Reform: The Return Of The "Thin" Contract?

Maybe it's just because I'm writing about a book about them but Steve Barr and Green Dot schools (and "thin" or reform labor contracts in general) seem like they're turning out to be one of the unexpected (momentary?) beneficiaries of the post-WFS search for more promising approaches than nonunion charters featured in the movie.  The thin contract and other variants on the traditional labor agreement have been mentioned over the past few days by NYT commentators (Brent Staples, Gail Collins) and wonks (Jonathan Gyurko) and advocates (Randi Weingarten) and journalists (Dana Goldstein).  I wonder how many thin contracts there are nationally -- including pilots and other variants.  

Comments

[Emily]

Here was our story a few years back on unionized charters: http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/education/article_c331b4c7-5171-5716-a50c-3be5571e1dd3.html

[john]

In our district we have "Enterprise Schools" that essentially are unionized charters. Better still, Enterprise Schools use the school system's computer system. So, their fantastic improvements in student performance are credited to district's AYP. When the top students are creamed to charters and the suburbs, it makes the district look awful and feeds the anti-education backlash. But when the top students are creamed to Enterprise Schools and Magnets, we show that the district and unionized teachers, when comparing apples to apples, produce results that are identical to the best charters and better than the suburbs.

I'd like to see Enterpise Schools and their thin contracts extneded to the toughest neighborhood schools.