By Victor Skinner
EAGnews.org
    
CHICAGO – Officials at the Youth Connection Charter School on Chicago’s south side are doing what any charter school should do when faced with a union takeover:
   
Shut the doors and call it a day. To do otherwise would be wasting precious taxpayer money.
    
Officials contend that their decision to close the school stems from a plan to restructure the academy, as well as a new contract with the city that requires charter networks to develop solutions for underperforming campuses, DemocraticUnderground.com reports.
    
Whether it’s a coincidence or not, the decision to close Youth Connection came one day after school staff voted to join the Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff (ACTS), a branch of the American Federation of Teachers union. Unsurprisingly, ACTS, the AFT and the AFL-CIO have filed an unfair labor complaint to force the charter school to stay open.
    
Perhaps this charter school has some problems and needs positive restructuring. That certainly can’t happen in a union environment.
    
We believe the drastic action is necessary to avoid unionization – the antithesis of the charter school mission. While charter schools provide the staffing flexibility and creative learning environment necessary for students to thrive, unions work diligently to impose stringent work rules and unnecessary expenses that drag schools down and negatively impact academics.
    
In Chicago, 13 of the city’s charter schools have been unionized, which means students and parents at the independent schools can now look forward to the same type of ugly labor strife that has paralyzed Chicago Public Schools in recent years.  Who can blame officials at Youth Connection for wanting to avoid that trap?
    
Whether Youth Connection officials want to close the school because of the unionization vote or out of a genuine need to revamp operations, we have little doubt their decision is based on providing the best possible education for students.
    
Stifling rules imposed by collective bargaining agreements, and the teachers unions’ relentless push for increased compensation, would make that nearly impossible.