Is DCPS Continuing to Hire Teachers After Firing 229?
UPDATE, 6:35 P.M.: DCPS says this is a false alarm. The recruiter, says spokesperson Jennifer Calloway, was incorrect to say that the system "will resume the selection process next week."
Rather, the intent was to keep its recruitment database up to date in order to "address normal resignations and retirements."
The school system, Calloway says, "will absolutely consider" the pool of teachers let go earlier this month. The list is maintained "in case a vacancy arises in a subject area or specialty in which no teacher was RIF'ed....We do not want to be in a position where human resources is forced to scramble in order to make a potentially critical hire."
ORIGINAL POST: On Oct. 2, 229 teachers employed by the D.C. Public Schools were laid off, along with 159 more support staff. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee claimed that budget cuts made by the D.C. Council forced the system to shed the staffers.
And yet, yesterday afternoon, a DCPS recruiter sent a message to candidates for teaching jobs in the system, telling them: "If you are still interested in teaching for DCPS during the 2009-2010 school year, please let me know. We will resume the selection process next week." The e-mail contains a link to a Web page where recruits can indicate their intentions.
LL asked DCPS for an explanation of the e-mail earlier today and is awaiting a response. The manner in which the layoffs had been done—after hiring an unprecedented number of teachers earlier in the year—raised sharp questions about the motives behind it all; was it done, many asked, as an end-around the teachers' contract? This e-mail, if genuine, is certain to amplify those concerns.
The Washington Teachers' Union has issued a statement calling the e-mail "yet another example of questionable management practices—or malevolence—on the part of DCPS."
"Any effort to hire additional teachers while claiming a need to cut staff due to budget constraints raises serious questions," says President George Parker. "What positions need to be filled? Why didn’t DCPS wait until these vacancies were filled before issuing layoff notices? Why didn’t DCPS assign certified teachers to these vacancies instead of terminating them?"
LL awaits answers to them. Full e-mail is here:
Date: Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 4:37 PM
Subject: DCPS 2009-2010 CandidatesDear Candidates, If you are still interested in teaching for DCPS during the 2009-2010 school year, please let me know. We will resume the selection process next week and will only contact you if you have indicated to me that you would like to remain in the pool of applicants. If you would like to only be considered for 2010-2011 vacancies, please withdraw your application and reapply in January. If you have already found a position with DCPS and we have sent you this email in error, please submit your school information. Your response is requested by Wednesday, October 21st. If you have any questions, please let me know. DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL. Please click on the following link to complete the two minute survey: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dEF0Vm5hdTRpUjhOTzNiR2VHbldXN3c6MA
Thanks, Morgan Gieseke TeachDC, Recruitment and Selection
5:43 pm
Wow. Rhee really doesn't give a fuck what anybody thinks. Absolutely astounding.
5:44 pm
This proves Rhee is a liar. Also, it establishes a prima facie case of discrimination on the basis of union activity. Look for the District to pay millions to settle the litigation over this.
6:14 pm
Everyone who reads this -- click on the link in the article and put in some bogus name to f&ck with these a$$holes who are playing games with teachers' lives by firing them.
6:16 pm
In litigation, this destroys any defense the District could use on "legitimate business necessity" because it shows that the so-called "budget" reasons for the terminations were, in fact, fictitious. This is a "smoking gun" the teachers' lawyers can use to prove their case.
6:40 pm
It seems a little odd for DCPS to blame the recruiter when the website she directs people to includes the same language about the "selection process".
8:09 pm
Of course Rhee's office is going to deny this. How many more lies to we have to be told before Rhee gets fired?
She lied about classrooms having the right books and supplies; she lied about schools being ready on time last school year; she lied about teachers being escorted out by police; she lied saying that children being impacted from the RIFS. And we could go on and on.
8:37 pm
Rhee's lies have gone on and on for years now. She was planning to lay off/riff/whatever more teachers so she could continue to recolor DC with a "better fit." She is going to cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars with her questionable and illegal hiring processes. Schools were not ready on time -- Burroughs for example. Most employees who are riffed/terminated are escorted out by police. Children have been greatly impacted by her egregious acts.
I am surprised no one has whipped her ass like it ought to be beat. That is shocking and LONG OVERDUE.
9:52 pm
I find this incredible since at the school I teach at, we are still understaffed. As of today, we still have 3 vacant positions that are APPROVED in our budget. If this is such a budgetary crisis, why didn't they relocate the teachers they had already hired to areas that still need teachers instead of firing so many? Why is HR so much more concerned with laying off teachers than making sure the positions are filled?
7:41 am
@DC Teacher: Tell MDB offline what school you teach for. This nonesense will NEVER stop until people report these incidents. Also report this to the Inspector General.
12:09 pm
yes, please: lips@washingtoncitypaper.com
5:03 pm
This situation is very scary for ANY teacher in DCPS. No matter what age or color.
They continue to hire? That means they have no clue of the impact on people'd lives and no business sense. It is a waste of money to hire today and fire tomorrow. I don't think they are trying to recolor the system. They are just plain incompetent. Always were, still are. This mess proves Rhee did not improve DCPS. Unfortunately there is no improvement.
10:02 pm
@angryalgonzales This letter doesn't definitively prove anything in court. To your knowledge they haven't actually hired any teachers yet. It is just as possible that it could have been an administrative error as an act of formal hiring. At best, it will have a political impact if Parker can exploit it correctly.
And @Tired and Scared - please provide support for your claims that they are "just plain incompetent" and that "there is no improvement" with relevant data. The Council didn't do anything more than complain about Rhee's "attitude" today because they know she is the only shot they have in the present or near future to get this city's schools in shape. Any attempt to slide back mayoral control or Rhee's ability to manage DCPS properly will result in thousands of current and future DC students with dismal academic and life prospects, and of less importance, will jeopardize their jobs.
Wake up people! Start paying attention to the data and realize that some people are going to get hurt in the face of massive and unprecedented change.
11:24 pm
So, um, what's the data supporting the claim of "massive and unprecedented change?"
You're right on one count, though, the Council will content itself with ritually chastized Rhee and won't ever pull the plug. Because then the claim would be "if only Rhee had been allowed to finish the job, DCPS would be a model school system by now." Truth is, if Rhee sticks around to finish the job, there won't even be any pieces left to pick up. But it won't be the Council's fault and, as today's hearing suggests, that's what concerns most of them -- who gets the blame.
Meanwhile, Rhee will remain a heroine in some quarters because out of the ashes will arise a privatized education system. Mission accomplished! Another profit center for American enterprise and a safe haven from foreign competition (for at least a few years).
10:56 am
I would qualify the 23 school consolidations and firings of 98 central office staff, 24 principals, and hundreds of teachers and aides within about a two year time span as "massive and unprecedented change." I'm on the younger side, so please correct me if a downsizing of this magnitude has occurred previously in DCPS that I'm unaware of. I agree with what you said in the second paragraph but do not understand your argument about the "privatized education system."