Thread: Central Falls Rhode Island Fires Every High School Teacher

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Central Falls Rhode Island Fires Every High School Teacher

Here is an interesting email from "Jason" regarding high schools in Central Falls Rhode Island. Jason writes:

Hi Mish,

As I'm sure you're aware, Rhode Island has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation.

Central Falls is one of the poorest towns in the state. It looks like the pictures everyone's seen of Detroit or Flint. There are lots of boarded up windows, abandoned buildings, decrepit factories with broken windows, etc. It's an absolutely depressed community. According to Wikipedia, the median income in the town is $22k.

Teacher salaries at the high school average $72-78k. Apparently 50% of the students at the school are failing all of their classes, and the graduation rate is also under 50%. In an effort to turn the school around, the superintendent requested some changes be made whereby the school day would be slightly extended, teachers would perform some extra tutoring, etc.

The union balked and refused the terms, so now she is firing the entire teaching staff of the high school and replacing them. This is yet another example of unions digging their own graves by refusing to negotiate or accept reasonable terms. Sentiment is on the side of the superintendent, at least among the folks I have discussed the issue with.

Jason

With that backdrop, please consider Central Falls to fire every high school teacher. http://www.projo.com/education/content/ ... 65218.html

The teachers didn’t blink.

Under threat of losing their jobs if they didn’t go along with extra work for not a lot of extra pay, the Central Falls Teachers’ Union refused Friday morning to accept a reform plan for one of the worst-performing high schools in the state.

The superintendent didn’t blink either.

After learning of the union’s position, School Supt. Frances Gallo notified the state that she was switching to an alternative she was hoping to avoid: firing the entire staff at Central Falls High School. In total, about 100 teachers, administrators and assistants will lose their jobs.

Gallo blamed the union’s “callous disregardâ€

This should be done accross the nation. Break the union, and start using the merit system. You do a good job, you have a job. You don't do a good job, you're in the breadline.

Great news. Let the break down begin!

The super is doing the right thing, there is no excuse for such a massive failure at any US high school!

Cheering on the super at Central Falls and at the same time denouncing illegal immigration do not mix - you don't get it. The reason that school was failing was because of a failed immigrancy policy in the US - do your research and find out the Central Falls, RI has about 70% of the school population of Hispanic-Latino heritage within families where about 40% of the population claims an inability to speak English very well...and yet it is sooo easy to just throw the blame at teachers rather than look at the bigger picture. You could put the best teachers in that school, and it wouldn't make a difference. We are at a point where English speaking teachers are considered failing because a non-English speaking low-educated polulace can't pass on standardized tests.

Shame on the media for neglecting to mention what's really going on here, and shame on anyone who blindly believed that firing an entire faculty of American teachers is a good thing. The teachers are not the ones at fault here.

http://www.ripec.com/matriarch/d.asp?Pa ... eName2=pdf