An independent arbitrator in Montgomery County has ordered the District of Columbia Public Schools to rehire 75 teachers who were fired in 2008 by former Chancellor Michelle Rhee for, among other things, being AWOL from school for weeks at a time, not preparing lesson plans, cursing at students, poor classroom management and high levels of student failure. Nathan Saunders, head of the Washington Teachers’ Union, expects that 80 more probationary teachers fired by Rhee on similar grounds in 2009 likewise will be reinstated. All will be given full back pay and compensation from their termination dates. The unraveling of Rhee’s storied efforts to reform DCPS from within began last year with the election defeat of her mentor, former Mayor Adrian Fenty. The WTU officially endorsed then-Council Chairman Vincent Gray, who made no effort to hide the fact that Rhee’s aggressive school reforms would be scaled back if he was elected to succeed Fenty. The latest setback comes courtesy of arbitrator Charles Feigenbaum, who gave DCPS 60 days to put the fired teachers back on the payroll.

Feigenbaum’s decision was not based on evidence that Rhee’s firing decisions weren’t justified by poor performance. Instead, Feigenbaum pointed to Rhee’s failure to follow precisely the process outlined in the collective bargaining agreement in effect at the time. Her failure constituted a “glaring and fatal flaw” that voided her decisions, he ruled. Specifically, Rhee did not provide fired teachers with an official “reason” for their terminations — even though all the firings were recommended by the terminated teachers’ principals. In other words, they must have had more than a clue that their performance was unsatisfactory.