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A Message from WTU President
Good Morning WTU!
I hope your week was filled with remarkable achievements for you and your students! Last Monday, April 1st , WTU’s Contract Negotiations Team met with DC Councilmember Zachary Parker to discuss our teacher contract concerns as well as our concerns regarding IMPACT, and school budget cuts. We also learned about his new truancy legislation bill. To read a draft of his truancy bill, please click here. DC Councilmember Parker expressed his concerns about our expired contract and pledged to attend future bargaining session meetings to lend support. As you can see from this short clip, in a public meeting with Mayor Bowser held after we met, he questioned the Mayor regarding our expired contract. To learn more about the Contract Negotiation Team’s meeting with DC Councilmember Parker, please watch the weekly update here.
On Thursday, April 4th, WTU’s Vice President Regina Bell and I testified before the City Council of DC at the Budget Oversight Hearing. As always, we expressed our continuing frustration over the cavalier way DCPS addresses the School’s First in Budgeting Law. This year, as in year’s past, they failed to give teachers, parents, and community members enough time to review and address budgeting concerns and proposed cuts. This could leave schools struggling to retain the same number of teachers for school year 2024-25. The WTU believes DCPS’ budget gap occurs because they continue to pass Central Office costs onto individual schools. Moreover, the Mayor’s overall budget proposal simply does not reflect the needs of our students or teachers. To learn more, please watch my full testimony here and Vice President Bell’s testimony here.
In other, more positive news, I’d like to highlight a scholarship opportunity for your high school seniors. If you know of DC high school seniors living in Wards 5, 7, or 8 who have lost a loved one due to gun violence and who plan to attend a two or four-year college next year, please encourage them to apply for the Jeremy Black Scholarship Fund before May 10th. Their essay application may earn them a $4,000 scholarship toward college expenses! (See details below.) Also, if you missed reading Banneker HS journalism teacher Clare Berke’s article on why exposing students to experiential learning opportunities matter, please check it out here!
WTU’s Contract Action Team encourages all teachers to plan and/or take part in actions at your school. This will greatly support the work we do at the bargaining table. To learn more about how to participate, please reach out to your school’s building representative and WTU’s Organizer Mike Roland.
Thank you, as always, for your hard work and support! I hope you have plans for a relaxing and joyful Spring Break at the end of the week!
In solidarity,
Jacqueline Pogue Lyons, President
Washington Teachers’ Union
Weekly Update - WTU’s Contract Action Team (CAT)
Please watch WTU’s Contract Negotiating Team update here or by clicking on the picture below.
If you have ideas on what contract actions your school should take, please contact your Building Representative and WTU’s organizer, Mike Roland, for support. Together, we must show DCPS we will not tolerate their proposed reduction of our rights! To learn more, please download WTU’s two-page summary of WTU’s Contract Negotiating Team’s 10 Proposals and 3 Memorandums of Agreement released in October 2023.
Register for WTU’s Shared Visions Conference
Please do not forget to RSVP for the conference. We will welcome award-winning author Sharon E. Flake for both an in-person session with teachers/students on April 26th and a virtual session on April 27th. Teachers can attend either or both sessions. To RSVP, please click here. Please note that only teachers interested in attending the Friday, April 26th in-person session with your students should contact Mike Roland.
Tell HS Seniors to Apply for the 2024 Jerry Black Scholarship!
May 10th Deadline – HS seniors in Wards 5,7, or 8 may apply for the Jeremy “Jerry” Black Scholarship Fund at the TraRon Center honors Jerry Black whose life was taken prematurely due to gun violence. Students have the option of writing a 600-word essay or submitting a 3–5-minute video response to the essay questions. Scholarship Amount: $4,000 ($2,000 per semester) to cover cost of tuition. INFORMATION
Attend April 10th Ward 2 Education Council Meeting with DC Deputy Mayor of Education
Paul Kihn, DME, and his team will discuss the mayor's budget for education and workforce programs. Register for the meeting here.
Hiring Fair Opportunity, Current DCPS teacher
If you are a current DCPS educator looking to transfer schools and have completed DCPS Internal Transfer Process.docx, you are eligible to attend the hiring fair on Wednesday, April 10 from 5:00-7:00 pm at Dunbar High School to connect with schools across the district.
Note: This hiring fair is for the following positions: teacher, social worker, school psychologist and counselors. Please email [email protected] to receive an invitation.
DC Teachers - Share your voice!
Drs. Kristin Sinclair (Georgetown University) and Alisha Butler (Wesleyan University) are researching how people work to influence education policy decisions in their schools and communities in Washington, DC. Please consider signing up for a one-hour interview and sharing your perspectives on how teachers can help shape policy. Participating teachers will receive a $25 gift card as a thank-you for their time. All interviews will be over Zoom and responses will be anonymous and confidential. Sign up for an interview here: https://calendly.com/d/3z3-dkb-6h9/dc-education-policy-interviews
EmpowerEd and WTU’s 2024 Educator Wellbeing & Retention Survey
This survey is for ALL DC educators! This survey is for both DCPS and DC Public Charter School educators (not just classroom teachers). We define educator as anyone who works in a school and interacts with students. Responses are completely anonymous. To take the survey, please click here.
Upcoming Events, Activities & Meetings
- April 9 @4:30PM, Rep Assembly Meeting, Building Reps and delegates will receive a link to join as a panelist. INFORMATION
- April 9 @5PM, Retirement Workshop with DCPS and DC Retirement Board, INFORMATION
- April 9 @7PM, Ward 3 Ed Net - DME will address us on the Mayor's budget for next school year Register in advance for this meeting here to get a Zoom link.
- April 10 @7PM, Ward 2 Ed Council Meeting, Paul Kihn, DME, and his team will discuss the mayor's budget for education and workforce programs. Registration is required. INFORMATION
- April 20 @9-3PM, Praxis Boot Camp All Content (Rescheduled), INFORMATION
- April 26 @9:30-12:30PM, In-person Shared Vision Conference, INFORMATION
- April 27 @10-2PM, Virtual Shared Vision Conference, INFORMATION
In the News
- 04/04/2024 – The Washington Informer - Mayor Bowser Eyes Systematic Reset with New Truancy Bill
- 04/04/2024 – The Washington Post - Teenager fatally shot in DC’s Brookland Metro Station
Professional Development and Other Opportunities
Instructor: Nadia Torney
Class Meeting: April 20th, 2024
Time: 9AM-1PM
Location: Virtual
Cost: FREE
This class is based on the exact ETS Praxis content specifications for the Core Math, Core Reading, and Core Writing exams. Participants will review all the key subject matter knowledge on both tests, work through practice test questions and be provided detailed explanations. Participants will be able to apply new knowledge to the specific question types most likely to be encountered on the exam. No recertification or graduate credits offered.
LEA Look Forward – Weekly Update
LEA Look Forward – Weekly Update
Membership Update
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