We’re fighting for a more consistent and respectful workplace. To improve the retention rate, we need consistent working conditions, such as pay and disciplinary measures. For example:

• A pay raise for all DCI staff but most especially for our least compensated colleagues (custodians, restorative, dedicated aides)
• An equitable, consistent, and just system of discipline and supervision for ALL staff
• Better compensation for extra duties (coaching, club sponsorship, etc.), and a duty-free lunch

Many of our students have people coming in and out of their lives and they need their teachers to be there for them, who know them, and that will help student outcomes. But because of a lack of consistency, respect and equity across all roles at DCI, teachers (and custodians and other staff) are leaving and that leaves kids with an unstable teaching force.

We need more social-emotional professionals to help our kids. The few social workers and counselors that we have are overworked, with tremendously high caseloads, which leads to kids falling through the cracks.

We need to reduce the student-to-staff ratio. Classrooms are too small for the number of students in a class. Often, a student has to sit at the teacher’s desk. Counselors have caseloads of over 200 students each. We want to make sure students are able to get the attention they deserve at DCI.

The goal is to make DCI the best school to work in and the best school for students in the District of Columbia. To achieve high student outcomes, we have to live up to the values and the mission that the school touts. That means we need consistency, respect and equity across the board.

For example, DCI is the only school in the district that says it offers an IB (international baccalaureate) program for all students. But in reality, it doesn’t have the staff to fulfill that mission because of retention and recruitment problems.

Questions? Contact us via email at unionize.dci@gmail.com

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