Teachers and staff members at a St. Paul charter school that has faced allegations of financial misdeeds and retaliatory employment practices voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to form a union.
The Community School of Excellence, a magnet for Hmong families over the past seven years, becomes the second unionized charter school in the state.
"This is a historic and positive day for CSE," said Casey Seeling, a CSE kindergarten teacher. "We hope the decision to unionize will increase our student achievement in the future and build stronger relationships among our school community."
The school, located in the former home of St. Bernard's Catholic school in the North End, had 958 students this spring — more than five times the number it had when it opened in 2007. But the past year has seen it contending with controversy surrounding its superintendent, Mo Chang.
In February, Community School of Excellence staff members contacted Education Minnesota, the state's teachers union, about organizing.
The move came while the school and its authorizer, Concordia University in St. Paul, were responding to state Department of Education demands to investigate and resolve claims of federal food-funding misuse and other allegations.
Then, in March, two teachers filed a whistleblower lawsuit claiming they'd been subjected to retaliation and discrimination — allegations the school has denied.
An independent investigation found Chang improperly directed staff members to enter or have students enter lunch codes for meals that were not eaten and encouraged staff to not report suspected cases of child abuse. While some complaints were not supported, the report concluded that Chang had threatened staffers and created an environment where workers were afraid to disagree with her.
