Educators reach tentative agreement with Community School of Excellence

For more information, contact:
  
Aaron Porzelius                                                          
Vice President, Federation of Charter School Employees        
Community School of Excellence                                  
815-674-3455 (cell)   

Chris Williams
651-292-4816 (work)
651-247-5539 (cell)

ST. PAUL, Minn. June 21, 2016 – The educators of the Community School of Excellence reached a tentative agreement on a new contract over the weekend, an important step toward preventing the St. Paul charter school from closing next month.

Details of the agreement were not released. Negotiators for the unionized educators at the school reached the terms of a tentative agreement with administrators before dawn Sunday and final wording was decided Monday. The agreement must now be ratified by votes of the educators and the school's board of directors.

"We're relieved to have a tentative agreement because we all believe in the mission of the school and want our students to succeed," said Aaron Porzelius, a kindergarten teacher, vice president of the CSE union and a member of the bargaining team. "There's more work to do, but we're hopeful there will be a school waiting for our students when they come back in the fall."

Classroom educators and administrators now face a tight deadline. The school must obtain a new authorizer by July 1 or it will be forced to close. The Minnesota Guild of Public Charter schools has been in negotiations with the school to become the authorizer, provided certain conditions were met.

Those conditions included resolving labor problems within the school through a contract with the local union and the restoration of employees and programs cut during a restructuring announced two weeks ago. The Guild has asked the CSE board to report back by 5 p.m. Friday, June 24.

The union educators at the Community School of Excellence are scheduled to vote on the tentative agreement as quickly as the union's bylaws permit, which will be next week.

As for the other Guild conditions, several classroom educators and union members have been rehired. However, the total number of educators who have been recalled is not yet clear.