400 DCPS Teachers RSVP'd For July Job Fair

Wilson Senior High School

By Candi Peterson

In April, DC Human Capital Chief, Jason Kamras testified before the DC City Council that 500-600 DCPS teachers would be excessed this school year. With the advent of 15 school closings in 2013 and two school reconstitutions at Patterson Elementary and Cardozo Senior High, it comes as no surprise this many teachers are having their positions eliminated. 

DCPS held its final job fair for teachers and school personnel on July 29 at Wilson Senior High School in their open space atrium from 3-6 pm. Four hundred teachers RSVP'd for this event according to Brooke Miller, DCPS Manager of Teacher Recruitment and Selection. 

The lines for mini interviews with school principals from 33 schools were long. Teachers came with stacks of resumes in hand and many complained of not being able to find a principal interested in hiring them, despite a minimum of five interviews which is required by the school system. 

A teacher who requested anonymity shared her disappointment as a certified French teacher as there were a limited number of positions in her area of concentration. 

According to the WTU Collective Bargaining Agreement ( CBA) teachers have 60 days to find another position or choose from 3 options of an extra year placement, early retirement or a $25,000 buy out. These options are only available to teachers who have earned permanent status and have an effective or highly effective rating.

Teachers who accepted the bonuses for being highly effective or probationary status teachers will be subject to separation by DCPS if they do not find a position within the 60 day time frame. The clock is ticking on them as we face the re-opening of school for teachers beginning August 19.

Those teachers who fall in the newly created category of Developing, which previously represented an effective rating up until school year 2012-13 are now subject to separation if they are unable to find another position in the allotted two month period. It begs the question, how does a school system alter its evaluation rating system mid stream? Had there been an IMPACT evaluation pilot, these kinks would have been worked out before using teachers as guinea pigs.

© Candi Peterson 2013

Many Schools a No-Show at DCPS Teacher Job Fair

Written by Candi Peterson

Eastern Senior High School, was the site for the first  DC Public Schools teacher job fair held on May 9th. Surprisingly, it was not as crowded as it had been in years past. In fact the number of educators present seemed sparse and a little over 100 teachers. This year, 333 teachers were officially hand delivered excess notices on Friday, May 4, 2012 which means they will no longer hold their current positions at the end of the school year. By definition an "excess is an elimination of a Teacher’s position at a particular school due to a decline in student enrollment, a reduction in the local school budget, a closing or consolidation, a restructuring, or a change in the local school program, when such an elimination is not a ‘reduction in force’ (RIF) or ‘abolishment."
According to a press statement released by DCPS earlier this week: "Excessed employees have until August 15 to find a placement for next school year. After that point, all unplaced excessed employees with Effective or Highly Effective ratings will have access to two options under their union contract: a $25,000 buyout or a “grace year,” during which they will be placed at a DCPS school. Probationary WTU members, and those with less than satisfactory performance ratings, will be subject to separation on August 20." Of course the 333 excessed Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) members does not include other school staff positions that will be excessed by DC Public schools later on in the year including school administrators (i.e. vice principals, etc.), school psychologists, special education coordinators, educational aides, dean of students, secretarial staff and other positions. Stay tuned for more on this later. Only 40 schools showed up to set up tables at Eastern's job fair in SE DC. The job vacancy list includes some positions that have already been filled. At the job fair, excessed teachers and those interested in a voluntary school transfer could meet with principals, give them their resumes and sit for a mini interview. A common complaint from teachers was that schools they were interested in were either not present or they were told that someone will be in touch with you later. Despite a recent press statement from DCPS that 60% of excessed teachers would be rehired, teachers at the job fair voiced skepticism about finding a replacement job especially given that some of the advertised positions may be filled by new hires. The next job fair is scheduled to be held at Wilson Senior High School on Saturday, May 12 starting at 9-11 am. Wilson Senior High School is located at 3950 Chesapeake Street NW Washington, DC 20008

© Candi Peterson 2013