Disparate Impact on DC's RIF'd Teachers

http://medilldev.net/2009/10/effective-teachers-central-in-education-reform/

Definition of Disparate Impact 

A type of discrimination recognized by the courts is “an allegation of disparate impact. An allegation of disparate impact most often focuses on a systematic procedure that appears to treat everyone alike, but has an excessively negative impact on a particular group"  Either an individual or a group may make this claim,. “If made on behalf of a group, it is called a class action complaint. The person or agent filing a complaint on behalf of a class must also be a personally aggrieved member of the class” (“Illegal”, 1999).

Crystal Proctor, Social Studies teacher from Jefferson Middle School is featured in this video and discusses how she was laid off on October 2 due to a Principal's assessment that she did not have a grasp of the new teaching and learning framework which was just introduced on September 18. Proctor worked at Jefferson middle school located at 801 7th St SW (phone number 202-729-3270) where Stephanie Patton is the principal.

Many believe these recent layoffs of 266 teachers and 122 school staff were intentionally created by the Rhee administration through over hiring of 934 new teachers this school year.  It has been reported that of the 934 new teacher hires the average age was 32 years old while laid off teachers had an average age of 48 years old. Even though seniority has to be considered in a reduction in force, its weighting on the competitive level documentation form (CLDF) was reduced to a mere 5 % instead of 25 %. Some say this diminished the value of seniority and constitutes an unfair labor practice and should be challenged legally. Other factors on the CLDF were subjective and were given  greater weight by the Rhee administration. Proctor illustrates this point in the video.