It had been a while since the Washington Teachers’ Union had all met up. The regular delegate assembly meetings for September, October, and November were each canceled, according to WTU trustee and Washington Teacher blogger Candi Peterson. The board even voted to censure WTU president George Parker for the lack of followthrough.

So when union delegates met this week, they had a fall semester’s worth of agenda items to discuss. One dominated them all, says Peterson: the 90-day termination plan. To the exclusion of all other business, union members discussed the Black Spot of the D.C. Public Schools system:

. . . WTU President George Parker revealed that Chancellor Rhee’s office has refused to provide the names and work sites of any DC Teachers on the 90-day termination plan to the Washington Teachers’ Union as required. As a result, the WTU is only aware of 50 teachers who have been placed on 90-day termination plans but suspects that many more have been targeted.

On Tuesday evening, union members told horror stories of principals regularly interviewing DC students about their respective teachers in exchange for bribes of candy.

The post goes on to describe other allegations of administrative malfeasance regarding teacher evaluation. And in comments, rumor gathered into an even darker accusation: that school principals are required to meet a quota of 90-day termination plan assignments.

The 90-day termination plans — part of Michelle Rhee’s “Plan B” administrative workaround to bypass frustrated labor negotiations regarding teach pay and evaluation — might have justified the bitch session back in October, when Plan B was announced. WTU President Parker made his feelings about Plan B known then: “You cannot fire your way to a successful school district. It will not happen,” said Parker, who added that the union would take whatever steps necessary to protect its members, including “court proceedings, arbitration and teacher job actions.”

But it’s December now — nearly 90 days after Rhee announced Plan B. Were court proceedings, arbitration, and teacher job actions discussed at the union assembly? What about the additional grant-paid staff to assist principals with the 90-day plans? Both the WTU and even the administration have considered declaring an impasse in negotiations, kicking the matter to third-party arbitration. (The Post’s Bill Turque observes that impasse may not be an option for the WTU following the censure of President Parker.) Somewhere in this end-of-year jumble of termination plans and impasses is an endgame to the labor standoff, but it’s not clear after the WTU meeting whether it will be much to the liking of any of the teachers.

Arguably inappropriate photo of Palace of Wonders performer Kitty Victorian by Flickr user F1.4