Roosevelt charter school teachers seek more pay

In a region where senior teachers at most public schools routinely earn six-figure salaries, staffers at Long Island's biggest charter school say they're feeling underpaid and underappreciated.

Consequently, teachers and other workers at Roosevelt Children's Academy have taken their complaints public in a recent show of union activism rare for the Island's charter-school employees. Charter schools run independently of traditional systems, with public funding based on the number of students they attract.

At Roosevelt's charter school, teachers now wear black in class on designated Fridays. On Saturday, a union group showed up with picket signs at a school banquet meant to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

"Everyone's extremely upset," said Nicole Donnelly, a school social worker and president of the 80-member union that includes teachers, classroom aides, custodians and others.

Roosevelt Children's Academy enrolls about 530 students in grades 3-8 and boasts some of the highest test scores in the state. To provide extra time for students there, teachers put in a seven-hour, 45-minute day - 45 minutes more than in traditional schools nearby.

Despite the extra work, the charter school's pay and benefits are lower.

For example, the school's most experienced teacher, who has a master's degree, earns $62,208 annually after 10 years on the job there. A teacher with equivalent experience and education in the surrounding Roosevelt district would earn $77,881. Moreover, charter school teachers get six days a year to cover any sick leave, while district counterparts get 12 days.

Peter Fishbein, an attorney for Roosevelt Children's Academy, says the school's board expects to negotiate a new union contract "that is fair to both sides," though he declined to discuss details. The old contract expired last August; the union is seeking 4 percent raises for each of the next three years along with other enhancements.

Fishbein added, however, that the board must conserve its cash reserves of more than $7 million, because it hopes to start building a new high school within the next year or so. Unlike districts, charter schools cannot impose taxes to pay for construction.

Complaints of underpaid teachers are uncommon on the Island, where the great majority of districts including Roosevelt pay teachers with more than 20 years' experience well above $100,000 annually.

Officials at New York State United Teachers, an umbrella group representing all unionized teachers in the state, say one problem at charter schools is that their teachers usually leave within the first five or six years of employment. Consequently, those officials say, few charter-school teachers ever reach the upper pay brackets, even if schools would provide them.