Anyone notice a pattern here?
Our city’s traditional public schools are doing a dismal job of preparing New York’s children for life and college. The teachers union sets up its own charter but still cannot make the school shine. Now another charter — the Beginning With Children Charter School — announces it will close its doors come June because it can’t reach a good deal on a contract with its teachers.
The three letters all these schools have in common are these: U-F-T. That stands for United Federation of Teachers.
The UFT dominates the traditional schools. The UFT charter can’t compete with the non-union charters. And officials at the Beginning With Children Charter School say it is closing because the UFT contract doesn’t allow reforms that include more teacher training, longer school days and better teacher evaluations.
What these officials are really saying here is this: Although their school was technically a charter, the teachers union prevented it from acting like one. So no one should be surprised to find those same three letters — UFT — associated with yet another education failure.