KIPP charter school agrees to stay open in Baltimore

From The Baltimore Sun: A charter school operator that had threatened to pull out of Baltimore next school year because of the demands of the teachers union over pay says that it has reached an agreement that will allow it to stay. KIPP, which operates one of the city's most successful middle schools, cut back its school hours and laid off staff a year ago, after the union said it was violating the contract and must begin paying its teachers 33 percent more than other city teachers because they were working longer hours. KIPP Ujima Village Academy, the middle school, complied, but at a cost to the program that had been working successfully with low-income students in its Northwest Baltimore neighborhood. JULY 2009....from The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore's most successful middle school is laying off staff and shortening its school day to meet demands of a teachers union contract. KIPP Ujima Village Academy, based on a model that has forged a successful track record among poor students in more than a dozen states, has been violating a contract requiring teachers to be paid more if they work extra hours. After seven years of ignoring the issue, the Baltimore Teachers Union told the charter school earlier this year that it must pay its teachers 33 percent more than other city school teachers because they were working nine hours and 15 minutes a day, as well as every other Saturday. The standard workday for teachers is seven hours and five minutes.