any lawyers who know this answer?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:she is already off classroom duty and not allowed to be with the kids.

Anonymous wrote:The Principal has not submitted the incident reports she was required to do after this

Anonymous wrote: The union contract has got to change to allow poor teachers to be moved out of our schools and away from our children quickly.

I'm not drawing the same conclusion as you. Based on your own post, it appears the problem was with the principal rather than the union contract. Again, based on your post, the teacher was moved without changes to the contract. It would appear that your problem is with the principal rather than the union.

[Anonymous]

You are right-- the biggest problem is the Principal. She has not done what needs to be done to document.
My issues with the union are not isolated to this case though- I've been a DCPS parent for 7 years and 3 years ago (pre-Rhee) my child had a teacher who was a longtime DCPS teacher, and who had become erratic, mean, vindictive, and abusive. The then-principal was very careful about documenting everything, and it was not until this teacher grabbed a child's face in anger and pushed her in a chair, and her parents contacted the police, that he was finally made to leave the building. However, due to the contract, he was able to stay on DCPS payroll, and the kids had a sub for over 4 months until the school year was over. he then retired. He left teaching on his own terms. That experience has made me wary of the union- and I am generally a very pro-union person.

But you are right- in this case the principal has been the problem. We'll see what happens after the inveestigation.

[Anonymous]

As Al Shanker (former head of both the UFT and AFT) once said "kids don't pay union dues."

Don't expect the unions to prioritize children. It's all about the teachers. Even (especially!) the bad ones. (The good ones could make more money with it.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As Al Shanker (former head of both the UFT and AFT) once said "kids don't pay union dues."

Don't expect the unions to prioritize children. It's all about the teachers. Even (especially!) the bad ones. (The good ones could make more money with it.)

Correction:

The good ones could make more money without it. That's why the head of the Washington DC Teacher's Union won't let the union members vote on Rhee's new compensation plan to let them make significantly more money. It would go further, faster to separate the dedicated teachers from the dead weight.

[Anonymous]

I am the OP. The investigation is completed and the teacher admitted to making the "error" with 5 classes of kids (100 kids minimum).
We are waiting to find out what Labor Relations recommends.
Is Labor Relations beholden to the Union?
Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Plus she's just a really bad teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the OP. The investigation is completed and the teacher admitted to making the "error" with 5 classes of kids (100 kids minimum).
We are waiting to find out what Labor Relations recommends.
Is Labor Relations beholden to the Union?
Thank you.

Thanks for the update, OP.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry...and the "error" was what? Locking 100 kids outside in the cold?

[Anonymous]

5 classes? Is this a specials teacher? Did she refuse to let them in promptly?

[Anonymous]

We are considering moving in bounds for Murch. I heard that there is a new principal but what ever happened to this crazy teacher?

[Anonymous]

she left DCPS!!!
the new art teacher is great.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:she is already off classroom duty and not allowed to be with the kids.

Anonymous wrote:The Principal has not submitted the incident reports she was required to do after this

Anonymous wrote: The union contract has got to change to allow poor teachers to be moved out of our schools and away from our children quickly.

I'm not drawing the same conclusion as you. Based on your own post, it appears the problem was with the principal rather than the union contract. Again, based on your post, the teacher was moved without changes to the contract. It would appear that your problem is with the principal rather than the union.

Perhaps the first time I agree with you. THANK YOU. And it is alarming to me that the immediate response to an issue is to question how to lawyer up. YES--follow the steps in place like you would at any other job. Then lawyer up. Did it occur to you that the reason so many DCPS teachers are Union members is that parents are always threatening to "get a lawyer"? YES locking the children out is egregious, but parents threaten to lawyer up over a pencil tapped on a desk (threatening!!). Follow the proper steps and THEN lawyer up, please!