Latest News

The Committee on Labor and Workforce Development will hold a performance oversight hearing on Thursday, March 15, at 11:00am in Room 500 of the John A. Wilson Building (1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW) for the following agencies (government witnesses only): Department of Employment Services, Workforce Investment Council, and the Deputy Mayor for Greater Economic Opportunity.

A draft agenda and witness list is available here. Public witnesses testifying on these agencies were heard on March 7.

For those interested in reviewing performance responses, agency responses to performance oversight questions are available here.

The Committee on Labor and Workforce Development will hold a performance oversight hearing (public witnesses only) on Wednesday, March 7, at 10am in Room 500 of the John A. Wilson Building (1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW) for the following agencies:

• Department of Employment Services
• Workforce Investment Council
• Deputy Mayor for Greater Economic Opportunity. 

A draft agenda and witness list is available here. Government witnesses will be heard on Thursday, March 15, at 11:00am.

The agencies' responses to oversight questions are here: http://dccouncil.us/budget/2019/labor-workforce-development

Dear Resident,

Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy had an interesting takeaway from Marion Barry in this morning’s paper. Milloy wrote that Barry told longtime confidante Fred Cooke he regretted he had not done more to improve DC public schools during his time in office. “Marion said: ‘We dropped the ball on education. We got caught up in economic development and didn’t do enough about making schools better across the city,’” Cooke told Milloy. 

This quote struck me for a few reasons. First, making our schools high-performing across the city remains one our greatest challenges. Second, I believe investing in our schools is economic development.

D.C. Councilmember Elissa Silverman (I-At Large) released the following statement after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published an article revealing that the D.C. Department of Employment Services (DOES) Director Odie Donald II interviewed to be the city manager of South Fulton, Georgia on Tuesday:

"Last night, I learned from an article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that DOES Director Odie Donald II was hired to be the South Fulton, GA, city manager after its city council publicly interviewed Donald by Skype and cast a majority vote in support of his hiring.

It was disappointing to read because Director Donald's likely departure comes at a time when leadership at the agency is critical. Despite our growing economy, unemployment and underemployment, particularly in neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River, remain stubbornly high. As D.C.'s lead jobs agency, DOES is essential to helping close this opportunity gap and therefore lessen our income inequality. For the $150 million dollars we spend on workforce development every year, we need to measure how successful we are at getting District residents not just jobs but living wage careers. Additionally, I was working with Director Donald on strategic enforcement of our labor laws, so that the agency focused its resources on holding bad employers accountable and making sure our workers get paid fairly.

The Committee on Labor and Workforce Development will hold a performance oversight hearing on Thursday, February 22, at 10:00am in Room 500 of the John A. Wilson Building (1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW) to discuss the Office of Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining and Department of Human Resources. A draft agenda and witness list is attached here.

We can’t keep doing what we’ve been doing. This is very clear. We are at a point where none of us want to be: We are without a permanent leader for DC public schools. We have no deputy mayor for education to help make us a true education system out of our bifurcated tracks right now in which half our students are in traditional schools and half are in public charter schools. We know that some of our students don’t come to school on time or at all; we are graduating students who are not prepared for higher education, the world of work or adult life in general; and we have a central office that is either unequipped to do the necessary oversight and accountability or has looked the other way. There is a culture of doing whatever it takes, including cooking the books and fudging the numbers, to show student improvement.

This cannot continue.

D.C. Councilmember Elissa Silverman (I-At Large) released the following statement after Mayor Bowser announced the resignation, effective today, of DC Public Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson:

“I am glad Chancellor Wilson decided to step aside, because our focus needs to be on how we make DC public schools a great option for every school-age family in our city. His resignation is in the best interests of the District and the thousands of students who attend DC public schools.

DC Councilmember Elissa Silverman (I-At Large) issued the following statement after DC Public Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson issued an apology to District parents for pursuing preferential treatment and skirting the public school lottery process:

"After discussion with parents, teachers, colleagues, and with Chancellor Antwan Wilson himself, I believe it is in the best interests of the District for the chancellor to resign, effective at the end of the 2017-2018 school year. I encourage the Mayor to begin a search for a new chancellor immediately. First, let me say that I wish the best for Chancellor Wilson, his wife, and especially his children.

DC Councilmember Elissa Silverman (I-At Large) issued the following statement after DC Public Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson issued an apology to District parents for pursuing preferential treatment and skirting the public school lottery process:

This is another damaging blow to DC public schools and confidence in its leadership.

I’ve already received emails from parents exasperated by Chancellor Wilson’s apology. A lot of the irritation is because the chancellor faced a dilemma encountered by many DC public school parents: He felt his neighborhood school did not meet the needs of his child. The chancellor’s solution was to break a policy written by him that would not allow public officials preference in school placements. This was put into place by Chancellor Wilson himself after a school lottery scandal became public less than a year ago, in which top DC government officials were found to have received special treatment from his predecessor.

That he would ignore his own policy is indefensible, and it is even more galling that he would wait until he was caught by the DC Inspector General to admit this to the mayor. I understand Deputy Mayor Jennie Niles helped the chancellor bypass the lottery process, and she has resigned. Mayor Bowser has reiterated her confidence in the chancellor, but given his actions, I question his decision-making and leadership.

The Committee on Labor and Workforce Development convened an Additional Meeting to consider and vote on PR22-739, “Changes to District Government Employee Pay Schedules Approval Resolution of 2018” at 9:30am on Tuesday, February 13, 2018 in Room 120 of the John A. Wilson Building (1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW). Drafts of the Committee reports and prints are attached below.