DC Students March to Protest Teacher Firings

Hundreds of students from McKinley Technical High School marched yesterday to protest Rhee's firing of fifteen of McKinley's most experienced teachers. No one in DC or elsewhere believes the lies that are being crafted by Rhee's cadre of lawyers and economists whose jobs are secure, since they are guaranteed by the phalanx of philantrho-capitalists who are directing the corporate actions against students, parents, and teachers in DC and across urban America. From Bill Turque at WaPo:

. . . . "The numbers don't add up," said D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5), who said he supports council Chairman Vincent C. Gray's call for an oversight hearing on the situation this month.

Thomas was one of several council members who met with a contingent of about 200 McKinley Technical High School students who rallied Monday to protest the dismissal of 15 teachers. Chanting "No teachers, no peace," they marched from their school off Rhode Island Avenue NE and staged a sit-down demonstration in the plaza outside the school system's headquarters, where they unsuccessfully sought a meeting with Rhee, who was not there at the time. They continued on to the John A. Wilson Building.

"This reduction in force has occurred without any input by those who represent us," said Ikechukwu Umez-Eronini, a senior at McKinley, where an after-school scuffle with police Friday resulted in the arrests of a student and an adult.

Rhee has said the layoffs are necessary to close a $43.9 million gap in the fiscal 2010 budget that was triggered by a round of mid-summer spending cuts by the D.C. Council. She also said extra personnel held over from the closure of 23 schools at the end of the 2007-08 academic year must be shed.

But questions remain about the severity of the crisis Rhee has described, in light of the growth of the school budget. The $779.5 million spending plan for 2010 represents a net increase of $14.9 million over fiscal 2009, according to an analysis by Gray's office.

Critics suggest that Rhee has contrived the shortfall to pursue her long-term goal of replacing most of the city's teacher corps, especially veteran instructors -- a charge she denies. Last fall, she directed principals to notify teachers they regarded as underperforming that they faced dismissal at the end of the 2008-09 school year unless they improved. About 80 instructors were terminated.. . .