Photo courtesy of the Washington Teachers Union.
Dozens of DC Public Schools teachers were out protesting this morning in upper Northwest. About 75 educators from Wilson High School, Deal Middle School, and Murch Elementary School were raising awareness about DCPS’ reluctance to sign a new contract agreement, according to a statement from the Washington Teachers Union.
The teachers, most of whom are members of the union, have gone for almost six years without a contract “or at least four years without a raise and they are saying ‘enough is enough,'” says Roger Glass, spokesperson for WTU.
In negotiations, the union and DCPS were down to two final items—compensation and grievance and arbitration, Elizabeth Davis, president of WTU told Fox5 during the rally. However, she continued, Chancellor Kaya Henderson “arbitrarily suspended negotiations without any input from the WTU.”
The school system is offering “only a one percent raise,” Glass says.
According to an update from WTU in January, the organization is asking DCPS to “provide annual salary increases retroactively and for future years covered in the [Collective Bargaining Agreement] that are in line with DCPS central office salary increases and non-union DC government workers during the same period.”
“Deal Middle School lost over a third of its staff last year—if you want us to stay around, if you want a stable community, sign a contract Kaya,” said another protester, part of a group that walked from the Tenleytown Metro to Wilson before ending up at Deal.
In response, DCPS released this statement: “DC Public Schools has been working in good faith to negotiate a new contract for our teachers for the last several years. We are disappointed that we have not made more progress to date but we hope to resume negotiations in the near future.”
Michelle Lerner, spokesperson for DCPS, also clarifies that teachers are still under a contract, it’s just an outdated one.
The protesters said that the demonstration today was for informational purposes, according to Fox5, and they were not looking to mimic this week’s strike by teachers in Detroit. However, WTU said that this is the first in a series of rallies planned across the city.
Lerner says that the system is not concerned about a large-scale walkout. “We have a really good relationship with our teachers here and we regularly involve them in policy, we set up career ladders so they can take on leadership roles at their schools and on the district level, and we offer the highest first year salaries—they can earn six figures in a really short amount of time,” she says, adding that teachers also receive a substantial amount of recognition and honors.
