Liz Davis | GFBrandenburg's Blog

Liz Davis | GFBrandenburg's Blog

Liz Davis

A virtual memorial for my former colleague, fellow union member, friend and ally, Elizabeth Davis, is starting soon.

https://www.wtulocal6.net/https://www.wtulocal6.net/ and click on the banner if you want to participate.

I really need to record a few things in appreciation. During my very first year teaching, we happened to be teaching at the same school, a big newe open space classroom almost as far south as you can get and still be in DC. Interesting times — there was a teacher strike that year, and we both were definitely doing our best to be on the left, progressive, anti-racist side of things. Looking back, I feel that I mostly made a hash of it. She was much more of a fighter than I was, frankly.

I only recall one serious disagreement with her, which I should explain later, but in hindsight I see we were both partly right and both partly wrong.

Liz Davis | GFBrandenburg's Blog

Washington Teachers' Union president Liz Davis dies in car crash - The Washington Post

Washington Teachers' Union president Liz Davis dies in car crash - The Washington Post

Elizabeth Davis, president of the Washington Teachers’ Union, killed in car crash on Easter Sunday

Elizabeth Davis, president of the Washington Teachers’ Union, was killed in a two-car crash in Prince George’s County Sunday night, the union confirmed Monday.

She was 70.

Davis was driving south in the Bowie area near Route 301 and Harbor Way when her car and another car driven by John Starr, 68, of Annapolis, collided, Maryland State Police said.

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