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Unions Turn Cold Shoulder on Charters

Veteran teacher and one-time union activist Linda J. Page could hardly be prouder of the charter school she helped found in Colorado under the wing of her local teachers' association. But the start-up and its aftermath have left a bitter taste.

After five years and what she considers enormous success with a student enrollment that has had more than its share of disaffected teenagers, the CIVA Charter High School has come unmoored both from the local union that birthed it and the national union that made it a model.

"Nobody seems to have the time or the inclination to worry" about the loss, Ms. Page said recently. "I'm afraid we'll just ride off into the sunset and won't have made any difference...