Jun 28, 2006 12:31 PM
Showing the need for workplace protections for charter school teachers, a Brooklyn charter school teacher whose classroom skills were once praised by Chancellor Joel Klein was fired from her job because she and some of her colleagues organized to protest wages and working hours.
Teacher Nichole Byrne Lau, along with another unnamed colleague, was terminated in June by the CEO of the Williamsburg Charter High School, Eddie Calderon-Melendez, after she and some of her fellow teachers at the school circulated a DOE pay schedule that showed the charter teachers were being paid less and working longer hours.
After her firing, Byrne Lau turned to the UFT for help, and President Randi Weingarten responded with a letter of protest to Melendez.
“It has come to my attention that you, as CEO of the Williamsburg Charter High School, recently terminated two teachers after they attempted to organize to seek higher wages and better working conditions and benefits,” Weingarten wrote. “It is actions like this that has led us to advocate for labor rights in any reconsideration of the state’s charter law.”
The termination of Lau motivated students to sign petitions on her behalf. According to teachers, Melendez responded by telling students at an informal assembly that he did not “fire” anyone, but that he had the “right to fire teachers ‘at will’ and without explanation.”
The UFT has testified in Albany that teachers who work in charter schools need to have workplace protections before the number of charter schools across the state should be allowed to expand.
In her letter to Melendez, Weingarten said, “Charter schools, like other public schools, should be accountable and transparent and none should be allowed to intimidate or fire educators who merely want to organize for better pay and working conditions.”
Weingarten also sent letters to Chancellor Joel Klein and to New York State Education Department Associate Commissioner Shelia Evans-Tranumn.
Letters are linked below.