Here's What's Brewing Today

July 19, 2021

Everyone is anxious for schools to reopen this fall. After more than a year of being away from our school buildings because of the public health pandemic, it’s imperative that students and teachers get back to school.

Read more here.

FY2022 Budget Vote

The City Council will be VOTING ON TUESDAY on the School Year 2021-2022 budget. It is important that you contact Chairman Mendelson NOW ([email protected] or @ChmnMendelson) to ask him to reallocate $3.5m to ensure EVERY SCHOOL HAS A FULL-TIME LIBRARIAN.

Please CONTACT YOUR COUNCILMEMBERS NOW. Make your voice heard now and support your colleagues and our students!

Get Reading DC!

DCSBOE Ward 2 Representative Allister Chang is looking to speak with reading instructors, school librarians, and other interested educators about OSSE's recently released Comprehensive Literacy Plan. Please reach out to him directly at [email protected] if you are available and interested in providing your feedback on the plan. 

The WTU is looking for volunteers to help us analyze DCPS’ response to a FOIA request for information on literacy interventions. Please contact Joe Weedon @ [email protected] if you’d like to help.

The Statewide Data Warehouse Amendment Act

The DC State Board of Education introduced the Statewide Data Warehouse Amendment Act last week which would require OSSE to report annually on the state of teaching & teacher retention. Learn more here: https://lims.dccouncil.us/downloads/LIMS/47658/Introduction/B24-0355-Introduction.pdf

Sick Leave and/or the Maternity Leave Banks

DCPS will not accept individual requests to be removed from either the Sick Leave and/or the Maternity Leave Bank. Please contact Charmaine Wilks at [email protected] before the October 1, 2021 if you’d like to be removed from these banks.

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

Here's What's Brewing Today

July 12, 2021

Get Reading DC

The City Council will be VOTING THIS WEEK on the School Year 2021-2022 budget. We hope that Councilmember Allen will be introducing a budget amendment requiring DCPS to reallocate $3.5m to ensure EVERY SCHOOL HAS A FULL-TIME LIBRARIAN.

Please CONTACT YOUR COUNCILMEMBERS NOW to ask them to support this Budget Amendment.

Make your voice heard now and support your colleagues and our students!

First Lady Visits Payne ES, Updates on Negotiations for SY2021-2022

The WTU was honored to join First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and AFT President Weingarten on a tour of Payne Elementary School last week. We used the opportunity to tell her how passionate teachers are to return to their school buildings – SAFELY.

The MOU signed between DCPS and the WTU in December 2020 will remain in effect until the return to school in the fall. If you have any questions or concerns about facility safety if you’re working this summer, please report to your Field Representatives.

The WTU is continuing negotiations with DCPS regarding an MOU for the 2021-2022 School Year and submitted a detailed proposal to DCPS last week. At this time, the DCPS request for educators to disclose their vaccination status remains under negotiation and you do not yet need to submit your vaccination information to DCPS. We are committed to ensuring that you will not be compelled to submit your information but we hope to reach an agreement with DCPS that will compensate you appropriately if you choose to disclose your status.

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

Here's What's Brewing Today

July 6, 2021

School Year 2021-2022 Budget Update

It’s not too late to CONTACT THE COUNCIL to ask that every school has a full-time librarian for the 2021-2022 school year. Librarians play an important role in building positive cultures and supporting students and teachers in developing the literacy skills of our students. Make your voice heard now and support your colleagues!  The Chairman will be publishing his changes to the Mayor's proposed budget this week and the Council will be voting on the budget soon.

Supporting Literacy & DCPS Librarians. The WTU has filed a grievance against DCPS on behalf of excessed DCPS librarians, librarians who have been terminated as the result of excessing and teachers who have been denied the services librarians provide as a result of cuts to library programs by DCPS. The grievance alleges that DCPS has violated the WTU contract by eliminating school librarian positions. 

The WTU Welcomes Jannett Lopez & Juan Gonzalez

The WTU would like to welcome Jannett Lopez and Juan Gonzalez to the Field Services team. Regina Bell, the WTU’s general vice president, has also officially joined the WTU office team. Please welcome them.

COVID-19 Leave Extension to August 29, 2021

By Mayor's Order 2021-038, the District’s Public Health Emergency (PHE) was extended to July 25, 2021. Please note that COVID Sick Leave was last set to expire on May 20, 2021 with the expiration of the PHE but is now extended through August 29, 2021.

D.C. COVID-19 Support Emergency Amendment Act (CSEA) 

The CSEA temporarily amends the DC FMLA to create a new COVID-19 job-protected leave category (“COVID-19 Leave”). This entitlement is effective as of March 11, 2020 and expires on August 29, 2021.

COVID Sick Leave 

The provisions of COVID Sick Leave apply until August 29, 2021. Under COVID Sick Leave, the employee is eligible for up to ten (10) days (up to 80 hours) of leave at the regular rate of pay if unable to work (or unable to telework) due to a specific list of criteria.

Questions regarding the different types of leave can be directed to your Field Representative or to the DCPS Leave of Absence team at [email protected]. 

REMINDER: YOU'RE ON VACATION!!!

The WTU wants to encourage you to take time for yourself and your own mental health needs. If you have not already, please remember to set up your out-of-office reply as you are not obligated to read or reply to any email messages sent to your dc.gov email account after June 25, 2021. Enjoy your summer!!!

Attention All Special Education Teachers and Related Service Providers

If you have received any correspondence from your Principal or LEA Representative mandating you continue to complete any assignments or case management responsibilities after Friday, June 25, 2021, please contact Janice Brown Parker immediately at 202-957 9928 or [email protected].

Maternity Leave and/or Sick Leave Banks

Due to overwhelming demand, open enrollment for the Maternity Leave and/or Sick Leave Banks for the 2021-2022 school year will re-open August 1 through August 31, 2021. This will be your last chance to sign-up for the 2021-2022 school year.

To join either bank you donate 8 hours (one day) of the total 96 hours (12 days) that is loaded to your leave balance on October 1, 2021, the beginning of the fiscal year. Please be mindful that if you join both banks you will donate two days or 16 hours. After the donation is taken you must wait three months before you can access the banks. Thus, the first time you can access the bank would be January 1, 2022.  Once you join the bank, you remain in the bank until you opt-out.

If you have any questions about either bank, contact Charmaine Wilks at [email protected] or 202 517-1475. Enrollment links will be sent out again on August 1.

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

Here's What's Brewing Today

June 28, 2021

Thank you for your perseverance during this trying year! As you close up your classrooms for the summer, please ensure that the WTU has your personal contact information on file so you can continue to receive updates from us. While you’re away, our team will continue our work to ensure DC can safely reopen schools for the 2021-2022 school year and to improve the District’s IMPACT system.  And, we hope you’ll get involved in our campaign to close achievement gaps by highlighting your reading lists this summer!

Get Reading DC

The Council will be announcing their first budget marks this week. This process, outlining the changes the Council is making to the Mayor’s budget proposal is our first benchmark to know if we’ve secured funding to ensure EVERY school has a full-time librarian. 

It’s not too late to CONTACT THE COUNCIL. 

Click here to learn more about our campaign to #SaveDCPSLibrarians.

Honored Schools Life-Changing Teacher Award!

The WTU would like to congratulate Patricia West and Whittier Education Campus for winning the Winner of the 2021 Honored Schools Life-Changing Teacher Award!

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

Moral March on Manchin & McConnell

June 23 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm EDT

What is happening in state legislatures across the country in terms of passing voting restrictions is threatening our democracy. What extremists are doing in state legislatures is hurting us all. There has been a clarion call coming out of West Virginia, Kentucky and all across the nation. This democracy is not only worth fighting for, but that the people are rising up to defend it. Join us on June 23rd as we stand against voter suppression, the filibuster, and political retrogression.

Here's What's Brewing Today

June 21, 2021

Get Reading DC!

In the Mayor’s proposed budget for School Year 2021-2022, 37 schools across the District do not have a full-time librarian. 17 schools, or 46% of schools, without a full-time librarian are in Wards 7 & 8 (98% of students impacted in those schools are black).

CONTACT THE COUNCIL TODAY TO ASK THEM

TO ENSURE EVERY DCPS SCHOOL HAS A FULL-TIME LIBRARIAN.

Click here to learn more about our campaign to #SaveDCPSLibrarians.

Join the Communications Committee on Tuesday, June 22 at 4:30 PM to help us design our on-going social media campaign to Close the Literacy Gap and #SaveDCPSLibrarians.  Via Zoom. Meeting ID: 829 9103 1620; Passcode: 779042

End-of-Year WTU Virtual Dance Party with Kaiser Permanente (KP)

DJ Chris Styles (Tuesday, June 22 @ 7:15-8pm)

Join the WTU and KP to dance the 2020-21 school year away. Rock your school gear, represent your sorority or fraternity, and/or your alma mater as dancers are spotlighted throughout the hour. Prizes and family fun!!! Register HERE.

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

Here's What's Brewing Today

June 14, 2021

Get Reading DC!

We need your help!  Join the WTU Legislative Committee on Tuesday, June 15 at 4:30 PM to help us plan a campaign to close the District’s alarming reading gaps.  Via Zoom:  Meeting ID: 859 6155 0231; Passcode: 328360.

Achievement gaps across the District of Columbia continue to grow. In 2019, less than 30% of Black students were reading on grade level; we can expect gaps to have further increased due to COVID-19. Yet, DCPS school budgets continue to fall short of the need, forcing schools serving high percentages of students in need to cut staff and programs.

The band-aids that DCPS continue to propose - $14m for high-impact tutoring – will not close the gaps. We need more educators in our classrooms to serve those who are struggling to read. We need to implement co-teaching and collaborative teaching models to connect reading to the world our students live in. And, we need a School Librarian in every school to support educators as well as students.

Literacy is not just the ability to read and write—it is a right. We invite you to get involved and help us plan our campaign to help close the achievement gaps that are plaguing the District’s youngest readers.

DCPS Licensure Update

Given the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) has granted DCPS a final year of licensure flexibility for new hires for SY21-22. DCPS is under special conditions for federal title funding due to longstanding noncompliance with this requirement, and as such, school leaders will see heightened sanctions for employees who do not take steps to come into compliance.

Current Employees

Terminations for licensure non-compliance for SY 20-21 will not be rescinded. However, educators are eligible to apply for a position if they have submitted an OSSE application between June 1, 2020, and May 27, 2021. In addition to meeting this requirement, all other onboarding and clearance requirements must be met for candidates to be selected for rehire.

New Hires

In order to be hired for SY21-22, candidates must meet all onboarding and clearance requirements. All new hires must secure an OSSE license by March 1, 2022, or they will be terminated effective end of SY21-22. To ensure all staff who do not hold an active DC license make progress towards the March 1 deadline, we will implement a progressive discipline action plan that is supported by a comprehensive communication plan. School leaders will be asked to provide oversight and support to staff to ensure all deadlines are met.

Questions regarding this update can be directed to the Teacher Recruitment and Selection team ([email protected]) or the Licensure team ([email protected]).

Option 2 VEBA Guidance for Eligible Excessed WTU Members

VEBA Benefit application for SY 2020-2021 is available on the WTU website. The Benefit is available to excessed members of the WTU bargaining unit with 20 or more years of service who have not been able to find placement in another DCPS school. Click here to determine whether you are eligible. To be eligible for Option 2 Benefits, you must not have been awarded another Option available to Excessed Permanent Status Teachers as provided for in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (Option 1, Buy-Out or Option 3, A Year to Secure A New Placement) and you must meet all of the following requirements:

• You were in a unit of Teachers represented by the Washington Teachers’ Union and employed by DCPS in or after the spring semester of 2012 pursuant to the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, and
• You have 20 or more Years of Service as determined by the DCPS Teachers’ Retirement Plan, and
• You meet the qualification requirements of an Excessed Permanent Status Teacher, and
• In the final year of employment as a Teacher you had a final Evaluation Score of effective or higher, pursuant to the DCPS Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, and
• ·During the sixty (60) calendar days following the effective date of your excess, you are available for employment as a Teacher with DCPS and you made a “substantial effort” to secure a placement within DCPS as defined in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. A “substantial effort” is defined as a good a good faith effort to interview at a minimum of five (5) Schools or a good faith effort to interview for all vacant positions for which you are qualified if the total number of such positions system-wide is fewer than five (5), and
• You agree to waive your right to reemployment as a Permanent Status Teacher with DCPS, and
• You have met all of the requirements for election of an Option for Excessed Permanent Status Teachers as set forth in the Collective Bargaining Agreement

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

Here's What's Brewing Today - Monday, June 7, 2021

Member Assembly - Tuesday, June 8, 2021 at 4:30 PM (Via Zoom)

All WTU members are invited to participate in 2021 June Member Assembly.

Please click here to register.

Read In to Save DCPS Librarians; Council Budget Hearing

Many thanks to the librarians that attended last week’s "Read-In to Save School Libraries." As we gained our first detailed look at the Mayor’s 2021-2022 budget proposal, we continue to see an erosion of resources reaching our students; librarian positions are at the forefront of our work to ensure all students receive a rich, well-rounded education and for our city to close the stark and growing achievement gaps that plague our city. We hope you'll all join us in our work to #SaveDCPSLibrarians.

As we look ahead to the fall and plan to reopen our schools for the 2021-2022 school year, President Lyons testified that DC needs to make three key investments to close long-standing achievement gaps. Reduced Class Size. Implement Co-Teaching Models. And a Librarian in Every School.

Read President Lyons statement to the DC Council on the FY2022 budget here: FY22 Budget Testimony - WTU Local 6. 

We encourage you to join us at tomorrow’s Member Assembly to learn more about our work and join the upcoming Legislative Committee and Communications Committee meetings to GET INVOLVED and help us build campaigns to invest in teachers and close the literacy gap.

ESY 2021 Student Snapshot and Academic Work Portfolio

Given the amount of queries the WTU received from members, we met with the Division of Specialized Instruction regarding the ESY 2021 Student Snapshot and Academic Work Portfolio. As a result of that meeting, Special Education teachers should have received updated communications from the ESY Team notifying teachers that the portfolio submissions do not need to be new work that is created or lesson plans, rather, it is a compilation of work that has already been created, completed, and used with the student this SY. You do NOT need to create or develop new materials. That is, you are compiling the relevant work samples that a student has been working on and/or completed during the current SY to address the academic goals where they have met the eligibility criteria for ESY.

If you have been requested to create lesson plans, and/or create and provide new assignments/work for the goal(s) that you have selected for ESY, please contact Field Services Specialist Janice Brown Parker at [email protected] immediately.

AM Brew News and Notices will be archived at https://www.wtulocal6.net/AMBrew. Please bookmark the site and check back for regular news and notices as well as to find items from past editions of the AM Brew.

Here's What's Brewing Today

June 1, 2021

Last week, Mayor Bowser released her Fiscal Year 2022 (school year 2021-2022) budget. Join the WTU on June 2 on the steps of the Wilson Building to #FundOurFuture and support DCPS Librarians and call for small class sizes and the adoption of co-teaching and collaborative teaching models to help our students recover from the pandemic.

Read more about the Mayor’s budget proposal here.

Enrollment for the Sick Leave and Maternity Leave Banks is OPEN.

Open enrollment will occur from June 1, 2021 through June 30, 2021 and from August 1, 2021 through August 31, 2021.

Click here to submit your information or contact Charmaine Wilks at 202 517-1475 or [email protected] with any questions. If you miss the Open Enrollment dates, you will not be able to enroll in "the Banks" until the next Open Seasons in June 2022 and August 2022. This is strictly for the use of the Sick Leave and Maternity Banks and not the Dental/Vision enrollment.

June DCPS and OSSE Licensure Webinar

Technology Problems?

Yesterday, Mayor Bowser released her Fiscal Year 2022 (school year 2021-2022) budget. Join the WTU on June 2 on the steps of the Wilson Building to #FundOurFuture and support DCPS Librarians and call for small class sizes and the adoption of co-teaching and collaborative teaching models to help our students recover from the pandemic.

For education, the Mayor’s budget proposal includes a 3.6% increase in the base amount of the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula, plus increased weights for English Language Learners and At-Risk Students. The Mayor’s budget also establishes new microtransit routes to provide students at 20+ elementary, middle, and high schools Safe Passage areas in Wards 7 & 8 and an $8 million increase for school-based mental health services. We also applaud the Mayor’s investments in affordable housing and direct economic supports to residents who have been hit hardest by the pandemic.

June 2 – Save DCPS Librarians READ-IN at the John A. Wilson Building, 4-5pm.

June 3 – DC Council, Committee of the Whole - FY2022 Budget Hearing

June 3 – Building Representative Call with President Pouge Lyons

June 5 – WTU Executive Committee meeting

June 7 - C.O.P.E.

June 8 – General Membership Meeting

June 15 – Legislative Committee Meeting

June 17 – WTU Training on the Grievance Procedures, 4:30pm

June 22 – Communications Committee Meeting

June 24 - Last Day of School for Students

June 25 - Records Day / PD Day for Educators

*Check the Weekly AM Brew for log-in information for all events and the AM Brew Blog for additional events.

Here's What's Brewing Today

May 24, 2021

ICYMI: DC Educator Wellness Center

In partnership with EVERFI, a social impact educational technology company, the WTU is pleased to share with you the DC Educator Wellness Center. The funding for the DC Educator Wellness Center is provided by Johnson & Johnson. In the DC Educator Wellness Center you will find access to a prevention-forward, self-guided, digital microlearning experience designed to provide you with on-demand content related to mental health. The growing list of topics includes Mental Health Basics, Managing Mental Health Challenges, Developing Resilience, Supporting Loved Ones With Mental Health Challenges, and Mindful Living. You can read more here.

Budget Advocacy!  Support our Students!

‘Read-In’ to Save School Libraries, June 2, 4-5pm

Join DC Public School Librarians, Family and Friends to Save School Libraries and Librarians

Join us as we kick off School Budget Week, prioritizing literacy and working to prevent staff cuts across our schools. Receive free books, prizes, treats and learn how you can support our students. Watch your email for more information on how you can get involved!

Sign-up to Testify on the FY2022 School Budgets

The Committee of the Whole will be holding an Oversight Hearing on the School Year 2021-2022 budgets on June 3, 2021 at 9am. Sign-up to testify: www.ChairmanMendelson.com/testify

Council’s Special Committee on COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery will hold a hearing on May 26 focused on what the District’s public education system should look like coming out of the PHE. Email Malcolm Cameron at [email protected] before 6:00 p.m. on Monday, May 24, 2021 to sign-up to speak.

We Need Your Input

School Year 2021-22 Budgets. Let us know if your School Year 2021-2022 Budget has been cut and what positions are being eliminated. Click here to take our short survey.

Educators - Report your Certification and Recertification Concerns. Click here to let us know about your troubles obtaining your teaching credentials.

Class Coverage Survey. Are you being pulled from your regular duties? Click here to take our quick survey.

SICK LEAVE & MATERNITY LEAVE BANKS.

Click below to read more news and updates.