-- A school board in Rhode Island has voted to fire all teachers at a struggling high school, a dramatic move aimed at shoring up education in a poverty-ridden school district.
In a 5-2 vote Tuesday night, the board approved the plan by Frances Gallo, superintendent at Central Falls School District, to discharge the teachers, administrators and other personnel at Central Falls High School.
The firings, which will be effective at the end of this school year, came after the district said it failed to reach an agreement with the teachers' union on a plan for the teachers to spend more time with students to improve test scores.
A union spokesman called the firings drastic and cited a 21 percent rise in reading scores and a 3 percent increase in math scores in the past two years.
The school district said 93 people -- including the principal, three assistant principals and 77 teachers -- were fired. The teachers' union said the firings affected 74 classroom teachers plus a number of other educators such as guidance counselors and reading specialists.
How about we fire the school board and administrator! It must be a quick fix to blame the teachers. If I recall, didn't a local school district in Indiana do something similiar recently where all the principals had to reapply for their jobs? It's an interesting tactic... let's create an even bigger problem, create barriers, hurt innocent people, divide the community against educators. After all, we have to blame someone, right?
ReplyDeleteHow in the world are we supposed to get our best and brightest teachers into the schools where they are needed most when THIS is what they will get to deal with...it's a sad, scary spiral to the bottom. You couldn't pay me all the money in the world to teach under these circumstances. When you point your finger, there are 3 pointing back at you.
ReplyDeleteTeachers can not control the students in which they are dealt anymore than they can control the weather. Firings over student performance is a joke. We should all be shaking in our boots right now if this is what to come.
ReplyDeleteThis IS what is coming. Have you seen the figures being presented by administrators in Indiana? None of them are making cuts in the corporation offices. All cuts are being made elsewhere-- a few token thousand taken out of funds like energy and travel expenses, then straight to removing teachers. We are at the rock bottom in all industrialized nations for our committment to education. As a teacher in a struggling school, I can honestly say I love my students and help them every way I can. We don't fire parents when students fail ISTEP. Why are we contemplating firing teachers?
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