An unexpected staff shakeup at the Community School of Excellence in St. Paul on Tuesday included the firing of several union leaders who were working to negotiate the charter school’s first contract.
Union officials characterized the staff cuts as retaliation for forming the state’s second charter school teachers union in 2014, but the school’s leader said that couldn’t be further from the truth.
The school serves about 1,000 students who are predominantly Hmong immigrants, and about 19 of the 82 staffers are expected to lose their jobs.
“It’s appalling that a school for an immigrant community would deny its students access to dedicated teachers of English language learners, gifted and talented programs, educational support staff and media specialists,” said Denise Specht, president of the state teachers union Education Minnesota. “We urge the administrators of the Community School of Excellence to reconsider these foolish and vindictive staff cuts and save their school.”
Bao Vang, executive director of the school, said the firings were because the school has been a low-performer for years, not because teachers decided to unionize. Vang said school officials plan to rethink how they teach students learning English and find better ways to offer other academic programs.
“We cannot continue to operate in the same way and hope to get different results,” Vang said, denying the firings were retaliation. “For most of my career, I’ve been an active union member. I support their effort.”
Records from the National Labor Relations Board show staff members have repeatedly filed complaints alleging unfair labor practices since the union was formed in 2014. Several of those complaints are pending and others have been resolved.
Blythe Inners said she and other members of the team working to negotiate a contract were told Tuesday they would not have jobs when school resumed in the fall.
“The educators of (the school) have been working for years to build a school that serves the special needs of its community,” Inners said in a statement. “More than three-quarters of our students are English language learners and we’re proud of their progress. We’re willing to keep fighting to provide the education our students need to thrive.”
Students have scored below state averages on academic measures the past five years, and the school was repeatedly designated as needing help and coaching from the state, records show.
Teachers at the Community School of Excellence voted in 2014 to unionize after a series of controversies and staff member clashes with then-executive director Mo Chang.
After employees complained to the state Department of Education, an outside investigator found Chang discouraged staff from following state rules regarding the reporting of suspected child abuse. The inquiry also found problems with how school leaders claimed federal funds to pay for subsidized student meals.
Officials from Concordia University, which oversees the school’s operation for the state as its authorizer, unsuccessfully tried to have Chang fired. Concordia announced in 2014 it would stop authorizing schools altogether because the extensive oversight role no longer fit with the university’s mission.
Last October Chang announced she was leaving the school to pursue another opportunity. Vang, who also leads the Hmong American Partnership community organization, said she was asked to step in and make changes.
The school needs to have a new authorizer in place by July to continue operation. Vang said the high expectations of their potential new authorizer, the Minnesota Guild of Charter Schools, which has ties to the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, played a role in the staff changes.
“Every time I make a decision like this, it’s a hard decision,” Vang said of the staff cuts. “I understand why they are upset.”
Vang added that she hopes to have an agreement with a new authorizer in the coming days. A representative from the Guild of Charter Schools was unable to be reached for comment Tuesday.