For the past few months, Michelle and I have had been able to observe and participate in a unique aspect of local politics here in Washington, DC. As teachers in DCPS, we are automatically part of the Washington Teachers Union (WTU). For the past few months, our union has been in the final stages of ratifying a new contract. IT had been a couple years since we had got a new contract so this was good news. One of the finals steps of this incredibly long process was for the union members to vote on it and ratify it. The contract contains some significant raises and more money to buy startup materials at the beginning of the year, along with some optional revolutionary ideas like pay-for-performance that could earn effective teachers a lot of money. I could write a whole book about the politics that go on at the local level between teachers, their union, the chancellor (like a superintendent), the union president, and the mayor, but I will just say that the last few months have been a wild ride but now the contract has passed.
If you want to see some of the back and forth among teachers with opposing views, read the 70-some odd comments on this person's blog post:
http://deedoesdc.blogspot.com/2010/05/why-i-voted-yes-to-wtu-tentative.html
Here is a link to the Washington Post about the contract:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/02/AR2010060202762.html?hpid=sec-education
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