A state labor board is expected to rule today on the first of three tugs-of-war between the teachers union and one of the country’s most prominent charter-school operators.
The Public Employment Relations Board will first act on a bid by KIPP AMP Brooklyn middle-school teachers to join the United Federation of Teachers.
The board will also soon rule on a bid by teachers at two other charter schools, Harlem’s KIPP Infinity and the Bronx KIPP Academy, to cut their UFT ties.
They said they sought the separation because the union was taking action on their behalf without being asked to — even though communication lines among staff, administration and parents had been working without a hitch.
Dave Levin, overseer of four city charter schools and co-founder of KIPP — which operates more than 60 schools nationally — said he was staying focused on what matters.
“The main thing for us quite honestly is we want to make sure the promises we make to kids and families, we’re able to keep,” he said.
The UFT declined to comment.
Teachers at less than a dozen of the city’s 78 charter schools are currently union members.
“We have union and non-union schools,” said Peter Murphy, policy director of the New York Charter Schools Association. “All we care about is results.”