Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Cheers or Boos

First, Hooray for Teachers! It's a tough job. One that I would have never had the temperament for. But, as with any other career, people get burnt out and begin to think that nothing they do makes a difference. They give up. Here's a school that is shaking things up. What do you think? The entire staff at this school is getting dismissed due to the abysmal graduation and proficiency rate of its students.

All educators fired at underperforming RI school

The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 24, 2010; 11:25 AM

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. -- A Rhode Island school district has voted to fire all the teachers at an underperforming school.

The Central Falls School Committee voted Tuesday evening to fire every educator at Central Falls High School at the end of the school year.
It's the only school in the tiny, impoverished city north of Providence. Only about half its students graduate, and only 7 percent of 11th-graders were proficient in math in 2009.
The plan was developed because of a federal effort to makeover failing schools.
The Central Falls Teachers Union says it is reviewing legal options and hasn't decided what action to take.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan applauds the decision and says "when schools continue to struggle we have a collective obligation to take action."

2 comments:

flamingolady said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; February 25, 2010 at 5:37 AM
flamingolady said...: I removed my first comment, only because I couldn't edit it. First of all--I agree with the "Hooray for Teachers" part. They have a thankless job the majority of the time. In this instance, they belong to an organization that hurts vs. helps. I read the "rest of the story" in Sunday's paper and apparently the principal/superintendent tried to turn things around by scheduling tutoring sessions for an hour after school or for teachers to come in early to be more available to help students. So, their 8:00-3:00 job would have been increased by 5 additional hours per week. The union said "No." And, if they were required to help the students, it would be at a $90.00 an hour rate, so they pricipal/superintendent was left with Option 2--apparently that Option will now happen and they will start with a new staff (hopefully, non-Union).; February 25, 2010 at 5:47 AM