NEWS CITY DESK
Stick It to the Unions
Darrow Montgomery/File
Unions representing thousands of school workers say they were “not invited to the table” to talk about possibly returning to in-person learning in late August.
DC Public Schools Chancellor Dr. Lewis Ferebee By Amanda Michelle Gomez @AmanduhGomez Unions representing thousands of DC Public Schools employees say their members have had no real inf luence on whether they will return to work in-person in late August, or what that should look like if they even wanted to come back to the classroom. The Bowser administration is calling all the shots, union leaders say, even though DCPS workers will be tasked with executing whatever plan the executive ultimately selects. During a July 16 press conference about reopening schools, DCPS Chancellor Dr. Lewis Ferebee said his staff has been “in regular conversation” with unions about what the 2020-2021 academic year could look like for workers. There appears to be a difference of opinion on what conversation means. “Throughout this process, things have been proposed and then we are charged to react to
them,” says Richard Jackson, the president of the Council of School Officers, a 750-member union that represents principals and other school administrators. This has largely been the experience of all five unions representing workers, from principals to education aides to school nurses, across all of the District’s 115 traditional public schools. Mayor Muriel Bowser has yet to announce whether schools will reopen when the academic year begins August 31; a decision is expected July 31. But before her health department expressed concerns over increasing COVID-19 cases, Bowser was leaning toward a hybrid of in-person and remote education, and released a proposal July 16 that would have small groups of students and staff return to campuses for one to two days of learning every week. Bowser controls only DCPS, not public charter schools. “We find out what is going on when the public finds out what is going on,” Jackson tells City Paper. “And, as we’ve shared with DC Public Schools leadership, that is the most
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impractical way to do this, because then what happens is all the challenges are discussed in public, as opposed to if they really coordinated with their labor partners, we could front-load some of the challenges before they make public announcements.” The presidents for two unions, the Council of School Officers and the Washington Teachers’ Union, say learning should be 100 percent virtual until outstanding questions around operations and safety are answered. DCPS and the mayor’s office declined to comment. “Our teachers have expressed the need to get back to their classrooms for in-person teaching,” says WTU President Elizabeth Davis. Her union represents roughly 5,000 active and retired teachers. “But they want to do it in a manner that is going to be safe for themselves and for their students. That is not a hard ask.” The teachers’ union released its own report in late June about how to reopen schools safely. The compilation of survey findings and guidance authored by nearly 200 teachers makes a
number of recommendations, including having a licensed nurse present at all times students and staff are on campus, and providing hazard pay to educators expected to return to in-person instruction. DCPS has acknowledged and thanked WTU for its 20-page report, according to Davis, but has not indicated whether or not it will be including the recommendations in its own planning. Now the union is trying to get DCPS to codify recommendations in a memorandum of agreement, or an addendum to its new collective bargaining agreement. WTU has been in contract negotiations with DCPS since May 2019. Davis wants the Council to get involved. Unions writ large have reached out to members to discuss worker safety, and some leaders spoke with At-Large Councilmember Elissa Silverman, who chairs the labor committee, on Wednesday to go over possible solutions. “We need to listen to teachers. They should be at the forefront of any plan developed for reopening schools, and the school district has not been very good about listening to teachers,” says Davis. “Authentic collaboration requires more than just telling me what you’re going to do and expecting me to comply.” So far, the teachers’ union has filed two “unfair labor practice” complaints with the Public Employee Relations Board against DCPS for how it’s treated workers under the pandemic. The first complaint, filed May 19, alleges that DCPS violated D.C. law for refusing to bargain in good faith by delaying contract negotiations and blaming the pandemic; the board agreed. The second complaint, filed July 8, alleges that DCPS violated D.C. law for “unilaterally imposing changes on bargaining unit members without bargaining” by asking them to sign a “return to in person work intent form” in late June. The complaint says the union met with DCPS to go over its report on how to reopen schools safely just four days before officials sent the intent form, and DCPS made no mention of it. The board has yet to issue a decision. WTU told its members not to sign the intent form, which asked them to say whether they’ll be returning to in-person work or applying for leave by July 10. The Council of School Officers and the local chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees—a union representing 1,600 DCPS support workers, like clerical and educational aides—asked the same of their members. It was unclear to union leaders whether workers would be paid or penalized if they opted out of in-person work. It was also unclear what DCPS’ plans were to ensure it is safe for workers to return to in-person work. Davis was the only school union leader to be a part of the mayor’s handpicked ReOpen DC Advisory Group. While she is still struggling to collaborate with DCPS, Davis believes being on the group’s education committee enabled the creation of her union’s own report on safely reopening schools. She was only invited to join after public outcry over her initial exclusion from the education committee, which is devoid of any principals or parents, and mostly made up of CEOs and executive directors of
