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| Rhode Island school rehires fired teachers |
| 2010-05-18 |
| The Rhode Island school that attracted nationwide attention in February for its decision to fire its entire staff has reached a tentative agreement to rehire them. Rather than seeing it as a backtracking, both the district and teachers say the compromise benefits students and teachers alike. The mass firing that had been announced at Central Falls High School allowed teachers to reapply for their jobs, but only a limited number would have been rehired. It was part of an effort to try to turn around a chronically low-performing school, and teachers unions had severely criticized it. Under the new agreement, which was expected to be ratified by teachers on Monday, nearly 90 teachers, counselors, and other personnel will not have to reapply, but they will need to interview with the new principal and recommit to their jobs. The agreement also calls for a longer school day, targeted professional development for teachers, after-school tutoring, and a new evaluation system, among other changes. The district got the teachers to agree to all the conditions it had originally outlined – and which teachers had rejected – prior to the February firing. In fact, the new agreement includes even more concessions, notes Justin Cohen, president of the School Turnaround Group at Mass Insight Education in Boston |
| Posted by:lotp |
| #5 It also doesn't make sense to throw the baby out with the bathwater. They threw the baby out years ago as adjudged by the abysmal school performance. Do they still have 'collective bargaining'? So, in a year its the same old process of 'due process' that will drag for more years. P-A-T-C-O |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-05-18 10:50 |
| #4 both the district and teachers say the compromise benefits students and teachers alike. ...and teacher's unions had severely criticized it. Teacher's unions...a big part of the problem in education and for state and local budgets. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-05-18 10:14 |
| #3 The teachers are not the king and they were shown that. It also doesn't make sense to throw the baby out with the bathwater. This may be more of a fig leaf for the teachers than the administration. Note that the teachers need to recommit, i.e. sign up to the new rules, and are subject to a new evaluation system. The real test will be in a year when the half of the teachers who don't get with the program are either gone or remain. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2010-05-18 09:25 |
| #2 "If You Strike At The King, You Have To Kill Him" It wasn't just their obstinate airs, it was their entire culture that destroyed real learning in that building. The only way to truly reform such an situation is a complete purge. Instead they slap a band-aid on a hemorrhaging wound. Halfhearted and faint measures do nothing. Should given as much damn about the teachers that they've shown their charges over the years. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-05-18 08:42 |
| #1 the compromise benefits students and teachers alike And I'm a rabbi. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-05-18 06:06 |