school’s board and for-profit management company, Victory Schools, initially resisted the teachers’ effort to organize. However, at its April 13 meeting, the board abruptly changed course, voting unanimously to voluntarily recognize the new unit

The New York Charter HS for Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industries is one of only a handful of charter schools in New York City that has offered teachers voluntary recognition of their union.

The school board and the UFT announced the results of the vote in a joint statement on April 15, writing that they “look forward to developing a constructive relationship, focused on our mutual commitment to providing the highest quality of education to the students of the school and a professional educational environment for the teachers.”

According to Velazquez, the teachers organized “because we want to feel more permanent in our positions here.” Already, she said, “the teachers communicate a lot more and, since being recognized, the conversation is a lot more open about what can happen for us in the future.”