The Washington Teacher

Is It Closing Time Again For More DC Public Schools?

2012-01-27T02:57:00.002+01:00

Written by Candi Peterson

The headlines from today's top education stories reads: "Many public schools in D.C.’s poorest area should be transformed or shut, study says; more charters recommended" written by Bill Turque, Washington Post writer while Mike Debonis' blog: DeMorning Links reads: "School Closings Contemplated" and Channel Fox Five TV news reported the DC School System study recommends making major improvements or close three dozen under performing public schools or expand high performing charter schools.

The Washington Teacher blog first reported on October 31, 2011 about future plans to close additional DC public schools. An excerpt from the 21st Century School Fund September - October newsletter stated: "The Deputy Mayor for Education, with a 100,000 dollar grant from the Walton Family Foundation, engaged IFF (Illinois Facility Fund) to study the capacity and performance of DCPS and public charter schools. IFF has authored reports in Denver, Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Louis, using a defined method to determine what they term "performing" or "non- performing" seats. This analysis is being done with an eye to "right sizing" district schools which beyond consolidation could include reconstitution and replacement with school management organizations."

Not unlike other major cities including NY, Chicago, Ohio- DC has been at the forefront of shutting down traditional public schools. In 2008, twenty-three public schools were closed under former DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee and then mayor Adrian Fenty which led to a community outcry to save our public schools. Local education stakeholders voices weren't heeded by Rhee or Fenty and only one neighborhood elementary school- John Burroughs was saved from the chopping block.

Natalie Hopkinson who authored the article - "Why School Choice Fails"which appeared in the December 4, 2011 N.Y. Times discussed how this country’s reform policies in Washington, DC- put in place by a Republican led congress in 1995 led to the birth of many of our charter schools. Hopkinson wrote:" if a school was deemed failing, students could transfer schools, opt to attend a charter school or receive a voucher to attend a private school. The idea was to introduce competition; good schools would survive; bad ones would disappear. It effectively created a second education system, which now enrolls nearly half the city’s public school students. The charters consistently perform worse than the traditional schools, yet they are rarely closed."

The results of IFF's study recommend that DC make major improvements or close thirty six under performing schools in some of the city's poorest neighborhoods or expand high performing charter schools. It’s a finding that heralds the continued growth of the charter schools sector at the expense of the D.C. Public Schools, if not its outright domination. While some people are questioning the motives of the Illinois Facilities Fund, the study is “likely to rekindle impassioned debate about possible school closures and the future of public education in the District,” Bill Turque notes. Officials tell Turque, education writer for the Post that any decisions about a “major restructuring” are at least a year and many community meetings away.

What comes as no surprise to anyone is that schools in ward 8 were identified as having the greatest need, according to the IFF study. The study recommended turning around or closing the following public schools: Simon, Patterson, Terrell-McGogney and Ferebee-Hope and closing two bottom-rung charter schools, Center City Congress Heights (pre-K to 8) and Imagine Southeast (pre-K to 5). H.D. Woodson Senior High School was also recommended for turn around or closure, a school which recently has undergone capital investment which cost millions of dollars in investment.

One of the things that I find disturbing about IFF's report is the recommendation for DC to consider expanding charter schools in the 10 targeted neighborhood clusters and call for the DC Public Charter School Board to authorize about 6,500 new charter seats (current enrollment is about 32,000) while utilizing former public school buildings as incentives to get the public charter board to actively recruit the highest performing charter school operators to replicate their school models.

The writing should be on the wall for all of us to see. If it's not, I don't know what to tell you. From where I sit, this situation looks bleak for working, middle class families and many of our teachers in some of our poorest communities. The loss of our public schools is a disinvestment in our school communities and may lead to higher classrooms sizes, further declining enrollment in DC public schools and extinction of traditional public schools and fewer teaching jobs. Now is not the time for parents, students, teachers, school staff and community members to sit back. We have to ask the hard questions, organize and demand to have a voice as education stakeholders or we may likely have a re-run of the 2008 school closures.

On November 8, 2011 - I issued a call to action to DC teachers and school personnel: "In the midst of upcoming contract negotiations, there are big plans ahead to close our traditional public schools. Never in our history has been there been a greater need for teachers and school personnel to have an effective organizing union. Our very future as educators and the future of our students will be determined by how vigorously we, alongside parents and community members are willing to fight to save our public schools." Won't you heed the call to get involved before your local school is reconstituted and turned over to a charter school, your job is lost and your community no longer includes you?

Vote For The Washington Teacher Blog's Fascination Award!

2012-01-19T01:21:00.010+01:00

Dear Washington Teacher blog readers:

I want to thank many of my loyal readers who continue to check out The Washington Teacher blog regularly. As you may have noticed, I have taken a short-term break from blogging. After writing this blog for three years, while maintaining my full-time job at DCPS- I felt the need for a little R & R (rest and relaxation.) It is my intention to return to blogging again by February 2012. Please stay tuned. Many interesting topics and stories have come across my desk which I look forward to sharing with you.

As you may recall in 2008 - I started The Washington Teacher blog. Initially, I began writing about Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) controversial Red and Green Tier Tentative Agreement which was proposed by then WTU President George Parker and former DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee. It was my goal to shed light on the pitfalls that this contract proposal would impose and discourage DC teachers and school staff from voting in favor of this agreement. At that time, I believed that it would likely lead to union members' massive terminations.

Over the past three years, The Washington Teacher blog became a labor of love for me. During the Rhee/Fenty years, I wrote extensively about former DC Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee and was frequently characterized as one of Rhee's most strident critics. With help from DC Public Schools insiders and outsiders, I was able to tell the other side of the public education reform story that the mainstream media refused to report.

An article I wrote in 2010 titled "Rhee's Firing Squad Terminates Sizable Number Of DC Teachers" recently earned The Washington Teacher blog a nomination for a Fascination Award: 2011's Most Fascinating Teaching blog by Online PhD Degree. The Fascination Awards are an annual collection of the web’s most inspirational and thought-provoking blogs and are nominated by an editorial team and voted on by blog readers.

I am excited about this nomination. I need your support to win. Won't you please vote for The Washington Teacher blog? I know I can count on YOU! Voting begins January 21st at 12:01 AM (EST) and ends January 26th. The blog with the most votes by January 26th at 11:59 PM (EST) will win. Vote for me by clicking the link in red below or click on the vote for me picture on the top right of this blog:

http://www.online-phd-degree.net/2011s-most-fascinating-teaching-blog-the-fascination-awards/

Sincerely,
Candi Peterson
AKA The Washington Teacher blogger

No DC Middle School For You !

2011-12-14T12:41:00.011+01:00

This is an op-ed piece published in the N.Y. Times newspaper. It is a must read. Who better to tell the story of school reform than a DC middle-class parent who has lived the nightmare under the direction of education deformers Rhee, Fenty and now Henderson?

deformer: (n.) One who deforms.

December 4, 2011

Why School Choice Fails

By NATALIE HOPKINSON

Washington

"IF you want to see the direction that education reform is taking the country, pay a visit to my leafy, majority-black neighborhood in Washington. While we have lived in the same house since our 11-year-old son was born, he’s been assigned to three different elementary schools as one after the other has been shuttered. Now it’s time for middle school, and there’s been no neighborhood option available.

Meanwhile, across Rock Creek Park in a wealthy, majority-white community, there is a sparkling new neighborhood middle school, with rugby, fencing, an international baccalaureate curriculum and all the other amenities that make people pay top dollar to live there.

Such inequities are the perverse result of a “reform” process intended to bring choice and accountability to the school system. Instead, it has destroyed community-based education for working-class families, even as it has funneled resources toward a few better-off, exclusive, institutions.

My neighborhood’s last free-standing middle school was closed in 2008, part of a round of closures by then Mayor Adrian Fenty and his schools chancellor, Michelle Rhee. The pride and gusto with which they dismantled those institutions was shameful, but I don’t blame them. The closures were the inevitable outcome of policies hatched years before.

In 1995 the Republican-led Congress, ignoring the objections of local leadership, put in motion one of the country’s strongest reform policies for Washington: if a school was deemed failing, students could transfer schools, opt to attend a charter school or receive a voucher to attend a private school.

The idea was to introduce competition; good schools would survive; bad ones would disappear. It effectively created a second education system, which now enrolls nearly half the city’s public school students. The charters consistently perform worse than the traditional schools, yet they are rarely closed.

Meanwhile, failing neighborhood schools, depleted of students, were shut down. Invariably, schools that served the poorest families got the ax — partly because those were the schools where students struggled the most, and partly because the parents of those students had the least power.

Competition produces winners and losers; I get that. Indeed, the rhetoric of school choice can be seductive to angst-filled middle-class parents like myself. We crunch the data and believe that, with enough elbow grease, we can make the system work for us. Naturally, I’ve only considered high-performing schools for my children, some of them public, some charter, some parochial, all outside our neighborhood.

But I’ve come to realize that this brand of school reform is a great deal only if you live in a wealthy neighborhood. You buy a house, and access to a good school comes with it. Whether you choose to enroll there or not, the public investment in neighborhood schools only helps your property values.

For the rest of us, it’s a cynical game. There aren’t enough slots in the best neighborhood and charter schools. So even for those of us lucky ones with cars and school-data spreadsheets, our options are mediocre at best.

In the meantime, the neighborhood schools are dying. After Ms. Rhee closed our first neighborhood school, the students were assigned to an elementary school connected to a homeless shelter. Then that closed, and I watched the children get shuffled again.

Earlier this year, when we were searching for a middle school for my son — 11 is a vulnerable age for anyone — our public options were even grimmer. I could have sent him to one of the newly consolidated kindergarten-to-eighth-grade campuses in my neighborhood, with low test scores and no algebra or foreign languages. We could enter a lottery for a spot in another charter or out-of-boundary middle school, competing against families all over the city.

The system recently floated a plan for yet another round of closings, with a proposal for new magnet middle school programs in my neighborhood, none of which would open in time for my son. These proposals, like much of reform in Washington, are aimed at some speculative future demographic, while doing nothing for the children already here. In the meantime, enrollment, and the best teachers, continue to go to the whitest, wealthiest communities.

The situation for Washington’s working- and middle-class families may be bleak, but we are hardly alone. Despite the lack of proof that school-choice policies work, they are gaining popularity in communities nationwide. Like us, those places will face a stark decision: Do they want equitable investment in community education, or do they want to hand it over to private schools and charters? Let’s stop pretending we can fairly do both. As long as we do, some will keep winning, but many of us will lose."

Natalie Hopkinson is the author of the forthcoming book “Go-Go Live: The Musical Life and Death of a Chocolate City.”

A Call To Action: Save DC's Schools!

2011-11-08T06:16:00.011+01:00

By Candi Peterson

In the midst of upcoming contract negotiations, there are big plans ahead to close our traditional public schools. Never in our history has been there been a greater need for teachers and school personnel to have an effective union. Our very future as educators and the future of our students will be determined by how vigorously we, alongside parents and community members are willing to fight to save our schools.

I invite all Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) members to come out and get involved in our WTU Representative Assembly to be held Tuesday, November 8 from 4:30-6:30 pm. at McKinley Technology Senior High School @ 151 T Street NE. Washington, DC. Let's do more than just give lip service to save our schools.

Earlier this week, The Washington Teacher blog featured an article about future plans to close additional public schools. Below for your perusal I have included an excerpt from the 21st Century School Fund newsletter which outlines the purpose of the Illinois Facility Fund (IFF) study which was commissioned by Deputy Mayor of Education, De'Shawn Wright and is expected to be completed at the end of November. As indicated in the 21st Century School Fund September/October newsletter (below), IFF's analysis is being conducted with plans to right size DC public schools and could lead to reconstitution of our public schools and/or replacement with school management operations. The loss of our public schools is a disinvestment in our school communities and may lead to fewer jobs, higher classrooms sizes, further declining enrollment and extinction of traditional public schools.

Independent public schools budget analyst, Mary Levy has applied IFF's methods to DCPS and public charter school data. Ms. Levy's analysis has found that schools located in wards with higher socio- economic status are considered to be "performing" while schools in wards with lower socio-economic means are considered to be "non-performing". It is a no brainer, that schools in our poorest wards would likely be faced with closure of traditional public schools while schools in affluent wards like ward 3 would go unscathed. (see map below)

Empower DC, a grassroots community based organization is continuing to hold strategic planning meetings to fight school closures across the city and encourages all to become involved. Their next scheduled meeting will be held on Thursday, November 17 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. @ the Deanwood Recreation Center located at 1350 49th St., NE. For additional information, contact Daniel @ daniel@empowerdc.org or call 202-234-9119 ext. 104. Please encourage your school community to get involved now before it's too late. Additional meetings will be held throughout the city at later dates.

Study for "Right-Sizing" D.C. Schools Anticipated

"The Deputy Mayor for Education, with a 100,000 dollar grant from the Walton Family Foundation, engaged IFF (Illinois Facility Fund) to study the capacity and performance of DCPS and public charter schools.

IFF has authored reports in Denver, Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Louis, using a defined method to determine what they term "performing" or "non-performing" seats. This analysis is being done with an eye to "right sizing" district schools which beyond consolidation could include reconstitution and replacement with school management organizations.

Mary Levy, independent public school analyst, applied IFF methods to DCPS and public charter school data and found that where "performing seats" are located correlates with household wealth and family income of students. So that ALL schools in high wealth neighborhoods are "performing" and those in low wealth neighborhoods and with large numbers of children from low income families are "non-performing" with a very few exceptions, as illustrated in a map and data-tables. The IFF findings are expected to be issued at the end of November. There has been no public input or discussion solicited on the methods, criteria, or purpose of this study. *Click on the underlined word map to enlarge the DC Wards map.

Closing Time For More DC Public Schools

2011-11-04T04:45:00.013+01:00

By Candi Peterson

Empower DC, a well respected community grassroots organization hosted a gathering on Thursday evening, November 3 at the Dorothy Height Library to discuss DC's plans to close more traditional public schools. People assembled from all walks of life including Ward 7 residents, parents, teachers, former principals, nurses, representatives of Teamsters-local 639, community activists, ANC representatives and yours truly. Some familiar faces that I saw included: Mary Levy, former DCPS parent and DCPS budget analyst, Mary Melchior, DCPS parent from Capitol Hill Montessori and Richard Patterson, former principal of River Terrace Elementary school.

Daniel del Pielago, organizer and facilitator of the Thursday meeting reminded attendees that Chancellor Kaya Henderson told parents during the spring that the city could not afford to continue to operate more than 40 schools with enrollment figures lower than 300 students. This summer, a decision was made by Deputy Mayor of Education, De'Shawn Wright to commission an Illinois based firm known as the Illinois Facilities Fund (IFF) to conduct a foundational study which will help determine which schools will be proposed for closure. While IFF has done similar studies in Chicago, Denver, Milwaukee and St Louis, it is interesting that funding for this project was provided by the Walton Family Foundation who owns Wal-Mart. No competitive bidding process occurred. It is expected that the study will be completed by the end of November.

This study will be looking at schools test scores to determine if a school is “performing” or not. They will not take into consideration other ways that a school is excelling for its students, parents and community. In similar studies, schools were determined to either be performing or not performing based on whether they meet or exceed 75% of the state standard in both reading and math. In DC, that standard would equate to 55% or more proficiency rates on the DC CAS. The numbers below reflect the number of “under performing DCPS schools” by wards: Ward 1 = 8 schools, Ward 2 = 3 schools, Ward 3 = 0 schools, Ward 4 = 11 schools, Ward 5 = 11 schools, Ward 6 = 11 schools, Ward 7 = 20 schools, and Ward 8 = 20 schools. We could potentially face high closure rates in some of our poorest wards.

After closing 23 schools during the Michelle Rhee administration in 2008, DCPS saw a 17 percent drop off rate in enrollment according to Washington Examiner Reporter Michael Neibauer's September 8, 2008 article: "DC Public Schools Enrollment shows 17 percent drop off." Mary Levy who was quoted in Neibauer's 2008 article stated: "parents want some certainty, and closing schools is pretty much guaranteed to lead to loss of enrollment because we have so many other options." Those at the Empower DC meeting echoed these same concerns that were voiced earlier in 2008.

Many at the meeting saw the goal of another round of school closures as part of an ongoing reform model to privatize public education by closing traditional public schools with plans of replacing them with charter schools. Participants chimed in that DC Public Schools had not been transparent during this process and that the study had no plans to include focus groups of critical stakeholders. While Deputy Mayor De'Shawn Wright has been quoted as saying there will be public input, it seems that community input will not be considered until after the preliminary analysis.

The meeting concluded with a brainstorming of ideas on next steps to fight school closures of our traditional public schools. Plans are being made for additional meetings to be held throughout the city. Participants were encouraged to spread the word and get members from their school communities actively involved. If you want to become involved in saving our public schools, contact Daniel by email @ daniel@empowerdc.org or call 202-234-9119 ext. 104.

Stay tuned as more details emerge on upcoming meetings.

More DCPS School Closings On The Horizon!

2011-10-31T20:01:00.006+01:00

DC GOVERNMENT IS PLANNING ON CLOSING MORE SCHOOLS!

Did you know that the Deputy Mayor for Education (De’Shawn Wright) has hired a Chicago based firm to do a study on how DC neighborhoods are served by the public school system ? (traditional, public and charter)

The information found by this study will be used to make a case to close schools in the District and/or to turn them over to National Charter School Managers

This study will be looking at school’s test scores to determine if a school is “performing” or not. They will not take into consideration other ways that a school is excelling for its students, parents and community

The numbers below reflect the number of “under performing DCPS schools” by Ward

Ward 1 = 8 schools, Ward 2 = 3 schools, Ward 3 = 0 schools, Ward 4 = 11 schools, Ward 5 = 11 schools, Ward 6 = 11 schools,

Ward 7 = 20 schools, Ward 8 = 20 schools

You should be concerned about the possible impact to your school and community!

Please attend Thursday, November 3rd
for an Empowerment Circle to:

Inform yourself on what is going on with this study and school closures

Learn and plan action steps you can take at your school

Connect with other concerned parents and community members from around the city working against school closures

When – Thursday November 3, 2011

Where – Benning Road/Dorothy Height Library

3935 Benning Road, NE – Walking distance from Minnesota Ave. Metro (Orange line)

Time – 6:30pm to 8:30pm

Please RSVP to Daniel del Pielago – 202-234-9119 ext. 104 or
Daniel@Empowerdc.org

Feel free to distribute this information to your school and community!

Silencing Dissent

2011-10-22T14:49:00.012+02:00

I had the pleasure of doing an interview with DC journalist, Pete Tucker who writes the FightBack blog and covers local news stories the main stream media shys away from. We were streaming live from Occupy DC. I hope you will read his article (below) and check out my interview @ http://thefightback.org/

Thanks,

Candi

Silencing Dissent: WTU VP Candi Peterson’s Removal From Office

by Pete Tucker

Posted on October 20, 2011

Seven months after the membership of the Washington Teachers’ Union elected Candi Peterson general vice president, she was unceremoniously, and possibly illegally, removed from office at the behest of WTU President Nathan Saunders. “Our president basically colluded with the chancellor’s office to [get rid of me],” Peterson said yesterday in an interview with TheFightBack that was livestreamed from Occupy DC at McPherson Square on K Street.

As a matter of contract, District of Columbia Public Schools grants WTU presidents and vice presidents leaves of absence from their teaching positions, which allows them to serve full time in their capacity as elected union officials. But DCPS and Saunders revoked Peterson’s leave in a September memorandum, forcing her to return to the classroom.

Peterson has been a fierce critic of the so-called school reform carried out by former Chancellor Michelle Rhee and her number two, Kaya Henderson, who replaced Rhee as chancellor. “Kaya Henderson has every reason to want to silence me. So does Nathan Saunders, I guess,” said Peterson.

The official word on Peterson’s status remains ambiguous. In a Sept. 21 letter to WTU members, Saunders said that Peterson “was not fired, terminated, nor ousted.” This is hard to square with the fact that she’s no longer general vice president and she didn’t step down by choice.

Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander questioned DCPS’s role in Peterson’s removal in an Oct. 18 email to the chancellor. Henderson responded, “President Saunders no longer required the full-time services of Ms. Peterson and therefore no longer needed her to be on leave from DCPS.”

Peterson, like Saunders, was elected by the WTU membership, and therefore it’s unclear whether DCPS has the legal right to revoke her absence based on the wishes of the president.

At a crucial time for DCPS, with talk of layoffs and school closings once again circulating, a critical voice is missing. Ironically, the effort to silence Peterson is being led not by the anti-union Rhee/Henderson team, but by the WTU president.

Related Links:
The Washington Teacher

Posted in District of Columbia, School Reform |

NO WTU Vice President For You AGAIN!

2011-09-20T07:45:00.026+02:00

Written by Candi Peterson

It's official, I have been ousted from my elected position within the Washington Teachers' Union, AFL-CIO, Local 6 on September 19, 2011 by WTU President Nathan Saunders. Get this, the revocation of my leave of absence from DCPS, was authored by none other than Nathan Saunders and co-signed by Jason Kamras, Deputy Chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools. Some might argue that this is graphic evidence that Nathan is now in bed with the Office of the Chancellor, none other than Rhee's nemesis who I like to refer as Kaya and company. Sound familiar?

Monday was one exhausting day for me. The real sordid details will have to be left for another day and another time and place. First, I must ask you to not to cast judgment on me, at least not at this time. That's what Saunders and the WTU Executive Board did to me- when they denied me my inalienable right to due process. I was never afforded a hearing, the board never heard my side of the story, never informed me that I would be the subject of discipline in an executive board meeting, never afforded me the opportunity to face my accusers or prepare a defense before severely disciplining me by stripping me of my WTU constitutional vice presidential duties, my WTU pay and my free speech rights to even discuss myself or my own case with anyone, etc. The only thing I kept was my title. Imagine that? My lawsuit speaks to these facts. Despite these atrocities, I continued to come to work at the WTU until my leave of absence was revoked.

While you will hear that I am erratic and unprofessional, I just ask you to think back to the very person that you have known me to be and the person who has written this blog for the past three years. A lot of things describe me, but those adjectives do not reflect reality. Just some hyped up public relations smear campaign.

Once I was elected, my goal was to continue to help teachers and school personnel. This very blog was instrumental and effective in standing up for teachers as well as pointing out the flaws of Rhee's slash and burn administration. Afterall this blog is what our members asked the WTU leadership to continue, once elected. Don't think for every minute, that I didn't try my best. I took the same passion evidenced right here and continued advocating on behalf of our members to the K Street union office. My only regret is that I wasn't able to complete the job that members elected me to do. I worked well with Nathan Saunders and he didn't have complaints about me until I went to the media about my suspension of pay by him unilaterally. When I filed my lawsuit to restore my rights as an elected leader, things simply deteriorated and Saunders retaliated. In one day, I received four letters of reprimand from him. Saunders' fury was like a lover scorned.

I hope you will return to The Washington Teacher blog for more, as details emerge. For now, I hope you will peruse Bill Turque, (AKA Washington Post writer) rendition of the WTU story as told on his DC Schools Insider blog. I'd like you to ponder this question: What type of internal remedies and/or changes to the WTU Constitution do we need to make so being ousted as a labor leader doesn't ever happen again in our union history? By the way, WTU has no internal appeal processes when there is a disagreement between the union president and the general vice president. I'm listening ?

Teachers’ union vice president ousted in dispute with president Saunders

By Bill Turque

Seems like it’s been incorporated into the Washington Teachers’ Union by-laws: that the union president and the general vice president shall be at all-out war.

First it was George Parker and VP Nathan Saunders, who disagreed on union strategy for dealing with Michelle Rhee. Saunders contended that Parker wasn’t pushing back hard enough against Rhee initiatives such as IMPACT. The tensions led to Saunders suing Parker (unsuccessfully), and Parker moving to bounce Saunders (temporarily) back to teaching, alleging that he hadn’t been doing his job.

Now Saunders, who unseated Parker last year, is locked in a similarly nasty fight with his vice president, Candi Peterson. Peterson sued the union for breach of contract last month after she was effectively suspended from her vice presidential post. Today, she had her leave of absence from her school social worker post revoked by DCPS at Saunders’ request.

The particulars of the dispute are not completely clear, but Peterson said it started when Saunders spoke abusively to her at a July staff meeting, something that Saunders denies. Saunders, for his part, says that Peterson’s behavior had been erratic and unprofessional.

Saunders and Peterson were running mates (as were Parker and Saunders) in last fall’s election, positioning themselves as staunch critics of Rhee and former Mayor Adrian Fenty. But after the election, Saunders wanted Peterson to tone down some of the posts in her blog, The Washington Teacher. Saunders said he told her they needed to focus on meeting the needs of their members and preparing for significant challenges over the next year, including the likely closing of some schools.

“We have to lead these people,” Saunders said he told her.

Peterson said yesterday that Saunders has started to resemble the man he replaced. “He’s fired seven people (in the union office). I make number eight,” she said. “He’s become George Parker. In fact, far worse.”

He’s basically become a dictator. He’s doing the same thing George did to him.”

Saunders said he tried to work with her, asking her to take courses at the National Labor College to improve her skills, but that the relationship had deteriorated. Peterson said Saunders tried to get her to sign what she called “a political suicide note” forbidding her from talking to the press or blogging.

Her last post on The Washington Teacher, dated August 24, includes a disclaimer she is “not writing in my official capacity as WTU General Vice President, but rather as an announced candidate in the 2013 WTU election.”

By Bill Turque | 04:22 PM ET, 09/19/2011

Why is Michelle Rhee Silent on the DC Cheating Scandal?

2011-08-24T12:20:00.020+02:00

Disclaimer: I am not writing in my official capacity as WTU General Vice President, but rather as an announced candidate in the 2013 WTU elections and WTU member.

Candi Peterson

Michelle Rhee is refusing to talk to USA Today reporters about the testing cheating scandal that occurred on her watch while she was DC Public Schools Chancellor (2007-10). Hmmmm inquiring minds want to know why Ms. Rhee, with her infamous gift of gab won't open up on this topic ? The article below, which was featured in the NY Times newspaper on August 21 is a 'must read' on the latest controversy surrounding Rhee and USA Today.

By the way, someone sent me the featured photo of Rhee with students with tape over their mouths which is symbolic of the irony of this story.

August 21, 2011

Eager for Spotlight, but Not if It Is on a Testing Scandal

By MICHAEL WINERIP

WASHINGTON — Why won’t Michelle Rhee talk to USA Today?

"Ms. Rhee, the chancellor of the Washington public schools from 2007 to 2010, is the national symbol of the data-driven, take-no-prisoners education reform movement.

It’s hard to find a media outlet, big or small, that she hasn’t talked to. She’s been interviewed by Katie Couric, Tom Brokaw and Oprah Winfrey. She’s been featured on a Time magazine cover holding a broom (to sweep away bad teachers). She was one of the stars of the documentary “Waiting for Superman.”

These days, as director of an advocacy group she founded, StudentsFirst, she crisscrosses the country pushing her education politics: she’s for vouchers and charter schools, against tenure, for teachers, but against their unions.

Always, she preens for the cameras. Early in her chancellorship, she was trailed for a story by the education correspondent of “PBS NewsHour,” John Merrow.

At one point, Ms. Rhee asked if his crew wanted to watch her fire a principal. “We were totally stunned,” Mr. Merrow said.

She let them set up the camera behind the principal and videotape the entire firing. “The principal seemed dazed,” said Mr. Merrow. “I’ve been reporting 35 years and never seen anything like it.”

And yet, as voracious as she is for the media spotlight, Ms. Rhee will not talk to USA Today.

At the end of March, three of the paper’s reporters — Marisol Bello, Jack Gillum and Greg Toppo — broke a story about the high rate of erasures and suspiciously high test-score gains at 41 Washington schools while Ms. Rhee was chancellor.

At some schools, they found the odds that so many answers had been changed from wrong to right randomly were 1 in 100 billion. In a fourth-grade class at Stanton Elementary, 97 percent of the erasures were from wrong to right. Districtwide, the average number of erasures for seventh graders was fewer than one per child, but for a seventh-grade class at Noyes Elementary, it was 12.7 per student. At Noyes Elementary in 2008, 84 percent of fourth graders were proficient in math, up from 22 percent in 2007.

Ms. Rhee’s reputation has rested on her schools’ test scores. Suddenly, a USA Today headline was asking, “were the gains real?” In this era of high-pressure testing, Washington has become another in a growing list of cheating scandals that has included Atlanta, Indiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas.

It took the USA Today reporters a year to finish their three-part series. So many people were afraid to speak that Ms. Bello had to interview dozens to find one willing to be quoted. She knocked on teachers’ doors at 9:30 at night and hunted parents at PTA meetings. She met people in coffee shops where they would not be recognized, and never called or e-mailed sources at their schools.

Hari Sevugan, a spokesman for Ms. Rhee, said the reporters were “provided unprecedented time and access to report out their story,” including many meetings with senior staff members and the chief of data accountability. By last fall, Mr. Sevugan said, district officials’ patience was wearing thin. The deputy press secretary, Satiya Simmons, complained in an e-mail to a colleague, “Jack Gillum isn’t going away quietly, Uggh.”

“Just stop answering his e-mails,” advised Anita Dunn, a consultant who had been the communications director for President Obama.

The reporters made a dozen attempts to interview Ms. Rhee, directly and through her public relations representatives. Ms. Bello called Ms. Rhee’s cellphone daily, and finally got her on a Sunday.

“She said she wasn’t going to talk with us,” Ms. Bello recalled. “Her understanding was we were writing about” district schools “and she is no longer chancellor.”

On March 29, the day after the story came out, Ms. Rhee appeared on the PBS program “Tavis Smiley” and attacked USA Today.

“Are you suggesting this story is much ado about nothing, that this is lacking integrity, this story in USA Today?” Mr. Smiley asked.

“Absolutely,” Ms. Rhee said. “It absolutely lacks credibility.”

Mr. Smiley asked if she was concerned that she had put too much pressure on teachers and principals to raise scores. “We want educators to feel that pressure,” she answered.

Ms. Rhee emphasized that the district had hired a top security company, Caveon, to investigate in 2009, and was given a clean bill of health. The district released a statement from John Fremer, Caveon’s owner, saying, “The company did not find evidence of cheating at any of the schools.”

However, in subsequent interviews with USA Today and this reporter, Mr. Fremer made it clear that the scope of his inquiry was limited, and that the district had not requested that he do more. Indeed, Caveon’s report, posted on USA Today’s Web site, was full of sentences like, “Redacted was interviewed at redacted.”

Teachers described security as “excellent” and “very vigilant,” and investigators, for the most part, took their comments at face value.

It did not take Ms. Rhee long to realize she had miscalculated. Three days later, she told Bloomberg Radio she was “100 percent supportive” of a broader inquiry.

Still, she would not talk to USA Today. Mr. Sevugan gave no explanation, but pointed out that she had spoken with several other news outlets.

The reporters did not give up. On April 26, Emily Lenzner, a spokeswoman, wrote Mr. Gillum, “Michelle is willing to do an interview, but we’d like to do this in person.” She asked if they could hold their story, and arranged for a meeting on May 3 at the StudentsFirst office in Washington.

On May 2, another Rhee spokeswoman e-mailed to say the reporters were too interested in cheating and not enough in StudentsFirst. She said they could submit a list of questions.

There were 21 questions; Ms. Rhee did not answer 10 of the 11 about cheating.

Mr. Gillum, who recently took a job at The Associated Press, said he was surprised by how unresponsive Ms. Rhee has been. “She talks about how important data is, and our story is data driven,” he said.

So that people could make their own judgments, Linda Mathews, the project editor, posted the relevant public documents on the USA Today Web site.

Shortly after the follow-up story appeared, the district’s inspector general began what was supposed to be an inquiry, but in July The Washington Post reported that just one investigator had been assigned. “Basically it was one guy in a room who made 10 phone calls,” Mr. Toppo said.

Officials with the federal Department of Education have indicated that they are assisting with the investigation.

In Washington, two investigators spent five days at eight schools. In Atlanta, the state deployed 60 investigators who worked for 10 months at 56 schools. They produced a report that named all 178 people found cheating, including 82 who confessed. There was not a single case of “redacted and redacted doctoring redacted grade answer sheets at redacted.”

People in Atlanta could go to prison. Last week, a grand jury issued subpoenas seeking the names of school employees who had received bonuses for test scores. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that there were subpoenas for “signed copies” of “any and all oaths of office” taken by Beverly Hall, the former superintendent.

The three reporters still hope to interview Ms. Rhee. “Absolutely,” said Mr. Toppo.

Which brings things full circle: Why won’t Ms. Rhee talk to USA Today? "

E-mail: oneducation@nytimes.com

No Mentor Teacher For You !

2011-07-24T21:30:00.045+02:00

Written by Candi Peterson

So it seems that there was another round of DC teacher positions eliminated by the District of Columbia Public Schools. Inside sources report that ten teachers were excessed on July 16, 2011 from the DCPS Mentor Teacher program (formerly known as the Helping Teachers program).This leaves approximately fifteen DCPS teachers to mentor first and second year teachers citywide in the District.

Given that there is research and literature documenting the importance of mentor teachers, DCPS could not have picked a worse time to reduce their already scanty mentor teacher department. The Center for Inspired Teachers cites a 2006 New Teacher Center report that shows that students whose teachers received strong mentoring support make bigger gains in reading than those in un-mentored classrooms. The New Teacher Center report also found that in a comparison of approximately 100 new teachers in three school districts, students of teachers who received two years of support from mentors, made gains comparable to those of students of veteran teachers.” See the following link for more information: http://www.newteachercenter.org/pdfs/NTC_Policy_Brief-Hill_Briefing.pdf

Are you wondering what those in charge of DCPS could be thinking? I know I am. As such, I asked a DCPS mentor teacher how these cuts to DC’s mentor teacher department would affect new teachers. This recently excessed mentor teacher who requested anonymity due to fear of reprisal, had this to say: “New teachers will now have limited support and will not have that one-to-one professional and technical guidance that a mentor offers such as organizing teacher classrooms, understanding instruction and data, getting through a typical day and classroom management skills, etc. Our students will suffer in the long run.”

Now that data is available from the US Department of Education’s (DOE) Office on Civil Rights, we can see educational trends across school districts in the U.S. Based on 2009 DOE data, 42% of teachers in the District of Columbia have two years or less of teaching experience while only 10% of teachers have less than two years in Fairfax County Public Schools and Montgomery County Public Schools, which are much larger school districts. I would venture to guess that other school districts like our suburban counterparts recognize the importance of teacher mentoring programs and would fight to the death to keep these types of programs in place even during a tight economy.

If we want real transformative change in public education, then we must first be honest about what is happening in our public schools. We must stop supporting knee-jerk administrative decisions to cut valuable programs which are not in the best interest of teachers or students. Let's start by standing together with other Americans in the national Call to Action Rally to Save Our Schools on July 30, 2011 on the Ellipse. We hope to see you there. For more information visit: http://www.saveourschoolsmarch.org

The Controversy of IMPACT

2011-07-18T04:17:00.014+02:00

Written by Candi Peterson

DC Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson issued “You’re fired letters" this past week to 206 DC teachers. Before DC teachers knew of their own fate, the mainstream media had received a lengthy DCPS press packet on Friday, July 15 from the Office of the Chancellor (OOC) lauding teacher terminations and celebrating highly effective teachers eligible for merit pay. Bill Turque, staff writer for the Washington Post reported on the details of the DCPS firings as early as July 15. Turque wrote: “Of the 206 fired, D.C. officials said, 65 were rated ineffective this year and 141 were judged minimally effective for the second consecutive year, triggering dismissal.” An additional twenty-one teachers who were effective and/or highly effective were also terminated by DCPS because they could not find a permanent placement.

Friday's teacher firings are a continuation of Michelle Rhee's educational plan to terminate a significant share of the DC teaching workforce while establishing job loss as a likely consequence of poor classroom test scores on standardized tests. In DC, fifty-five percent of a teacher's performance evaluation is tied to student test scores in the testing grades. Prior to getting elected as DC Mayor in 2010, Vincent C. Gray who was then Chairman of the DC City Council stated that there was controversy over IMPACT teacher evaluations after the announcement of 241 teacher firings. At the time, Gray stated that he wanted to look further into the 2010 teacher dismissals. Fast-forward to 2011, we have heard nary a word from Mayor Gray on this issue now that he has been elected as city mayor. I guess with all of the ethical dilemmas the Gray administration has faced during his short tenure as mayor – teachers’ dismissals aren’t the priority they once were while he was campaigning. If Gray doesn’t take the time to review the IMPACT controversy, then shame on him.

Given that USA Today newspaper broke the story on March 28, 2011 that half of all DC Schools likely corrected students mistakes and cheated on standardized tests, one has to wonder why Chancellor Kaya Henderson is moving forward with the dismissal of teachers based on flawed standardized test score data. Unfortunately, it took Henderson three years to finally support an investigation into allegations of a DCPScheating scandal that was previously made known to the Rhee/Henderson administration by former State Superintendent Deborah Gist in 2008. It begs the question, can we really trust that a comprehensive investigation will be completed by the DC Inspector General Charles J. Willoughby who appears to be a one man operation? Given that USA Today newspaper had an entire investigative team of 12 reporters when looking into cheating on standardized tests and former Governor Sonny Perdue had Georgia law enforcement to take over their investigation into the 2010 Atlanta public schools high erasure scandal after he declared a local investigation as “woefully inadequate”, why should we expect anything less in our nation’s capital?

Now is the time to support the end to the test driven culture in Washington, DC and elsewhere. I concur with teachers and parents for education reform that we must demand a call to action and insist on a thorough federal investigation of the extent of cheating in DC Public Schools over the past three years, the causes and the consequences, and needed corrections in our school system culture. This investigation must address specific allegations of erasure and falsification on answer sheets, as well as any district actions that might have encouraged cheating, or that were taken to cover it up. It is also time to call for a moratorium on the IMPACT evaluation system and teacher terminations until a federal probe has been conducted into the DCPS cheating scandal. Anything less would be a real tragedy.

Join us on Saturday, June 18, 2011 @3:30 pm

2011-06-15T14:18:00.003+02:00

Please Join
Washington Teachers' Union

for a Special Event!
Saturday, June 18, 2011
3:30 pm - 5:00 pm

Premiere Screening & Panel Discussion

Benning Public Library
3935 Benning Road, NE
Washington, DC 20019

Please join WTU President Nathan Saunders, General Vice President Candi Peterson, community and education leaders for a premiere screening and panel discussion about the documentary, "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman." This documentary was written and directed by New York City public school teachers and parents in response to the misleading film, "Waiting for Superman." It depicts the real-life experiences of public school parents and educators to show how these so-called reforms are actually hurting education. It also highlights the kinds of real reform - inside schools and in our society as a whole - that are urgently needed to genuinely transform education in this country.

**WTU members are encouraged to attend this free event and participate in an engaging discussion about the challenges facing education reform in general and in the District of Columbia Public school system.**

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
(202) 291-3399

DCPS Job Fair To Be Held Thursday, June 2, 2011

2011-06-02T06:09:00.007+02:00

Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) has learned that DC Public Schools will be holding a Transfer Fair, tomorrow, June 2nd. The details are below.

Elementary School/Early Childhood Educators, Social Workers, and Special Education Teachers

DCPS Educators interested in transferring schools and excessed teachers interested in interviewing for a teaching position for School Year 2011-2012 are invited to attend the DCPS Transfer Fair tomorrow, Thursday, June 2 at McKinley Technology Senior High School. Please check the Human Resources page of the Educator Portal for a list of available vacancies.

Time: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm (Social Workers)

5:00 -7:00 p.m. (Social Workers and Elementary, Early Childhood Educators, and Special Education teachers)

Location: McKinley Technology Senior High School

151 T St NE

Washington, DC 20002

Contact: DCPS Staffing, dcpsstaffing@dc.gov

Supporting Website: Check DCPS Educator Portal for Vacancy Listings

WTU Protests the Washington Post

2011-04-17T03:15:00.060+02:00

Written By Candi Peterson

Approximately 300 teachers, school personnel, city workers, union and community members protested outside The Washington Post building on Friday, April 15. This day was selected because it coincided with a day-off furlough for DCPS employees and DC government workers. The protest was organized by the Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) against the Post due to their biased reporting that consistently vilifies teachers and fails to include more balanced reporting of the obstacles teachers face in a mostly urban school district. According to WTU President, Nathan Saunders, "You've got to understand that the Washington Post has been vicious against, not just teachers unions, but the Washington Teachers' Union in particular, for the last three or four years. And everything that the former chancellor, Michelle Rhee, has done in the District, they have embraced wholeheartedly at the expense of working teachers."

Urban Teacher blogger and a former DC teacher questioned, "Why is the Post such an awful place for citizens to get information about what's really going on with education in the District?" We also have to wonder, why did it take USA Today newspaper's investigative journalists, Jack Gillum and Marisol Bello to cover the story: "When Standardized Test Scores Soared in DC Were the Gains Real?" This story appeared in USA Today's newspaper on March 11, 2011 and found that cheating likely occurred during the Rhee/Henderson administration during 2008-2010. It begs the question where was the Washington Post?
Another reason for Friday's protest was to call attention to the Washington Post's relationship with Kaplan Higher Education which accounts for the majority of the Post's revenues which comes from standardized testing. It is the position of the WTU, that the Post fails to adequately cover education reform from all vantage points, fails to print letters to the editor from education stakeholders, colors their editorial viewpoint and heaped undeserving praise on former Chancellor Michelle Rhee during her term as Chancellor, despite her many transgressions.

Teachers and protesters carried signs that read: "Cancel your Washington Post subscription today" and "We'll stop buying until you stop lying," while singing chants as a big inflatable union rat loomed large at the footsteps of the Post. Speakers from other unions included Josh Williams, President of the Washington Metro Labor Council, Bill Simon, Former WTU President, Caneisha Mills, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) representative, Johnny Walker, American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) representative. In addition, there were speeches made by Vincent Orange, At Large City Council candidate, Robert Brannum President of DC Federation of Civic Associations, Jerome Brocks, activist teacher and now retired, Sheila Gill, wrongfully terminated school counselor and a host of others with closing remarks given by Reverend Grayland Hagler who encouraged protesters to march in solidarity around the K street corridor.

All in all, it was a beautiful day and just the start of actions planned by the Washington Teachers' Union which will build momentum and seek to convince our government and Mayor of the need to provide adequate funding for public education in the District.

WTU Call To Action: Furlough Protest Rally on Friday, April 15

2011-04-14T03:11:00.007+02:00

WARAGE EQPROFITS"

DETAILS

WHAT: WTU Furlough Day Rally

WHEN: April 15, 2011, 10:30 am

WHERE: Washington Post Building, 1150 15th Street, NW, Washington, DC

WHY:

The Washington Post has buried the truth about education reform in DC!
The Washington Post endorses IMPACT (test score centered teacher evaluation) at any cost!
The Washington Post's ownership of Kaplan Higher Education, the U.S. premiere education profiteers, creates a conflict of interest on education policies.

BACKGROUND:

The Washington Post has consistently discounted the credentials, abilities and performance of hard working DC public school teachers. Kaplan's revenues, which are generated primarily by federal student loans, fuel their Editorial Board. The education stories have been uniquely biased against traditional public education creating a worse situation. Their national agenda has been about profit, not the people of Washington, DC or their children.

CALL TO ACTION: The WTU is asking for all those who care about public education in the District to:

Join forces to let the Washington Post know that we will not stand by while they continue with unfair and biased reporting.
Boycott the Washington Post newspaper until they stop lying!
Support community newspapers that report fairly and care about teachers, students and real education reform in the District.

Click here to view the detailed flyer.

WOULD YOU LIKE UNION RELATED PARAPHERNALIA?

DC Politicians Don't Care About DCPS Cheating Scandal

2011-04-03T21:20:00.053+02:00

by Candi Peterson

Let’s take a trip down memory lane. Remember back in 2008, OSSE (Office of the State Superintendent of Education in DC) requested that McGraw Hill Testing Company conduct an erasure analysis due to abnormally high (statistically improbable) proficiency rates on standardized tests conducted in Washington, DC during April 2008? This computerized analysis revealed some disturbing results that occurred when103 public schools in the District of Columbia and some charter schools were flagged for having statistically high rates of wrong answers that were erased and replaced by correct answers on standardized tests during years 2008 to 2010. Deborah Gist, former DC State Superintendent of Education, recommended an investigation into why DC Public Schools (DCPS) erasure rates were so high but her recommendation to investigate met a roadblock by the Rhee/Henderson administration. USA Today's – through the use of Freedom Of Information Access (FOIA) requests uncovered a five month exchange of memos from DCPS officials questioning the rationale for a further investigation at the time. (click link to see memos, emails and tables).

Fast forward to year 2011, when USA TODAY'S newspaper and their cast of thirteen staff writers conducted their own investigative probe into the extraordinarily high erasures on standardized tests in the District of Columbia Public Schools. This piece found that DCPS likely cheated under the Rhee/Henderson administration. Even when these findings came to light and a recommendation was proffered by Gist to investigate further, Michelle Rhee along with Deputy Mayor of Education, Victor Reinoso and Kerri Briggs – successor to Deborah Gist in 2008 - refused to investigate and swept its dirty little secret under the rug.

Again in 2009, there was a second round of questionable proficiency rates on standardized tests in DC Public Schools. The USA TODAY investigation revealed that 46 DC public schools were flagged for having high erasure rates of wrong answers corrected to right ones. Caveon Consulting Services eventually conducted limited investigations in 2009 into the process and training of eight DC public schools at the request of DCPS. However, DCPS did not request that Caveon Consulting Services conduct a data analysis of the questionable testing data.

Given that three years have now passed since the questionable results were first released, one has to wonder why Mayor Gray and other government officials aren’t irate and calling for an intensive federal investigation to determine if fraud occurred like the federal probe conducted by the state of Georgia in 2010 by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. A USA TODAY article reported that “… only 4% of Georgia’s schools were considered of “severe concern” after their 2009 standardized tests,” according to Kathleen Mathers of the Georgia Governor’s Office of Student Achievement. In contrast, more than 15% of DC’s public schools had so many classrooms flagged in 2008 that they would have raised severe concern."

Former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue (whose term ended in January 2011) ordered law enforcement to take over the Georgia investigation because he said he was dissatisfied with the failure of the districts in Atlanta and elsewhere to explain the erasures. Here in DC, It is important to note that a referral was only recently made by the Henderson administration to the DC Inspector General to investigate after the USA TODAY's newspaper investigation featured a number of articles on DC Public Schools' questionable testing gains at schools like Noyes Elementary School (Former Principal Wayne Ryan during 2001-10- now Instructional Superintendent for DCPS) and others. Even though Kwame Brown, Chairman of the DC City Council, announced that he would hold public hearings on high erasures, these hearings have now been cancelled.

Do DC politicians really care? Why aren’t government officials more alarmed? What are they afraid they will learn? Why were the DC City Council hearings cancelled? This scandal is full of many examples where unethical actions have had negative effects on the entire city of Washington, DC, our public schools, parents, community, school personnel and especially our students. The principles of accountability were sacrificed by Rhee’s administration. Besides obviously being disingenuous and dishonest, Rhee’s administration acted unethically.

In addition to calling for a federal probe, I wholeheartedly concur with Conducting the Inner Light, DC teacher turned blogger's assessment of the DCPS cheating scandal below: “Michelle Rhee’s reform has never been about the children. She used the district’s children to further her political ambitions. High test scores were necessary for her story and for advancing her agenda. If she didn’t collude in that cheating then she was certainly willfully negligent in her diligence to make sure those test scores were valid. If she were still the Chancellor of DCPS than it would be necessary for her to resign. As it is, Kaya Henderson and the rest of the Rhee team should resign or should be asked to resign by the mayor. Teachers had lost most of their trust in Rhee by the time she left. Most of us see Henderson as nothing more than Rhee’s factotum ...."

Isn't it time to clean house or will Mayor Gray allow Henderson to bring him down like Rhee did Fenty?

WTU Membership Meeting - March 17, 2011

2011-03-16T13:23:00.007+01:00

WTU will host a membership meeting on Thursday, March 17, 2011 from 4:30- 6:30 p.m. at McKinley Senior High School. All WTU members are encouraged to attend.

Improperly Fired DCPS Teachers Speak Out!

2011-03-11T13:18:00.028+01:00

By Candi Peterson

In 2008, approximately 75 probationary teachers were fired at the direction of then Deputy Chancellor Kaya Henderson. In 2008, Henderson sent an email to DC Public Schools principals indicating that if they wanted to get rid of probationary teachers they could simply click on a link listing the names of teachers from their schools. On March 10, 2011 - some of these wrongfully terminated teachers spoke out at the Washington Teachers' Union office about their stellar accomplishments and their horror at receiving letters in the mail during July and August 2008 indicating they were terminated without explanation. These teachers talked about only learning of the reasons for their terminations several weeks ago after an arbitrator's decision ordered them reinstated with back pay to DCPS. Their firing had nothing to do with their performance as teachers. Here is what they said:

"I always received positive evaluations, never been written up on warning," said Kadesha Bonds, who was a second-year teacher. (Kadesha Bonds pictured at top left with award)

"I was never written up. I never received bad evaluations. It was always about what I was wearing or my personal life," said Bianca Clemons, who was also in her second year.

"When I left in June of 2008, my report said I was fine. On July 17th, I got the same letter saying you’re had been fired. I said, ‘What?’" said photography teacher Leigh Mosley.

Kadesha Bonds, a former "2006 New Teacher of the Year" stated that she had a conversation with Vincent Gray when he was Council Chair and he agreed at that time that an injustice had been done to this group of wrongfully terminated teachers. Having been in office as DC's mayor for approximately 60 days- it saddens many of us that Mayor Gray has already forgotten the commitments he made to right the injustices of the Rhee and Henderson administration. Despite Mayor Gray's earlier statements which suggested that he would follow the arbitrator's ruling in this case, this group of wrongfully terminated teachers are still playing the waiting game to return to their first love- the joy of teaching in our schools while DCPS appeals this ruling. Listen as these teachers speak out and tell their side of the story on Fox 5 news and WJLA.

Reinstated DC Public Schools Teachers Speak Out About Their 2008 Firings: MyFoxDC.com

Veteran Teachers Need Not Apply: Henderson Recruits TFA Alums Despite Budget Deficit

2011-03-02T19:18:00.025+01:00

By Candi Peterson

Kaya Henderson, Interim Chancellor of DC Public Schools recently delivered remarks at the Teach for America (TFA) 20th Anniversary Summit. Hosted by Teach for America founder and CEO, the event drew what was referred to as an "all-star lineup of education, government, and social justice leaders," including TFA alum, Michelle Rhee, former Chancellor of DC Public Schools.

During the event, Interim Chancellor Henderson spoke about the true power of the TFA movement, the rise to high level administrative positions by many TFA'ers and forecast that maybe one day a TFA'er would land in the White House. Henderson encouraged TFA'ers to dust off their resumes if they want a chance to make history by coming to work for DC Public Schools.

It is interesting to note, that despite a lingering recession, budget crises and widespread teacher hiring slowdown, TFA teachers are being hired at a steady pace. The growth is often times coming at the expense of veteran teachers who are losing their jobs- in some cases to make room for TFA teachers who typically are hired at much lower salary levels. Remember the 266 mostly veteran teachers who were laid off in 2009 subsequent to the hiring of hundreds of TFA'ers? A recent study from the Education and the Public Interest Center report titled: "Teach for America: A Review of the Evidence" found that the learning curve and turnover rate of TFA teachers does harm to vulnerable students who are in need of highly trained and highly skilled teachers.

A You Tube video of Kaya Henderson speaking during TFA's 20th Anniversary Celebration has been widely circulated on the Internet and is posted below. I don't know about you, but it appears to me as though Henderson is still carrying Rhee's 'Teach for America' torch and is completely oblivious to the budget crises that we are facing in the District of Columbia. Please watch the video and let us know what you think about Henderson's remarks.We're listening.

WTU Letter To Mayor Gray Re Furloughs

2011-02-19T19:10:00.013+01:00

Friday, February 18, 2011

Mayor Vincent C. Gray

Government of the District of Columbia

Executive Office of the Mayor

1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 316

Washington, DC 20004

RE: Alternatives to Furloughs

SENT BY MAIL

Dear Mayor Gray:

On Wednesday, February 16, 2011 District of Columbia Public Schools’ teachers received a letter informing them of four (4) mandatory furlough days. A copy of this letter has been attached for your reference. The Washington Teachers’ Union believes teachers should not suffer due to poor budget decisions made by senior level DC government officials. These same officials also violated city spending laws, causing employees economic hardship and reducing confidence in our city’s government.

The D.C. Anti-Deficiency Act sets strict limits on agency spending. Yet Freedom of Information Act records demonstrate more than 400 violations of the law between fiscal years 2005 and 2007. There is also clear indication that certain agencies exceeded their budgets by at least $1 million nearly 100 times in fiscal years 2006 and 2007. While teachers may be held accountable for student progress with the threat of termination, which officials are to be held accountable for the deficit and violation of the D.C. Anti- Deficiency Act? It would be unfair to penalize teachers for the wrongdoings of these officials. Hence, WTU would like to propose the following budget-reducing alternatives instead of furloughing teachers.

· Reduce sick leave by the same amount of days before a teacher is furloughed thereby achieving the same savings;

· Eliminate outside consulting contracts including those contractors employed to hire new personnel;

· Discontinue non-essential student testing and terminate the credit recovery program;

·Eliminate Instructional Superintendents, Master Educators’ positions and relegate teacher/school personnel evaluations to principals; and

· Place a moratorium on administrators’ bonus payment including capping all non classroom teacher salaries over $100,000 including the Chancellor’s bonus.

These suggestions are representative of the ideas expressed by our city’s concerned teachers. For further details, please feel free to reference Washington Teachers' Union Blog at: http://thewashingtonteacher.blogspot.com/ . I look forward to discussing this matter with you in the near future.

Sincerely,

Nathan Saunders

President

Finding Alternatives to DCPS Furloughs!

2011-02-13T18:52:00.066+01:00

By Candi Peterson

The Balanced Budget Furlough Emergency Act of 2011 which calls for furloughs of DC government employees has caught the attention of all of us. Budget cuts have been no stranger to the District of Columbia public schools (DCPS). Teachers, school personnel and students have often had to bear the brunt of administrator over-spending. In fiscal year 2010, under the Rhee/Henderson administration, 266 educators were wrongfully terminated allegedly due to a budget deficit they didn’t help create.

Displeased with the emergency legislation that only reduces costs through emergency furloughing, WTU Executive Board passed a motion authorizing the union leadership to identify other alternatives that would avoid the need for furloughs. WTU agreed to compile your ideas on how we could achieve long-term cost savings in our public schools. Listed below are many of your recommendations from posts and emails we have received, thus far :

Alternatives to Furloughs

Allow employees to donate sick days in lieu of furlough days

Conduct a forensic audit of DCPS to identify waste/fraud

Close excess schools

Cut back on AP courses and enrollments

Cut printing costs of IMPACT evaluation booklets

Cut the following non-instructional teacher work days:

February 18 – Professional Development day

February 28- Parent Conference day –( this is less desirable than the May 16 Parent Conference day)

March 18 – Professional Development day

May 16 - Parent Conference Day

Discontinue non-essential testing of students

Don't add more International Baccalaureate Programs

Eliminate July 4 as a furlough day as teachers/school personnel are in a non-pay status

Eliminate Master Educators’ positions and relegate teacher/school personnel evaluations to principals and/or managers/supervisors

Eliminate perks for management, such as iPhone voice and data plans

Eliminate Teach For America contract and hire outright

Eliminate the partnership between Anacostia SHS and Friendship. We don’t need to pay the salaries of additional administrative staff

Eliminate the August professional development day for teachers/school personnel

End credit recovery

End school one day early when students aren’t in school

Furlough on professional development days, not holidays which will reduce savings in the form of energy costs and closed buildings

Increase computer usage versus excessive paper usage in schools, stop massive copying and worksheets

Place a moratorium on administrator bonus pay

Put an end to DCPS contracts that aren’t justified

Reduce the # of administrative positions in central office

Reduce the # of DC BAS tests given

Reduce the amount of administrative salaries in central office by setting a cap on six figure salaries

Reduce costs through energy savings (i.e. get thermostats on radiators, reduce excessive heat and AC, put hand air-dryers in bathrooms)

Reduce DCPS Executive staff salaries

Reduce Pre-K to half day

Reduce the # of Instructional Coach positions per school

Reduce the # of newly acquired Instructional Superintendent positions

Reduce the # of Special Education Program Manager positions (from 3 per discipline to 1 per discipline)

Reduce out of control spending in the special education budget

Rent out underutilized schools

Review money spent on consultants and organizations (i.e. Kaplan) and cut costs

Stop excessive meetings for DCPS staff at alternative locations by promoting video conferencing

Use vacant school buildings instead of renting space for government administrative offices

Work four- 10 hour days

The WTU will be forwarding all of your ideas to Mayor Gray for consideration. Thanks for your input.

WTU Looks For Ways Around Teacher Furloughs

2011-02-06T15:14:00.079+01:00

By Candi Peterson, WTU General Vice President

Furloughs without pay are on the horizon for District government employees. Exempt from the furloughs are police officers and fire fighters as their furloughs would impair public health and/or public safety, in addition to, a handful of independent District agencies. Vincent Gray, although exempt from the furlough days as the Mayor, has signed a waiver to join the rest of DC government employees on furlough in order to help save the city 19 million dollars during fiscal year 2011. I applaud Mayor Gray’s willingness to endure the furlough days like other DC city workers.

Included in the mix of those to be furloughed are District of Columbia Public School teachers and school personnel. As a result of emergency legislation, known as the Balanced Budget Furlough Emergency Act of 2011, that was recently passed by the DC City Council – DC government employees will be furloughed on four designated legal public holidays during Fiscal Year 2011: February 21, Washington’s birthday, April 15, DC Emancipation Day, May 30, Memorial Day and July 4, Independence Day. The emergency legislation specifically states: "The District of Columbia Public schools shall not furlough a classroom teacher on a date when there is classroom instruction during an instructional period."

WTU President Nathan Saunders commented on teacher furloughs in a recent press release. Saunders stated: "Furloughs are the repercussions that workers face when subjected to government budgets which they don't control. City workers, including teachers, will now receive less pay as a result of poor budget decisions made by senior level DC government officials. At some point, the DC government must hold managers accountable for over-spending the same way it holds workers accountable." (Click furloughs for WTU press release). I contend that the Michelle Rhee/Kaya Henderson regime under the helm of former DC mayor, Adrian Fenty contributed to the DCPS' share of the budget deficit problem.

What concerns me is that we still aren't making the necessary budget cuts where they need to be made. After all, furloughs aren't a permanent solution for a budget deficit, and there is talk that even more furloughs will be proposed at a later date. I would like to suggest a number of ways to cut some of the public school bloat for the longer-term. Let’s start by reducing Interim Chancellor Henderson’s executive staff salaries by putting a moratorium on bonus payouts, reducing administrative staff in the central office inclusive of the thirteen new instructional superintendents who were recruited last May 2010 with salaries ranging from $120,000 to $150,000, eliminating Master Educators' positions whose starting salaries begin at $90,000 a pop and delegating all teacher evaluations to principals and/or supervisors, discontinuing non-essential testing of students, and putting an end to DCPS contracts that aren’t justified. Has anyone considered tightening our belt by conserving energy in our schools ? What happened to the cost savings as a result of the DC government freeze?

During our February 5, 2011 WTU Executive Board meeting, elected teachers and school personnel expressed their frustration about getting hammered at every turn due to DCPS overspending. Our board was in agreement that 'alternatives to furloughs' need to be considered. As a result of this lively discussion, the WTU Executive Board passed a motion which gives the Washington Teachers’ Union authority to explore 'alternatives to furloughing' teachers and school personnel before President’s Day, the 1st day of government furloughs. Washington Teachers' Union is interested in your ideas on how DC Public Schools can achieve real cost savings so that we can look for ways around teacher/school personnel furloughs. We will compile a list of your ideas and provide these recommendations to Mayor Gray amongst other strategies. The Washington Teacher blog will also post your ideas. Please email your cost saving recommendations to: helpdesk@wtulocal6.org or via fax @ 202-293-9732. Got suggestions- we’re listening.

Having Our Say At The Education Transition Summit

2011-01-28T01:10:00.032+01:00

By Candi Peterson, WTU General Vice President

For the first time ever, the Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) sponsored an Education Transition Summit on Tuesday, January 25 at the Kellogg Conference Center. Of late, teacher turnout has been low at union sponsored events due to what amounts in my opinion to a disenfranchised membership. I arrived at the event shortly before it started and could hardly believe my eyes when swarms of teachers and school personnel starting walking through the glass doors. Certainly, the over 450 plus crowd was more than I could have ever hoped for.

There were many smiles, hugs, pats on the back and congratulations about our recent WTU victory. The lines were endless and the Kellogg Conference staff were so accommodating by doubling the number of seats for so many unexpected guests. When no more seats could be provided due to fire code violations, teachers were willing to stand for hours despite the discomfort. Our members filled not only the on campus garage but also an overflow parking lot and off-street parking.

The Education Transition Summit primarily focused on the IMPACT evaluation tool and working conditions. As I strolled through the room, I took the time to listen to teachers' dialogue about what has transpired in these last three years under the Rhee/Henderson regime. One thing that everyone agreed on is that teachers have been robbed of the 'joy of teaching' and replaced with a one-size regimen that does not fit all. One teacher spoke of how she can no longer use centers to teach skills to her young Pre-K students. Teachers talked about no matter how well they had mastered IMPACT - they dealt with an inordinate amount of stress about the possibility of being caught doing something wrong instead of applauded for what they do right. Many talked about being considered great teachers until IMPACT where everyone is the sum total of their IMPACT score. Get a low number and you're no longer a great teacher. Teachers and school personnel were clear what was needed- a new evaluation tool. When the time came for our members to vote for IMPACT to stay or go - the majority voted for it to be thrown out.

The dialogue seemed to spark hope for many of our members who have bought into the nation-wide teacher bashing campaign that they are worthless and responsible for all of the ills of public education. Tuesday night was a new beginning for the WTU and our members. It marked the first time we were collectively at the table. Given the opportunity to help the new Mayor shape his educational agenda for DCPS, DC teachers and school personnel rose to the challenge. After all who better than us to provide first-hand knowledge about what goes on in the classroom, our schools and public education. One attendee emailed me: "That was a great meeting the other night.What you experienced in that room was a much larger version of what I saw in the small group of teachers - a real appreciation to finally be heard." Another member said: "let's do it again."

As the WTU General Vice-President, I would be interested in hearing your comments about the transition summit. What were the highlights of the evening? Is there anything that you would have changed? Do you have recommendations for the future? ... I'm listening.

WTU To Host Meeting With Rif'd Teachers!

2011-01-26T06:12:00.008+01:00

As promised, Washington Teachers' Union will host a meeting on Wednesday, January 26 from 4:15- 6:30 pm at:

Peoples Congregational Church

4704 13th St NW, Washington, DC 20011

WTU Legal Counsel will be present to answer Rif'd teachers questions about the upcoming court case scheduled before Judge Bartnoff on January 28.

From The Bottom Up!

2011-01-04T05:41:00.019+01:00

By, Candi Peterson - WTU General V.P.

I started out my union career as a Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) Building Representative for itinerant teachers and related service providers. Years ago, a soon to be departing colleague urged me to take on this role because she was planning to retire. She argued after all that I would be good in this job because of my outspokenness. I remember thinking how could I reach the almost 200 or so union members who were spread out in our schools. Building ties to people, came easy for me in part due to my background in the field of social work. I reasoned to myself that a great deal of my career had been spent working with those who didn’t want to be reached. Surely, I thought I’d be up for the challenge connecting to union members.

Since itinerant staff worked in city-wide schools, I knew I couldn't use a union bulletin board to reach them. Emails, list serves and blogs became an essential for communication with members. I worked hard by regularly emailing members updates and writing on my blog about issues that impacted our union, public education and our workplace. While The Washington Teacher blog started out as a way to educate members about the perils of the red and green contract proposal , it eventually became an online voice for teachers and school personnel. My work as a blogger paid off as I quickly earned members’ trust. When The Washington Teacher blog first reached 2,000 weekly readers , this was concrete proof to me of the blog's success in reaching not only members but those well outside our education circle. On days of more noteworthy news, numbers were as high as an average of 4000 weekly visitors. Many readers emailed me asking me to write on topics ranging from IMPACT evaluations, Teach For America to wrongful terminations.

Just as the success of The Washington Teacher blog garnered interest from union members, it also drew the ire of the Rhee/Henderson administration as it covered the other side of the public education reform story that was rarely told by the mainstream media. My advocacy on behalf of teachers came with a high price and earned me a mandatory summons to meet with the Chancellor in 2008 about my involvement in political activities (i.e. protests, writing about DCPS , speaking to the press, etc). These events marked the beginning of the harassment that I endured. What came next was being stripped of ten points on the Core Professional component of my IMPACT evaluation due to what was described by my supervisor (words paraphrased) : “Someone is out to get you.” My attendance at a rally while on approved leave was cited as the reason for my loss of the ten evaluation points. Next, I received notice this past summer of a one day suspension without pay from Dan McCray, DCPS Chief Labor Strategist, an agent of Interim Chancellor Kaya Henderson due to allegedly violating the DCPS email policy of the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO). The suspension without pay took place on September 21 and the reason given was that I sent out too many labor related emails (on my own time). By the way, the emails I sent to members included excerpts from The Washington Teacher blog and the latest subject was none other than former holdover WTU president George Parker. The very tool that I used to create an online voice for teachers and school personnel became a threat to my own job security. The irony of my story is that now as the WTU General Vice President, I sit across the table from Interim Chancellor Henderson's top staff who assisted in orchestrating my suspension. What I have learned from this experience is that ordinary people like me and you have the power to turn the tables, and make changes that start from the bottom up.

Readers of The Washington Teacher blog often asked me during the Washington Teachers' Union race to continue blogging should I win in our union election. And starting Tuesday, The Washington Teacher blog will become the 'official blog' of the Washington Teachers' Union. Let's celebrate because it can only be good if our union is willing to speak up for all of us and tell our side of the public education reform story. Happy New Year !

WTU Insists Teachers Should Be Paid !

2010-12-18T02:08:00.017+01:00

On Wednesday, December 16 the Washington Teachers’ Union received complaints from members that due to an administrative error teachers and school personnel at Mann Elementary school located at 4430 Newark Street NW would not receive a full paycheck owed them on December 17, 2010. One Mann Elementary school staffer led a valiant effort to try to get teachers their checks on time. Unfortunately many reasonable suggestions to this problem were rejected.

The WTU diligently worked on behalf of our members starting Wednesday and insisted that teachers and school staff should receive a supplemental check prior to going on leave for the holidays. Unfortunately, due to new rules the DCPS payroll office is no longer able to issue supplemental checks within 24 hours.

As a result of the numerous phone calls and emails made by our office to internal DCPS offices and the Office of the Deputy Chancellor, our persistence paid off and Mann school staff did not have to wait until December 23, the date slated for them to receive the other half of their pay. The WTU was able to facilitate our members getting paid effective December 17. I have learned that staff from Mann were called to the school to pick up their supplemental paychecks on Friday evening and could retrieve their checks as late as 11 p.m. In addition, arrangements were made for staff who were unable to pick up their checks on Friday evening to be able to pick up their checks at the school on Saturday, December 18.

This is a happy ending to what could have been a disaster for many staff especially during the holidays. The WTU is happy to have been able to assist in advocating for our members.

Candi Peterson
WTU General Vice President

New Beginnings

2010-12-12T11:10:00.044+01:00

From the desk of Candi Peterson:

December 1 marked a new beginning for me as the WTU General Vice President. During the past two years as the writer of this blog, I have enjoyed confronting stormy subjects on public education with readers by my side on a weekly basis. Topics here ranged from former DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, to performance based excessing, unprincipled principals, inside teacher stories, and "holdover" union officials. I have frequently said this blog was never intended to be a permanent dwelling place and first started out with me trying to dispel myths about the red and green teachers contract proposal and later morphed into an online voice for teachers.

I believe you can’t stand still in one place forever or it becomes a comfort zone. Don’t get me wrong, I'm not through with blogging at least not yet but in my new role- more of my time will be spent seeking resolutions to teachers complaints. After all, that’s what I get paid to do. As I work to earn my sea legs in my new position, I'd be interested in hearing your suggestions on how we can improve the quality of union membership services to teachers and school personnel. Feel free to jot me a line or leave a post here.

In keeping with our campaign promise, the Washington Teacher's Union (WTU) will host a December membership meeting and holiday social on Thursday, December 16, 2010 from 4-7:30 pm. Hope you will join us. Here's the invitation:

Please join
President Nathan Saunders, Officers, Executive Board Members,
Board of Trustees and Staff
of the
Washington Teachers' Union
for a
WTU General Membership Meeting
and
Holiday Party
St. Francis Hall
1340 Quincy Street, NE
Washington, DC 20017
Music, Food and Fun for All
Free on-site Parking Available
Thursday, December 16, 2010
4:00 pm to 7:30 pm
Refreshments will be served

We hope you will join us to meet the new WTU leadership, celebrate the holidays, and receive your WTU holiday token.

Raffle Drawings for holiday gifts promises to be a welcome treat.

Every teacher that attends our event will be counted towards the WTU's donation of toys for needy children in the district.

RSVP Preferred
Please RSVP by Tuesday, December 14th,
by email at info@wtulocal6.org or by phone at (202) 293-8600

Installation of WTU Officers -December 1, 2010

2010-12-05T06:05:00.018+01:00

The installation of WTU officers was held last Tuesday, December 1 at AFT's headquarters. Today marks a new beginning for our union. Thanks for all of your calls, emails and kind words of support.

Finally!

2010-12-01T05:04:00.012+01:00

Candi Peterson, blogger in residence and WTU General Vice President (effective December 1, 2010)

The Saunders slate won in the Washington Teachers' Union run-off election Tuesday evening at the AFT headquarters. This is the second win for the Saunders slate. We were the highest vote getter in round one of the WTU election on October 27. Given that WTU's Constitution required slates receive a 51% margin to win, a run-off election was held between the top two slates; the Saunders and Parker slate.

As I have often written about, this election has been a long protracted battle after another. To jog your memory, former" holdover" union president George Parker refused to step down and turn over union documents to the WTU Elections Committee. As a result, WTU elections were not held in May as required by our union's constitution. Long story short, AFT intervened as the WTU administrator and conducted our union elections. Fast forward to Tuesday evening and the Saunders slate can claim a victory with Nathan Saunders as the next WTU President, Candi Peterson, as the next WTU General Vice President and a host of committed and hard working Executive Board and Board of Trustee members.

Tonight we are humbled by all of the support and look forward to building a participatory union democracy committed within the next 30 days to publishing a membership and delegate assembly meetings for SY 2010-11; approving a WTU strategic plan to address IMPACT evaluations, job security and legal issues; meeting with AFT President Randi Weingarten; meeting with DC Mayor-Elect Vincent Gray to discuss IMPACT teacher evaluations and other educational issues affecting teachers, parents and students; meeting with City Council Chairman-Elect Kwame Brown to discuss IMPACT teacher evaluations and other educational issues, meeting with the 266 wrongfully terminated teachers to discuss an immediate change in their legal strategy; meeting with retired teachers and others who have been affected by the loss of retroactive pay and benefits under the new contract, hire personnel experts and human resource consultants to assist with a teacher evaluation tool, review all outstanding grievances and arbitrations, and revamp WTU's image and legal strategy to be proactive, progressive and productive.

Our slate looks forward to taking the helm and becoming the education-union leaders that DC teachers and school personnel deserve. I hope you will check out Bill Turque, Washington Post writer's coverage on "Washington Teachers' Union President George Parker loses run-off election" (click on title link for story).

Parker's Last Acts Of Desperation - Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-24T09:11:00.037+01:00

Update: WTU Run-off Election Ballot Count will take place today, November 30, 2010 @ 4:30 pm @ AFT headquarters.

Featuring Candi Peterson, blogger in residence and WTU Candidate for General Vice President/Saunders slate

In the first Washington Teachers Union (WTU) election, two out of three teachers voted against WTU "holdover" President George Parker whose constitutional term ended June 30, 2010. Since those results were tallied, the Liz Davis/Emily Washington slate and Chris and Ben Bergfalk slate endorsed the Nathan Saunders slate of which I am a part. Parker’s loss to Saunders has brought out the worst in him. On the final leg of the WTU race, Parker's last acts of desperation reveal an underbelly of petulance, lies, small minded mean spiritedness and pure hate.

The Parker campaign conducted mass robo-calling using union resources which include repeated reminders about dental benefits and promises of meetings with teachers and another survey on IMPACT under the guise of conducting union business. Of late Parker has distributed hundreds of pamphlets to schools that instill fear that a vote for Nathan Saunders will result in our union going backwards neglecting the fact that for the last six years under Parker's leadership, WTU members democratic rights have been destroyed and teachers due process rights have been trampled along with the loss of 1,000 teacher jobs by an out of control Rhee administration.

Parker in his hate literature has alleged spurious, false and exaggerated allegations about Nathan Saunders work history and has left out pertinent details regarding an American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Executive Council investigation that resulted in an AFT order for Parker and the WTU Executive board to approve Saunders leave of absence and back pay forthwith. If we are to go down this road, then the obvious question is: How should these treasonous acts of Parker subverting the WTU Constitution as well as his refusal to comply with an AFT September 17, 2010 order from our parent organization be handled ? Further, how much is Parker paid in salary, how much salary should he (Parker) forgo by his refusal to have union membership and representative assembly meetings over the past year, his refusal to hold a timely union election last May as required by the WTU Constitution and his refusal to comply with the AFT Order ?

Parker's campaign has become an abomination, hell-bent on victory no matter the cost to teachers and school personnel. Hollow promises, empty promises, and more absurd promises have been made to union members. Parker will meet with teachers, provide edible treats and salacious lies while guaranteeing teachers higher impact scores and better working conditions if they promise to vote for him. Parker's latest campaign trick is offering to pick up union members ballots from their homes during the Thanksgiving season.

Unfortunately Parker has no track record short of his devaluation of teacher employment rights by the concessions he has already made. The contract tidbits don’t pay the mortgage, put food on the table and clothe the kids when you have been terminated from your job. We do know our union is in pretty bad shape with mass teacher terminations, unfair IMPACT evaluations running amuck, related stress and low morale. The truth is that things can only get better with Nathan Saunders Slate, not worse.

Hastily called meetings after hastily called meetings, email after email, robo call after robo call, negative campaign ads after negative campaign ads - some say Parker has reached the bottom of the barrel and gone over the edge. These last ugly acts of desperation by Parker are a disgrace and insult to every WTU member. What is the proper response to Parker's campaign negativity? Do you want to see more negativity from "holdover president" Parker in this Thanksgiving season? Tell me what you think!

By the way- Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Precarious Predicament for DCPS Instructional Coaches

2010-11-19T04:14:00.040+01:00

Featuring Candi Peterson, blogger in residence and candidate for WTU General Vice President

11/21/10 UPDATE: "Holdover" President Parker was a 'no show' at the Nov. 19 meeting, according to attendees.

DCPS Instructional Coaches (IC's) find themselves in a precarious predicament being government employees manipulated at taxpayer's expense. The Washington Teacher has confirmed that Instructional Coaches are required to attend a mandatory November 19 afternoon meeting with "Holdover" president George Parker during instructional time instead of their previously scheduled training.This is the second hastily called Friday meeting for IC's with Parker at taxpayer's expense and has some IC's feeling miffed about the misuse of instructional time and directive to meet with Parker.

In a November 18 email to Jason Kamras, one IC wrote: "In all my years as DCPS employee, I have never worked under administrators who disregarded the sanctity of instructional time. The last such meeting was a total sham! George Parker and Mary Collins presented nothing of educational, or professional value to teachers. Needless to say, I am shocked and disappointed by this administration's callous disregard for instructional time. I have no recourse but to respond to (Washington Post) Bill Turque's queries about this meeting as many WTU members have forwarded the email notices about this meeting to him. Please explain why this meeting is preempting one half day's training for Instructional Coaches for a Union meeting. I pay taxes in DC and I know that you and Kaya do too; thus, I do not believe that DC tax payers will look favorably upon this misuse of learning time for teachers and students."

Another union activist complained to Parker earlier this week in a terse email : "Despite the recent meeting with DC teaching fellows, you have not called a union meeting in six months. This violates our Constitution and you (Parker) are directly responsible for this on-going destruction of unionists' democratic rights." One has to wonder how important these IC's issues really are to Parker given that he hasn't conducted any union meetings (rep. assembly or membership mtgs.) as the WTU Constitution requires. Perhaps Parker's meeting with IC's is as Washington Post writer/blogger Bill Turque suggested about Parker's recent meeting with TFA/DC teaching fellows an attempt by him to reach out to a less active segment of the electorate to garner votes in the runoff election against the Nathan Saunders slate who received the most votes overall. I was in attendance at the TFA/DC Teacher Fellows meeting and the menu piled on crab cakes, London Broil and quesadillas while Parker promised to work on the DC fellows job related issues (i.e not being paid, exorbitant costs for private certification to the tune of $4000, etc.) and provide special IMPACT training.

Given that the city is demanding that teachers be held accountable for student performance- is this union meeting an appropriate use of Instructional Coaches time or is it the payback of Interim Chancellor Kaya Henderson to Parker? As a Washington Teacher commenter wrote to me: "I expect this from Parker, who has pulled every trick out of the book to stay in office, but I'm feeling abused by Kaya Henderson right now. Gray better watch these actions. "

WTU Ballots Are In- We Need Your Vote!

2010-11-18T11:30:00.007+01:00

Winning Round 1 of the WTU election was only the first step on this journey to build a participative democratic union that fights for the job security of our members, holds regular union meetings and legally challenges unfair IMPACT evaluations and wrongful terminations. The Saunders slate won the endorsement of former candidates - Liz Davis, Emily Washington, Chris and Ben Bergfalk.

Today we need to take another step together. The WTU run-off election decides who will be our union's leaders for the next three years.

That’s why we need you to vote and mail your ballot today.We have greatly appreciated your support over the years, but once again, we need your vote. Mark an X for the Saunders slate and place your ballot in the secret ballot envelope and mail it today. If you don't receive a ballot, call AAA @ 1-800-273-0726 to request a duplicate ballot.

Thanks,

Nathan Saunders

and

Candi Peterson

www.votesaunders2010.com

Vote Like Your Job Depends On It- WTU Ballots Are Coming Soon!

2010-11-11T13:53:00.023+01:00

Candi Peterson, Candidate for WTU General Vice President & blogger in residence

Most voters agree that the Saunders slate is the best team for the job. Liz Davis , Emily Washington, Chris and Ben Bergfalk have given their personal endorsement to our slate. We won round 1 in the WTU elections. The election rules require the winner receive 51% of the vote. We need your vote again to win your vote in round 2 in the election run-off.

Recent events have created an atmosphere of instability and lack of respect previously unknown to DC teachers and school personnel. WTU "Hold Over" President Parker has failed to protect teachers jobs and secure teacher respect. The following factors threaten DC teachers and school personnel:

Unfair Impact Evaluations (i.e 737 teachers/school personnel were rated minimally effective, therefore subject to termination at the end of this school year). WTU hold over official says Impact Evaluations are not my fault.

Approximately 550 Highly Effective teachers are now vulnerable because their due process rights were traded for bonus pay.

In an October 29, 2010 DC Superior Court hearing, the 266 wrongfully terminated teachers were abandoned when the Parker supervised WTU legal counsel made no legal arguments for reinstatement, back pay and pain and suffering.

In the upcoming runoff election, some of the important considerations for voters must be due process rights, job security and teacher respect.

Vote Saunders Slate in the runoff election- mail your ballot immediately

http://www.votesaunders2010.com/

Nathan Saunders and Candi Peterson have been working for teachers all along!

The 266 Deserve Quality Legal Representation

2010-11-01T02:07:00.034+01:00

Featuring Candi Peterson, blogger in residence and WTU Candidate for General Vice President

On Friday, October 29 in the courtroom of Judge Judith Bartnoff- WTU lawyers appeared to challenge the reduction in force of 266 laid off teachers and school personnel. DC Schools Insider blogger, Bill Turque reported "The Washington Teachers' Union court challenge to the October 2009 layoffs effectively end this morning when a WTU attorney told a DC Superior Court judge that after scrutinizing 1,200 pages of District documents, the union could find no evidence that Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee contrived the budget crunch she said justified the job reductions."

Some of the laid-off teachers I talked to find it amazing that attorney Brenda C. Zwack said: "We didn't find anything that would warrant further briefing". While the court hearing lasted no more than 10 minutes, it left those in the audience with unanswered questions about their legal representation and the impact that this case will have on their personal lawsuits. Unfortunately, WTU's "Hold over" President Parker was not present at Friday's hearing and could not be questioned by the handful of teachers who were present. Attorney Zwack reportedly made a "mad dash" for the nearest exit as teachers attempted to question her more in depth.

While I have not seen the 1200 page documents that DCPS submitted, I know for a fact that the Rhee administration continued to hire teachers and other school personnel after the 266 were laid off last October. I followed many of the DCPS job advertisements that the Rhee administration placed on Craig’s list for teachers and school personnel. I often wondered why a freeze was never ordered in school year 2009-10 by Mayor Fenty, since DCPS was in a budget deficit. One thing is for sure — the Rhee administration continued to spend willy-nilly without any checks and balances in place. Perhaps that’s why we are in an even bigger deficit now.

If you recall more than a year ago Nathan Saunders and I arranged for a free two hour legal consultation (which turned into 3 hours) to laid off DC teachers with another law firm who later offered to represent the 266 teachers case at a significantly reduced rate. It seems that our hunch about the quality of legal representation that these teachers received was correct. I know we can and we must do better. At the very least, the 266 wrongfully terminated teachers' legal case deserves another 'look- see' by another law firm. This is why the Saunders slate needs your support to get elected in the run-off election so that we can aggressively represent the 266 who were wrongfully terminated. We owe it to them, that is if it's not too late.

I encourage all to read Bill Turque's article in the Washington Post on the legal challenge to the layoffs which appeared in Saturday's newspaper. Click on the link to see the article in its entirety:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/29/AR2010102907400.html?nav%3Demailpage&sub=AR

WTU Election Results

2010-10-28T11:26:00.011+02:00

Election Results

Nathan Saunders slate 334 votes

Hold Over President Parker's slate 313 votes

Davis slate 196 votes

Bergfalk slate 38 votes

Candi Peterson, Blogger in residence and candidate for WTU General Vice President

Last night our slate won! It was an exciting evening for the Saunders slate. Parker, hold over WTU President never showed up to watch the election results. The WTU Constitution requires that the winner receives more than 50% percent majority of the total votes cast. If none of the candidates receive more than 50% of the total votes cast, then there must be a run-off election between the two candidates who received the highest number of votes. In this case, Nathan Saunders received 334 votes and Hold Over WTU President Parker received 313 votes; therefore, there will be a run-off election between our two slates. The challenge ballots submitted by those who recently retired, resigned or were terminated were not counted.

We will need your continued support in the upcoming run-off election. Thanks for all of your support so far.

Hot Off The Press: Reduction In Force (RIF) In DCPS

2010-10-22T21:37:00.030+02:00

Featuring Candi Peterson, blogger in residence & candidate for WTU General Vice President

Update: The Washington Teacher led the story on DCPS layoffs which were later confirmed by Bill Turque and Fox 5 News. According to inside sources, the total number of layoffs were not reported accurately by the DCPS spokesperson and numbers could be as high as 127 employees.

Sources have told The Washington Teacher that Deputy Chancellor, Kaya Henderson instituted yet another round of layoffs of DC Public Schools employees on Friday, October 22. These layoffs are one year after the October 2, 2009 anniversary date of layoffs of 266 teachers and approximately 100 other school staff. Inside sources report that this latest reduction in force allegedly includes special education specialists, placement specialists, central office staff and school based social workers and school psychologists some of whom may be members of the Washington Teachers Union. Stay tuned for further details on the 2010 round of school layoffs.

Haven't voted in the WTU elections yet? Get your ballot ready and vote Saunders slate! Mail your ballot today. www.votesaunders2010.com

An Open Letter To WTU Members

2010-10-21T06:37:00.030+02:00

Dear Washington Teachers' Union Members,

For years, we fought to make sure teacher voices were heard and due process rights were protected. Our actions were required when WTU “Holdover” President George Parker refused to act. Under his leadership, jobs were lost, unfair IMPACT evaluations were created and teachers suffered professional disrespect. Candi Peterson- a WTU Trustee board member and building representative - created theWashingtonteacher.blogspot.com, a reputable DC education online voice for teachers and school personnel in 2008. She has been an intelligent teacher voice and foundation for numerous DC education stories. Nathan Saunders, WTU’s two term General Vice President- spoke expertly as the legitimate opposition voice on education reform efforts which hurt DC students, parents, and teachers. We accurately forecasted teacher/school personnel terminations, oppressive working conditions and performance based mutual consent. We provided facts, analysis, and solutions. We created rallies and demonstrations after Parker “sold out” WTU members. We worked alongside parents to challenge disproportionate school closings in Ward 5 and some of our poorer sections of the city. This current election, which is more than six months overdue, was forced by our court action e.g. Saunders et al. v. WTU. Visualize our mutual progress if you entrust your vote and WTU resources to us!

We do better because we know better. The WTU can be a voice for members and can negotiate a better contract and improve working conditions. Without a change in President, the current state of confusion, failure to hold union meetings, ineffective advocacy, and weakness will continue to endanger your job and positive working conditions that facilitate teaching and learning. With the current union president Parker - you have no voice.

Nathan is the only candidate for union President with world class training in how to be a successful teachers union President. He is a Harvard Law School- Harvard Trade Union Program graduate and earned a Masters degree in Law and Ethics from the National Labor College/University of Baltimore.

If you are wrongfully terminated, it will be too late. Elect a strong President with excellent credentials and experience supported by an effective executive board who support a participative union democracy. Remember, Nathan and Candi have been fighting for you all along! Vote Saunders Slate ! Check out our website @ www.votesaunders2010.com An X mark is all it takes. Place your ballots inside the secret ballot and then send it off in the mailer provided. If you still have not received a ballot call the American Arbitration today @ 800-273-0726.

Vote Saunders Slate Today!

2010-10-17T19:30:00.016+02:00

www.votesaunders2010.com/

Featuring Candi Peterson, Blogger in residence &

candidate for WTU General Vice President

Click our flyer to enlarge

One X is all it takes- Vote Saunders Slate!

Nathan & Candi- We've been working for you all along !

IF YOU NEED A DUPLICATE BALLOT for any of the following reasons: you did not receive a ballot, the ballot package is not complete or your ballot has been lost, damaged or spoiled - Please call Maria Landhi, American Arbitration Association @ 800-273-0726

In addition to calling AAA, please email thewashingtonteacher@gmail.com to let me know if you don't receive a ballot.

Breaking News!

2010-10-13T02:53:00.012+02:00

Featuring Candi Peterson, blogger in residence and candidate for WTU General Vice President

The Washington Post reports that Chancellor Michelle Rhee will announce on Wednesday that she is resigning at the end of October. Deputy Chancellor Kaya Henderson will serve as the interim Chancellor. What do you think led to Rhee's abrupt resignation?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/12/AR2010101205658.html

D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee to announce resignation Wednesday

Hot Off The Press: The Wash. Teacher Update on DCPS Pay Freeze

2010-10-09T15:45:00.022+02:00

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.