Union vote set at St. Paul charter school

The Community School of Excellence, hit last year by allegations it misused funds and engaged in retaliatory employment practices, could soon become the second unionized charter school in the state.

Teachers and other employees are scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to form a union at the school, a magnet for St. Paul's Hmong families -- with 958 students enrolled last week.

In February, staff members contacted Education Minnesota, the state's teachers union, about organizing a union. The move came after the state Department of Education called for an investigation into allegations against the school and its superintendent, Mo Chang, and about a month before two teachers filed a whistleblower lawsuit claiming that white employees had been subjected to retaliation and discrimination, among other concerns.

The school has denied the teachers' allegations.

Of the move to organize, Education Minnesota president Denise Specht said in a statement Monday: "The educators at the Community School of Excellence want respect and a stronger voice in their school so they can improve the quality of education for their students. Those are important goals and Education Minnesota is ready to help those educators achieve them."

Chang could not be reached to comment.

In a statement Monday night, school board Chairwoman Patti Hessling said that the school did not believe a union would add to its success or provide an answer to its challenges.

Last summer, the state Department of Education asked the school's authorizer, Concordia University, St. Paul, to investigate reports of misused federal food funds and other allegations.

The independent investigation substantiated claims that 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 unsupported, the report concluded that Chang had threatened staffers and created an environment where workers were afraid to disagree with her.

But the school board succeeded in fending off Concordia's request to dismiss Chang.

The unionization vote is a "wall-to-wall" vote, meaning all employees, from teachers to cooks to education assistants, would be part of the same bargaining unit, Education Minnesota said.

Earlier this year, 25 teachers at Twin Cities German Immersion School, which also is in St. Paul, gave 80 percent support to forming a union, making it the state's sole unionized charter school.