Christopher House Elementary School

Teachers, paraprofessionals, and other staff at Christopher House Elementary School filed their request on March 19 for a certification election with the National Labor Relations Board.

At Christopher House’s K-8 school in the Belmont-Cragin neighborhood, which has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic, the staff has filed for an in-person election. Christopher House’s elementary school emphasizes programs that help whole families thrive, including child care centers and classes for parents. More than 40 staff members are seeking to join the CTU in order to give educators a collective voice at work and to implement policies that encourage teacher retention and sufficient staffing to provide full support to the school’s significant population of Diverse Learners and English Language Learners.

Usually, the NLRB needs a few weeks to schedule an election, but because of pandemic-related delays at the labor board, it may be late April or May before the elections take place.

Solidarity Flyer (PDF)

Mission Statement (English & Spanish PDF)

Elected officials support unionization at Christopher House

Mission Statement

We, the teaching staff of Christopher House, are uniting to form a union. We do this because we love the students and families we serve; we are proud to work at Christopher House and proud of the school we have built together. Each of us joined Christopher House because we believe in the Christopher House mission and values. Our community and families came to Christopher House because of its unique model and wrap-around services. We too believe in this model. We are committed to these values. We see them daily in our classrooms with our students, we have seen them in the growth the organization has undergone this school year, and we live them out now by advocating for our students and one another. With deep appreciation for the lessons we have already learned from Christopher House, and with a clear vision of how we can best live out the Christopher House values in the future, we advocate for our students and colleagues now by declaring our intent to form a union.

We are committed to nurturing the excellence of our students and families. Therefore, we are forming a union to:

• Assure high-quality classroom support and reasonable class sizes
• Advocate for and consistently provide legally-mandated supports for our diverse learner student population
• Advocate for and consistently provide legally-mandated supports for our English language learner student population
• Ensure that paraprofessionals and support staff receive the appropriate resources and planning time to best support students

We know that achievement and perseverance require consistency and trust. Therefore, we are forming a union to:

• Negotiate a legally binding contract with consistent, fair, and public guidelines for evaluation, support, and compensation that will serve to both retain and recruit qualified and experienced staff
• Guarantee that evaluations will be conducted by appropriately certified staff
• Strengthen relationships and collaboration across departments by supporting open communication between all branches of Christopher House

We believe that respect and compassion are best demonstrated by uplifting everyone’s voice. Therefore, we are forming a union to:

• Gain the legal guarantee of active participation and greater transparency in decision-making processes that affect our work and student achievement
• Foster student achievement by increasing parent engagement and involvement in schoolwide decision-making
• Recognize the importance of every member of the Christopher House organization by paying them a fair wage and promoting professional advancement

We believe that high-quality education centers equity and opportunity. Therefore, we are forming a union to:

• Prioritize hiring a racially diverse teaching staff with endorsements in ELL and bilingual education
• Identify and address bias within the organization
• Model advocacy and social justice to our students by advocating for greater equity
• Minimize staff turnover by developing a culture of professionalism, fairness, and mutual respect between administration and staff