Records show D.C. Public Schools attorney is working two jobs at the same time

Records show that a D.C. Public Schools attorney is teaching psychology classes at a Maryland community college during her government work hours, potentially violating ethics rules.

The case appears to bolster government watchdogs who say that city workers taking unreported second jobs has become widespread under Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration.

Lynette Collins is senior deputy general counsel for labor and employment at the school system’s central office, where she works 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. An organizational chart describes her as an expert on government ethics who represents DCPS in labor disputes.

A Montgomery College course catalog shows that Ms. Collins is teaching general psychology during the spring semester. She teaches Psychology 100 in person from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at the commuter college’s Takoma Park campus.

Montgomery College spokesman Marcus Rosano confirmed in an email that the school employs Ms. Collins as an adjunct faculty member.

“Full-time employees at the College are required to disclose outside employment,” Mr. Rosano said. “Adjuncts, part-time, or employees not working full time are not required to disclose employment outside of Montgomery College.”

The Washington Times has made multiple attempts to reach Ms. Collins for comment through her DCPS and Montgomery College email addresses.

According to her publicly available financial disclosures, Ms. Collins has not informed the city that she is commuting to another job during office hours. A Google search shows that the 9-mile drive from the DCPS central office at 1200 First St. NW to Montgomery College’s Takoma Park campus takes 20 to 35 minutes, depending on traffic.

Ms. Collins reported in her most recent financial disclosure to the D.C. Board of Ethics and Government Accountability that she earned $15,001 to $50,000 in 2024 to “teach online classes” at Montgomery College.

Filed on May 12, the disclosure says she earned the same amount to “teach online classes” at the University of Maryland Global Campus in 2024.

The filing states that Ms. Collins assumed her current position at DCPS in March 2020 and started teaching online courses at both schools in November 2020.

Government salary figures posted online show that Ms. Collins earned $178,177 in 2024 from her DCPS job. She earned $29,616 from Montgomery College in 2024 and $30,725 in 2025.

It is unclear how Ms. Collins has managed to teach in person without violating ethics rules that bar D.C. employees from working second jobs on government time.

Montgomery College students have posted six reviews of Ms. Collins’ general psychology class at RateMyProfessors.com since 2020. Some from the past year complain that she was disorganized and often stepped out to take phone calls.

“Her frequent phone calls during lectures were disruptive and unprofessional, and they significantly took away from instructional time,” one student who earned a B- wrote in a Dec. 3 post. “Her overall approach gave the impression that she was not fully invested in supporting students’ learning.”

’A serious problem’

Ms. Collins’ employment situation is not uncommon among D.C. workers, government watchdogs say.

The Board of Ethics and Government Accountability fined former DCPS Instructional Superintendent Mary Ann Stinson $15,000 in October after she admitted accepting nearly $170,000 in undisclosed “consulting fees” from a vendor she favored in professional development contracts.

D.C. Auditor Kathy Patterson, whose office reviews local agencies and who is a former Democratic member of the D.C. Council, said in a report last year that the District requires just 25% of its workforce to file annual financial disclosures.

As of this week, she said, the mayor has ignored her office’s recommendation that the city require all employees to report outside employment to managers annually.

“It is not OK to claim to be working two jobs at the same exact time,” Ms. Patterson said.

“This specific situation could be something that the individual’s leadership has approved, i.e., with the person making up standard work hour time later or earlier in the day,” she added, referring to Ms. Collins. “But this remains a serious problem, and one neither the [Bowser] administration nor the council has addressed.”

The Times has reached out to the D.C. Council for comment.

A spokesperson for Ms. Bowser, a third-term Democrat who leaves office at the end of this year, referred questions about Ms. Collins to the school system.

A DCPS spokesperson said the system could not comment on confidential employee matters.

“It is the expectation of DC Public Schools that employees demonstrate full commitment and focus to their roles during their tour of duty,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “Use of government time or resources for employment outside of the district does not align with DCPS values and responsibilities to the students and school communities we serve.”

The spokesperson insisted that DCPS works with the ethics board to ensure its employees comply with public employment rules.

Ashley D. Cooks, director of the Office of Government Ethics, said the independent board investigates and fines all “outside employment violations.”

She said she could not confirm whether the board was investigating Ms. Collins.

“The ethics rules prohibit employees from working other jobs during their tour of duty,” Ms. Cooks said in an email.

Marlon Ray, a former DCPS director of strategy and logistics at Boone Elementary School in Ward 8, demanded in a May 2020 whistleblower complaint that city leaders investigate Ms. Stinson for the second job that resulted in her fine last year.

Mr. Ray lost his job in a 2021 downsizing and is suing the city for wrongful termination. He insists he was pushed out for complaining about an uptick in DCPS senior officials working second jobs on government time.

“If she’s teaching in-person during office hours, she’s definitely double-dipping,” Mr. Ray said in a phone call, referring to Ms. Collins. “They don’t truly enforce the rules for upper-level people. Nothing’s going to change until they do.”