Union files charge against school

Illinois' largest teacher's union has filed a charge against the Cambridge Lakes Charter School for a Feb. 25 meeting at which the union claims the school violated teachers' right to organize.

The charge alleges charter-school officials "interfered with, restrained and coerced its employees in the exercise of rights guaranteed under the (Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act)" at the Feb. 25 staff-wide meeting.

The Illinois Education Association is seeking an injunction to stop Northern Kane Educational Corp., the firm that runs the charter school, from continuing the alleged anti-union activities.

Northern Kane Executive Director Larry Fuhrer would neither confirm nor deny the allegations on Wednesday.

"I have no comment on that," he said.

At the Feb. 25 meeting, teachers were asked if they had been involved in "recently publicized acts against the interests of Northern Kane Educational Corp.," the nonprofit organization that runs the school, according to a document handed to teachers at that meeting.

Just one day earlier, the Daily Herald reported that charter-school teachers were trying to form a union.

The document, obtained by the Daily Herald, asked teachers to repudiate union activities or confess and face undefined consequences.

The Illinois Education Association's March 14 charge aims to stop Northern Kane from using or retaining the documents, which employees were to sign and return at the Feb. 25 meeting.

At a recent Northern Kane board meeting, board President Jerry Conrad said the Feb. 25 document was not brought to the board before it was given to teachers.

Conrad, who is also the vice president of Cambridge Homes, said he would ask for a legal opinion on the document from Northern Kane's legal counsel.

If the Illinois Education Association is successful in getting an injunction against Northern Kane, the firm would be barred from anti-union activities until the merits of the complaint are decided.

The Illinois Education Association also seeks compensation for teachers who have "suffered any loss as a result of the employer's conduct."

Tom Wermers, a former teacher who worked to form a union, says his contract was not renewed for next year and that other teachers who were involved in union efforts faced a similar fate.

Fuhrer would not answer questions about Wermers' employment Wednesday.

"No comment on anything with Tom Wermers," he said.

The Illinois Education Association is trying to represent teachers at the Pingree Grove charter school and has obtained enough signatures to hold a union election, a union official said.

"I have no knowledge of any such thing," Fuhrer said, declining further comment.