WTU/DCPS reach agreement

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll believe it when my kid is actually in school. So mad. I want vouchers!!

You and Betsy DeVos both want vouchers!

It’s clear whose side you’re on— the side of the oligarchs who want to destroy public education.

Meanwhile I’m on the side of the teachers— of the union. Which came to an agreement today as was clear they would.

DP. It's US teachers who have been doing the biggest damage to public education we have ever seen with their refusal to go back into the classroom. Playing right into the hands of the De Vos types of the world. The effect is going to be felt far into the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll believe it when my kid is actually in school. So mad. I want vouchers!!

You and Betsy DeVos both want vouchers!

It’s clear whose side you’re on— the side of the oligarchs who want to destroy public education.

Meanwhile I’m on the side of the teachers— of the union. Which came to an agreement today as was clear they would.

DP. It's US teachers who have been doing the biggest damage to public education we have ever seen with their refusal to go back into the classroom. Playing right into the hands of the De Vos types of the world. The effect is going to be felt far into the future.

So you’re doubling down on being for the same things that Betsy DeVos is for? Cool.

I’m for teachers, for unions, and for parents and kids. I’m anti-DeVos

You’re pro-voucher, pro-privatization, pro-salary cuts, and pro-DeVos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll believe it when my kid is actually in school. So mad. I want vouchers!!

You and Betsy DeVos both want vouchers!

It’s clear whose side you’re on— the side of the oligarchs who want to destroy public education.

Meanwhile I’m on the side of the teachers— of the union. Which came to an agreement today as was clear they would.

DP. It's US teachers who have been doing the biggest damage to public education we have ever seen with their refusal to go back into the classroom. Playing right into the hands of the De Vos types of the world. The effect is going to be felt far into the future.

So you’re doubling down on being for the same things that Betsy DeVos is for? Cool.

I’m for teachers, for unions, and for parents and kids. I’m anti-DeVos

You’re pro-voucher, pro-privatization, pro-salary cuts, and pro-DeVos.

Huh? I'm not doubling down on anything. I'm not the poster you responded to (that's what DP means). And since you don't know me, you have absolutely no basis to assume that I'm "pro-voucher, pro-privatization, pro-salary cuts, and pro-DeVos". In fact, I think all of those things are terrible. I have always believed teachers are underpaid in most states, although I also believe they are sometimes under-educated. I'm firmly in favor of public schools (I'm from a country where they are much stronger than in the US), and so I am very concerned about their future in America after what happened here during the pandemic due to the way public trust has been broken and kids have been let down. I fear that many people who can afford to do so will opt out, because they don't want to be in this situation again, and because the quality of the schools may go down as a result of the deficits created by DL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like we said that before November, and then it still blew up. I'll believe it when my kids walk through the doors.

This. DCPS always had the authority to assign teachers back to work, but they chose not to use it. This agreement gave the union some extra terms they wanted including the right for some teachers to not return to work, but didn't give DCPS anything they didn’t already have. WTU already has a no strike clause so they couldn’t strike/ refuse to return to work. That’s why the teachers who went on strike on November 2nd were so careful to frame it as not a strike, but a sick day.

Then DCPS allowed each school to come up with their own reopening plan, which was a horrible shirking of duties. Some schools have plans that include no in person learning for some grades.

I’ll believe that schools are reopening after I’ve dropped my kids off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like we said that before November, and then it still blew up. I'll believe it when my kids walk through the doors.

This. DCPS always had the authority to assign teachers back to work, but they chose not to use it. This agreement gave the union some extra terms they wanted including the right for some teachers to not return to work, but didn't give DCPS anything they didn’t already have. WTU already has a no strike clause so they couldn’t strike/ refuse to return to work. That’s why the teachers who went on strike on November 2nd were so careful to frame it as not a strike, but a sick day.

Then DCPS allowed each school to come up with their own reopening plan, which was a horrible shirking of duties. Some schools have plans that include no in person learning for some grades.

I’ll believe that schools are reopening after I’ve dropped my kids off.

I am never in the camp of defending DCPS and I am aware that with mayoral control Bowser always had the authority to order teachers to return to work, but in spite of the no strike clause the WTU was likely entertaining the idea (maybe they still are.) Of course doing so would bankrupt the union for sure and teachers would immediately lose benefits but I wouldn't be so sure that threat of strike wasn't something that was, at the very least, alluded to, during the negotiations. After the Silverman bill was withdrawn the only thing left the union has is threatening a strike, they know they lost so they signed the MOA.Honestly, teachers were better off with return to work options before the PERB lawsuit.

I am optimistic for Term 3, not all kids are going back to school. Mine probably aren't, they are middle schoolers, but having some portion of students going back into the school to learn is moving forward. I supposed I would also be skeptical if I were only thinking about my kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll believe it when my kid is actually in school. So mad. I want vouchers!!

You and Betsy DeVos both want vouchers!

It’s clear whose side you’re on— the side of the oligarchs who want to destroy public education.

Meanwhile I’m on the side of the teachers— of the union. Which came to an agreement today as was clear they would.

DP. It's US teachers who have been doing the biggest damage to public education we have ever seen with their refusal to go back into the classroom. Playing right into the hands of the De Vos types of the world. The effect is going to be felt far into the future.

So you’re doubling down on being for the same things that Betsy DeVos is for? Cool.

I’m for teachers, for unions, and for parents and kids. I’m anti-DeVos

You’re pro-voucher, pro-privatization, pro-salary cuts, and pro-DeVos.

If the pandemic has shown anything, it's that teachers and their unions are just another self-interested industry lobby that doesn't give a f#%k about students or families. They're all horrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll believe it when my kid is actually in school. So mad. I want vouchers!!

You and Betsy DeVos both want vouchers!

It’s clear whose side you’re on— the side of the oligarchs who want to destroy public education.

Meanwhile I’m on the side of the teachers— of the union. Which came to an agreement today as was clear they would.

DP. It's US teachers who have been doing the biggest damage to public education we have ever seen with their refusal to go back into the classroom. Playing right into the hands of the De Vos types of the world. The effect is going to be felt far into the future.

So you’re doubling down on being for the same things that Betsy DeVos is for? Cool.

I’m for teachers, for unions, and for parents and kids. I’m anti-DeVos

You’re pro-voucher, pro-privatization, pro-salary cuts, and pro-DeVos.

If the pandemic has shown anything, it's that teachers and their unions are just another self-interested industry lobby that doesn't give a f#%k about students or families. They're all horrible.

The infuriating part about this is that public education is not an "industry". It's a public service and the union should have the common good in mind in addition to the interests of their members.

[Anonymous]

You know what I think all these people screaming on here are going to do? NOTHING. Take your big talk somewhere else. Oh you hate teachers and will never forgive them...blah blah blah. Next year you will be right there trying to be buddy buddy to get more things for your kid, trying to influence with your money. So no, nothing will change from this. And if some people leave upper NW schools? GOOD maybe we will have some room to take kids to increase our racial and ses diversity. That would be an excellent outcome from all of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You know what I think all these people screaming on here are going to do? NOTHING. Take your big talk somewhere else. Oh you hate teachers and will never forgive them...blah blah blah. Next year you will be right there trying to be buddy buddy to get more things for your kid, trying to influence with your money. So no, nothing will change from this. And if some people leave upper NW schools? GOOD maybe we will have some room to take kids to increase our racial and ses diversity. That would be an excellent outcome from all of this.

This is a tired fantasy. If lots of people with both educational and financial means pull their kids and the demographics change significantly, the quality of these schools will go down, both because the number of high-performing kids will go down, and the number of highly engaged parents will as well. It's not like Ward 3 schools are better because they have better buildings or better teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know what I think all these people screaming on here are going to do? NOTHING. Take your big talk somewhere else. Oh you hate teachers and will never forgive them...blah blah blah. Next year you will be right there trying to be buddy buddy to get more things for your kid, trying to influence with your money. So no, nothing will change from this. And if some people leave upper NW schools? GOOD maybe we will have some room to take kids to increase our racial and ses diversity. That would be an excellent outcome from all of this.

This is a tired fantasy. If lots of people with both educational and financial means pull their kids and the demographics change significantly, the quality of these schools will go down, both because the number of high-performing kids will go down, and the number of highly engaged parents will as well. It's not like Ward 3 schools are better because they have better buildings or better teachers.

Lots of people are threatening to leave. So this isn’t an actual issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You know what I think all these people screaming on here are going to do? NOTHING. Take your big talk somewhere else. Oh you hate teachers and will never forgive them...blah blah blah. Next year you will be right there trying to be buddy buddy to get more things for your kid, trying to influence with your money. So no, nothing will change from this. And if some people leave upper NW schools? GOOD maybe we will have some room to take kids to increase our racial and ses diversity. That would be an excellent outcome from all of this.

These spots will be backfilled with families that rent IB and then move. That is how it is done now. Things will not change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll believe it when my kid is actually in school. So mad. I want vouchers!!

Me too! Until my kid is actually walking into a building I won’t believe it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know what I think all these people screaming on here are going to do? NOTHING. Take your big talk somewhere else. Oh you hate teachers and will never forgive them...blah blah blah. Next year you will be right there trying to be buddy buddy to get more things for your kid, trying to influence with your money. So no, nothing will change from this. And if some people leave upper NW schools? GOOD maybe we will have some room to take kids to increase our racial and ses diversity. That would be an excellent outcome from all of this.

These spots will be backfilled with families that rent IB and then move. That is how it is done now. Things will not change.

I actually know three families that have moved partly sick of DCPS. Most were planning on waiting two years until middle school but just decided to go ahead and do it now.

[Anonymous]

This thread just shows how dependent even the wealthy are on public education, which is usually a good thing, but this year has worked against DC kids. Ask yourselves why we’ve had so little momentum to reopen from parents? Other places opened because there was pressure. Why not here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll believe it when my kid is actually in school. So mad. I want vouchers!!

Moderate republicans do as well. Be glad for Congressional oversight that has brought this to at least some families in DC, and vote moderate independent or Republican