Parker Fires Back at Rhee Over "Plan B"

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
"You can't fire your way to a quality school system," Washington Teacher's Union Local 6 President George Parker told Union City Thursday. Parker was reacting to D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee's announcement Thursday morning that she plans to end-run the union contract. "I'll tell you this: we're going to protect the rights of our teachers against arbitrary and capricious abuse. That's not going to happen," Parker vowed. Talks have bogged down over Rhee's controversial proposal to offer teachers higher pay in return for her ability to terminate "ineffective" teachers. "She could fire all 4,000 teachers tomorrow and it wouldn't solve the school system's problems," said Parker. "Those problems are systemic and we're deeply disappointed that the Chancellor is instead choosing to focus on firing teachers instead of addressing these issues." Parker pointed to Rhee's failure to deal with shortages of teachers, continuing student safety issues and a lack of professional development for teachers. "Yet these are the same teachers who - despite all the turmoil last year - created the greatest growth in student test scores last year!" DC teachers "could do a lot more in the classroom if they get the systemic support they need," Parker said, "But you can't threaten your way to success." Rhee's unilateral actions mean the WTU "has to decide if further negotiations are a waste of time and we need to move to impasse," Parker added.
- reported by Chris Garlock