By Kate Chisholm, Jill Wurster, Ed Yoo and Tanesha Ryland.
As educators, giving our students what they need to thrive at Neighborhood House Charter School (NHCS) and Codman Academy Charter Public School in Dorchester is why we get up in the morning. Over the years, doing so has become increasingly challenging. That is why we joined the Boston Teachers Union last year and are now fighting for our first union contracts.
NHCS and Codman Academy are schools that pride themselves on innovation and community values. Between the two K-12 schools, more than 1,100 promising young students are in our care for 180 days a year or more. The staff members who have worked here through the years have been dedicated, working long hours for far less money than they might otherwise earn. Some of us started as parents or are alums, and we are deeply invested in our school communities.
Unfortunately, burnout has increased, and Boston has only gotten more expensive.
Over the past few years, we have said goodbye to many of our most capable and committed colleagues; this has been due in no small part to fatigue, but some simply could not pay their rents on charter school salaries.
Sasha White, a high school music teacher at NHCS, put it best: “I’ve seen how exhaustion and financial stress have pushed my colleagues—who deeply love this community—out the door.” The story is the same at Codman Academy. As 9th-grade math teacher Tanesha Ryland shared, “It has become increasingly challenging to give our students what they need.”
That is part of why we joined the Boston Teachers Union (BTU) over a year ago, and why we are more than ready to finalize our first contracts. With new administration at each school, we are optimistic, and have already collaborated on some significant improvements in staff voice and working conditions. Key issues are outstanding, however, and we fear losing many more colleagues if we don’t come to an agreement by the end of the school year.
Our working conditions are our students’ learning conditions. Union contracts mean safer, more stable schools. They provide due process and a level of job security, allowing staff members to speak up for their students without fear of retribution. They mean fair wages and workload protections that keep great teachers in the classroom. They mean the ability to advocate for more special needs staffing and behavioral supports.
These schools were founded with bold visions, creating holistic, transformative education, intentionally centered on building community.
Unionizing is not a departure from those ideals – it is a return to them. And a signed collective bargaining agreement is a promise to our community to uphold those ideals for years to come.
Kate Chisholm and Jill Wurster are teachers at Neighborhood House; Ed Yoo and Tanesha Ryland teach at Codman Academy.
