This blog has been critical of the role of teacher union leaders in the state for their attempts to stop, slow, and muck up attempts to create new publicly-accountable public schools under New York's charter school law. Just as you would expect the union leaders to try to hold on tightly to their grip over the concept of public education, one should expect people who support charter schools to bristle at the idea of allowing perceived bad language get in the way of a public school creation/accountability process that (to us) makes a lot of sense. But note that the criticism was aimed at the union leaders' role in the political process, not their very existence.

My own views on unions and charter schools (and I have to emphasize the disclaimer here that I'm not on the staff of NYCSA and I don't pretend to speak for the organization or its members/supporters) are pretty complicated. I think the debate is much more interesting than "unionize all charters vs. unionize no charters" and I especially think that chartering offers unions as much a chance to experiment and innovate as it does charter school operators. There is a lot to scratch at on this issue, and history may show that I am completely off base and overly optimistic about the promise that serious experimentation can create not only better public schools but better teachers unions, but that is all for future debates.

For now, though, I wanted to offer one thought on an op-ed that appeared in the N.Y. Sun today by UFT President Randi Weingarten, on legislation pending before the NYC Council that would protect teachers who speak out when they see injustice or shenanigans in their schools. I don't know all the details or what this means in terms of due process for everyone involved, but I happen to think Weingarten is 100% right about the need for more sunlight all around.

How are we supposed to fix the problems in our schools if we're not allowed to talk about them? And how can we talk about them if we don't empower teachers to report on what they see?

Isn't it better to hear directly from Ms. Smith about what she sees happening on the ground than to have the Working Families Party or the UFT having to tell us what they think Ms. Smith sees?

Yes, it would be wonderful if we could count on people to be courageous about coming forward to speak truth to power, but it seldom happens and it creates a pretty significant disconnect between the problems that exist and the people trying to solve them. Remember a few years ago when the mayor honestly believed NYC school bathrooms had toilet paper?

Providing real solutions can only be done if we as a community are having honest discussions about what the problems are. And the examples that Weingarten provides in the op-ed aren't a stretch of the imagination at all.