Earn College Credits and or PLU's! Enroll in WTU's Fall Professional Development Courses before Friday, September 9th to catch the Early Bird Discount on courses for WTU members. Non-members are also welcome to enroll in WTU’s professional development courses. All courses are research-based, peer-to-peer and solutions-driven. Want to learn more about managing students with behavioral or emotional problems? Join WTU instructor Staci Abrams in her class on Managing Behaviors in School Communities (MBSC) as she shares effective mitigation and prevention strategies. 

August 24, 2022 | WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, President Biden announced an historic action to cancel student debt for tens of millions of Americans. Today’s action will provide up to $20,000 in debt cancellation to people with student debt who used a Pell Grant to pay for college and up to $10,000 in debt cancellation for all other borrowers, so long as borrowers earn less than $125,000 per individual or $250,000 per household. More information about this historic announcement is available here.

Listen to a WHUR Radio interview with WTU President Jaqueline Lyons Pogue where she discusses the reasons some teachers are leaving the profession and what DCPS can do to help. The podcast interview titled "Where are the teachers?," cites the mass exodus of teachers leaving the field in the last year.  All of this as school systems are hoping to hire more teachers to fill classrooms.  

When interviewed for the July 15th article in The Washington Post, WTU President Jacqueline Pogue Lyons expressed serious concerns with the high numbers of DC teacher resignations compared to other counties in the DC region. The lack of a contract, she said, doesn't help. 

April 8, 2022 - Editorial by Jacqueline Pogue Lyons, President, Washington Teachers’ Union

Nearly one-third of D.C. schools had heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems that were not working properly earlier this year. Students in some communities didn’t receive computers until weeks into the school year. The city took months to fill vacant covid-19 coordinator and substitute teaching positions. School communities struggle with budgets that fail to provide the basics for their students. Educators were not provided funds to purchase needed classroom supplies until December. These examples should be enough for D.C. to consider changes to mayoral control of our public schools.

“They said they’re trying to make improvements on repair and response time but some things are an emergency,” Lyons said. 

“Elevators aren’t working, which means you have concerns about moving classrooms to where students and staff with special needs have access,” she added.