Rhee ratchets up the attack on D.C. teachers: 1 in 4 fired or put on notice

[Hannah Bell]

ANOTHER UNION-busting assault by Washington, D.C., School Chancellor Michelle Rhee rocked D.C. public schools July 16 when Rhee announced the firing of 241 public school teachers and warned another 737 that they would be axed in a year's time if they failed to show "improvements."

This major attack on Washington Teachers Union (WTU) members is based on Rhee's newest weapon for breaking the WTU--the chancellor's IMPACT evaluation system, a punitive scheme that ties teacher performance ratings to students' standardized test scores...

With ONE IN FOUR PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATORS IN D.C. EITHER FIRED OR PUT ON NOTICE, the WTU has promised to challenge Rhee's latest actions both with a petition to her office and a hearing before an independent arbitrator. The union will also likely file an unfair labor practice complaint...

BUT THIS most recent attack on DCPS teachers has also exposed the weakness of the leadership of the WTU, which failed to defend its members and has granted one concession after another to Rhee.
"Many WTU members believe that Parker's response to IMPACT evaluation has been reactionary and a little too late," wrote D.C. school social worker Candi Peterson in The Washington Teacher blog. "In union meetings during last school year, members insisted that Parker fight IMPACT as an evaluation tool that is unfair. These requests made by union members of Parker have fallen on deaf ears." Under Parker's leadership, the WTU recently settled a concessionary contract that in many ways offered a green light for last week's firings...

http://socialistworker.org/2010/08/03/rhee-ratchets-up-the-attack