| D.C. Council Holds 18-Hour Hearing on RIFs |
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| Regional Archives | |||
| By Norma Porter - WI Staff Writer | |||
| Thursday, October 22, 2009 | |||
 D.C. City Council members Harry Thomas (D-Ward 5), Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) and Vincent Gray (Council Chair) have a discussion on the testimony provided by witnesses. Photo by Victor HoltFired teachers and school personnel, parents, community members, and union leaders waited inside Council Chambers at the John A. Wilson Building in Northwest for 18 hours for an opportunity to testify about the unfair Reduction in Force (RIF) imposed by Chancellor Michelle Rhee on Oct. 2. The D.C. Public Schools Oversight Public Roundtable, on Fri., Oct. 16, was the second in a series of three scheduled hearings that the Council plans to hold to investigate details of the largest RIF since December 2003. The recent RIF resulted in a total of 388 teachers and school personnel positions being abolished. District Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) and Rhee attributed the RIF to budget cuts, imposed by the Council which resulted in a $40 million budget shortfall for the school system. “We’re going to do the best job we can to get what the basis for this was,” Council Chair Vincent Gray (D) said. “We do know, however, that it should not have been cast as a budget issue because we do know the money was there to avoid this,” Gray said. “The Council finished its budget action on July 31st, the Mayor signed this budget in August, which included the DCPS budget, and then this RIF comes out after all of that. If this was something that was pending, the Council should have been told frankly before we finished the budget,” he said. Washington Teachers’ Union (WTU) president George Parker, who testified before the Council, said that the RIF was self-imposed by Rhee to target teachers and principals who Rhee wanted to purge from the system. “I believe this RIF was necessary because it was self driven. I believe that it was no mistake that this Chancellor went out and hired 900 new teachers,” Parker said. “I think either one of two things happened. I believe that there’s gross mismanagement, not in terms of not knowing how many teachers were needed, but there was an intentional effort to hire more teachers than needed because there was an action plan to get rid of some teachers that they wanted to get rid of.” Parker told the Council that Rhee manipulated the Competitive Level Document, a document used to evaluate teachers who are being considered for termination -- to allow principals to fire teachers without weighing their value to students. Office and school needs, contributions and performance, supplemental experience, and length of service are among the criteria used to evaluate teachers during a RIF, DCPS officials said. Parker said that in normal RIFs the criteria are usually weighed equally, with each variable worth 25 percent, however, the criteria was weighed differently this time with contributions and performance carrying little weight. “This is not the first time that we have had the [DCPS] system use the Competitive Level Document for RIFs,” Parker said. “In previous RIFs there was 25 percent for each criterion. But, one very big area, called office and school needs, represented 75 percent of the total evaluation. We are supposed to be a [school] district about performance, but performance only counts [for] 10 percent. So, we can’t say that the RIF had anything to do with performance.” The numbers do not add up. Parker further added that the Council should investigate whether or not age discrimination played a role in who was terminated. The WTU only has data on 204 of the 266 teachers terminated on Fri., Oct. 2. Parker said that 156 of the 204 teachers are 40 and older. Anita Naves, a former attendance counselor at Anacostia High School in Southeast, showed up at the Wilson building to testify. Naves, 45, said that she was invited to be a part of the Anacostia/Friendship Public Charter School staff in July, while she was teaching communications in a summer Career Pathway program. Naves said that she originally applied for a dean of student’s position, but Anacostia’s administration had hired another applicant. She said that Anacostia principal Malik Bazzell wanted her on his staff. He told Naves that he needed to fill the attendance counselor position. Naves said she encountered resistance from a representative from Human Resources at the DCPS Central Office in Northeast during an important meeting. “There were some issues when I went to HR to negotiate my salary and sign my contract. The young man kept making comments regarding my qualifications,” Naves said. “The position required a Master’s degree, and I have a Master’s and I am also an award winning youth advocate, published author and a certified life coach.” Naves said she filed a complaint regarding her HR meeting, but proceeded to do her job. She said that she had enforced strict attendance policies to improve Anacostia’s attendance rates. “Eighty percent of the students are late everyday and students are being brought in by the police,” Naves said. “When I came there I adopted a no tolerance policy. I didn’t let students leave for minor reasons, I promoted a morning broadcast that gave students tips on how they can improve their attendance, and I sent out more than 200 truancy letters because students weren’t coming to school.” Naves said that she had made three appointments with D.C. Public Schools Deputy Chancellor Kaya Henderson regarding her HR complaint, two of which Henderson cancelled. Naves’ third appointment was scheduled for Fri., Oct. 2, the day that she received her pink slip from two principals at Anacostia. Naves said that she came to testify before the Council out of concern for her students. “I feel somewhat saddened. Although my salary has been affected, I feel saddened because the students are going to get the short end,” Naves said. The third hearing on the DCPS RIF is scheduled for Thu., Oct. 29. The Council has requested that Fenty and Rhee testify. Rhee confirmed that she will attend and submit testimony. However, Fenty had not confirmed by press time.
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