WTU rallies for new contract

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07/07/2022 20:47

Subject: WTU rallies for new contract

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Anonymous wrote:This is my 10th year as a teacher in a DCPS Title I school. I have been rated highly effective each year, so I have been eligible for salary raises and bonuses. For those who are unfamiliar, if you get a lot of high scores on the evaluation, you can skip along the pay scale, so I am paid as if I have 25+ years of experience and a PhD. This program is an effort to retain the teachers DCPS has identified as really, really good. However, because I have maxed out on the pay scale and the contract has expired, I have not had any wage increase for several years. I am paid exactly the same amount as I was three years ago. I don’t know how many teachers are in my position but it is a poorly thought out policy that the “best” teachers get wage stagnation. I would be fine if the new contract was everything the same from the old contract (which it probably will be) and an automatic 3% or whatever COLA on the pay scale.

What's your salary? Just curious.

The teachers at the highest end of the pay scale make $116k plus 10-20k bonus per year depending on school and subject.

That bonus is only for highly effective teachers and it’s actually $2k-$20k.

Yes, I am the PP who discussed maxing out the pay scale. For teachers in Title I schools, our bonus is 10-20k. 2k is for teachers who are not in Title I schools. I was referring to the wage stagnation for the teachers DCPS says they want to keep the most (those who have been rated highly effective for many years in Title I schools). Unfortunately, I don’t think this group is a high priority in the union negotiations because I only ever hear about how terrible IMPACT is from the union, so I don’t believe those of us who are receiving these high evaluations are a priority. I’ve been denigrated by some of the hardcore union members for taking the pay raise and bonus.

I’ve been rated highly effective once and I took the raise and bonus. I know exactly what you’re talking about and I could not care less how others feel about it. However, the tool itself is overly subjective (most evaluation systems have some type of subjectivity) and it should be fixed because some of us could do cartwheels down the length of the hallway and not be rated HE while others barely do the minimum and receive HE. I know first hand that how it is used as a tool to reward favorites. Not in every situation, but in far too many.

Looking at the rubric, do you think a better idea is to make standardized testing worth more? It seems like administration could reward anyone they like based on classroom observations.

Standardized testing being worth more would benefit teachers who work in wealthier areas. Attendance is better, kids don’t have to get the bulk of their food from school, if needed parents can pay for tutors, and so on. It would hurt the teachers’ scores in a high poverty school.

Although I’ve received (and accepted) the bonus, I think it should be cut out entirely. It causes too much discord because of all the things that go along with it. No evaluation tool needs to be more than a one page checklist. Either you did it or you didn’t. Time spent outside of my work hours should not hurt or help me. As a teacher, I shouldn’t have to sponsor multiple clubs or coach a sport to earn an effective rating. This hurts educators who are young parents, caregivers, or someone who just needs to go home at the end of their work day like normal people.

You don’t think DCPS could add a clause of 79% attendance to count instead of what is it now? 55% or something.
You can still get a year of growth in 79% of the school year.

I’m sure they’ll be something else for other teachers to be upset at each other about.
And CSC is only worth 10%, can we stop with the dramatics. You can bomb CSC and still get highly effective and definitely effective.

And to the parent pp. I was the poster who asked about standardized testing, I’m a teacher too.
We already have those tests as part of our score. And they have been proven to be bias not just racially but towards those with disabilities as well.
However iReady is better than nothing. (I don’t think we should use parcc)

Changing the attendance might help, something should be done to balance it across the school system.

That 10% can be the difference between developing and effective or effective and highly effective. You cannot bomb CSC unless your other scores are perfect. That’s not being dramatic. Every school has a different CSC which is another issue. It’s all over the place.

To my knowledge the Union doesn’t advocate for or against taking the bonus. If you do accept it, you lose the year of job security if there is a reduction in force (I may be wording it incorrectly).

I do not think there is a limit to how many teachers at any specific school can get the bonus.