Unions are becoming reform minded? My foot.

Nowhere in today’s Washington, DC based news coverage of the Schools Chancellor’s layoffs is there any word - anything from the teachers interviewed or their union leaders - that addresses student achievement. Nothing.

Losing one’s job is an awful thing. I know people who don’t have jobs right now; I’ve lived with people who were unemployed.

The jobs lost from the DC teacher layoffs this week - an estimated 229 out of almost 400 people laid off - may have been the lowest hanging fruit, those who - for some reason - were not performing great with kids. Maybe.

We won’t know - and we can’t know as the union sues to block this action and the Chancellor’s office is bound by privacy rights against talking about how they determined who would get the axe. But regardless of why and how it was done, it would be nice if just one of the teachers out there would consider whether or not he or she is really good for kids before they start demanding a right that doesn’t exist - a right to a job teaching kids in a city where 86% are still in schools called failing.