69´«Ă˝

Special Report
Classroom Technology

Teachers’ Unions See Opportunities in Online Charters

By Robin L. Flanigan — August 27, 2012 4 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

An online charter school in western Pennsylvania claims to have made virtual education history three years ago by becoming what is thought to be the first cyber charter school in the nation—and the only one to date—to unionize. In June 2009, teachers at the PA Learners Online Regional Cyber Charter School voted 42-14 to have the Pennsylvania State Education Association represent 76 teachers, counselors, and other employees.

Those involved in making that happen say the move could signal the start of a different kind of relationship between teachers’ unions and virtual education, one that, despite continuing concerns over how online schools are managed, results in more collaboration.

“As an association, as a union, our job is to do what we can for students, so we’re going to continue to attempt to organize school workers, wherever they are,” said Mike Crossey, the president of the PSEA, an affiliate of the National Education Association.

Though it’s still too early to tell whether the unionized Pennsylvania cyber school, which is changing its name to —or Science, Technology, Research, Engineering, Arts, and Math—Academy as of the 2012-13 school year, will spur similar partnerships. But it does offer a contrasting view of teachers’ unions that more typically make news for their attempts to block or limit virtual schools. Those attempts have taken place in several states in recent years.

In July, a group of prominent education organizations in New Jersey, including the New Jersey Education Association, asked acting Commissioner of Education Chris Cerf to decline approval of two virtual charter schools, citing numerous legal and policy concerns. Less than a week later, the State of New Jersey Board of Education granted the and the New Jersey Virtual Charter School a planning year, allowing the schools additional time to develop their academic and operational components to ensure a successful opening in 2013-14.

With the number of virtual schools continuing to grow, teachers’ union leaders insist that, while their primary role is to represent their members, they are not against online education. Instead, they see themselves as cautiously supportive, particularly when it comes to for-profit ventures.

“This is the kind of thing we want,” Mike Kaspar, a senior policy analyst for the 3 million-member NEA, said of alliances with online schools. “But with more charter schools being privatized, what does that mean in terms of quality, accessibility, and accountability? Will there be the same checks and balances in place?”

Those questions are even more critical, he added, given the number of states—Pennsylvania, interestingly, is among the most recent—that have moved to curb collective bargaining rights for teachers.

Defining New Roles

Others are curious to see how blended learning, which combines aspects of brick-and-mortar and online instruction, might influence future relationships between teachers’ unions and the virtual world. The NEA released a in 2011 expressing support for the blended approach.

“There’s more activity in this area than anywhere else right now, and there are going to be roles that are defined that don’t necessarily look like the roles we’ve traditionally seen in schools,” said Matthew Wicks, the chief operating officer for the International Association for K-12 Online Learning, or iNACOL, based in Vienna, Va.

As it is, there is still hesitation to get too friendly just yet. In May, despite a substantial recruitment campaign by the PSEA, teachers at the Agora Cyber Charter School in a close vote—214-200—rejected the opportunity to unionize. The teachers for that Pennsylvania school had responded to the campaign with one of their own, contending that the PSEA’s past attempts to slash charter school funding likely would have forced Agora, and schools like it, to close. Agora served some 9,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade in 2011-12.

Doug Tuthill, who now runs a nonprofit scholarship program based in Tampa, Fla., for low-income children across the state, held leadership responsibilities in teachers’ unions at the local and state levels for years. He has long pushed for a change in the way unions operate and views virtual education as a prime testing ground to do just that.

“I have argued since the early â€90s that we’ve needed a new unionism, that instead of protecting teachers from a dysfunctional system, we ought to be in the business of empowering them to change the system,” Mr. Tuthill said.

Meanwhile, the NEA has just begun revising its distance education policy, last written and adopted in 2002, which will address future connections between unions and cyber schools.

“It will talk about what that relationship would look like, and what we think needs to be in place to make that relationship happen,” said Mr. Kaspar of the NEA. “We are definitely adapting.”

A version of this article appeared in the August 29, 2012 edition of Education Week as Unions See Opportunities in Online Charter 69´«Ă˝

Events

School & District Management Webinar Crafting Outcomes-Based Contracts That Work for Everyone
Discover the power of outcomes-based contracts and how they can drive student achievement.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School & District Management Webinar
Harnessing AI to Address Chronic Absenteeism in 69´«Ă˝
Learn how AI can help your district improve student attendance and boost academic outcomes.
Content provided by 
School & District Management Webinar EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?
What issues are keeping K-12 leaders up at night? Join us for EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

Classroom Technology Parents Are Virtually Monitoring Their Kids in Class. Teachers Aren’t Happy
Thirty-seven percent of teachers, principals, and district leaders said in a survey that this is happening in their schools.
4 min read
Illustration of laptop with eye on screen.
iStock/Getty
Classroom Technology Opinion Has Technology Been Bad for 69´«Ă˝ and Learning?
Education technology is supposed to build knowledge. We need to wrestle with the possibility that it might not.
7 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
Classroom Technology Opinion Why School Cellphone Bans Are a Bad Idea
We cannot ignore the powerful relationship between students and their phones—and what they mean for equity in our most challenged schools.
Brandon Cardet-Hernandez
4 min read
Trendy halftone collage. Hand holding and using cell phone.
Natalya Kosarevich/iStock
Classroom Technology From Our Research Center How Strict Are School Cellphone Policies?
New survey data show that schools are trying a variety of approaches to curb students’ cellphone use.
2 min read
Young student using on smartphone in classroom
Leonardo Patrizi/iStock/Getty