District of Columbia Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee unleashed a storm of protests and criticism after firing 338 employees, including 226 teachers, on October 2. Throughout the past month, students, parents, D.C. Councilmembers, teachers and other DCPS employees have publicly decried the firings, citing concerns about fairness, transparency, and disruption of the school year. Rhee and Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi are scheduled to appear today at a D.C. Council hearing regarding the riff.
Thursday’s hearing follows an October 16 hearing in which students, parents and teachers testified regarding Rhee’s firings. Although Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) hasn’t yet weighed in on the issue and declined to attend the hearing, the City Council aims to benefit from Rhee and Gandhi’s presence to discuss the details of the firings and how they will handle the $43.9 million cuts that the D.C. Council imposed on June 2, which Rhee cites as the reason for the mid-semester teacher cuts.
“From their testimony and from the testimony of people we’ve heard from at the previous meeting, we’ll look at the whole process whereby which teachers were laid off,” Doxie McCoy, Council Chairman Vincent Gray’s (D – Ward 7) Director of Communications said. “We’ll look at the whole equalization process to see if it can be improved.”
According to an e-mail from DCPS Spokeswoman Jennifer Calloway, the budget cuts were necessary because “the shortfall this year makes it impossible to do this without reducing positions.”
This explanation has neither satisfied the Washington Teachers Union nor hundreds of concerned students, all of whom protested Rhee’s decision, which occurred six weeks into the school year.
“Not only is there a negative impact on teachers, but also on students. How do you cancel the only chemistry class in the school?” WTU President George Parker said.
Parker contends that the process gave principals “carte blanche” to fire union members, who are generally older and higher paid teachers.
“Teacher performance only constituted a minor role in the dismissal process,” Parker said.
According to partial informatoin compiled by Parker, 166 of 204 fired teachers were above the age of forty. He disagrees vehemently with the way Rhee gave school principals the authority to dismiss whomever they wanted.
“This is a rumor and completely unsubstantiated,” Connelly said in response to WTU’s allegations. “Such a practice is not only illegal but morally reprehensible.”
During its October 16 hearing, which lasted two days, the D.C. Council was sympathetic to the testimonies given by WTU members and students.
“We’re waiting to hear from the Chancellor tomorrow to see if there are any different conclusions that [D.C. Council] will come to,” McCoy said. “For now, it appears to the chairman that the move was directed at older teachers.”
For many students, the recent crisis is yet another frustrating episode in the often-troubled history of DCPS.
Ed Doxen, a 17-year-old senior and student government president of McKinley Technology High School, noted that the reaction at his school, which was one of the hardest hit by the budget cuts, has been overwhelmingly negative.
”I’ve been in DCPS since the age of nine and each year there’s a problem,” Doxen said. “It starts to frustrate you. There’s a new plan every year, but nothing seems to change.”
Of course with shrinking enrollment there comes teacher layoffs. The teachers umion is not fighting the layoffs, which are inevitable, but rather the district’s right to lay off the most incompetent teachers first of all. The union’s arguement: the longer incompetent teachers have short-changed students, the more worthy they are of being retained ahead of newer, more competent teachers. Does this make sense for the welfare of the district’s school children? No way, Jose !!
I do not think anyone is questioning the need for adjustment in the staffing of the schools. I believe what is in question is the procedure, timing and how it was handled. It does not take a rocket scientist to know that Ms. Rhee did not know prior to the beginning of the 2009/2010 school year, that there would be a need to reduce the staff at the schools. Also, the fact that removal of older staff members or teachers with tenure was noted. Not to mention that the way some of the dismissals were handled with the participation of the DC Police Department, does not bode well either. Now to hear that some schools are going without classes (i.e., chemistry, language, etc.) makes you wonder what thought process Ms. Rhee gave to this. Ms. Rhee’s actions is making the DC school system look more like the a joke than the school system of the Nation’s Capital.
Please check the DCPS budget and you will find inflated salaries and incentives given to administrative staffers with little or no experience in the field of education reform