Officials inside the District of Columbia’s labor relations board said they expect that D.C. Public Schools will be told to rehire the 75 teachers who were fired from D.C. Public Schools in 2008 when the panel reviews the schools’ appeal on Wednesday. The Public Employee Relations Board is likely to review on Wednesday an appeal from D.C. Public Schools that it should not have to reinstate and pay $7.5 million in back wages to probationary teachers fired in 2008, as required by an arbitrator.
“It’s pretty rare — only 10 percent of the time do they approve these requests,” said an official within the labor relations office who was not authorized to speak on the record. “For instance, maybe if there was a change in the law while the arbitrator was making his decision.”
Arbitrator Charles Feigenbaum ruled in February that DCPS improperly fired the batch of first- and second-year teachers by relying on recommendations from their principals but never informing teachers of the charges against them or giving the teachers a chance to refute them.
Charges against the teachers included telling students to go to “H-E-L-L,” playing gospel music in the classroom, and going AWOL for weeks. But the lack of due process violated DCPS’ collective bargaining agreement with the Washington Teachers’ Union, Feigenbaum said.
The labor relations board can decide only if Feigenbaum’s decision violates a specific law — which DCPS argues it does.
DCPS’ appeal says the award violates public policy because “critical public policy requires DCPS to provide children attending schools in the District of Columbia with a quality education” and because “there has been no demonstration that ‘but for’ lack of due process … all employees would actually be entitled to receive pay.”
DCPS also argues that Feigenbaum “exceeded the jurisdiction granted to him” by taking liberties with the collective bargaining agreement, such as creating a probationary teacher’s right to a lengthy challenge of his termination.
“This award hampers — indeed hamstrings — the ability of DCPS to fulfill its mission of educating children in the District,” the schools’ attorneys wrote. “It allows bad teachers back in the classroom where they can do incalculable damage.”
The teachers union has argued that the fired teachers are good instructors whose rights were violated. At a news conference in March, four of the 75 teachers charged their principals with firing them over personal disagreements instead of their job performance — or simply lying.
“As a faculty, we complained early in the year about no textbooks being available,” said John Dixon, who taught fourth grade at Oyster-Adams Bilingual School. “One of the things that was said in my letter was there were boxes of textbooks that I wouldn’t open.”
Fred Lewis, a spokesman for acting Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson, said that if the appeal is turned down, “DCPS will pay the teachers when we ascertain what is owed and any payments can be processed, or as specified by any order.”
