Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/92845
What's hot To DCPA Charter School: STOP the foolishness If DCPA Charter School is to sur- vive, an empowered staff will have to be brought into the deci- sion making process. Up to this point DCPA has resisted signing a union contract to give teachers the voice they need to affect change. Academy Charter School in Wilmington, has been trying to negotiate their first contract…. since last February. Thanks to delays and stalling, the O negotiations are now in the hands of a mediator. And recently, the situation took a turn for the worse. The Red Clay School District is ur charter school local asso- ciation at the Delaware College Preparatory reviewing the Delaware College Preparatory Academy charter to determine if the school should go on probation. If DCPA goes on pro- bationary status, then they will have 90 days to improve or lose their charter, which means closing altogether. According to Tim Barchak, DSEA UniServ Director for DCPA, the administration should accept full responsibility for the current situation. "No one else, not the union, Red Clay, the Department of Education, or the State is responsi- ble for this predicament. Now more than ever, DCPA should stop the fool- ishness of fighting with their own staff. DCPA should settle their union contract and move forward with staff to see if DCPA can be saved for the benefit of their students." Does someone you know deserve recognition from DSEA? I nformation about DSEA's annual Individual Awards is now available on the DSEA web page. These awards are: • ESP of the Year (secretary, para, bus driver, food service worker or custodian); • Susan B. Roushey Advocacy Award for advocacy on behalf of members and students; • the Helen D. Wise Award (com- munity members eligible), for a lifetime of contributions to public education; • Community Partner Awards, for businesses that help the local public schools; and the • Legislative Friend of Education Award (state or feder- al legislator). Award nominations are due in the DSEA Dover office by February 1, 2013. For information and applica- tions, go to www.dsea.org/About DSEA/Awards.html. You will also find there a list of all previous winners. DSEA awards $4,000 to future educators Also on the web page is informa- tion about the DSEA Christopher K. Smith Future Teacher Scholarship for public school stu- dents who intend to pursue a career in education. The postmark deadline for stu- dent applications is March 15, 2013. To access the application form go to www.dsea.org/About DSEA/Awards #scholarship. Questions?Contact Sandy Dearman at sandy.dearman@dsea. orgor by phone at 1-866-734-5834. DSEA UniServ Directors (from left) Wendy Cannon, Tim Barchak, and Julie Harrington, along with CREA President Jennifer Whitesell, join DCPA staff, including their leader Kindergarten teacher Ezra Temko, to urge staff and parents to contact the school's administration to settle the contract. See box below. This has been a tough fight, and it argues more than ever for reform of the charter school law, which pro- vides little oversight. In the case of DCPA, staff organ- ized because they were appalled by the negative effect the administra- tion of the school was having on their students. The DCPA response was to resist the right of their teachers to collectively bargain. During the organizing campaign they used such tactics as one-on-one meetings in which the executive director would talk to individual teachers about the bad union and how they should vote "no." Unfortunately, the resistance to teacher rights did not stop there. The negotiations have been repeat- edly stalled, while staff inside the institution have been intimidated. Two bargaining team members fired The union filed for mediation with the Public Employee Relations Board (PERB). Shortly before the first session, two of our four bar- gaining team members were fired for reasons that can be described politely as dubious. One of those terminated teachers has agreed to stay on the bargaining team in spite of the termination. The DCPA response to that was to refuse to meet in the same room with the A Skovronski www.dsea.org guidance counselor at Newark High School in Christina and active union team during mediation. In the previous two mediation ses- sions, DCPA has been in a separate room and the mediator has had to go between the two rooms to pass language and information. We are repeatedly told by policy makers that charter schools are "public schools," too. "If that is the case," charges Barchack, "why are these public schools allowed to use public money to thwart the rights of their staff to unionize?" The union and DCPA have one final Mediation session scheduled for October 24. It is possible that by the time you read this, DCPA will have a contract. It is also possible that they will not. Several times this year our leaders have been assured by DCPA that there would be a ten- tative agreement, only to have the administration pull back from their commitment. You can help encourage DCPA to do the right thing by contacting Yardise Jones, Board president, at yardise. jones@yahoo.com or Howard Johnson, executive director, at Howard.Johnson@dcpa.k12. de.us. Please check in with the DSEA Facebook page at face- book.com/dseafan for updates on the situation. Christina's Shirin Skovronski joins DSEA Exec. Board Two more vacant seats - one for Association leader, Shirin Skovronski will assume a vacant Executive Board seat whose term expires at the end of August 2013. a New Castle County member and one for a Kent County member – will be filled in November by the Executive Board. Unfortunately, the deadline for letters of interest was before this issue reached DSEA such as this in between issues of ACTION!, please keep the DSEA web page at www.dsea. org, Facebook page (dseafan) and Twitter feed (dsea1) open. October 2012 DSEA ACTION! 3 members. Those deadlines are deter- mined by DSEA Policy. To keep current on developments