DC Teachers Demand Disclosure of Public Records

Area labor leaders hit the muggy District streets Tuesday morning to show their support for Washington Teachers Union Local 6, which is battling a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) exemption buried in the DC City Council’s Budget Support Act (BSA). The union charged DC Public Schools (DCPS) with using the exemption to hide data that would reveal why more than 500 DC teachers have been fired since 2010, alleging a pattern of discrimination. Among those at Tuesday morning’s press conference in front of the Wilson Building was Fire Fighters Local 36 president Ed Smith, who said that “It is a basic right of any union to have access to data as it relates to representation of their members.”  The teachers are demanding an end to the FOIA exemption and disclosure of public records (with teachers' personal information redacted) related to DCPS and the IMPACT teacher evaluation system. photo:
WTU 6 president Liz Davis; photo by Chris Garlock

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