School Officers' Union Pushes For "Fair Share" Of Fed Funds

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

The Council of School Officers (CSO) is urging Mayor Adrian Fenty and DC Public Schools (DCPS) Chancellor Michelle Rhee to recognize the critically important jobs filled by many of its members who work as assistant principals, school psychologists, social workers, speech therapists, special education coordinators and other service providers. Despite their significant role in day-to-day student success and achievement, “DCPS has inexplicably decided to freeze out these individuals from a fair share of the millions of federal dollars that have been specifically approved to fairly compensate education professionals,” CSO said in a letter to Fenty and Rhee last week. The union is calling on Fenty and Rhee to “fully explain and document the types of funds being used by DCPS to compensate employees and where that money is being spent.”