Cover Up of DC Teachers Protests by The Washington Post

In typical Washington Post style they cover up the news rather than report the news. Bill Turque who attended our rank and file teacher rally wrote a story for The Post and it appeared on line on Thursday evening. As is customary, the WaPo article generally appears in the on-line version and then appears in the Wash. Post the next day. This time that did not happen. Surprising ? No. I suspect that now that Chancellor Rhee and Mayor Fenty are losing favor with many in this city we will see little to none of Turque's article. The only coverage that appeared in their paper was a photo from our teacher rally featuring our very own Sheila Gill, WTU Executive Board member and school counselor holding a rally sign.



Well if the Post won't report their news I certainly will. Here is our story that should have been printed in The Washington Post.



D.C. Teachers Rally Against Rhee, Union Head

By Bill Turque, Washington Post Staff Writer

September 24, 2009 7:41 PM



"A small but vocal band of District teachers, angry about impending layoffs, rallied against Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and their own union president in front of the school system's central offices early Thursday evening.



"Our teachers are running scared right now, because they're not sure they'll have a job," said Malvery Smith, a second grade teacher at Turner Elementary School@Green in Southeast. Smith, who has taught in the city for 14 years, was one of about 60 District educators in the plaza in front of school headquarters on North Capitol Street.



They were joined by supporters and community activists. Teachers protested Rhee's Sept. 16 announcement of a still-unspecified number of layoffs. It came more than three weeks into the school year and nearly seven weeks after the D.C. Council sliced $20.7 million from the 2010 DCPS budget. The cuts, which also hit other city agencies, were triggered by a continued decline in tax revenue.



Teachers who will lose their jobs are expected to be notified by Sept. 30. Word of the layoffs followed a spring and summer when the school system filled 900 teaching vacancies. Rhee said she did not expect the council's cuts, which were approved July 31. She waited until mid-September, she said, so that the staff reductions could be done in tandem with the annual "equalization" process, which shifts teachers at under-enrolled schools to others in need of more educators.



But teachers scoffed at that explanation Thursday, contending that Rhee is seeking another way to oust veteran instructors. "That doesn't hold water," said Willie Brewer, an instrumental music teacher at Marshall Elementary in Northeast who has worked in District public schools for 26 years.



Jerome Brocks, a veteran special education teacher said there was only one reason Rhee is pursuing the cuts. "It's to get rid of veteran teachers of color," said Brocks, who is black.



Rhee has denied targeting teachers because of age or race. Washington Teachers Union President George Parker did not attend the rally, which was organized in part by two of his most outspoken critics, union board of trustees member Candi Peterson and its general vice president, Nathan Saunders. They have denounced Parker for weak leadership and aligning himself too closely with Rhee in contract talks that have lasted nearly two years.



The District's 4,000 union members have been without a contract for three years. "Our union leadership has led us to this point," said Tom O'Rourke, a social studies teacher at Roosevelt High School. "Management knows they can wait us out and pick us off one by one."



Parker said the union didn't endorse the rally because it was "hastily and loosely organized. "It did very little to serve the interests of our members, although it may do a lot to serve the political interests of Candi Peterson and Nathan Saunders," he said.



Parker said the teachers union will hold a rally Oct. 8. It has been a turbulent first few weeks of the new school year for D.C. teachers, who have been trying to adjust to a series of changes made by Rhee.



In addition to the impending layoffs, the District has unveiled a new, rigorous evaluation system that will include improvement in standardized test scores as part of the criteria for assessing some instructors. It is linked to a deeply detailed new set of teaching guidelines and strategies that cover everything from classroom presentation to checking for student understanding to instilling the belief that hard work leads to success.



School officials have also introduced a revised version of the student disciplinary code that is intended to de-emphasize suspensions and push teachers to work harder at keeping misbehaving students in the classroom."



Posted by The Washington Teacher featuring Candi Peterson, blogger in residence, article courtesy of the WaPo