Featuring Candi Peterson, blogger in residence & candidate for WTU General Vice President
Earlier this week, I wrote about Mayor Fenty's Executive Order which went into effect on October 6 and places a 'freeze' on DC Government hiring, vacant positions and negotiated wage/salary benefits. We can now bring some closure to questions that we had about whether our future pay raises would be jeopardized by the Mayor's recent Executive Order. In response to questions raised on The Washington Teacher blog, Safiya Simmons, spokeswoman for Chancellor Michelle Rhee responded "We remain fully committed to honoring the agreement we signed." The Washington Teacher was glad to have been able to advocate for teachers and school personnel by elevating our isues. Imagine what I could do for you as the WTU General Vice President.
Thank you Candi. I got your robocall and am very proud we have you as an advocate. It goes without saying you have my vote. But for you I would not have any information at all. Parker's WTU is useless to rank and file members. This issue concerned me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update. I got you on favorite.
ReplyDeletesoon we won't have to imagine
ReplyDelete"fully committed" does not sound quite like a "yes." The agreement includes the language on funding availability, plus other "outs" that I cannot quickly recall.
ReplyDeleteI am rooting for fairness, but do not see her response as anything more than a facile, bureaucratic, political hedge, probably endorsed by both the Mayor and the Council Chair.
Teachers should probably not feel singled out by this response in the sense that anyone to whom the District will owe money -- employees, vendors, taxpayers awaiting refunds -- would get a similar kind of sidestepping of a definitive commitment to pay.
This is partly due to our shrinking tax base and the need, in DCPS, to fund some viperous special interests, plus keeping an excessive number of schools open.
Net-net, Rhee has actually done quite a good job in cutting major fixed and some variable costs, but the organization is still very cost-inefficient and is subject to more drain by the special interests, abetted by certain officials in the Council and the executive branch. The RTTT funds will come in handy.
Let's hope for the best.
Seeing is believing. Can we get this in writing from Rhee? Given that she lies most of the time, I will wait until the raise is in my account.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anon at 2:54pm. I won't believe it until I see it. I am glad, though, that she appears to be reading your blog and knows that she is not fooling anyone.....Thanks for getting some kind of response--we'll see how far her commitment will go!
ReplyDeleteWHo knows what would really happen if she thought she was under the radar on this one!
Thanks again!
Good idea, Mike!
ReplyDeleteA FAVORITE!
Thanks Candi. You do a lot for DCPS teachers. You have my vote. Any chance of obtaining answers to the other questions you posed in your previous blog?
ReplyDeleteOh dear,unless I missed the self-deprecating humor, another cock thinking he beckons the sun, and so it comes up?
ReplyDeleteRun for office, but don't pretend a bank is going to give a teacher a loan, with payments due in the amount of the expected increase in the paycheck.
Unless its a loan shark looking for more.
You asked the question that should be asked, and got an answer from someone unqualified to give, and so it was vague.
DC Never Sleeps
ReplyDeleteI certainly hope we can get answers to the other questions.
Anonymous @ 9:28
ReplyDeleteI am not exactly sure what you mean by your comment. Maybe you could restate what you're saying. Thanks
@anon 9:28PM
ReplyDeleteYou sound like someone working for or running in the other campaigns in the WTU elections.
Saying much to say nothing.
We need an advocate for teachers, not someone who is talking while sucking up to Rhee and the nuts she has installed as administrators.
The presidency of the WTU should not a retirement plan.
Anonymous @ 7:43
ReplyDeleteI am not sure what you meant by your last sentence. Can you explain ?
To the Anons: STOP TALKING IN CODE! The rest of us are trying to keep up.
ReplyDeleteThis is my take on it...correct me if I am wrong.
Anon @ 9:28....you make no sense
Anon@ 7:43...you are talking to anon@9:28 and telling him/her that they make no sense and must be trying to run for office
Is that the gist of it?
Washington Teacher...you've got to keep up!
AND BY THE WAY......Happy Birthday, Candi--aka The Washington Teacher.
Today is my birthday and I plan to be away from my computer for awhile. Im thankful for another year and a wonderful life. I encourage you to continue posting, just know that I won't approve any NEW posts probably until later this evening.
ReplyDeleteCandi, I hope you will publish my comment. Happy birthday. You deserve to enjoy your day especially because you work so hard for teachers.Turn a blind eye to the negative comments. It really isn't worth your time. It goes with the territory of running for office. Keep your eye on the prize and to hell with the naysayers. You and Nathan have my vote.
ReplyDeleteIm relying to anonymous @ 928. He is referring to George Parker since the term cock is used to refer to a man or his body part. Since many believe Parker is lacking in this area, we must assume it is being used to refer to a man. I agree Parker shouldn't use the WTU as a retirement plan. He has got to go and we have the power to help him pack his bags this month.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday Candi! -Mommilan
ReplyDeleteanon at 10:17 appears to miss the point that cock refers to a male chicken, or rooster, known to sound off at sunrise.
ReplyDeleteprobably best to stay away from anatomical attacks on anyone on this blog.
Candi, check this out!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/michelle-rhee-to-announce-resi.html?hpid=topnews
Hi Candi,
ReplyDeletethe word is out that Rhee will be announcing her resignation tomorrow morning at a news
conference, but we can't get excited because her clone Kayla Henderson will be replacing her for the moment. I had hoped that her replacement would have been someone not as closely or even influenced by Rhee and company. As far as I can see having HENDERSON in charge is basically having a Black Rhee same old same old!!!!
I'm very disappointed in Gray not looking beyond Rhee and company.
Hopefully Gray will choose someone that has respect for the profession. We all know that MR did not think that you needed to have a degree in education to be effective. We know what the basis of her philosophy is. (The TFA's and the DC Fellows programs) I am saddened each day as I go to work and see many of the classes in my building out of control because of the many young TFA's that were assigned to our building. These very young inexperienced teacher were kept and several of our experiened, effective and highly qualified educators were excessed.(remember about 3 years ago each of us had to go through a process to be certified as HIGHLY QUALIFIED)So much for being highly qualified. With MR's experiment of using very young, white, and inexperienced teachers in very high poverty schools, many of our most disadvantaged youngsters have suffered and the gap between ethnic and cultural groups has widened. This is why so many schools did not make AYP this year. It was because of these subgroups that the gap actually widened. If people can get past the fluff and sit down and analyze the facts and results, they will also see what is really happening to our most vulnerable youngsters. True educators can not take poverty, parental involment, and living conditions out of the equation when discussing student achievement.
ReplyDelete