Here's What's Brewing This Week

Registration for Fall 2023 PD Classes is Open!

Posted by · October 16, 2023 6:32 PM

Take a moment to check out some of WTU's fall 2023 professional development courses below. Click on each picture to learn more.

Fresh Off a Three-Year Contract Fight, DCPS and the Teachers’ Union Seem to be Headed for Another Long Impasse - The WTU says DCPS still hasn’t come back to the table, even as the clock has started ticking to avoid another delayed contract.

Posted by · October 16, 2023 6:18 PM

Washington City Paper reported on DCPS' lack of urgency in returning to the bargaining table, thus allowing the DC Teachers contract to expire on September 30th, 2023. Read the full story here.

Violent Crime is Surging in DC this year: 'We just stood there and screamed' - A 38% spike in homicides is upending life for residents and businesses

Posted by · October 16, 2023 6:10 PM

Wall Street Journal reported in 2023 DC saw the largest spike in homicides compared to major cities (24% in Los Angeles, 19% in Houston, 18% in Philadelphia, 12% in Chicago, and 11% in New York City.) Read the full article here.

Most Powerful Women in Washington - Education Powers

Posted by · October 16, 2023 5:52 PM

Washingtonian Magazine named WTU President Jacqueline Pogue Lyons as one of the most powerful women in education in DC. Read the full story here.

Student, bystander killed in shootings as D.C. homicide total grows

Posted by · October 16, 2023 5:08 PM

The Washington Post reported on the killing of a bystander/16-year-old student, Maurice Jackson Jr., a junior at Dunbar high school. Read the full story here.

SE DC elementary riddled by bullets during school hours Monday, principal says

Posted by · October 16, 2023 4:07 PM

Channel 7 News reported on Staunton ES locked down after bullets struck kindergarten and 5th grade classroom. Watch the full story here.

A month after turning 17, he was killed on his way to work

Posted by · October 16, 2023 3:58 PM

Washington Post reported on the death of a 17-year-old Antonio Cunnington, a DC student, shot on his way to work. Read the full story here.

AM Brew - October 16, 2023

Posted by · October 16, 2023 7:00 AM

Here's What's Brewing Today

Monday, October 16, 2023

A Message from WTU President

Good Morning WTU Members,

WTU would like to congratulate the DCPS Teacher of the Year, Beth Barkley! We’d also like to give a shout-out to the other finalists, Chad Harris, a music teacher at Stanton Elementary School; Kena Allison, a biology teacher at Washington Latin Public Charter School; Rabiah Harris, who teaches physical science and robotics at Ida B. Wells Middle School; and Aneesah Blount, a kindergarten teacher at Van Ness Elementary School. You are amazing teachers! Thank you for your hard work, dedication, and unending willingness to make an impact on the lives of our students.

Thank you to those who helped WTU distribute free books and the Stop the Violence petition at the Teachers Voice Festival this past Saturday! We would also like to thank EmpowerEd for giving WTU and our WTU Teacher Leaders an opportunity to participate in this exciting event.

The WTU Stop the Violence petition urges DCPS to stop stalling and come to the bargaining table. Please, if you haven’t signed it or forwarded it to your social media accounts, do it now! We need every WTU member to show their support for getting DCPS to the table. Our goal is to get teachers and community members to sign the petition no later than November 1^st.

As mentioned in last week’s AM Brew, DCPS has not confirmed dates to return to the bargaining table. Thus, our Contract Bargaining Team did not meet this week. However, WTU’s Contract Action Team did meet and solidified plans for the following upcoming events:

Wear a red shirt to the in-person SBOE meeting where our District State Board Representatives will vote on a RESOLUTION urging DCPS to give WTU a timely contract - October 18^th @5:30PM at the Public Session of the State Board of Education (SBOE) (441 4th Street NW, Washington D.C., 20001)
Sign up to testify October 18^th @5:30PM at the Public Session of the State Board of Education (SBOE). All those interested must sign up by 5:30PM on Monday, October 17^th via this link Meeting Information | sboe (dc.gov)
Pass out our Safe Schools Petition, Halloween treats, and one free book of choice to children at the Hill-O-Ween at Eastern Market @ Friday, October 27, 2023, 5- 8:00 pm
Pass out our Safe Schools Petition, Halloween treats, and one free book of choice to children at the Ward 7^th Trunk or Treat on Tuesday, October 31^st, at The Fields in Ward 7. (More details to come.)

If you missed the Oct. 11^th Washington City Paper article titled “Fresh Off a Three-Year Contract Fight, DCPS and the Teachers’ Union Seem to be Headed for Another Long Impasse,” please read it. It captures DCPS’ history of delayed contracts and WTU’s concerns over their current lack of urgency. Finally, please make sure [email protected] has your personal email address. WTU communications/voting needs to be done via personal emails.

Thank you for your support! I wish you a peaceful and productive week.

In solidarity,

Jacqueline Pogue Lyons, President
Washington Teachers’ Union

AM Brew - Oct 10, 2023

Posted by · October 10, 2023 7:00 AM

Good Morning, WTU Members!

I hope you had a peaceful and relaxing long weekend and a Happy Indigenous People’s Day! WTU hopes you will find time this fall to enjoy and celebrate the full history and diversity of Native and Indigenous perspectives with your students.

On Wednesday, Oct. 4th, the WTU, AFT, New Republic, and DC Public Library jointly launched our first Banned Book event at MLK Jr. Library. We passed out banned books for free and spoke to the press about the dangers of book banning. Look out for more banned books and literacy events this fall!

As you know, WTU’s contract with DCPS expired on September 30^th. Our Contract Negotiating Team did not meet this week because DCPS only responded to our proposal for ground rules. They have yet to respond to our three MOAs, 13 contract proposals, and dates for coming to the table to negotiate.

To help us in getting DCPS to come to the bargaining table, we urge all teachers to first and foremost Sign our School Safety Petition, post it on social media, and send it to community supporters. As of Oct. 8^th, 888 individuals have signed it. Our goal is to get every DCPS teacher and as many community members as possible to sign our petition no later than November 1^st. Here are additional ways you can show your support:

Sign up to testify October 17^th @5:30PM at the Public Session of the State Board of Education (SBOE).
Join the Contract Action Team.
Sign up to pass out petitions and free books at Teachers Voice Festival – Oct. 15th
Wear our new Campaign button and Red For Ed on Fridays!
Send your wonderful Red for Ed photos to [email protected]

Thank you, as always, for your support! I wish you a wonderful week.

In solidarity,

Jacqueline Pogue Lyons, President
Washington Teachers’ Union

Professional Development

And other opportunities

Click picture below to register or here.

AM Brew - October 2, 2023

Posted by · October 02, 2023 7:00 AM

Here's What's Brewing Today

Monday, October 2, 2023

Good Morning WTU Members,

This past Saturday, the WTU hosted a successful in-person Union Leadership Institute (ULI) for our building leaders at AFT Headquarters. Thank you so much to our WTU leaders who came out to receive professional development on organizing, the contract, and how to best support colleagues in their schools. If you missed an opportunity to join us, we will have another Union Leadership Institute in January.

This weekend, the Washington Teachers Union received the Human Values Award at the World Cultural Festival for our work and activism in keeping students, teachers, and staff safe through the pandemic. Again, this award shows WTU’s deep commitment and love for the children of the District of Columbia and the DC community. WTU has so many partners we’d like to thank for this honor. This great award would not have been possible without the support and hard work of all our WTU members, the WTU Contract Bargaining Team, the American Federation of Teachers, the Washington Metro Labor Council and the Black Coalition Against COVID. This year, eight recipients received this award. Award recipients included Yale faculty member, Dr. James Leckman for his research with the Early Childhood Peace Consortium. DC Fire and EMS Chief John A. Donnelly, Sr., also received an award for his work throughout the COVID pandemic. We hope you had the opportunity to attend this three-day festival featuring more than 17,000 global music and dance artists, yoga pavilion, wellness zones, and wisdom series with visionary and spiritual leader, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. More than half a million people from across the world attended this event.

WTU’s Contract Bargaining Agreement with DCPS expired on Saturday, September 30^th. Despite the Contract Negotiating Team’s steadfast efforts to work diligently throughout the summer to deliver our ground rules, several MOAs, and 13 proposals to DCPS beginning in May, we have not received a substantive response on anything submitted so far with one exception. A few days ago, DCPS responded to the ground rules first proposed in May. To say we are disappointed in the lack of urgency shown by DCPS is an understatement. As part of our response, the Contract Action Committee urges all to double-down on their efforts to get everyone in the community and in our union to sign the petition for Safe Schools. Our best defense is a good offense. We need to show DCPS we are extremely committed to getting a fair contract.

In solidarity,

Jacqueline Pogue Lyons, President
Washington Teachers’ Union

Opportunities to GET INVOLVED!

Join the Contract Action Team (CAT)!

To learn more about the Contract Action Team, please visit our Contract Action Webpage and follow us on WTU’s official FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram sites. Our campaign focuses on showing our collective demand for a new contract by wearing red on Fridays and our new Campaign button, posting pictures on social media, and rallying everyone we know to sign our petition for school safety. We also need your wonderful photos! So, please don’t forget to keep emailing them to [email protected].

Watch WTU's Contract Negotiating Team's Weekly Video Update

Please click here or on picture below.

Watch previous video updates here.

Join a WTU Committee!

The start of a new school year offers all members a chance to join one of five WTU Committees established by the WTU Executive Board to lead our work:

Contract Action Team (CAT) & Organizing Committee. The CAT Team and the Organizing Committee will be meeting as one team monthly until further notice. Contact: Mike Roland ([email protected])
Communications Committee. Chair: WTU President Jacqueline Pogue Lyons ([email protected]) meets the 4th Tuesday of each month @ 4:30pm Join via Zoom.
Committee on Political Education (COPE) Meeting – Monday, October 2nd @ 7PM. Chair: Michael Donaldson ([email protected]). Meets the 1st Monday of each month Virtual @ 7-8pm Join via Zoom
Legislative Committee. Chair: Jacqueline Pogue Lyons, President WTU and Vice President Regina Bell ([email protected]) Join via Zoom.
IMPACT Committee. The IMPACT Committee continues to gather feedback from different stakeholder groups, and academic research data regarding the validity and fairness of IMPACT's rating system compared to other evaluation systems.
Contact: Regina Bell ([email protected])

To join one or more of these committees, click here.

Attend a Ward 7 Education Council Meeting

October 5^th 6:30PM Register here.

Register to Testify Before City Council on Bill 25-218 “Work Order Integrity Amendment Act of 2023”

This bill would require DGS to receive affirmative approval from a school-level staff member before marking maintenance or repair requests as complete in the Department’s internal work order system. All public testimony is virtual. Register here.

Attend in-person WTU Retirement Session

DCPS and DC Retirement Board will hold a 90 minute in-person retirement session on October 23, 2023.
Time and place TBD. We also hope to have a virtual option. Registration is required.

In the News

The Washington Post - DC Boundary Study Sparks Debate, Worry from Parents
NBC4 News - Washington Commanders teach Xs and Os of reading
NBC4 Washington - Teenager shot to death near high school in Northwest DC
The Washington Post - Student teen, bystander killed in separate shootings in District
ABC7 News - SE DC elementary riddled by bullets during school hours Monday, principal says
Washington Lawyers Committee - Students Deprived of Education During Pandemic Reach Landmark Settlement with District to Receive Special Education & Related Services at DC Jail

AM Brew News and Notices are archived at https://www.wtulocal6.net/AMBrew.

News Channel 4 - Teen Boy Shot and Killed in Northwest DC

Posted by · September 26, 2023 8:00 PM

News Channel 4 reported on the death of a teenage high school student shot by another student outside Dunbar High School today. Watch the full story here.

AM Brew - September 25, 2023

Posted by · September 25, 2023 7:00 AM

Here's What's Brewing Today

Monday, September 11, 2023

Good Morning, WTU Members!

For those celebrating Yom Kippur, Chag sameach! As you know, WTU’s Contract Negotiating Team has been working for months to prepare and deliver ground rules, several MOAs, and proposals to DCPS. Each week, the team alerts all WTU members of our progress through video updates available here. Unfortunately, as of today, we have not received concrete dates from DCPS to begin the bargaining process so we canceled last week’s Contract Negotiating Teams’ meeting. As you know, our contract expires this coming Saturday, September 30^th. Before it does, we ask you to sign WTU’s Safe Schools petition, post it on your social network, and encourage everyone you know to read and sign it.

With your help at the DCPS Block Party this past Saturday, we gave hundreds of free books of choice to every child and gathered hundreds of community signatures for our Safe Schools Petition. Thank you to those who came out to help despite the rain!

The World Cultural Festival is only held every 5 years. This year, it is an honor for the event to be held in DC. We are also pleased and grateful to announce that the World Cultural Festival will be presenting the Human Values Award to the WTU for our work in keeping students, teachers, and staff safe throughout the pandemic. Please take some time to come out to the festival to celebrate this exciting event.

This coming Saturday, September 30^th, we are pleased that will we have our Union Leadership Institute (ULI) in-person at AFT Headquarters (555 New Jersey Ave NW, Washington, DC 20001)! This will be the first time we will offer the in-person training since COVID-19. This one-day bootcamp is crafted to give all elected school building leaders (i.e. School Chapter Advisory Committee (SCAC), Local School Advisory Team (LSAT), personnel committee, etc.) the necessary knowledge needed to be effective building representatives. We need as many WTU building leaders as possible to attend this training given the contract battle we now face again. Consider ULI as your training to lead us in battle. When we fight together, we win together! I hope to see you there!

In solidarity,

Jacqueline Pogue Lyons, President
Washington Teachers’ Union