Rhode Island Teachers FIRED: Central Falls High School Officially Fires All Teachers

Seventy-four Rhode Island teachers have been fired from Central Falls High School, as well as 19 staff members, including the principal, USA Today reports.

The elimination of the 93 school employees was validated by the Central Falls High School school board, when it voted 5-2 last night to fire all teachers from the under-performing school.

The school's superintendent Frances Gallo made the recommendation last week, stating the move was necessary due to "callous disregard" by the union.

In August 2009, the school's superintendent wrote in a message to students' parents: "Remember, we need YOU if we are to reach our potential: All Children and Adults Achieving at High Levels."

Central Falls High School offers grades 10-12 and it had been one of the lowest-achieving schools in the state, per the Providence Journal.

Comments

[dfredf]

09:15 PM on 04/12/2010

Firing, attacking, or taking benefits away from teachers is not the way to go. People want to hold teachers 100% accountable even though they have very little power and most of the factors that affect student performance are outside their control. How about holding politicians, school administrators, parents, and, most important of all, students accountable? Teachers are merely puppets with hands tied behind their backs; they are thrown into a room filled with poorly-motivated and often dangerous, dysfunctional "students" to whom they cannot do anything if the student misbehaves or simply refuses to learn. We need less political correctness and more accountability! One article I can refer people to which sheds more light on this is "10 Things That Keep Teachers from Doing Their Jobs": http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2866380/10_things_that_keep_teachers_from_doing.html?cat=4

[delorisw123]

11:21 PM on 03/14/2010

I'VE BEEN ACCEPTED INTO SEVERAL SCHOOLS AROUND HERE FOR TEACHING PROGRAM...I HAVE INTERVIEWED MANY TEACHERS, AND SEE THE WAY THEY ARE TREATED AND HATE IT!!

I DON'T WANT TO WORK IN A SCHOOL SYSTEM WHERE I'M NOT SUPPORTED BY MANAGEMENT!

I WORK LATE - A STILL GET THROWN UNDER THE BUS!! NO THANKS!

[imalonghorn]

12:59 PM on 03/18/2010

Maybe you are a good teacher....but these teachers weren't. They were being paid over 70,000 a year in a district that is dirt poor. If 97% of the students aren't proficient in MATH...that's not the STUDENTS' FAULT.... PERIOD. And for those high salaries they should automatically be holding tutoring sessions and after school study programs as a standard...and not be begged to do it.

[delorisw123]

11:20 PM on 03/14/2010

The teachers I know from many of the schools I go to ALREADY STAY LATE TO DO: PLANS, GRADE PAPERS, TUTOR, DO IEP'S !! I HAVE LUNCH WITH MY SPECIAL KIDS AND LOVE IT!

But of course they are NOT CUSSING ME OR OTHER KIDS, THROWING CHAIRS, ETC!!

LAST WEEK A YOUNG GIRL, in another teacher’s classroom (THANK GOD), USED A MARKER TO SIMULATE A B-JOB!! THIS YOUNG GIRL IS 12!! HER BOY FRIEND IS ALLOWED TO STAY THE NIGHT! AND SLEEP WITH HER -> IN HER BED! THIS GIRLS MOTHER ALLOWS THIS! (P.S. THE TEACHER OF THIS GIRL EATS LUNCH WITH HER STUDENTS!)

3RD GRADER IN MY CLASS LAST WED, CUSSED A GIRL OUT, USING A STRING OF 4 LETTER WORDS LIKE A PRO! I'VE NEVER HEARD ANY KID USE THAT LANGUAGE! THIS TALK CAME FROM HER PARENTS!!! THE ONUS FALLS ON THE PARENTS, ALSO! FIRE THE PARENT AS MAHER SAID!

There are ARMED POLICE OFFICERS PERMANENTLY STATIONED AT THE HIGH SCHOOL AND THE 2 JR. HIGH'S !! Thursday - there was a BOMB THREAT at the HIGH SCHOOL!!! IS THAT THE FAULT OF THE TEACHERS?

THAT TAKES AWAY FROM TEACHING!!! IF PARENTS ARE NOT INVOLVED.....

IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS - WE CAN NOT GET RID OF THE KIDS THAT HAVE 'CHRONIC PROBLEMS' AND ENGAGE THE ACTIVITIES LISTED ABOVE. IN CHARTER SCHOOLS THEY CAN ACCEPT AND DISMISS WHOM EVER THEY WISH!

[gkhill]

01:44 PM on 03/14/2010

Reading some of the comments leads me to exclaim "little has changed in 40 years"
I do agree with most of the comments though. The system is broken across the boards one major failing is a pay for performance through test results. This is an assumption that ALL people are engaged by the same thing. We truly know this to be untrue. Passion is the motivator in teaching, have to agree with that I have seen many a teacher who was motivated by the buck and generally were the worst educators. The idea that you can educate a person to be an educator is false as is the idea of educating every student to be a math whiz. I know it can be done but does this have much value in the working life of the student and in the making of a strong society.
To the teacher who wrote as an affected party in this I applaud your candor!
Can money simply be thrown at education and have an impact on performance, no, without looking at how to engage the students, ALL of them, they will be of less use to society as a whole.
The goal should at the very least instill a desire to learn for life not just in a formal setting.

[writerjude]

08:46 AM on 03/03/2010

I can understand when teachers do not do their job but a mass firing is outrageous. Being a teacher myself I understand that sometimes it is difficult for an administrator to know if a teacher is doing their job on a daily basis but just taking the test scores and not identifying the poor quality performance of some teachers by actually writing them up on a regular basis makes for a group punishment situation which capable teachers do not even do when disciplining a classroom. I can still remember saying to a bad boy in one of my classes by taking him outside and stating"you will not ruin this classroom situation for everyone else."
That is exactly what is happening here. Because of a few all of the teachers are being punished. Whatever happened to classroom observations by the administration on a regular basis? I would be questioning the principals first to see what they have done to weed out the bad apples and to praise the passionate ones. What kind of role modeling is this for students?It is saying if you are in a class full of bad kids you will all be punished? I dont get it!

[Ellisfj]

11:53 PM on 03/07/2010

As a former Special Educaiton teacher and union president I concur with your comments completely. What this school board has done is unethical, certainly a violation of their own labor contract, and probably against the labor laws of the State of Rhode Island. Have they not heard the term "just cause"?

Parental inflluence on student success is glaringly absent from this conflict. I ran across this article written by a Central Hight School parent. it is a very worthwhile read:

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/33823

[Kiver]

10:10 AM on 02/28/2010

From the Providence Journal:

Six conditions Central Falls High School teachers were told they must agree to in order to keep their jobs:

Increase length of school day by 25 minutes to provide more instructional time for students.

Formalize tutoring schedule so struggling students have extra help for one hour before and after school.

Agree to eat lunch with students one day a week to build stronger relationships.

Attend two weeks of professional development in the summer at a rate of $30 an hour ($1,800 per year).

Stay after school for 90 minutes one day each week to work with fellow teachers analyzing student work and test data and discussing ways to improve teaching at a rate of $30 an hour if Gallo could find grant financing ($1,620 per year).

Gallo said she could pay teachers for some of the additional duties — but not all. Gallo said she offered to pay the teachers $30 per hour to attend two weeks of professional development in the summer, and said she would try to find grant money to cover 90 minutes of weekly “common planning time” after school. All told, Gallo said the 74 classroom teachers — 56 of whom earn the district’s top step of $72,000 a year — would likely earn $3,400 more.

[veritable]

06:02 PM on 02/27/2010

As an educator personally affected by this mass firing, I'm ashamed and disgusted with our union. For the sake of "winning" it is destroying our credibility. Teachers who couldn't see how desperate things were and that desperate measures were inevitable is part of the problem.

It's time we got our own house in order. The public sees us protesting the loss of our jobs. What they are rightly thinking is "why weren't you at the school board earlier protesting the travesty of less than 50% graduation rates?" Instead of pouring our energy and passion into shaming the board into adopting drastic proposals that we brought forward, we pour our energy and passion (after the fact) into saving our jobs.

WE should have been leading the charge with reform and proposing drastic measures to solve things. The public isn't stupid. They know that we only organize effectively when our own self interest is involved. This has got to change.

We need to clean house in the union starting now. The union needs to become an organization that requires high standards of it's membership. One that leads with innovative ideas for improvement, and uses protest and school board visits to shame the administration into doing what's right for the students.

Right now, the union is the incompetent teacher's best friend. Let's make the opposite true. When we start doing that, we'll have real bargaining power and will have the right to demand better pay and working conditions.

[Tchr4vr]

10:38 PM on 03/04/2010

I couldn't have said that better!!! I'm copying your remarks and sending them to our union president. It is imperative that the union begins to be proactive and stop protecting those who need to find another profession. They are dragging us down, along with the kids!!!

[exPatPatti]

02:09 PM on 03/13/2010

You sound like a true leader!!!

[cervantesknight]

04:33 AM on 02/27/2010

Unions are bound by contract to protect their members rights. The limited specifics in this article tend to indicate the union membership was ill advised to listen to their bargaining team. However, missing from public scrutiny is that administrators guilty of abusive tactics, horrendous errors in judgment and incompetence are not only protected and supported by their superintendents but they are often promoted to broader spheres of influence. Call it litigation avoidance, peter principle, the culture of power or cronyism, the practice is real and incredibly demoralizing to the effected faculty and staff members.

[guyinAZ]

02:55 AM on 02/27/2010

Those teachers are being used for scapegoats. Unfortunately they are their own worst enemies.

http://blog.vdare.com/archives/2010/02/26/rhode-kill/

[you can call me Roy]

06:53 PM on 02/26/2010

When a school system fails it is the fault of the school administration, the parents & the teachers.
Other school systems were ordered by the government to use the "no child left behind"program. Utah was one and refused. When threatened with loss of federal funds they told Washington to "keep their money". Washington blinked. Gee, it's hard to believe the fedearal government is worthless considering they are getting all those big paychecks and benefits and job security. What a disgrace. The "no child left behind" program needs to make some changes. Another thing that needs to be done everywhere is to get rid of the teachers unions. What a disaster. For decades,the teachers union has been protecting idiots and failures from losing their jobs. I am sure taking God and discipline out helped tremendouly also. It's just like the "open school" idea they had years ago. Another disaster. Is there a lesson here? Yes, get the government out of education.

[twinkie1cat]

05:49 PM on 02/26/2010

Rarely are the problems in the schools caused by the teachers. The ones that are can normally be traced to the brownnosers who are better at getting on the side of the administration than they are at teaching or the connecteds---incompetents who are cousins of administrators or who were in the same sorority/fraternity.

The problems are caused BY THE ADMINSTRATION AND POLITICIANS doing such things as cutting funds, enlarging classes, hiring Teach for America instead of real teachers to save money, pushing pay for performance, scripted lessons, and punitive evaluations. Other causes are regarding teachers as disposable and parents and students as God as often happens in wealthy suburban systems. Racism, sexism, ethnic hate, special education hate, disability hate against the teachers, and homophobia are other problems in administrators that cause problems.

Teachers do not do their job for the money. The money allows them to have a profession that affirms WHO THEY ARE instead of working at Walmart. EDUCATION IS NOT A JOB IF YOU ARE A TEACHER. IT IS WHO YOU ARE. Real teachers would do it for free if there was another way to pay the bills. You can tell someone who is not a real teacher because they say things like "I taught for a few years". A real teacher teaches whether she has a job doing it or not.

[cbaruffa]

06:39 PM on 02/26/2010

YOU must be a "teacher." If you would throw these teachers into a system where they would earn $40,000 a year, they would run for the hills. They ARE in it for the money! These are not Teach for America teachers, they are union dopes only looking out for themselves and the all-mighty dollar. They steal tax dollars, in the form of their over inflated salaries, from the parents of the students that they profess to care about the most. They want an additional $90/hour to sit with their students at lunch-time? Give me a break! I say, get rid of all the dead wood. I'm sure there are plenty of REAL teachers out there who would love to work and earn half as much. Oh, by the way, these teachers earn an average salary of $72,000-$78,000 per year in a town where the median income is just over $22,000. If these teachers want a free handout...welcome to unemployment!!!

[Jkirk3279]

12:55 PM on 03/02/2010

" these teachers earn an average salary of $72,000-$78,000 per year"

The most experienced teachers make that much. It's not the average.

Perhaps you failed statistics?

"They want an additional $90/hour to sit with their students at lunch-time?"

Where did you get that fantasy?

" They steal tax dollars, in the form of their over inflated salaries"

I think this states your bias quite clearly. A salary is "stealing" tax dollars.

I hope you lose your job. After all, we should clear out all the "deadwood".

[Babydiorpm]

09:22 AM on 02/26/2010

What I would like to see now is what plans this Superintendent has to ensure the success of these students. Improved curriculum, mandated parent involvement, teacher support, adequate supplies, student responsibility requirement? I doubt it!!! It will not change!!!

[twinkie1cat]

06:04 PM on 02/26/2010

Why would she do what needs to be done? She can fire her teachers and get some Teach For America instead.

[guyinAZ]

03:58 AM on 02/27/2010

Her plan is obvious -- hire young cheap Spanish speaking teachers from Mexico and the Philippines. It saves money, English won't matter, and everybody is happy except the middle-aged white teachers who are jobless.

[Reba Smith]

09:22 AM on 02/26/2010

Teachers should not be held as scapegoats for a dysfunctional educational system. These issues traverse all areas of education: unrealistic cultural expectations (all students should graduate with the same knowledge), unbalanced population districts ( minority, impoverished, second language, illiterate populations), inadequate school funding (poor schools),' highly qualified teacher' shortages (math, science, EC, ESL), crowded classrooms, culturally biased tests, dysfunctional and unstable families where there is little or no parenting, normal childhood/teen angst and acting-out behaviors (truancy, violence, gangs). The teacher is one link in a very long chain; one thread in a very large safety net for our greater society. Schooling is the one thing that touches the life of every young person. Instead of bickering and pointing out blame, everyone has to become part of the solution. EVERYONE should answer the question, "What am I doing, personally, to foster the development of youth?" Paying taxes and rearing one's own are not enough in this current time and place. Our nation needs healthy, educated, inspired youth to grow into productive citizens. We need a unified national moral impetus to change this sorry state of teacher scare tactics. Love every child as if s/he were your own. Give of your time, treasure, and talents in the schools and community until it hurts. The intrinsic reward is immediate.

[twinkie1cat]

06:11 PM on 02/26/2010

And a real teacher who is supported by a competent, caring administration can overcome a whole lot of the social problems students bring to the classroom. The biggest thing the schools need to do is stop stuffing square pegs into round holes. Why does every child have to be college prep? Why not end the obsession with "on time" graduate and recognize that some students are finished at 16 and others at 22, that there is nothing less about a vocational and workforce education. That the first goal should be making sure every student above the moderately retarded level should be literate and even the MOIDs should be able to read functionally. That the stigma needs to be removed from Special Education as a toxic dump site and raise it to the second chance that it really is. And finally, that it might take a disadvantaged child longer to get to the top, but he will make it if he has good teachers who know what they are doing.

[brady51h]

02:21 AM on 02/26/2010

re: firing all the teachers, etc.

I sure hope that town didn't fire the police too. It's going to get interesting in that town pretty quick!

[no1teacher4U]

01:16 AM on 02/26/2010

It's real sad that all the blame is being put on the teachers for these kids failing. As a teacher in a poor district similar to some in Providence, Rhode Island, I know first hand what it is like to teach in a poor community. People, it's a totally different world. The value of education is just not there in poor communities.(speaking about majority about 75% according to my experiences) The people are just trying to SURVIVE and for immediate survival you only need food , water, shelter and clothing. This is how the families operate. Try reading - A Framework for Understaning Poverty by Ruby Payne

Our government officials need to step in help these families understand that their value system doesn't represent what our country stand for. But since it's mostly African American and Hispanics affected, noone wants to step in and save generations of people that are failing at creating functional families. And for those trying to help out THOSE that noone else wants to help..They get fired. what a slap in the face. For all the critics. Why don't you go to school for 4 years, then be asked to work for free. I dare anyone think a teacher should work for free. We have families too and personal obligations.

So, if you want to fix public education, then start first with the neglectful parents, then the bureaucrats, next the administrators, and lastly the teachers.

[sdmcmla]

02:04 AM on 02/26/2010

Teachers are supposed to be trained to educate all students, not just the privileged ones. The poor children of parents who do not value education are also entitled to a quality education. The job of our teachers is to educate, inspire, challenge, support, teach, guide, disciple, and punish, all in the interest of creating young adults who are fully capable of becoming full participants in our communities. If a teacher can't do this job, even when (especially when) the parents are not there, such a teacher needs to get some more training, find a more experienced mentor, or get another job. Yes, parents should provide maximum support; but if not, that is no excuse for a teacher to short change a child's education.

[spyguy68]

06:29 AM on 02/26/2010

Where did you come up with this ... "Teachers are supposed to be trained to educate all students, not just the privileged ones."

Obviously you have never taught.

- It is completely IMPOSSIBLE to teach someone that has no desire to learn. To keep from learning and to relieve the boredom of forced imprisonment in school they will be very disruptive. The ONLY recourse the teacher has is to remove the student form class. Some districts don't even allow that. My son quit teaching because the district would do nothing about disruptive students, even the ones that physically threatened his life! Yes, teachers lives are often threatened!

- It is completely IMPOSSIBLE to change another human being, as the folks at AA and virtually every psychologist knows so very well. If a student does not want to learn there is nothing a teacher can do to change that behavior,NOTHING! The ONLY way humans change their behavior is when they CHOOSE to do so for reasons that are valid for them. All the motivational techniques a teacher may use will NOT change any student, but can only reinforce the choices of the students that have decided to learn.

If the Student, the parents and/or the community do not set the requirement the student to learn and ensure they make that choice, there is nothing a teacher can do except babysit them.

The new teachers that are hired will be no more successful than the old ones but will get paid less.

[Tchr4vr]

11:04 PM on 03/04/2010

---First, teachers ARE educated (not trained) to educate all students.
----Good teachers DO "educate, inspire, challenge, support, teach, guide, discipline" - if they don't, administrators are paid to be sure steps are taken to either help that person 'see the light' or 'see the door'. That should be the first responsibility of the building administrator - not fundraising, attending non-essential meetings during the school day, etc.
---Teachers are NOT educated to BE THE PARENT. As it is, children who come from homes with limited means are fed 2 meals a day on the taxpayers dollars ( keep in mind, teachers are tax payers also!) However, especially in the elementary level, many teachers often take on the role of parent, guardian, etc. because parents are often oblivious to their child's needs or incapable to be a parent effectively. In many cases, the teacher finds themself in the damned if he/she does and damned if he/she doesn't.

I'm not sure from what information you constructed your comments, but they are EXACTLY why teaching has become one of the least desirable occupations for the educated and intelligent population. I am a parent and a teacher for my own children - for that I chose to have the children and I chose to educate myself to become a teacher. I DID NOT choose to be someone elses parent.

[twinkie1cat]

06:21 PM on 02/26/2010

It is not that poor people don't value education. Black mothers have for three generations worked two or three minimum wage jobs to ensure their daughters and sometimes their sons are educated. Latino parents are catching up but in other countries a high school education is thought to be a privilege of the rich.

And if the parents DON't support the kids, good teachers can help a whole lot, especially if they start early. It just takes longer for a disadvantaged child to reach the top and they need the best and best supported teachers from Pre-K on. When you start in the basement and the steps are cracked and broken, it is going to take longer and be harder than for a child who starts on the third floor and has an elevator key. If the Superintendent gets rid of her real, experienced teachers she may as well get a bat and at each landing, knock the children back a few steps.

[spyguy68]

08:34 PM on 02/26/2010

So as you illustrate so well, it is a cultural/social problem, NOT a education problem that MUST be solved by the community, NOT the schools.

Until communities wake up and value their kids enough to set high academic standards, there is next to nothing that schools can do.

Note that many other countries understand this and do set much higher standards than even the highest achieving communities in the US have. For example, in Singapore, EVERY STUDENT is EXPECTED to take and do well on the A-level exams required for admission to Oxford, etc. The students that do not do well are publically shamed by having their names published in the national newspaper. Singapore takes education very seriously because they know it is the lifeblood of the country.

Note also that outside the US, most countries now REQUIRE the students to not only be fluent in the national language but also ENGLISH! Most of the high school students in the US could not pass the English exams given in most other countries. English is the language of international business and other countries want to ensure their students are fully prepared to participate in the global economy.

We need to not be politically correct anymore and very pointedly shame some communities in the US for their lack of emphasis on education.