Some details on the Tentative Agreement. Your thoughts?

As you probably know, there is a new tentative agreement between DCPS and the membership of the WTU. I haven’t seen it yet (and probably you haven’t either), but will read it over the shoulder of a close relative who is still employed in DCPS.

Oh, here is a link to the contract, as a PDF document. (Thanks to an alert reader!)

As a retired teacher, I don’t get to vote on it, though I will share what I find.

First of all, there is a LOT of brand-new language in this contract. This is not just a slight re-working of previous contracts (although some of the later articles don’t appear to me to have changed much of their substance – at firest glance). I was on the WTU negotiating team during September of 2001, and got pretty familiar with most of the provisions.

A lot of the Definitions are new.

Some of Article 1 on Recognition and Dues is new, but most looks familiar.

Article 2 on Quality Education seems to me to be entirely brand-new. READ IT CAREFULLY.

Article 3 on Fair Practices is mostly new.

Article 4 on Teacher Transfer Policy is almost entirely new. READ IT CAREFULLY.

Article 5 on Personnel Files looks mostly familiar.

Article 6, Grievances and Arbitration, contains a lot of new language. READ IT CAREFULLY.

Article 7, Discipline Policies (against teachers) has a lot of new language. R.I.C!!!

Articles 8 through 14 seem pretty familiar.

Article 15 on Teacher Evaluation, has some interesting new language. READ IT.

Articles 16 and 17 are mostly familiar, but you can now take leave in 1- or 2-hour increments, and there are a number of other changes in leave policies. READ IT!

Article 18 is on Student Behavior and Discipline, and appears to be mostly new. READ IT!

Article 23 spells out planning periods, length of school day, length of school year, and so on. Lots of new details. READ IT.

Pay increases are spelled out in Article 36. (I know you will read this article.) If your rating is “minimally effective” you do not go to the next step. For those of you who are bad at percents, raises of 3%, 3%, 5%, 4%, and 4% means to multiply 1.03 times 1.03 times 1.05 times 1.04 times 1.04. Using a calculator, I get a result of about 1.2048, which means that even if you stayed at the same step, you would earn an increase of about 20.48% over 5 years.

Administrative pay, which includes summer school, Saturday school, class coverage, and after-school activities, are paid at $34/hour.

After November of this year, DCPS will no longer give bonuses to teachers who receive National Board Certification.

Article 39 has a lot of new language on RIFs, Furloughs, and abolishments. READ IT.

Interesting language in article 40 on availability of funds:

“The Parties agree that all provisions of this Agreement are subject to the availability of funds.

“40.2 Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed as a promise that Congress, the DC Council, or any other organization shall appropriate sufficient funds to meet the obligations set forth in this Agreement.

“40.3 DCPS agrees to provide financial certification that DCPS can meet the obligations of this contract before moving toward final approval. The parties agree that the failure to provide the funds to meet the obligations of the Agreement pertaining to base salary, benefits (defined as the provisions governing optical, dental and legal benefits), and mutual

consent, is a material breach of contract by DCPS. The consequences of that breach will be settled by a court or an arbitrator, unless otherwise negotiated by the Parties.”

Got that? DCPS and the District don’t even promise that they really have the money! And if they declare that they’re broke, the Union will have to try to take them to court!

To repeat what I said, YOU REALLY NEED TO READ THIS CONTRACT CAREFULLY. I don’t get to vote on it, only active teachers do. What do you think?