This post is courtesy of a anonymous source who raises some critical questions for all of us to ponder .
Is this the face of Ms. Rhee's Plan B ?
Is this the face of Ms. Rhee's Plan B ?
- teacher RIFs,
- teacher IMPACT evaluations,
-TLF framework and (inflexible) rubrics,
-Master Educators told to evaluate harshly
Pink slip day is supposed to be Wednesday and Thursday. Will DCPS be able to hold to that schedule? One rumor suggests that processing all the CDLF forms would take longer than anticipated especially since litigation is expected.
DCPS Fact Checking:
Quoting Mayor Fenty From News Channel 8 and WJLA from Monday- 9/28/09:
See Video below
http://www.news8.net/news/stories/0909/663456.html
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0909/663456.html
Students chants were targeted at Rhee who hasn't publicly disclosed how many teachers will lose their jobs after the city council froze the school's budget forcing the cuts. The students also rallied against Mayor Fenty, who said he was impressed by their show of civic action and said their classrooms will remain untouched.
"What the chancellor's proposal does is it doesn't take any teachers out of the classroom," he said. Fenty said in order to run a school system you have to over-hire in the case of over-enrollment. He said in past years, the system could afford excess teachers on the payroll but can no longer do that with the cuts. The layoffs are expected to be announced on Sept. 30.
Is it true that "classrooms will remain untouched" per Mayor Fenty above?
Is the Mayor and Ms. Rhee on the same ("PR") page here? Why haven't we heard more?
Is it true that McKinley is RIFing a large number of teachers? Rumor was 40 to 60?
How can that not affect the classroom?
I read elsewhere that Mayor Fenty said the RIF will only affect "excessed" teachers. Is that true? Or is that mis-information or only part of the truth where the rest is withheld from the public or poorly communicated?
If we always over hire during the summer (for "over enrollment"), why are we always short of teachers?
Is this anyway to run a school district?
Isn't this a very expensive way to do it?
Don't most school districts vet prospects but don't offer contracts until the need if verified?
If we've "always" over hired in the past, is this pretty bad management?
Someone on The Washington Teacher blog said new hires were interviewed over the phone to not yet graduated college students and before the current teacher pool had a chance to interview for open positions. Is this true? Don't most districts add recent graduates to a common pool, but let all teachers vie for positions? How did DCPS do it?
Michelle Rhee and Mayor Fenty said the budget shortfall was between $30 million and $40million. Is that true? How much of that will be recouped through teacher RIFs? 150 excessed teachers (estimate) at $81,150 will recoup $12.1 million. The other $20 million to $30million is "left over right sizing expenses from closing schools". So how will that be recouped? (See equalization press release).
Where in the budget are the funds to support a new teacher and administration labor contract? Is the above budget balancing supposed to address this looming expense? Some have suggested so.
Where are the federal stimulus dollars being spent within the DCPS budget? Some transparency would appreciated! Can that be expected from this administration ?
We still have too many schools with too few students where the per pupil funding cannot support an adequate program? When will DCPS set school size guidelines and minimums? Isn't this a better way to manage the budget and the teacher pool ? For example, middle schools need at least 375 students to support a five period day properly. Ask around...is this true or not?...Is DCPS meeting this minimum? What is it costing us to have so many small schools? Is Ms. Rhee afraid to close more schools ?
Posted by The Washington Teacher featuring Candi Peterson, blogger in residence
Pink slip day is supposed to be Wednesday and Thursday. Will DCPS be able to hold to that schedule? One rumor suggests that processing all the CDLF forms would take longer than anticipated especially since litigation is expected.
DCPS Fact Checking:
Quoting Mayor Fenty From News Channel 8 and WJLA from Monday- 9/28/09:
See Video below
http://www.news8.net/news/stories/0909/663456.html
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0909/663456.html
Students chants were targeted at Rhee who hasn't publicly disclosed how many teachers will lose their jobs after the city council froze the school's budget forcing the cuts. The students also rallied against Mayor Fenty, who said he was impressed by their show of civic action and said their classrooms will remain untouched.
"What the chancellor's proposal does is it doesn't take any teachers out of the classroom," he said. Fenty said in order to run a school system you have to over-hire in the case of over-enrollment. He said in past years, the system could afford excess teachers on the payroll but can no longer do that with the cuts. The layoffs are expected to be announced on Sept. 30.
Is it true that "classrooms will remain untouched" per Mayor Fenty above?
Is the Mayor and Ms. Rhee on the same ("PR") page here? Why haven't we heard more?
Is it true that McKinley is RIFing a large number of teachers? Rumor was 40 to 60?
How can that not affect the classroom?
I read elsewhere that Mayor Fenty said the RIF will only affect "excessed" teachers. Is that true? Or is that mis-information or only part of the truth where the rest is withheld from the public or poorly communicated?
If we always over hire during the summer (for "over enrollment"), why are we always short of teachers?
Is this anyway to run a school district?
Isn't this a very expensive way to do it?
Don't most school districts vet prospects but don't offer contracts until the need if verified?
If we've "always" over hired in the past, is this pretty bad management?
Someone on The Washington Teacher blog said new hires were interviewed over the phone to not yet graduated college students and before the current teacher pool had a chance to interview for open positions. Is this true? Don't most districts add recent graduates to a common pool, but let all teachers vie for positions? How did DCPS do it?
Michelle Rhee and Mayor Fenty said the budget shortfall was between $30 million and $40million. Is that true? How much of that will be recouped through teacher RIFs? 150 excessed teachers (estimate) at $81,150 will recoup $12.1 million. The other $20 million to $30million is "left over right sizing expenses from closing schools". So how will that be recouped? (See equalization press release).
Where in the budget are the funds to support a new teacher and administration labor contract? Is the above budget balancing supposed to address this looming expense? Some have suggested so.
Where are the federal stimulus dollars being spent within the DCPS budget? Some transparency would appreciated! Can that be expected from this administration ?
We still have too many schools with too few students where the per pupil funding cannot support an adequate program? When will DCPS set school size guidelines and minimums? Isn't this a better way to manage the budget and the teacher pool ? For example, middle schools need at least 375 students to support a five period day properly. Ask around...is this true or not?...Is DCPS meeting this minimum? What is it costing us to have so many small schools? Is Ms. Rhee afraid to close more schools ?
Posted by The Washington Teacher featuring Candi Peterson, blogger in residence
