CORRECTION: The Chalkboard had been under the mistaken impression that NYSUT and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver had offered to lift the cap on the number of public charter schools statewide in exchange for cod/card check - a maneuver which would allow organizers to unionize a charter school without going through the process of allowing teachers an opportunity to cast a secret ballot.

I was wrong and wish to apologize for the error.

Silver, in this public broadcasting piece, denies he was ever seeking cod/card check. Also, if you read between the lines of this heavily sanctimonious/authoritative post*** by EdWize's Leo Casey, you see the unions were/are only seeking to allow "that teachers in charter schools have the ability to exercise the right guaranteed in the first article of the New York State Constitution — to organize into an union and bargain collectively." So not only is it off the table, it apparently was never on the table. My mistake.

As Silver knows, since he negotiated the original charter school law, and since there are a handful of organized charter schools in New York State, teachers in charter schools already have that right. If they want to organize, they can/should - but it should be the teachers driving the train, not the NYSUT gorillas.

As for jerk managers who unfairly/improperly retaliate against teachers who try to organize, I'm already on the record saying they should lose their charter if the case can be made. (At the time, Sara at The Quick and the Ed, suggested that pulling the charter was too harsh, and that firing the jerk manager was more appropriate.) My impression was that the charter could/should be pulled under existing law.

**** While I wish it hadn't been aimed at me, specifically, I have to give Leo credit for using the all-time best adjective I've ever seen in a blog post: puerile. Honestly, It's a stellar word, one I assume was inspired by recent references here to NYSUT pissing on dues-paying teachers in charter schools and the gorilla/banana stuff. A tip of the hat from Puerile Boy.