Letter from a Teacher: Charter School Hell

(Young Spartacus pages)

The Obama administration has been leading the charge in a bipartisan nationwide assault on public education and teachers unions, attacking “failing” schools in black and immigrant communities and threatening teachers with layoffs (see: “Obama’s War on Public Education,” WV No. 967, 22 October 2010). Meanwhile, some of the country’s biggest billionaires and Democratic Party hacks are waging a rabid media campaign to blame teachers and their unions for the disastrous conditions of the public schools, while deceptively showcasing a select few carefully manicured charter schools as the future of education. Charter schools are an attack on the basic democratic right to public education. They further increase segregation in the schools, and for the majority of black and minority youth, offer nothing but a holding pen, while lining the pockets of the owners with public funds.

Printed below is a letter from a supporter of the Spartacus Youth Clubs who is a teacher at a charter school.

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I am forced to take on more than the average teacher and get paid less than the average teacher. I get paid thirteen thousand dollars less than a teacher with my experience at a public school in my area. I have to do a bunch of extracurricular activities that in a public school would be optional. I have to supervise four after-school activities a week. This adds an extra four hours to my workweek. In a public school a teacher would get paid extra for this. In the school where I work, I do not get paid anything for this. To be honest, I do not have it as bad as some of the other teachers in the school. I recently heard from two teachers at my school that they have to stay until 6 p.m. one day a week to supervise an after-school activity and they do not get paid anything for it. I must note that our contract states that we must be at the school until 3:45 p.m. I also have to substitute during my preparation period if there is another teacher absent. This happens at least once a week. The reason why we have to do this so often is that the school does not usually get a sub if there is a teacher absent. We do not get paid extra for covering for other teachers. Subs cost money, and why pay for a sub when you can just get the teachers to do it for free? I hear that public school teachers get paid around $30 to $60 for every period that they cover.

Of course we cannot complain about any of this, since we do not have a union to defend us. We also do not get tenure. Our contract is up for renewal every year. I have not been at this school long, but I hear that the charter school company that I work for does not usually give raises to teachers. I do not know what happens if a teacher asks for a raise, but I’m pretty sure that any teacher that insists on a raise is not rehired. If a teacher wants to quit, they have to give two-week notice, but the charter school company can fire a teacher for any vague reason, like “inefficiency” or “immorality.” Unlike a union shop, where a contract covers an entire workgroup, each teacher has an individual contract with the company, which leads to unequal compensation, benefits, etc. It is usually the case that when we show up at our weekly staff meetings we are told by the administration that we will have to do extra work, like supervising outside before the beginning of school or in the halls during passing periods, etc. Of course we cannot say no. They are not asking us if we can do it, they are telling us we should do it.

Charter schools are notorious for not providing enough funding for programs for students with disabilities, even though they get money from the state for such programs. This is also the case at my school. For example, I have a teenage student who cannot read or write above a first-grade level. This is a problem since a lot of reading and writing is involved in my class. I have other students with learning disabilities in my class, and I do adapt my instruction and assignments to fit their needs. These students are able to comprehend most of the material presented, although they need extra help. There are no adaptations that I can make to my assignments which will fit the needs of a student who struggles to read at a first-grade level. This student should be in a special education class where his needs will be better met. At the very least, this student should be provided with an aide to help him in the class. The reason that he is not in such a class is that we do not have one in our school. The charter company would have to spend some extra money to set up such a class. This is also the reason why he was not provided with an aide. The company is not willing to spend money on aides. There is a teacher at our school who works with students with disabilities, but her time is limited since she teaches general education classes. This is despite the fact that federal law says that even charter schools must provide special education to students with disabilities.

The school facilities are also not up to the same standard as your average public school. Our school is located in a commercial building. The charter school company rents out half of this building from some company. This does not seem that bad at first, but you might change your mind about this when you find out that the classrooms that we are in are also shared with other people who have nothing to do with the school or the people who own the building. The result of this is that things always get moved around or end up missing. I’ve found ways to deal with this but it frustrates me, since I know that I would not have these problems were I in a public school. Moreover, the building is not built well and things are always breaking. Door handles come off, faucets break and the ceiling begins to leak every time it rains. This is also the case with other charter schools that I’ve been to. One charter school was a warehouse, which had been used to store produce, and another used to be a car garage.

This charter company sees itself more as a business than a public educational organization. For example, we have a CEO instead of a superintendent. That is his actual title, CEO. It’s clear that the people in charge are in it for the money. And they are using that money to fatten their pockets and buy themselves eighty-thousand-dollar cars. I know that they have these types of cars because I see them parked in our parking lot whenever someone from the main office comes to observe our school! We don’t get paid on time, get raises, get subs, or get materials for our class because of the “current financial crisis” and yet these people buy Porsches and Land Rovers. But that’s how education works under capitalism.

All of the teachers at my school are tired and really want things to change. Recently I had a discussion with some of them about how we need to organize and how things would be so much better if we had a union. Just so you know, teachers at charter schools are overworked, underpaid, and furious!