This Saturday’s candidate forum and a political scorecard provided by Jews United for Justice might shed some light on those council members whose positions lean left of center. . . . → Read More: How Progressive Is the DC City Council?
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Cross-posted from the Washington Post By Aaron C. Davis and Emma Brown D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) chose a debate on education Monday night to make his campaign debut alongside council members, a restaurant owner, a former State Department official and others trying to keep him from a second term. He could have picked an easier place to start. Before a packed auditorium at Eastern High School of teachers, union leaders and activists — many of them upset with Gray’s current schools chancellor, Kaya Henderson — Gray was welcomed with a question that immediately put him on the defensive.“What is your criteria for selecting a chancellor?” asked President Elizabeth Davis of the Washington Teachers’ Union, which sponsored the forum.“Our chancellor is a person who understands the importance of working with teachers,” Gray began, eliciting a smattering of boos and groans.“She was the first appointment that was made in my administration.” More groans.As Gray got around to the heart of his response, the bell rang and he was cut off.“When you look at the results, our test scores have gone up . . . .” Gray’s voice trailed off. He set down the microphone and returned to his seat. It was as good as it got for the rest of the night. The hostile crowd showed that the city’s long-beleaguered school system — and tense negotiations with its teachers union — could complicate the incumbent mayor’s reelection narrative that the city’s schools have improved under his watch. During Gray’s three years in office, the District’s public school system has recorded rising scores on standardized testing, and Gray has highlighted those achievements as evidence of his seriousness about education reform. He would continue on that path if reelected, he said. But in holding up test scores as the barometer of success, Gray has exposed himself to the charge that he has abandoned his skepticism of reform from his 2010 campaign. Then, he said test scores were not the largest measure of success — helping to attract the strong backing of the Washington Teachers’ Union. On Monday, upstart candidates including restaurateur Andy Shallal, the owner of Busboys and Poets, and Reta Jo Lewis, a Democrat and former State Department official, drew the biggest applause, indicting both Gray and members of the council who seek to replace him for alienating parents and teachers amid a forceful push for school reform. Shallal criticized mayoral control of the schools, which was authorized in 2007, saying that it has led to untenably high teacher turnover and “changed the way we put the public in public schools — people have become more disenfranchised, disaffected and disrespected.” He also took aim at the city’s support for school choice, in which many children face long odds to win admission by lottery to the most sought-after schools. “I don’t want to play Russian roulette with our kids,” he said. “Every single kid deserves a good education.” Lewis drew hoots of support when she declared that, since the D.C. Council granted then-Mayor Adrian M. Fenty power to take over the ailing school system, too many “secrets” have been kept about school management.  Comments are closed  DC School Closures, Education  Debate on Education, mayoral race, school closings, Washington Teacher's Union 
Cross-posted from The Washington Teacher Written by Candi Peterson With another school year coming to a close, more excess letters will be handed out by DC Public Schools to another group of Washington Teachers’ Union (WTU) members as well as Council of School Officers (CSO) union members. Among those impacted will be DCPS School Psychologists. Historically, school psychologists’ have been itinerant workers who were centrally funded and supervised directly by the Office of Special Education. School psychologists were generally responsible for several schools in most cases (sometimes more). Last school year, itinerant school social workers whose positions had previously been centrally funded by the Office of Special Education (OSE) were excessed and are now paid from the local school budget. “WTU school psychologists will be officially excessed from their central office positions on June 1, 2012. The effective date of the excess will be the last day of school June 14, 2012”, according to a revised May 2012 “SEC and School Psychologist FAQs” that was sent to relevant staff on May 18, 2012 by Jason Kamras, Chief of Human Capital. 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.” Not unlike 333 DCPS teachers who were excessed on May 4, 2012, DC school psychologists will no longer hold their current positions at the end of the school year. DCPS Question: The SEC and school Psychologist FAQs packets posed the following question, “What will happen to the centrally-funded Washington Teachers’ Union (WTU) school psychologists who currently report to the Office of Special Education (OSE) ? DCPS Answer: WTU (school) psychologists “will have until August 15, 2012 to find a budgeted position at a school. If they cannot find a position by then, and if they meet certain qualifications, they will have access to the three excessing options in the WTU contract: 1) a $25,000 buyout; 2) early retirement, assuming 20 years of creditable service; or 3) a one year placement at a school during which they will continue to search for a budgeted position. To qualify for the three excessing options, WTU members must meet three criteria: 1) earn an Effective or Highly Effective IMPACT rating for 2011-12 school year; 2) attain permanent status (which one earns after two years of service in DCPS) by the effective date of excessing; and 3) have not opted into the IMPACT plus system.” Since Council of School Officers School Psychologists who are twelve month employees have a different collective bargaining agreement , they will be subject to a different set of rules than WTU members. DCPS question: What will happen to centrally funded Council of School Officers (CSO) (school) psychologists who currently report to Office of Special Education (OSE)? DCPS answer: “They will receive reassignment letters on June 1, 2012 explaining that they will be working at a school site, not for OSE, next school year. They will have until June 11, 2012 to identify a principal willing to hire them. After that point, the DCPS Office of Human Capital will begin to place them into remaining vacancies. This process will be completed by June 15, 2012.” Another reorganization is also underway for school year 2012-13 in DC Public Schools which includes a Reduction In Force (RIF) for many Special Education Coordinators (SECs). Earlier during the DC Public Schools budgeting process for SY’ 2012-13, funding was no longer provided to local schools for Special Education Coordinator (SECs) positions. Many DC Public school principals complained about not being funded to keep their SECs. After an uproar by administrators, funding was made available to local schools for a small number of Special Education Coordinators (SECs) -approximately 40-50 according to my source. It is my understanding, that monies alloted for school social workers funding,which initially was part of the required school budget for 2012-13 was changed to flexible spending – thereby allowing principals to decide whether they wanted a school social worker or not. Last school year, all schools were required to have a .5 (half-time) school social worker at a minimum depending on the student population. Having the option to decide whether to hire a social worker or not, some schools used the monies for other positions such as the SECs position. It is sadto say that the . . . → Read More: Another DCPS RIF and More Excesses Up Ahead ! |
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