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In a blow to the Washington Teachers' Union, the D.C. Superior Court today rejected the union's bid to reinstate the 266 teachers who were fired by DCPS in October. The teachers were laid off as part of a large reduction in force (RIF) that DCPS has maintained was necessitated by a $4.4 million budget shortfall. According to the Post, Judge Judith Bartnoff argued that the WTU failed to prove any of their allegations against Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, specifically that, "the RIF was not a budget-driven layoff but an illegal mass firing, and that the shortfall cited by Rhee was a sham and a pretext for dumping older teachers."
In her opinion, Judge Bartnoff wrote that,
"At most, the plaintiff showed that a large number of teachers were hired in the spring and summer of 2009, which DCPS does not dispute. But the plaintiff presented no evidence to refute the evidence presented by DCPS that its budget included those new teachers at the time they were hired, as well as the returning teachers, that DCPS was planning for the new school year based on the budget that was passed in early June and its budget agreement with the Council Chairman, and that the RIF was instituted in response to the $21 million budget reduction enacted by the City Council on July 31."
In response, the WTU has called an emergency meeting for all RIF'd teachers. The layoffs renewed tensions between Rhee and the WTU, and were the subject of a marathon 18-hour City Council hearing last month.
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I'm glad that DCPS followed the rule of law. DCist readers without children have literally NO IDEA how ignorant, uneducated and just plain bad so many DCPS teachers are- nothing like your or my schools- much more like the people working at the DMV. For instance, I know more than one teacher who talked about their "college" going out of business. So what kind of college WAS that? University of Diplomamill? I saw several teachers around the school this fall carrying a book of Word Finds. What? Are crossword puzzles just too intellectual?
Let's be clear on this - the judge did not "argue," the judge "ruled." This decision now has the force of law unless it is overturned, so we've moved beyond two competing positions to what the law actually says, i.e., that DCPS is on the wrong side of the law.
Agreed re "ruled" v.s. "argued"; but, for clairification, I think you meant WTU, not DCPS, being on the wrong side of the law, correct?
Yes to both your comments.
DCPS=Pass
WTU=Fail.
CORRECT! My acronyms are all screwed up today.
That's all well and good, but:
does ted leonsis' group own the wizards now?
http://nelsonlaugh.com/
fantastic! now, of course, we just need to ensure that we'll have some continuity in leadership at DCPS, to carry these changes through. that, and that alone, is the thing that keeps me fully in the re-elect fenty camp right now.
One more thing we agree on. Gray would fold like a house of cards on this.
Na, he wouldn't fold. He'd blow up both the reforms and the budget. AFSME and WTU are his buds.
As a DCPS employee, I shudder to think what will happen if Rhee is removed by a new mayor. Every one of her programs will be decimated out of pure spite, and the whole system will be bombed back to the Barry days.
Love her or hate her, she is the only hope of a tragically inept institution that has failed most of its constituents for decades, the generational effects of which we will face for several more.
Rhee 1, WTU O. You go, girl!
You couldn't be more right.
I'm not a big fan of Adrian "Placeholder" Fenty, but if he goes then Michelle Rhee goes, and the revenge the entrenched losers at DCPS will exact will be biblical. Sadly, the end loser will be DC taxpayers and their kids. Oh, and all the kids from MD that are still sneaking into DC schools because, unbelievably, there are actually worse schools in PG County.
..."the only hope of a tragically inept institution that has failed most of its constituents for decades, the generational effects of which we will face for several more."
Yes in a big way.
Ward 8 unemployment is now hovering at near 30%. Unpreparedness for work, unfamiliarity with basic work protocol, drug testing issues, etc, are the prime barriers.
It's a huge human rights tragedy. The biggest this city has.
And it's self-inflicted. We've got all the resources needed to end this travesty. But we've convinced ourselves that unlimited public welfare is a right, untempered by an actual need to work. Hence, we get an unbelievably violent culture that dooms each new generation.
Dramatically modifying our idiotic welfare policies won't end poverty problems, but it would be a huge step in the right direction.
Wrong. These policies don't exist to end poverty. They exist to perpetuate poverty. Suppose everyone in Ward 8 won the Lotto and moved out. Would the Council ask for less funding? If suddenly every student got straight A's, would DCPS ask for a smaller budget? The Military Industrial Complex is dependent on the creation and maintenance of a permanent state of war and hostility. Peace is bad for the economy, and getting people out of poverty means bad news for DC politicians. Their careers depend on perpetual poverty and a population dependent on their largess. Cut indigent programs (like Williams did in the 1990s) and watch your voting bloc migrate to the suburbs where benefits are better.
You are correct. Monkey Logic is, once again, the superior choice.
It's a shame, though. We need social welfare safety nets. But we've been shamed and coerced into producing systems that increase poverty, not decrease it. And, yes, there is an entire group of people whose careers depend on creating yet another generation of social welfare system problems.
I laugh that the WTU's response to losing this case is to call a meeting. That's mighty fine legal strategy there. Maybe they can get their Council stooges Thomas, Brown, Brown and Barry to introduce some emergency legislation saying the court has totally disrespected their will and must be shunned.
You uncaring fool!! Don't you know that the mission of WTU and the DC school system as a whole is to be a workfare program for DC teachers who live in Maryland?
Don't you think "workfare" is being a bit generous?
But, yes, it is an odd strategy. I can't imagine what they'll tell them.
But does anyone else find this odd:
(1) DCPS budgeted for all the teachers last year, new and old
(2) DCPS has had a budget shortfall
(3) now, after years of BS arguments from WTU it is time to get rid of the dead wood
(4) underpants
(5) ?
(6) Profit
So, the District coming up short has achieved a goal that years of endless/pointless litigation never did or could have done.
By this logic, the obvious choice for Rhee's replacement would be: Harriette Walters. Imagine what she could do for the DCPS system if reinstated at OTR? Hell, thiose kids would be reciting Chaucer and doing trig in their heads in no time. Imagine the headlines "Ballou trumps Thomas Jefferson in public 'It's Academic' Spanktoberfest."
In other WTU news, Barbara Bullock now walks among us: http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=93171&catid=187
Not bad, 5 years for $5M, tax free, with God only knows how much stuffed in mattresses around town. Nice work if you can get it, and if you get it . . . won't you show me how!