Out of Newark, New Jersey came an interesting story about Newark’s powerful teachers union in yesterday’s New York Times. Essentially the story is that the Newton Street School, having failed in six consecutive years to make Adequate Yearly Progress under No Child Left Behind, is being taken over by a management group that includes the teachers union. As part of this change the union has signed off on the removal of at least a dozen teachers.

“It was probably the hardest thing that I’ve had to do,” said Joseph Del Grosso, the longtime union president, who helped push through raises for teachers this spring during a state budget crisis, and went to jail for nearly three months in 1971 for taking part in a teachers’ strike.

The Union is doing much more than participating in management. They have applied direct union financial resources to benefit this school.

The union, which has a $3.5 million annual budget, has already spent $100,000 on teacher training and a retreat, and has set aside another $100,000 this year for professional development and to help pay for staff, supplies and field trips for the students at Newton. The union and Seton Hall are also leading a campaign to raise $250,000 from business and community leaders to create a school garden and a playground.

This teachers union has its critics. In response to some of the criticisms Mr. Del Grosso has said:

As both a teacher and a union president, Mr. Del Grosso said he had an insight into the “systemic problems in education.” One, he said, is a lack of discipline among students because so many teachers are reluctant to intervene when faced with the threat of potential abuse allegations and lawsuits from parents.

And the Union management participation has changed the rules, at least at the Newton School.

At the Newton Street School, Mr. Del Grosso has told teachers to expect to supervise more detention periods for misbehaving students, and, if necessary, to work with them on Saturdays. Teachers who are unwilling to do so will be moved to another school because they do not fit in with the plan for what is being called the “new Newton,” he said.

The school also plans to have teachers specialize in certain subjects, like math or social studies, and may move out some teachers who lack such specialties, Mr. Del Grosso said.

So, what do you think? Is teacher participation in school management something that we can expect to see more of in the future. The article cites Union participation in charter schools in several cities.

Teachers’ unions in Chicago, Boston, Baltimore, Miami and Minneapolis have also started running schools jointly with their local public school districts in the past few years, according to the American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second-largest teachers’ union.

What about this teachers? Is this a good trend, a bad trend, or an abberation. Food for thought. Read the New York Times article at this link.