Davis was taken to Prince George’s Hospital where she later died. Starr died at the scene, police said.
Known as Liz to her colleagues and friends, Davis was elected to one of the city’s most powerful labor positions in 2013, and had spent the last year leading the more than 4,000-person union through a year of unprecedented school closures amid the pandemic. She had previously been a teacher for four decades, working at a half dozen or so schools during her career.
“President Davis has been at the forefront of public education advocacy and reform,” a statement from the union read. “We are confident that her legacy will continue to shape the WTU as well as education across the District.”
Mayor Muriel E. Bowser held a moment of silence at her biweekly press conference Monday and called her “a champion.”
Davis was a straight-talking and tireless old-school organizer who helped to revamp the beleaguered union when she took it over, imbuing it with a broad social justice mandate.
Teachers frequently would get frustrated because Davis allowed everyone to speak at union meetings, making them drag into the late evening hours. And she was known to give every teacher her cell phone CONTINUE READING: Washington Teachers' Union president Liz Davis dies in car crash - The Washington Post
