Column: Wasting money at D.C. schools

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Washington DC (Map, News) - Repeat after me: The D.C. Public Schools is not an employment agency; nor is it an arm of the Washington Teachers Union or the Council of School Officers. DCPS is a $1 billion service-delivery corporation designed to provide the highest-quality education to youth in the nation's capital.

If this message isn't conveyed to elected officials, including Mayor Adrian Fenty and D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray, by concerned parents and education advocates swiftly, strongly, the city is headed for another expensive deck chair-rearranging experience - not unlike those of the past decade.

Two intersecting examples underscore the danger: During a news conference Monday, schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee announced there were 70 teachers who did not have assignments; their skills and subject area did not match current DCPS instructional needs. These individuals are called "excess teachers." They are some of the folks about whom I wrote last week. They are destined, because of their seniority and rights inscribed in labor union agreements, to bump other teachers who may have more to offer the DCPS at this time in its history and, thus, could have a greater impact on children.

Mark, an education advocate, offers this story: In April, principals were told by then-Superintendent Clifford Janey there would be money to support marching bands. Everyone was excited; more students can be persuaded to enroll in an instrumental music program that includes a marching band. Woodson aggressively recruited an alumnus that once served as band director at Eastern High School.

"He took that school to great heights. Eastern represented the city twice in presidential inaugural parades," Mark says. Eastern's bandleader subsequently was hired by Bowie State University. "We thought he would jump at the opportunity to return to his alma mater. He was interviewed, he submitted his paperwork and waited for DCPS to call him," he said.

The call came all right. DCPS central administration told Woodson's principal to forgetaboutit. An excess music teacher was being sent. The classical pianist has no interest in football games, parades or marching bands, Mark said.

"Talk about all dressed up with no place to go," he continues. "[Union] contracts protect who and provide what?"

Rhee, the reformer, says those 70 excess teachers with no place to go will continue to be paid. She couldn't say how much.

(Didn't Rhee just a few weeks ago lambaste workers who couldn't describe their jobs? Now we understand how the practice of employing adults without a portfolio is perpetuated: They want the paychecks; the government wants to placate the unions.)

"I'm contractually obligated to keep those folks," the reformer tells me. "There is a possibility we might do some kind of layoff, but nothing can happen until October."

Meanwhile, everyone continues to talk about creating a student-centered public education system. Watch out! They're blowing smoke.

Jonetta Rose Barras is the political analyst for WAMU-88.5 and the D.C. Politics Hour with Kojo and Jonetta. She can be reached at rosebook1@aol.com.

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