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United Federation of Teachers Vice President Leo Casey at a public hearing about Opportunity Charter School's charter renewal

For months, Opportunity Charter School CEO Leonard Goldberg fought to keep the teachers union out of his school. On Monday, he welcomed them into his auditorium with open arms.

At a public hearing to discuss the school’s future Monday evening, United Federation of Teachers Vice President Leo Casey and other UFT officials joined Goldberg and his newly unionized staff to push back against the possibility that Opportunity could be closed. The school’s charter is up for renewal this year and the city has cited it as one of six charter schools whose performance is so weak that they could lose their right to operate.

The partnership between the school’s leadership and the union would have seemed inconceivable just a couple of months ago when the two sides were locked in a legal battle over whether the school’s teachers should be able to join the UFT.

Union officials and teachers accused Goldberg of retaliation after he fired more than a dozen teachers shortly after they voted to unionize at the school in March. Goldberg refused to acknowledge the teachers’ union vote, prompting a hearing with the state’s Public Employee Relations Board, which eventually ruled that the teachers could use the UFT as their bargaining agent. The union has also filed a grievance over the firings.

All of that was apparently water under the bridge during Monday night’s meeting, which two officials from the DOE’s charter schools office attended. Goldberg said he was happy to have the union’s support and UFT officials said the school should stay open. (more…)

There’s no video (that I know about) of the conversation that happened inside the White House today, but the education leaders who emerged today after talking about their ideas for closing the achievement gap spilled all as soon as they got outside. Politico has video.

You might notice some splices in the video above. Here are Bloomberg’s unabridged comments, courtesy of the city Department of Education:

Today happened to be particularly fortuitous; the State of New York released the test scores in English for how well different counties in New York are doing. And thanks to hard work by people like Merryl Tisch, the Chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents; Joel Klein, who’s with me today, our great Schools Chancellor; Ernie Logan, the head of the Principals Union; Randi Weingarten, the head of the Teachers Union; my Deputy Mayor, Dennis Walcott; and 120,000 people that work for the New York City Department of Education. What they’ve done, and the results came out again today, is nothing short of amazing and exactly what this country needs. (more…)

Mayor Bloomberg will meet with President Obama this afternoon at the Oval Office to talk about the achievement gap. The meeting, which also includes the Rev. Al Sharpton and Newt Gingrich, the former Republican House majority leader, adds to signs suggesting that Obama is taking the Education Equality Project group’s stance on how to improve public schools seriously.

A spokesman for Chancellor Joel Klein, David Cantor, said that the group will discuss “education reform, in particular how best to address the racial achievement gap.”

The Washington Post reported that Sharpton, who along with Klein is a co-founder of EEP, requested the meeting.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post incorrectly said that Klein attended the meeting at the Oval Office. He did not, though he did appear with the group later outside the White House.

UPDATE: Ben Smith at Politico’s take is that the meeting is “a way for the administration to signal openness to a range of voices on the topic” of education. Seems to me it’s just the opposite, because — believe it or not — at this point Sharpton, Bloomberg, and Gingrich are actually on the same page about education. (more…)

Four major foundations that have for years poured resources into growing charter schools this week announced that they are also giving money to the American Federation of Teachers, the national teachers union. Their donations are paying for an “Innovation Fund” that would let teachers pilot reforms in their own schools.

Along with representatives of the Gates, Broad, Ford, and Mott foundations, Randi Weingarten announced the fund’s creation at an event in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. (Weingarten is the head of the AFT as well as New York City’s local union.)  An informative video the AFT produced from the event is below the jump.

Contrary to what some critics have charged, unions are a natural engine for innovation because they can insulate their members from retribution if their risks don’t pan out, Weingarten said on Tuesday. ”Collective bargaining allows teachers to take well-considered risks,” she said. “If teachers are afraid to do something outside the norm because their evaluations or their jobs are on the line, they may be less inclined to give change a chance.”

Now, the AFT is asking local affiliates to suggest projects for the first round of Innovation Fund grants. Priority will go to projects that aim to develop new compensation and evaluation systems for teachers, or projects that extend learning time for students.

If I know nothing else, I know that GothamSchools readers are full of ideas about how to improve schools. What do you think the Innovation Fund should support? Leave a comment with your suggestions. (more…)