160 DCPS Teachers Ordered Reinstated In Past 3 Months | News

WASHINGTON (WUSA) -- Kadesha Bonds can't wait to get back to work. After teaching audio production for two years at McKinley Technology High School, Bonds was fired three years ago, she says without cause, by the DC public school system.

Recently an arbitrator ruled that Bonds was wrongly dismissed, so sometime in the next few weeks she should be back in the clasroom, where she says she belongs.

According to the teachers union, Bonds is one of about 160 DC public school teachers who've gotten their jobs back in the past three months alone after arbitrators ruled that they should not have been let go in the first place.

Nathan Saunders, the president of the DC teachers union, says it's not just a matter of right and wrong, but of dollars and cents. Between arbitration fees, legal fees, and the various costs of reinstating teachers, Saunders says taxpayers are on the hook for about $17 million just from the last three months alone.