Show Me The Data Why DCPS Teachers Were Fired !

When I learned that four WTU Executive Board members were laid off during the latest reduction in force I was devastated. They included Willie Brewer, Agnes Dyson, Sheila Gill and Robert Willis. Three of these board members were some of our teachers and related school personnel most ardent advocates. Could it be coincidence that the most vocal of them were hardest hit ? I don't think so. Having our WTU Executive Board wiped out like this in an instant will have an adverse impact on conducting business at the Washington Teachers' Union (WTU). So far we have lost two other board members to retirement, one board member is no longer a teacher and therefore no longer eligible to be a board member while another has vowed not to return. Getting rid of our advocates in this way ensures that no one is sitting at the helm to represent the interests of city-wide teachers and related school personnel. This is the real tragedy as who will speak for you ? Firing our strongest representatives ensures that Rhee will have a greater likelihood of getting a teacher contract ratified that is unfair to teachers and bad for students.

What is most troubling to me is that our WTU President, George Parker did nothing to stop this DCPS train wreck even though he saw it coming. As some of you may be unaware there are mandatory reporting laws that require agency heads like Rhee to inform unions in anticipation of a layoff as well as apprise the union of the names of workers who were laid off. Consistently Rhee fails to apprise our union of anything with no push back from Parker. The WTU under the helm of Parker has been accused by our members of being Rhee-active versus Pro-active. As our union president, Parker has not filed any unfair labor practices as suggested by our labor attorney. What a pity for our members.

I supported the recent WTU Rally For Respect which was co-sponsored by our national organization, American Federation of Teachers (AFT). However, as one of our union members stated in a special meeting -it was day late and a dollar short. I am still waiting to hear what are Parker's next steps for relief to fight what he calls arbitrary and capricious termination by Rhee and company ? In our union meeting on Tuesday, members learned that while our union filed an injunction against layoffs- the bar for this legal maneuver is quite high. What happens next if we don't win ?

According to an October 2, 2009 report by Mary Levy who has analyzed the DCPS budget for many years : " Reconstitution of school staff took place in June 2008 and June 2009. If there were excess teachers, the problem was known then and a RIF (reduction in force), if needed could have been done in June, without disrupting instruction. " The million dollar question is why then did Rhee hire 900 new teachers when for the last seven years the city has averaged 294 new teacher hires annually . Hiring 934 new teachers in inconsistent with annual hiring practices according to Levy.As noted in today's WaPo, our WTU attorney states : "DCPS' attempt to disguise this mass discharge as a 'RIF' [reduction in force] caused by a 'budget shortfall' is clearly a pretextual attempt to sidestep the [Washington Teachers' Union] contract and to discharge a substantial number of veteran teachers."