Thursday, November 5, 2009

Today's Injunction Hearing

Five witnesses for the Washington Teachers’ Union (WTU) —including a teacher, guidance counselor, PTA president, union representative and WTU president—gave compelling testimony at the Nov. 5 preliminary injunction hearing on the disruption in D.C. public schools and classrooms following the layoffs of 266 DCPS teachers.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff will issue a written decision sometime next week on whether to grant an injunction to reinstate teachers while the union arbitrates its class-action mass discharge grievance against D.C. Public Schools (DCPS). The grievance challenges the so-called reduction in force (RIF) as a mass firing of teachers and staff in violation of the collective bargaining agreement.

“We are so proud of our members—especially those who testified—for the way they have come together to stand against this act of disrespect and disregard for our students, our schools and for the democratic values we all hold dear,” says WTU President George Parker. “Regardless of the outcome of this one phase of our fight for justice, we must continue to stand together.”

Testifying at the Nov. 5 hearing were: Maurice Asuquo, a former special education teacher at Sharpe Health; Emyrtle Bennett, a former guidance counselor from Coolidge High School; Gwendolyn Griffin, president of D.C. Congress of PTA; and Mary Collins, WTU field representative. Asuquo, one of the only blind teachers in DCPS, told the judge that his principal assigned him to teach a visual arts class. Bennett, who also had been a counselor at Sidwell Friends and Chicago Latin, testified about her high outstanding record of helping seniors get accepted into college and secure scholarship funds. Collins provided information on how DCPS budgeted for the RIF in a way that suggested school officials knew in advance that more experienced teachers would be fired. Griffin explained why the PTA opposes the RIF and supports reinstating the teachers.

“This hearing represents just one battlefront in our fight to restore respect for education, for students and for teachers,” Parker says. “We are standing for what’s right. We are working for what is best for the students we serve and for what is good and just for teachers.”
Posted by at
Labels: , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

For WTU Members

The Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) is here to serve our members, and we encourage you to visit this blog often.

Join US!

As a new teacher in DCPS, you are automatically a member of the WTU bargaining unit as an agency fee member; however, we would like to invite you to become a full WTU member. The WTU bargaining unit consists of two categories of members: agency fee members and full union members. As an agency fee member your biweekly deduction is $28.22 and the biweekly deduction for full union membership is $33.20; a difference of only $4.98 per pay period.

As a full dues paying member of the WTU, you are entitled to representation from our highly qualified field representatives, Professional Development and Educational Research & Dissemination courses, and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Plus benefits such as $1,000,000 liability policy and $15,000 accidental death insurance. Full dues paying members also obtain voting rights to participate in local school elections, the approval of the WTU contract, and the upcoming general election of union officers. As teachers who will have the responsibility for supervising children throughout the day, we strongly encourage all teachers to become full union members to take advantage of the $1,000,000 liability insurance coverage to protect your financial assets against possible lawsuits.

To obtain an application for Full Membership, click here.

WTU E-Portal Disclaimer

This WTU E-Portal was created and is maintained to facilitate a free exchange of ideas. The WTU E-Portal contains input from a large variety of individuals and sources which may or may not be connected with the WTU. The WTU does not necessarily agree or adopt the content or opinion of any posting on this site as its position on any subject. Further, the WTU does not necessarily agree or adopt the content or opinion of other Web sites linked from, or identified in, the WTU E-Portal. All claims otherwise would violate the spirit and purpose of the WTU E-Portal. For further information, please review the Terms of Use for the WTU E-Portal.

You are strongly urged to use and frequently update an anti-virus program. The WTU cannot and does not warrant any site linked from, or identified in, the WTU E-Portal is security tested or risk free.