After putting up with a new principal every couple of years, the 20 teachers employed at the Conservatory Lab Charter School in Brighton, Massachusetts have decided to call in some protection. The teachers recently organized, saying that it is high time more stability is brought to the school and that forming a teachers' union is one way to make that happen.

While there are 61 charter schools in Massachusetts, Conservatory Lab--whose faculty is now under the umbrella of the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts--is the first and only one in the 15-year history of charters to have unionized.

Elsewhere in the Bay State, Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts continues to push his idea for district/charter hybrids called "readiness" schools. These schools would operate under a performance contract within the district structure, hiring unionized, certified teachers limited to bargaining collectively only for wages, benefits and due-process dismissal. Patrick apparently hopes the new model will stir up innovation without roiling establishment waters, either on the union or the district side.