On Thursday, Nov. 3, WTU teachers chanted in front of DCPS Central Office D.C. for Mayor Muriel Bowser to settle a contract for DC Teachers after not having one for three years.

“This is my 34th year,” said Tina Bradshaw Smith, a high school teacher. “This is the worst I have ever seen it.”

Bradshaw Smith says her school is overcrowded, and some days they have to move and borrow desks and chairs.

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Fox News reported on the missing pay issues affecting DCPS teachers. Dozens of teachers are missing thousands of dollars, some since the summertime. Paychecks are coming up short as much as $1000 a month. WTU's President Jacqueline Pogue-Lyons emphasized how when things like this happen, teachers feel disrespected. Given the lack of a contract in three years, it is hard to expect teachers to be patient with these issues. 

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WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — Washington Teachers’ Union (WTU) President Jacqueline Lyons said that she is worried that DCPS isn’t keeping enough teachers in their classrooms.

“We’ve done our own research… of the 629 that we surveyed, 69 percent said that they’ve considered leaving,” Lyons said. “I was a teacher in Ward 8 for many years, they just don’t feel like they get the support they need.” 

(Watch Channel 7 News story here.)

WASHINGTON (7News) — DC Teachers' Union President Jacqueline Pogue Lyons says the school system loses between 1/4 and 1/3 of teachers every year.

She tells me a recent union survey shows most DC teachers are not happy with their jobs.

"Everyone says they love the teachers, they appreciate their work, but when it comes time to show it, they feel like it's just words and not actions," she said.

Among the survey findings: most DCPS teachers are not satisfied with current conditions.

More than half believe DCPS has not treated teachers with respect, negotiated honestly, or made fair contract offers.

On Tuesday, October 25th, the Washington Post aired the results of a WTU survey of more than 600 teachers. Nearly half said they will likely leave their jobs in the next few years. Four out of five are unhappy in their jobs. As frustrations about the contract or lack thereof rise, teachers cite lack of a raise, rising inflation, increased workloads and teacher turnover as their main concerns. 

“Teachers’ dissatisfaction with their working conditions affects children’s learning conditions,” said Jacqueline Pogue Lyons, the union’s president, in a statement. “Teachers are stressed, overwhelmed and upset that they don’t get the support and compensation they need to do their jobs as well as they’d like to. As a result, more and more folks are leaving these jobs, and we have more vacancies than we can fill.”

The survey, which was conducted between Sept. 21-26 paints a grim picture of the city’s public school workforce. Teachers expressed concerns over a lack of support from principals, insufficient planning time and class sizes.