DCPS Forces Out 413 Teachers and Staff
DCPS just released the results of its IMPACT teacher evaluations. The happy news: 663 Washington Teachers Union members are eligible for bonuses because of the good work they've done.
The not-so-happy news: 413 teachers are being given the boot. Of those, 288 are being let go because of bad IMPACT evaluations, the rest are being let go because they'd already been laid off and couldn't find a new spot in the school system or they didn't meet licensing requirements.
The total number of fired teachers is nearly double what it was a year ago, when DCPS first began using IMPACT.
See the news release here:
1:00 pm
Er, wouldn't the word "oust" be more appropriate for the title?
1:03 pm
Never mind, I apparently can't read.
1:24 pm
I think every single person who hates Gray for taking the District "back to the 90's" should shut the fuck up.
1:39 pm
Oust is the right word in some cases. Shop stewards, veteran teachers with a history of excellent performance and insistence on probity, whistle blowers who have refused to tolerate cheating by their superiors; they are some of those who have been ousted.
And I'm sure some truly dead wood, as well; including teachers who were promised training, but who were instead given on short or no notice classes to teach they had not taught before. So admins cynically put students they had no faith in before teachers who might have done fine -- as teachers -- with good students, but who could not master new material and a class of truculants at the same time. All to put the nails in coffins of those they wished to dispose of.
1:41 pm
@DT Why do you say that? Isn't he the Mayor now? Didn't he decide to keep Kaya Henderson? As Mayorm he had the opportunity to make changes, right? Why should he get a pass?
1:49 pm
@Michael, I think DT's point was that the storyline that Gray was taking us back to the dark days was created before there was an actual story. In short, teachers are being fired in larger numbers than they were under Rhee and Parker (nor Gray fans) are making a stink about it.
In that sense, many of the silly people who believed the unbelievable should..STFU
2:48 pm
How many kids are in DCPS? If there are 45,000 and nearly 6,600 employees, that's a ratio of 7 adults per child.
Seriously, what do the over 2000 people in the central office do for a living? I see they are all terribly effective according to IMPACT, but they were all major league a-holes whenever they pranced through my kid's school building.
3:51 pm
they should boot their butts we need excellent teachers and not rag tag fakers
http://ethicalfutures.wordpress.com/2011/07/15/check-yourself-before-you-wreck-yourself-the-art-of-self-regulation/
9:57 am
DCPS Mom, that rationale would only apply if all of the 6,600 were actually teachers. The numbers that equate to staff employees is pretty significant.
10:06 am
@DT, why? Because on this one issue, Gray has (wisely) continued school reforms put in place by his predecsssor? There are more issues than just education reform.
That said, this round of RIF's should put to rest any thought that since the WTU paid to put Gray in office (they did), that he would behave as though he owed them something. Good job, Mayor Gray!
11:32 am
DJ REN, unless we're talking about a new government, every political administration continues the work of the previous administration..with changes.
The only people who believed that Gray would interfere w/the chancellor's work are the dumb bt fks who kept suggesting it. It goes to show you how truly ignorant they are/were
3:44 pm
If Michelle Rhee had done this deed, all Hades would have appeared on Earth and this blog would have been lit up like fireworks on the fourth of July. You people are backwards...freakin idiots! So Rhee wasn't wrong in the moves? But Kaya Henderson is carrying out the same plan, Rhee's plan. Where are the holier-than-thou folks who spoke against Rhee? Why aren't those same individuals coming forward to speak against Henderson?
For $275,000 a year, Kaya is getting paid to put people out of work. I think she should get paid a lot less just to send pink slips. She deserves the salary of an HR specialist. Mary Cheh was appropriate in capping salaries of certain executives. The Chancellor's position is one that I totally agree with but the other two not so much.
And you know what, Kaya is a terrible example of the change that Michelle Obama (likewise) wants to see in schools, and that is, healthy eating. We know where most of Kaya's salary will end up (just like Yvette Alexander). Why cant Kaya also serve as a shining example - if that is what she is - to our DC youth on creating healthy body images? I bet she's not up to that challenge.
9:56 am
You people have been paying the teachers union for that, DAMN!!! I guess Rhee was right after all.
Time to get rid of the union!!!
10:01 am
@CocoNutMilk
Where are the union people who spoke against Rhee! They are satisfied with their money. As long as they get money they won't say a damn word.
The union never cared for kids at all!!!
2:53 pm
@watchingtoo, correct about the WTU. Lost in all this talk of "education reform" is that if the WTU helped teachers do their jobs better, as opposed to fighting tooth and nail for more money, less responsibility, and lower standards, "education reform" would be unnecessary.
8:09 pm
Kaya Henderson is just like M. Rhee, totally unqualified to run a school system.