The first 75 teachers who former Chancellor Michelle Rhee fired must be given about $7.5 million in back wages and offered positions with D.C. Public Schools, an arbitrator ruled. “The [termination] process used in this case was so devoid of due process as to be arbitrary and capricious,” arbitrator Charles Feigenbaum said in his verdict favoring the Washington Teachers’ Union, which has been fighting D.C. Public Schools officials over the July 2008 dismissals for more than two years.
Rhee fired 75 first- and second-year teachers after asking principals to recommend recent hires for dismissal. D.C. Public Schools officials told teachers that they couldn’t appeal because they had yet to earn tenure, but did not disclose the reasons for their dismissals.
Feigenbaum, who was mutually chosen by the union and the school system, ordered D.C. Public Schools to make a 60-day “good faith effort” to locate the 75 teachers, offer them reinstatement and make up two years of paychecks.
| Timeline July 2008 – Teachers receive a letter from D.C. Public Schools that their employment will terminate in August. |
| August 2008 – The teachers’ union files for an injunction to stop the firings, but the Superior Court denies the request. DCPS countersues to permanently shut down appeals. |
| August 2009 – Superior Court rejects the DCPS lawsuit and arbitration goes forward. |
| October 2009 – DCPS appeals the Superior Court’s decision, but files too late, and the appeal is dismissed. |
| February 7, 2011 – Arbitrator agrees with the union that DCPS improperly fired the teachers and orders DCPS to contact them, offer reinstatement, and provide back wages. |
“We have an important decision that shows you what termination was like during the Rhee-Fenty administration: It was wrong,” union President Nathan Saunders said.
Saunders estimated that with an average annual salary of $50,000, each teacher would cash in on $100,000 — costing the government-run school system $7.5 million while the city faces a $545 million deficit in fiscal 2012.
A spokeswoman for Mayor Vincent Gray said that with “the budget crisis that we’re in, at this point there’s no extra money,” but that the District would follow the law.
Mindy Holmes, a lawyer for the union, said the decision was binding and could be overturned only if “extreme bias” was found in Feigenbaum’s decision.
“We want stability in this system; we don’t want that kind of turnover that can come just because somebody doesn’t like you,” Holmes said.
D.C. Public Schools spokeswoman Safiya Simmons said the schools had not decided whether to fight the ruling. “The arbitrator’s opinion did not call into question the reasons why the teachers were separated, only the process,” Simmons said. “During their probationary period, the separated teachers did not exhibit the ability to be successful teachers at DCPS.”
The displacement of current teachers to accommodate reinstated teachers was not Saunders’ chief concern: “Who’s responsibility is that? Is it mine or is it Michelle Rhee’s? She is the one in DCPS administration. They committed the transgression.”
Rhee stepped down in October after her boss, Adrian Fenty, lost his bid for re-election in the Democratic mayoral primary.
Teachers who are unreachable or who waive reinstatement will have their records changed to show they resigned.
Saunders said he would like to meet with Gray to resolve litigation involving other terminated teachers, including about 80 probationary teachers fired in 2009.
Michael Hill, who was released from McKinley Technology High School in 2009, said he hopes the decision will set the ball rolling for his own reinstatement: “It’s a great day for D.C. Public Schools.”
