No Debate For You: WTU Prez Saunders Bows Out Presidential Debate Amidst Confusion

Playing games with WTU members

By Candi Peterson 
Vote Davis Slate for WTU
Liz Davis /Candi Peterson
WTU Can Be Better!

Today right before the close of the school day, WTU President Nathan Saunders had a major meltdown and sent out an email blast to WTU members titled "WTU Alerts Teachers About a "Fake Debate Scheduled for McKinley Tech High School." What caught my attention was that Saunders actually sent the first email from his own WTU email account. Followed by a second email blast (see below) minutes later from the WTU Communication Director. Saunders' email to union members stated, "This is yet another attempt by individuals to misinform and mislead our members..... The individuals who are promoting this debate have put WTU members in great jeopardy for not following WTU membership and DCPS guidelines." It was Saunders allegation that someone used the WTU logo to mislead members into thinking that the event was union sponsored. Saunders made a not so subtle threat to  members when he affirmed that WTU could not represent members who trespass on DCPS property for any event unauthorized by WTU. Saunders ended with "We hope to discover who initiated this false information, so that appropriate action can be taken."

 You can't make this stuff up really. So I decided to contact Liz Davis, my running mate for the upcoming WTU Run-Off election. Davis stated in response,"No one ever represented the debate as being formerly sponsored by the WTU leadership, the election committee, or inappropriately used the WTU logo. The organizers had reached out to both candidates and thought the debate was on. It is also not true that private insurance must be posted to hold any and all meetings in school facilities. These are scare tactics are simply being used to inhibit the democratic process."

Michele Bollinger, a Wilson High School teacher who helped organize today's debate added, "I don't speak for everyone to be sure, but when I read Mr. Saunders email about the so-called fake debate- I was shocked and stunned. Personally, I read the threat of an arrest for trespassing for even showing up at McKinley. It reinforced what I already suspected about Mr. Saunders-- that the rumors of personal attacks, unjustified lawsuits, contempt for members' independent initiative were true."

 I'm saddened that WTU members had to endure this kind of chaos and confusion. I do humbly apologize as a longstanding union member to the teachers from Lafayette Elementary School, McKinley Technology Senior High School and Wilson Senior High School for their well intended efforts to organize this debate. Liz Davis and I are both disappointed that in the end Mr. Saunders didn't see it as in his interest to come to the debate. We hope that in the future we can rise above political gamesmanship and make debates a regular feature of WTU elections. The members and the health of our union demand it.

 Please don't forget to Vote Davis slate in the ongoing WTU Run-Off Election. WTU can be better! Ballots have been mailed. If you haven't received one, please email ALimberakis@WTULocal6.net with your name and mailing address.

© Candi Peterson 2013

Longer School Day & Longer School Year Up Ahead for DC Public Schools Teachers & Students!

By Candi Peterson
Vote Davis Slate for WTU
 Liz Davis /Candi Peterson
WTU Can Be Better!

Earlier in March 2013, DC Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson announced to the Washington Examiner newspaper that she was seeking to implement a longer school day and a longer school year. According to a schools spokesperson, DCPS was not ready to release the details at that time since contract negotiations were ongoing with the Washington Teachers' Union (WTU).

On June 11, Confirmation of Chancellor Henderson's plans to lengthen the time DC students and teachers spend in school came when she announced to the City Council Round Table on Public Education, "A LONGER SCHOOL DAY and YEAR IN THE COMING YEAR, WILL SOON TO BE MADE PUBLIC." 

So it seems the details of Henderson's plans as well as information on teacher raises will be revealed in the upcoming Washington Teachers' Union Tentative Agreement (T.A.). It's a shame that WTU's President Saunders failed to mention in his Sunday, June 16 robo call to union members the longer school day/school year, but instead emphasized teacher raises.   The timing of the release of the WTU Tentative Agreement is no coincidence as the news of a longer school day and school year is not the kind of news teachers and school staff want to hear. Saunders knows better than anyone that this kind of news could propel some union members to cast their vote against the WTU Presidential incumbent.

Some union members believe that the Tentative Agreement will be released to teachers after the WTU Run Off Presidential election, which is currently underway.WTU Run Off ballots arrived in teachers' mailboxes at the end of last week.

Be on the look out for a Tentative Agreement. Let a word to the wise be your guide. Before you vote, read the agreement in its entirety, and ask for explanations of anything that you don't fully understand.   Remember the devil is in the details.

© Candi Peterson 2013

Why are DCPS & WTU President Saunders Downplaying the Excessing of 500-600 Teachers?

DCPS Excess Teachers & Staff Graveyard

By Candi Peterson

Vote Davis Slate for WTU
 Liz Davis /Candi Peterson
WTU Can Be Better!

In the years under the Michelle Rhee and
Kaya Henderson regime, we have seen hundreds of teachers regularly excessed at the end of each school year. With the advent of 23 school closings in 2008 and now 15 school closings in 2013, more teachers and school staff have faced excessing under this administration. Henderson like her predecessor Rhee has downplayed the actual numbers of teachers receiving excess notices.

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.”  Under the current Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) Collective Bargaining Agreement, there is a great likelihood that excessing eventually leads to one's termination as there is no longer a requirement for teachers to be placed by DCPS. With fewer positions available due to school closings, it is reasonable to conclude more teachers will be forced out. What the general pubic doesn't understand is that Highly Effective and Effective teachers are among the pool of excessed candidates. Add to this list the number of reconstituted schools (Cardozo High School and Patterson Elementary School) and the number of yearly excessed teachers increases.

We are led to believe by WTU's President Saunders that the majority of teachers will get re-hired without any evidence to support these claims. Erich Martel, a retired DC Public Schools high school teacher ponders- "Why Chancellor Henderson and WTU President Saunders are downplaying the number of teachers getting excess notices this year?"  

© Candi Peterson 2013

"Why are DCPS Chancellor Henderson and WTU President Saunders Downplaying the number of teachers that received excess notices?"

       by Erich Martel, Retired DCPS high school teacher  ehmartel@starpower.net

"Five to six hundred” teachers will be excessed - Jason Kamras, DCPS Chief of Human Capital

On April 26, 2013, the DC Council Committee of the Whole held a hearing on the Teachers Retirement Act Amendment of 2013.  Chairman Mendelson questioned DCPS Chief of Human Capital Jason Kamras.

Mendelson:  “Roughly how many teachers do you think will be excessed?  Roughly.”

Kamras: “With the consolidations this year, in the order of five to six hundred.”

Mendelson: “Will it be unreasonable to suggest that maybe a hundred will not find a placement in 60 days and will be affected?”

Kamras:  “I think that’s reasonable.  I don’t have the historical data.”

(Unofficial Transcript, DC Council Committee of the Whole Hearing on the Teacher Retirement Amendment Act of 2013; April 26, 2013; 12:30 PM  (Hr 1; Minute 47 into the hearing)

 http://dc.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=4&clip_id=1724

The most recent list of DCPS staff (2/18/2013) gives the number of teachers (as well as support staff) in each DCPS school.  The number of excessed teachers falls into three categories (see attachment for breakdown): 

1)  273 teachers in the 14 schools that are being “consolidated,” merged or transferred to a charter;

2)  200 to 300 teachers in approx 100 schools; what Kamras calls “our normal [annual] excessing process”; and

3)  The 74 teachers at Cardozo HS and Patterson ES, who had to reapply for their jobs, i.e. all are potentially excessed.  The total number of excessed positions has not been reported.

Thus, 500 to 600 excessed teachers appears to be accurate. 

Spinning the Numbers

After the final list of schools to be closed, merged or transferred to a charter operator was announced in January, some teachers submitted applications to retire or resign.  Others, hoping for another DCPS teaching position were allowed to interview for vacancies that were announced prior to April 1^st and those who found a position before a certain date (perhaps before “our normal [annual] excessing process” in the remaining 100 schools) will not be counted as excessed.

How many teachers were rehired at Patterson and Cardozo?  Will they be excluded from the count?

What about their colleagues who found a position at another DCPS school?  That was just 16 schools.  There are still 200 to 300 excessed teachers in the other 100 or so schools in Mr. Kamras' “normal excessing process.” Will the public get an accurate count or will they be parsed and deconstructed into oblivion?   

The chancellor’s goal of dismantling DCPS is more difficult, if the public sees its full impact. When a union president helps management spin numbers to diffuse their impact, both teachers and parents should be on the alert for serious bad weather.   

WTU 2013 Election- The Best Kept Secret in Town!!!

WTU's Secret 2013 Election

By Candi Peterson

Vote Davis Slate for WTU

 Liz Davis /Candi Peterson

WTU Can Be Better!

The recent Washington Teachers' Union (WTU)  2013 presidential election was the best kept secret in town. The current Teachers' union president, Saunders kept our union elections on the Down Low (D.L.)  as possible. Members weren't notified officially of this election and there was not any official notice on the WTU website of the first election. Even though the WTU's Constitution & By-Laws requires that the WTU provide a copy of the union's publication, "The Washington Teacher" magazine's Election Edition to members, this print edition did not arrive at members homes until well after ballots were mailed out. If you were not the curious type, and didn't dare to check out the contents, you wouldn't have noticed the candidates bio's buried within the magazine on page 5. Nothing on the front cover suggested that this was an "election edition" or that there was a union election underway. Although promised by WTU, no official notices of elections were placed within our local schools, when I surveyed members from various citywide schools.

To add insult to injury, a significant number of union members complained of not receiving their ballots to vote." I felt like I spent the day looking for clues before I figured out our union election was being held", stated a union member who insisted on anonymity. Members who hadn't learned that the there was a union election, didn't know they needed to contact the union office for a ballot. WTU members had to jump through a series of hoops to get a ballot including Elizabeth Davis (known as Liz), candidate for WTU President. Although WTU 2013 Election written guidelines indicated that members were to contact a WTU staff member by telephone between 9-5 during the work week to secure a ballot, members who followed these written guidelines were informed that this requirement was modified and to get a duplicate ballot, a request must be made in writing. 

What is really disturbing in this election, is that full dues paying members reported that when they contacted the union office they were advised that they were no longer full dues paying members and were now agency fee members. Union members I spoke to indicated that they never gave their consent or authorization to have their membership status changed. This means that members whose status has been changed to agency fee could not vote in the 2013 union election. Sound like election tampering?? You decide. I bet Ray Charles could see this one a mile away. I'm troubled anytime a members' right to representation is tampered with and you should be as well, if you are one of the people this effected. (more on this later)

Well, in the event you didn't know- there was a Washington Teachers' Union election. The vote count was held on June 7, 2013. Here are the results that you will most likely will only read here on The Washington Teacher blog, since WTU is not releasing the official vote count and only percentages of the vote count. I am supplying it here because union members have a right to transprency:

394      Ballots received from WTU members

  50      Soiled ballots

3000    Ballots mailed to members (according to True Ballot, who mailed ballots/performed ballot count)

Candidates for WTU President

Maria Angala            44 votes
Michael Edgerton        8 votes

Elizabeth Davis       158 votes
Nathan Saunders     175 votes

17 point difference between top two candidates

Due to the fact that neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote, a run off election will be required according to the WTU Constitution & By-laws. The top two candidates will run in the WTU Run Off election. As outlined in the amended WTU Election Schedule and Guidelines, WTU run off ballots will be mailed no later than June 17.

The most important thing is that if WTU members do not receive a Run Off ballot through the mail, contact Alyssa Limberakis @ ALimberakis@wtulocal6.net to request your ballot. Provide your name and mailing address in the request. All requests for duplicate ballots must be in writing and should be requested beginning June 18, 2013.

Remember Vote Davis slate. WTU Can Be Better!

© Candi Peterson 2013

Pink Slipping DC's Teachers Does Not Improve Achievement

By Candi Peterson

Vote Davis Slate for WTU
 Liz Davis /Candi Peterson
WTU Can Be Better!

One by one, Cardozo Senior High School teachers and school staff were called down to the Principal's office today to receive pink slips. Just a week ago, DC's Cardozo High School staff were notified that 100% of our staff would be reconstituted and required to reapply for our jobs, with the exception of the school's principal. Later on in the same week, 90 staff members had to submit to abbreviated 5-7 minute interviews and answering three questions by the school's principal.

Today was a solemn day for all at Cardozo High as teachers and staff waited with baited breath to learn of their job status. Many speculated who possibly would get the axe. Even some of the DC contractors described having to observe the process of pink slipping staff bordered on cruel and unusual punishment. It was hard to go own with the business as usual of teaching and learning, despite your best efforts.

Having written about former Chancellor Michelle Rhee dating back to three years ago, I knew all too well that the education plan of Rhee and now the current Chancellor Kaya Henderson administration had been to get rid of a significant share of our education workforce. I have frequently written about how Rhee prided herself on creating a revolving door workforce and was adamant that teaching was not a career. I have known for some time that Chancellor Michelle Rhee was out to get me due to my political activism, representation of DC's teachers/staff, whistle blowing and writing this popular education blog which helped to expose her.

Today at 2:40 pm, The Washington Teacher blogger (AKA Candi Peterson) was given the axe. If you play the lottery, I recommend that you play that number 240, it just might pay off great dividends. I'd figured I'd be excessed and had been anticipating my demise. As a long time whistle blower, I'm well aware that I've had a bulls eye on my chest for some time. I'd do it all over again, if it helped to rid our schools of the likes of Michelle Rhee.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out when the powers to be are out to get you. After I had a disagreement in 2011 with Washington Teachers' Union (WTU)  President Nathan Saunders, Chancellor Kaya Henderson willingly revoked my leave of absence as the elected WTU General Vice President. When Saunders  approached Chancellor Henderson and Human Capital Chief Jason Kamras, stating he (Saunders) no longer needed my services full time, Henderson agreed to illegally revoke my previously approved leave from the school system. Anybody who knows anything about elected union officers knows that the only way an elected official can be removed is through a successful recall. Had I not returned to an assigned position within DC Public Schools, as then DCPS Human Resources Director Regina Youngblood indicated I would be separated from DCPS. In layman's terms that means terminated.

So in the words of Cardozo's former principal, "Don't Cry for Me." I am exactly where this road trip led me to be. My favorite aunt always says: "if someone is aiming a machine gun at everyone, you're bound to eventually get shot."

What bears our critical attention now is not my personal story but what has been happening to our public school system and the purposeful demise of qualified teachers, school staff and principals otherwise known as 'teacher churn'. I urge all of my colleagues to open your eyes and take stock that the yearly pink slipping of DC Public Schools staff should be a wake up call to all. By definition, teacher churn is the turnover of teachers through excessing, reduction in force (known as RIF), yearly Impact terminations, and voluntary separation. The churning in and out of teachers.

Mark Simon, educational analyst and former DCPS parent wrote about this in an Op-ed in a June 15, 2012 Washington Post edition, titled: "Is Teacher Churn Undermining Real Education Reform in DC." This piece called attention to the rate of turnover of both teachers and principals as a huge education reform. Simon argued the turnover rates are so high,  we're losing a lot of our best teachers and creating a hostile culture in too many schools.

 Here are some interesting facts from that story. Simon notes: "Three aspects of the Michelle Rhee-Kaya Henderson reforms contribute to higher rates of teacher churn: unstable school budgets from year to year; greater freedom for principals under the IMPACT evaluation system to identify teachers for dismissal or transfer; and school closings."

Notwithstanding school reconstitutions like the ones that were ordered at Cardozo High and Patterson Elementary have not proven in years past to yield any statistically significant gains in student achievement, despite staff turnover.

When we analyze the data, DCPS is has one of the highest teacher turnover rates in the country. Mark's article revealed that "In DCPS, by contrast, 55 percent of new teachers leave in their first two years, according to an analysis by DCPS budget watchdog Mary Levy. Eighty percent are gone by the end of their sixth year. That means that most of the teachers brought in during the past five years are no longer there. By comparison, in Montgomery County just 11.5 percent leave by the end of their second year, and 30 percent by the end of year five. DCPS has become a teacher turnover factory. It has a hard time keeping teachers who are committed to their school and the community it serves."

Another significant study which Mark's article referred to is one conducted by researchers Susanna Loeb of Stanford University, Matthew Ronfeldt of the University of Michigan and Jim Wyckoff of the University of Virginia  “How Teacher Turnover Hurts Student Achievement.” These researchers concluded that, separate from the relative quality of teachers who may be brought in to replace those who leave, teacher turnover itself harms a school. Turnover affects morale and the professional culture at a school. It weakens the knowledge base of the staff about students and the community. It weakens collegiality, professional support and trust that teachers depend on in their efforts to improve achievement."

So the next time a DC Public School is up for reconstitution, I say we change the formula since the research clearly supports that reconstituting staff does not equate to gains in student achievement. Who should we reconstitute? Let's begin with DC's Mayor Vince Gray and work our way down to Chancellor Kaya Henderson and her minions. Certainly they bear responsibility for some of the failure of DC Public Schools.

© Candi Peterson 2013

WTU Ballots Have Been Mailed

By Candi Peterson- Vote Davis Slate for WTU 
Liz Davis/Candi Peterson - "WTU Can Be Better!"

Washington Teachers' Union (WTU)  ballots have been mailed and should have arrived at the home of most union members. Remember to vote Davis slate. I'm running on the slate with Elizabeth Davis as WTU General Vice President.

If you did not receive a ballot, please contact Alyssa Limberakis at WTU @
202-293-8600 between 9 am and 5 pm daily.

Cardozo Senior High Teachers Get the Axe!

By Candi Peterson - Vote Davis Slate for WTU 
Liz Davis/Candi Peterson - "WTU Can Be Better!"

Update: I was informed that teachers from Patterson in SW Washington, D.C. also were excessed on 5/20/13.

At the end of the school day on May 20, 2013 - Cardozo Senior High School staff were mandated to attend an emergency meeting in the schools auditorium. An important morning and afternoon announcement was made by the schools principal, Dr. Tanya Roane that required all staff to report to the meeting including the schools’ custodians. It felt as though we were being summoned to the guillotine by the principal’s urgent tone and requirement that all staff report.  

Back on December 20, 2012,  I wrote an article for The Washington Teacher blog titled “What’s the Impact of DCPS School Closures on Teachers and School Staff?’ At that time, I warned teachers and school staff about the DCPS School Consolidation Staffing Overview which was provided to teachers at selected schools due to the proposed school consolidations announced by Chancellor Kaya Henderson in December 2012. The three page staffing overview outlined the following: “WTU members at consolidated schools will be subject to the excessing process as outlined in the WTU contract.” When I walked into the school auditorium today at 3:30 pm and saw Mr. Dan Shea, DCPS Instructional Superintendent- I knew it was a foregone conclusion that our worst nightmare was about to be announced.

Mr. Shea announced that all staff would be reconstituted with the exception of the schools principal. Shea stated “staff will have to reapply for their jobs starting this Wednesday with Principal  Roane and interviews will be held beginning this Wednesday (May 22) through Friday (May 23).” In my estimation, that would amount to about 30 staff interviews daily at 15 minute increments if the principal is to meet her goal of interviewing approximately 90 school staff members by week’s end. Shea was clear that the principal alone would conduct all of the staff interviews.

A letter disseminated by a central office staffer in attendance at the meeting had a list of DCPS Reconstitution Frequently Asked Questions. Among the first question  was “What does Reconstitution mean?” As defined by DC Public Schools “Reconstitution is a process by which a school district may address the needs of the school that fail to make adequate gains several years in a row. When schools consistently under perform over a period of time DCPS may choose to take drastic action to improve the schools.”  Those drastic actions may include reconstituting all or some of the staff, converting the school to a charter, bringing an outside organization to be a management partner, turning the school over to be controlled by the state or pursuing another major restructuring such as getting rid of the schools administrators’.

In response to questions from teachers, Instructional Superintendent Shea reported that no other high school in DCPS is being reconstituted this year. Among some of the reasons given for reconstituting Cardozo, Shea said “We looked at 125 schools and Cardozo has gone backwards. Although there has been some growth, it is not at the pace we want.”  A fiery Washington Teachers' Union (WTU)  Building Representative, Deborah Pearman reiterated that Cardozo’s test scores are not as bad as some other DC Public High Schools like Woodson and Dunbar, etc.. Pearman said “I’ve looked at these scores and I know that other high schools are worse than ours.” Shea noted that the district  looked at other data including the number of seniors graduating on time  within four years.

Pearman inquired why the school district gave notice to school staff so late in the year when other schools had been notified prior to April 1. Chief among Pearman’s concerns, the DCPS job fairs have been held and some schools have already hired their staff for the upcoming school year. Another concern Pearman addressed was the District imposed penalty that teachers who are part of the Washington Teachers Union (WTU) could face if they now choose to retire or leave the school system. The April 1^st deadline requires that members of the Washington Teachers’ Union (WTU)  must notify the school district by this deadline in a Declaration of Intent or face a $1,000 penalty.

 In response to a battery of questions and concerns, Shea said “I apologize that I didn’t come one month ago to tell the staff.” Pearman, as a member of the Cardozo personnel committee fired back “I am insulted that I have spent countless hours interviewing people for my job.” Staff were optimistic that excessing would not occur since the local school budget revealed an increase in staff positions due to the consolidation of Cardozo Senior High School and Shaw Middle School at Garnett Patterson, scheduled to take place in August 2013.

When I approached some of my colleagues about their responses, one teacher colleague said “We’ve done this before.” There were many horror stories of teachers having survived being excessed as many as five times during their careers. The difference with the 2007-2012 Washington Teachers Union Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is that excessing under this agreement is likely to eventually lead to a teachers termination, despite a Highly Effective or Effective IMPACT evaluation rating. According to the DCPS  School Consolidation Staffing Overview: “WTU members have 60 days to interview for new placements. After that period, WTU members who are unable to find placements may be eligible for an extra year of employment to find a permanent position that is if they are Highly Effective or Effective. These options are only available to WTU members who are in their third year and beyond and whose most recent IMPACT raring is Effective or Highly Effective. All other WTU members who are unable to find positions will be separated from the system.”

By the way Option 2  in the WTU Collective Bargaining agreement (CBA) which  previously allowed  permanent status teachers with a minimum of 20 or more years of creditable service to retire early is no longer an available option due to a MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) between WTU President Nathan A. Saunders and DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson, signed in December 2012. The MOA changes the early retirement option and calls for Supplemental Unemployment benefits to be paid to eligible teachers over a five year period.

In closing the meeting, Pearman in rare form requested that Shea deliver the message to Chancellor Kaya Henderson that she (Henderson) needs to meet with Cardozo staff directly and not just send her messenger to deliver the bad news. Shea assured the crowd he would take the message back to Henderson. I agree with Pearman, it’s time that Henderson face her troops.

© Candi Peterson 2013

It's Official - I'm Running in the WTU elections!

Liz & Candi

Written By Candi Peterson

"Together, We Are Better!" Liz Davis/Candi Peterson

Good afternoon to all of you. It's official on April 30, 2013- I declared my candidacy for Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) General Vice President again. This time, I am running on the Elizabeth Davis (known as Liz) slate. It's an opportunity for a new start, for new beginnings- a time to take stock of where we've been, where we stand and how much needs to be done for DC teachers and school personnel.

Nothing is more important to me than advocating for teachers/school personnel, students and our schools. I have always been in the forefront of education advocacy and public education reform. My running mate, Liz Davis has always stood for great student-centered teaching, advocating for better teaching and learning conditions, saving our public schools and representing union members' rights. We both stand firmly against the privatization of public education and support a participatory union membership that is inclusive, not a dictatorship. Our styles are similar in that we both are great leaders, good listeners and try to build consensus. We offer transparency and ethical leadership - like I have so often demonstrated in my union leadership and my writings on my education blog; The Washington Teacher, which became an online voice for DC teachers and school personnel during the Michelle Rhee regime.

It pains me to say that life as we all know and love in our public schools – is in danger – and has been for some time. In DC and throughout the US, teachers have become an endangered species. This revolving door of our teacher and principal workforce under both the Rhee and Henderson administration has harmed students, compromised their ability to achieve, sent our public schools into further decline and led to a diminishing enrollment.  

I hope you will join us by supporting the Davis slate in the upcoming WTU elections. It's an exciting and important journey- offering teachers a change in union leadership and doing what needs to be done for the future, our future. We welcome all members and hope to add to our family of followers and welcome every one's ideas. We support our younger colleagues and older veterans because we believe that together, we are better. Pitting the old vs. the young isn't in any of our best interests, particularly our students. 

Let me close by saying that when only a few do better – at the expense of everybody else – well, all of us pay the price. We want so much more and plan to tell you about our plans in the very near future. 

I have missed writing The Washington Teacher blog and I have missed you as well. I do plan to get back to writing about many of the issues that we continue to face in public education. So long for now.

In Solidarity,

Candi Peterson (AKA The Washington Teacher blogger)

© Candi Peterson 2013

Save Our Schools

COME MAKE HISTORY WITH US AS WE STOP DC SCHOOL CLOSURES! 

JOIN EMPOWER DC & THE WARD 8 EDUCATION COUNCIL & THE WARD 7 EDUCATION COUNCIL AT THE:

Save Our Schools Summit

Information Session & Rally building Support for Empower DC’s Lawsuit to STOP the planned closure of

15 DC Public Schools impacting over 2,700 students of color 

Thursday, March 14^th 2013

6:30-8:30 PM

Temple of Praise – 700 Southern Ave, SE

To Include:

Testimonies from impacted families

Introduction of legal team

Review of the legal strategy

Expressions of Support

Call to action

LAWYERS WILL BE ON HAND TO COLLECT STATEMENTS FROM IMPACTED RESIDENTS!

For more information, to RSVP or request transportation contact:

Daniel del Pielago

Education Organizer

(202) 234-9119 x 104 or Daniel@empowerdc.org

US Dept.of Education Faces Pushback on School Closures

By Candi Peterson

Last week on January 29, 2013, activists arrived in Washington, DC for what has been described as a "Journey for Justice." Seventeen cities were represented including:  Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, District of Columbia, Detroit, Eupora- (Miss), Hartford, Kansas City- (Mo.), Newark, New York, L.A., New Orleans, Oakland, Philadelphia and Witchita, Ks. Among their chief demands is a call to the US Department of Education's civil rights office to end top down discriminatory closings of public schools, phase outs and turn-arounds nationally and the sabotage and disinvestment of public schools.

In an AP article titled “SchoolTurn-arounds Prompt Community Backlash”, written by Christina Hoag on Feb. 5, 2013 -  “The U.S. Department of Education’s  (DOE) civil rights office has opened investigations into 33 complaints from parents and community members, representing 29 districts ranging from big city systems such as Chicago, Detroit and Washington, DC to smaller cities… said spokesman Daren Briscoe.” Complaints allege that the criteria and methods used in deciding school closings and turn-arounds are discriminatory.

Eleven cities testified at the DOE hearing. EmpowerDC, a well respected grassroots organization from Washington, DC was represented by Julianne Robertson- King, Esq., a DC Public Schools parent who has a daughter who attends Phelps Senior High School.  King represented both EmpowerDC, as well as Washington, DC at DOE hearings.

According to a Huffington Post article, members of the Obama administration were present for the hearings. US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan remained for 45 minutes despite the chants of protesters demanding to know where Mr. Duncan was once he exited the hearings. Also Obama Education Advisor, Roberto Rodriguez was present.

The overarching theme of the hearings from students and parents included testimony on how the closing of minority neighborhoods displaced students of color without a neighborhood school and destabilized entire communities.

While US Secretary, Duncan proffered to hearing participants that he has no control over local school closings, Journey to Justice activists saw it differently. Their January 2013 press release sums up their beliefs this way - "Despite current research showing that closing these public schools does not improve test scores or graduation rates. Closings have continued primarily because current federal Race To The Top policy has incentivized the closing and turn around of schools by supporting privatization. However, the privatization of schools has resulted in unchecked actions and processes where the primary fallout is those low income minority communities. The devastating impact of these actions has only been tolerated because of the race and class of communities affected."

Other demands of Journey for Justice include the implementation of a sustainable community driven school improvement process as national policy. Daniel del Pielago, Education Organizer of EmpowerDC states that moving forward -  “Communities are planning national days of action and pushing for a meeting with President Obama on this issue. This movement has allowed us to see that we (individual cities) are not in this fight alone and that we will use People Power to continue to organize to bring an end to unjust/discriminatory school closures.”

Following the DOE hearings, students, parents and community activists marched down Independence Avenue with police escorts alongside of them to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the Mall chanting, "We won't take it no more, we're fired up," donning t-shirts that read "No schools + no jobs = death." I’m glad Journey for Justice came to DC, and honored to have been among the participants.

© Candi Peterson 2013

Journey For Justice

Journey for Justice "A National Grassroots Education Movement" Members: Atlanta, GA Project South Baltimore, MD  Baltimore Algebra Project Boston, MA Boston Youth Organizing Project Chicago, IL Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization Cleveland, OH Common Good Ohio Detroit, MI Keep the Vote/NO Takeover Eupora, MS Fannie Lou Hamer Center Hartford, CT Parent Power Kansas City, MO Full Potential Los Angeles, CA Crenshaw High School Labor Community Strategy Center Newark, NJ Parents Unified for Local School Education (PULSE) New Orleans, LA Friends and Family of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children Parents Across America C6 New York, NY NYC Coalition for Educational Justice Alliance for Quality Education Urban Youth Collaborative Make the Road NY Oakland, CA Santa Fe Elementary Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia Student Union Youth United for Change Action United Washington, D.C. Empower DC Alliance for Education Justice  Leadership Center for the Common Good Wichita, KS Sunflower Action Support provided by:The Annenberg Institute for School Reform FOR MORE INFORMATION: Laurie R. Glenn Phone: 773.704.7246 E-mail: lrglenn@thinkincstrategy.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 2013 MEDIA ALERT  18 CITIES CONVERGE IN WASHINGTON D.C ON "JOURNEY FOR JUSTICE," CALLING ON DEPT. OF EDUCATION TO END DISCRIMINATORY CLOSINGS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS National Movement Forms In Wake Of Mass School Closings & Turnarounds That Violate Civil Rights & Promote Divestment In Low-Income Communities Of Color WHAT:  Students, parents and advocacy representatives from 18 major United States cities will testify at a hearing before the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. on the devastating impact and civil rights violations resulting from the unchecked closing and turnaround of schools serving predominantly low-income, minority students across the country.   More than 10 cities have filed, or are in the process of filing, Title VI Civil Rights complaints with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, citing the closing of schools and the criteria and methods for administering those actions as discriminatory toward low-income, minority communities. Representatives from 11 cities will testify at the hearing on the impact of school closings including the civil rights violations and the destabilization of their children and communities resulting from the criteria used for school closings and the current accepted movement to privatize schools. Demands of the Department of Education include a moratorium on school closings until a new process can be implemented nationally, the implementation of a sustainable, community-driven school improvement process as national policy, and a meeting with President Obama so that he may hear directly from his constituents about the devastating impact and civil rights violations. The hearing will be followed by a procession and candlelight vigil at the Martin Luther King Memorial to continue to raise the voices of those impacted by the destabilization and sabotage of education in working and low-income, communities of color. In the wake of the hearing, the 18 participating cities, along with additional cities in the process of organizing, are forming a national movement to unite students, parents and advocacy organizations across the country to spread awareness of mass school closings and their impact on targeted communities.                   WHO: Approximately 500 students, parents and community leaders, impacted or at risk of impact by school closings, representing 18 cities across the country will attend the hearing including: Atlanta; Baltimore; Boston; Chicago; Cleveland; Detroit; District of Columbia; Eupora, Miss.; Hartford, Conn.; Kansas City, Mo.; Los Angeles; Newark; New Orleans; New York; Oakland, Calif.; Philadelphia; Wichita, Kan.; and Wilmington, Del. WHEN/ WHERE:  Tuesday, January 29th, 2013 2:00 p.m.- 3:55 p.m. EST U.S. Department of Education Auditorium Washington, D.C. Tuesday, January 29th, 2013 5:00 p.m. EST Martin Luther King Memorial Washington, D.C. WHY: Cities across the country are experiencing the results of neglectful actions by the closing of schools serving predominantly low-income students of color including displacement and destabilization of children, increased violence and threats of physical harm as a result of re-assignment, and destabilization at schools receiving the displaced students.    Despite current research showing that closing these public schools does not improve test scores or graduation rates, closings have continued primarily because current federal Race To The Top policy has incentivized the closing and turnaround of schools by supporting privatization. However, the privatization of schools has resulted in unchecked actions and processes where the primary fallout is on those in low-income, minority communities. The devastating impact of these actions has only been tolerated because of the race and class of the communities affected. ####

DC's Ward 8 Parents Tell Mayor "Enough is Enough" !

By Candi Peterson

On a cold, rainy night (January 15)  an estimated 300 parents, students and concerned citizens took a page from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s social action playbook on his official birthday and took direct action by holding a vigil at the home of Mayor Vincent Gray, who chose to work late rather than meet with his neighbors.

Led by Ward 8 State Board of Education representative Trayon White, the animated group of parents and children pleaded for the opportunity to keep their neighborhood schools open. “Enough is enough! Instead of giving our children less in Ward 8 we should be giving our children more.”

Parents say it’s more than an inconvenience it’s a threat to their children’s future.

Chanting “Save Our Schools”, parents and activists were joined by a number of enthusiastic children from schools such as Malcolm X elementary as one particularly angry mother stated, “A lot of people don’t have transportation to get these kids back and forth to school. Is that what they are trying to do, they are trying to push us out. It’s not us that is suffering but our children.”

Kaya Henderson appears to be tone deaf to the concerns of the District’s poorest neighborhoods, as she released a statement saying, “As you will see DCPS will reinvest funds from consolidate schools to improve programming across the District. The goal is to use funds and resources more efficiently”.

Poor parents are particularly upset at the cavalier attitude that DCPS has to their desire to keep neighborhood schools open that are in walking distance of their home. In addition to the cost and the added burden of busing their children to schools outside the neighborhood, there are legitimate security concerns as Ward 8 has one of the highest crime rates in the city.

In addition to Malcolm X, two other elementary and one other middle school is a target for closure in Ward 8, and three other elementary schools and another middle school in nearby Ward 7, which represent half of the 20 schools slated for closure.

The irony of the bad timing of these schools closing during the week when the District commemorates the heritage of Martin Luther King, Jr., with a parade in the street named in his honor in Far Southeast, and the nation gears up to celebrate the inauguration of the President, the Chancellor plans to announce her school closing plan this week before a long holiday weekend.

Across the District the spirit of direct civic action is being renewed around the issue of public education. Leading up to the vigil at the Mayor’s residence was an education Summit on DC school closures, sponsored by EMPOWER DC this past Saturday at ward 5’s Guildfield Baptist church where a packed basement of activists participated in a social justice training session.

Those plans call for a similar vigil at the home of Chancellor Henderson this Thursday, and a protest at the Department of Education to meet with Education Secretary Arnie Duncan on January 29^th where activists from across the country are expected to come to the Nation’s Capitol to protest policies that promote the privatization of public education.

Public school closures has finally become the galvanizing issue that has gotten the attention of a broad cross section of parents, educators and education policy activists into an effective coalition.

© Candi Peterson 2013

Mayor Vince Gray = Adrian Fenty on DC School Closures

By Candi Peterson

Ward 8 DC School Board Representative, Trayon White requests that parents, guardians, teachers, students and community members Please Stand With Him and attend a candlelight vigil at the home of DC Mayor Vincent Gray on Tuesday, January 15, 2013 in protest of DC Public Schools closures.

Vigil to be held from 6 - 7:30 pm @

2619 Branch Ave. SE Wash., DC 20020
                                                                                   
 Trayon White @ 202-316-7593
*In partnership with EmpowerDC & Ward 8 Dems.
Photo courtesy of Daniel del Pielago

The Black and White of School Closures

By Candi Peterson

As 2012 comes to an end,  two unmistakable trends have emerged from studies that public schools are being sold down the river to private interests and the rush to close schools has not resulted in any measurable improvement in standardized test scores. The Chicago Teacher’s Union (CTU) just issued The Black and White of Education in Chicago’s Public Schools report on the “underutilization crisis” in the Chicago Public Schools system. CTU contends that this crisis that has been manufactured largely to justify the replacement of neighborhood schools by privatized charters.

“When it comes to matters of race and education in Chicago, the attack on public schools is endemic,” said CTU President Karen GJ Lewis.  “Chicago is the most segregated city in the country, and our students of color are routinely deemed as second-class by a system that does nothing but present one failed policy after the next.”

More specifically, Chicago Teachers' Union highlights what  the policy of neighborhood closings and charter openings has led to:

- Increased racial segregation
- Depletion of stable schools in black neighborhoods
- Disrespect and poor treatment of teachers
- Expansion of unnecessary testing
- Decreased opportunities for deep conceptual learning
- Increased punitive student discipline
- Increased student mobility
- Minimal educational outcomes

Locally, DC Action for Children, a non-profit advocacy organization came to a similar conclusion that educational outcomes have been minimal in the District of Columbia.  Their newly released study, DC KIDS COUNT, Third Grade Proficiency in DC: Little Progress (2007-2011) , looked at five years of third grade reading and math test scores from the DC Comprehensive Assessment System, (DC CAS) for insights about citywide proficiency, the achievement gap and neighborhood disparities.

Their results? “We could not prove any statistically significant citywide progress from 2007-2011 in reading or math proficiency. The same held true when we broke scores down by race, by DCPS schools, DC public charter schools, students from economically advantaged or students from economically disadvantaged families."

This study neutralizes the rationale used by Chancellor Henderson and her predecessor Michelle Rhee which is embedded in the first goal of the five-year plan DC Public Schools ) which is: “To improve achievement rates.”

I personally don’t believe that Henderson's under-utilization argument makes any sense. What we know is that the policy of closing schools has not saved DC Public Schools (DCPS)  any money. The evidence shows us that closing our schools has driven more parents out of our public schools to charters and elsewhere. It's a no brainer that less students in our public schools equals less money for DCPS.  

DC Public Schools cannot demonstrate that their continued failed policy of closing 20 plus schools every 4 years, is not achieving its number one goal of improving test scores. So why then is Henderson and other heads of school districts stuck on stupid nationally, one might ask?

The answer lies in CTU's report, "A crisis has been manufactured to justify the replacement of neighborhood schools. There  is a real economic benefit to real estate investors, charter school operators, philanthropists and wealthy bankers."

An August 2012 Reuters article spells out the reason for the national push to privatize. " The U.S. spends more than $500 billion a year to educate kids from 5-18. The entire education sector represents 9 percent of the gross domestic product, more than energy or technology sectors. Traditionally, public education had been a tough market for private firms to break into- fraught with politics, tangled in bureaucracy..... Now investors are signaling optimism that a golden moment has arrived. They're pouring private equity and venture capital into scores of companies that aim to profit by taking over broad swaths of public education."

When the smoke clears in 2013 and all the policy arguments are made, DCPS will close another 20 schools give or take a few concessions and 12,000 students and an estimated 1,200 teachers and school staff members will be thrown under the bus.

© Candi Peterson 2013