DC Teachers Brace For Negotiations, Chancellor’s Proposed Plan
District of Columbus Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) recently unveiled proposed legislation that would reclassify over 700 non-union employees in the central office of the D.C. school system as “at-will” employees. Created with the full support of D.C. schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, the pending legislation would allow the Chancellor to quickly terminate central office employees for any non-disciplinary reason.
Turning towards educators in the district, Rhee stated that she had recently begun negotiations with the Washington Teachers’ Union. Rhee stated at a press conference that she wanted the ability to reward high performing teachers and to “remove ineffective teachers from their positions”. The WTU currently has a procedure in place that allows for the district to remove low-performing teachers in only 90 days, acknowledged by the Washington Post in a front-page story as “one of the shortest in the nation”.