The teacher played religious gospel songs for his students and had been warned about playing DVDs during class. Students reported that he told them to go to “H-E-L-L,” all spelled out. “[He] said he didn’t see anything wrong with it because the word hell is in the Bible,” wrote a D.C. Public Schools principal in his recommendation that the teacher be fired in 2008.
| Inside eight dismissals |
| Why principals said teachers deserved to be fired: |
| &bull Skipped meetings, violated professional protocols with principal, sent mass e-mails rebuking her supervisors to entire school staff. |
| &bull Poor classroom managament skills, AWOL from school since May 5, 2008 (recommendations were due June 13) |
| &bull Couldn’t manage classroom, didn’t follow lesson plans, ignored suggestions for improvement |
| &bull “Rude and aggressive demeanor” required principal to bring in two teaching assistants to help students |
| &bull Lesson plans “sketchy or non-existent,” did nothing to improve high student failure rate |
| &bull 24 tardies and 20 absences following a sick leave, mostly call-ins on Mondays and Fridays |
| &bull Played DVDs and religious gospel songs during class, students say he told them to go to “H-E-L-L” |
| &bull Could not manage his students even after moving difficult students to another class and bringing in helper teacher |
D.C. Public Schools dismissed that teacher, as well as 74 others deemed ineffective by their principals, as of Aug. 1, 2008.
But an independent arbitrator ruled last week that then-Chancellor Michelle Rhee had improperly fired those 75 teachers because she never told them why they were being dismissed — “The glaring and fatal flaw,” arbitrator Charles Feigenbaum wrote in his verdict favoring the Washington Teachers’ Union, which has been fighting DCPS on the firings for more than two years.
Because of the improper dismissal, Feigenbaum gave DCPS 60 days to contact the teachers and offer them positions in the school system, and about two-years back pay — a total sum of about $7.5 million.
But in reviewing eight teachers’ recommendations for nonrenewal, Feigenbaum conceded that tales like teachers cursing at students “warrant termination of a probationary teacher,” if true.
Another teacher who was reinstated had “excessive absences and latenesses, including 24 tardies and 20 days of absences after returning from two months of sick leave for an injury,” her principal wrote. “After the initial sick leave, most of these absences were call-ins on Mondays and Fridays.”
Yet another teacher’s lesson plans were “always sketchy or nonexistent,” according to his principal. “He has had an excessive failure rate at every marking period and has not provided any interventions for his struggling students.”
One principal reported a teacher for “sending mass e-mails rebuking her supervisors to the entire staff.”
Another teacher’s principal said she had been “AWOL” for about a month.
DCPS spokeswoman Safiya Simmons said all 75 firings were based on principals’ recommendations. School officials have not decided whether to appeal the ruling.
“However, we remain confident that our rationale for separating the teachers was sound and substantiated, supported by the fact that the arbitrator didn’t bring it into question or refute it in the final decision,” Simmons said.
An editorial by The Washington Post called the arbitrator’s ruling “a baffling decision.” “Who would want their children taught by these teachers?” it said.
But teachers union President Nathan Saunders said he expects a similar verdict for about 80 more probationary teachers — new hires who had yet to earn tenure — fired in 2009.
“These are simply allegations. The fact is the allegations were never presented, the accusing principals were never named, and the teachers never received the right to defend themselves,” Saunders said.
Some teachers say they were fired simply because their principals did not like them, a lawyer for the teachers union told reporters. “For all we knew, that was the only reason these teachers were fired. That’s all they would know, too,” Mindy Holmes said.
