Teachers at Youngstown charter schools want to unionize

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Educators at two Summit Academy schools informed management Friday of their decision to form a union.

Teachers at Summit Academy-Youngstown and Summit Academy Secondary-Youngstown filed authorization cards with the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of the majority of educators at the school. This triggers an NLRB-supervised election, which should take place within a month, to certify Summit Academy Youngstown Education Association as the exclusive bargaining representative.

If a majority of educators and staff vote to form the SAYEA, it will be the first charter-school union in Youngstown and will be affiliated with the 121,000 members of the Ohio Education Association.

“As advocates for their students and community, future SAYEA members seek recognition so that they can best advocate for their students, many of whom have special needs, “said Becky Higgins, president of the OEA. “We look forward to welcoming the educators and staff at the Summit Academy Youngstown into our union and working with them to carry on our tradition of improving education and the lives of Ohio’s students.”

Teachers fear the threat of retaliation if they advocate for greater resources and programs for their students and would like to make working at Summit Academy a career rather than being treated as at-will employees, according to an OEA news release.