Members Vote to Oppose Central Office Bill

Members of the Washington Teachers' Union voted last night to oppose a move by D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee to fire central office employees "at will," an indication that rank-and-file teachers disagree with her first sweeping effort to overhaul city schools.

About 250 teachers, social workers, psychologists and other school workers voted during the union's representative assembly. The gathering usually draws a smaller crowd of union delegates, but members eager to have their say on the personnel proposal also took up seats in the auditorium at Bertie Backus Middle School in Northeast Washington.

The legislation endorsed by Rhee would reclassify 754 nonunion employees in the central office of the 49,000-student school system as "at-will" workers. That means that they would work at the chancellor's discretion and could be fired at any time.

When Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced the bill this month, he said it was the only way to enable Rhee to bring "wholesale changes" to the low-performing school system.

The D.C. Council will hold its first public hearing on the legislation Friday.

Although the bill would not apply to union members, teachers at the meeting said they were worried that their jobs could also be on the line if the legislation is approved. Rhee said this month that she would "absolutely" seek authority to fire low-performing teachers, just as she wants to with poorly performing central office workers.

Gloria Mitchell, a special education teacher at Ronald H. Brown Middle School in Northeast Washington, said she voted to oppose the bill in solidarity with other school employees.

"Even though I'm protected by a union, I still look out for others," Mitchell said. "I might be next. We have to work together."

After the vote, President George Parker said he would advocate the position of union members. "Our members have spoken," Parker said.

The group's opposition to the measure mirrors that of other unions. Joslyn Williams, president of the Metropolitan Washington Council AFL-CIO, said the proposal "overreaches."

Before the vote, officials from the school system and the mayor's office told the union members why they think the legislation is necessary.

According to teachers at the meeting, Deputy Chancellor Kaya Henderson said that giving central office employees "at-will" status would be a way to judge their work based on their job performance. She was flanked by JoAnne Ginsberg, the mayor's legislative and policy director, and Eric Lerum, chief of staff for Deputy Mayor for Education Victor Reinoso.

Parker and Saunders said teachers posed skeptical questions to the administration officials, who could not be reached for comment last night.