Fornits
General Interest => Open Free for All => Topic started by: Anonymous on February 25, 2010, 04:12:42 PM
-
Rhode Island Teachers FIRED: Central Falls High School Officially Fires All Teachers
First Posted: 02-24-10 02:23 PM | Updated: 02-24-10 02:44 PM
Read More: Central Falls High School, Central Falls High School RI, How Many Rhode Island Teachers Fired, How Many Teachers Fired, Rhode Island Teachers, Rhode Island Teachers Fired, Business News 759
views129 The Rhode Island teachers fired today will get a chance to reapply for their jobs. Get Breaking News Alerts
Share
Comments 129 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.
:shamrock: :shamrock: :shamrock:
-
Link for the article in the OP:
The Huffington Post
Rhode Island Teachers FIRED: Central Falls High School Officially Fires All Teachers (http://http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/24/rhode-island-teachers-fir_n_475234.html)
First Posted: 02-24-10 02:23 PM | Updated: 02-24-10 02:44 PM
Copyright © 2010 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.[/list]
-
:shamrock:
-
Central Falls to fire every high school teacher
01:00 AM EST on Saturday, February 13, 2010
By Jennifer D. Jordan and LINDA bORG
Journal Staff Writers
School Supt. Frances Gallo announces her plan to fire the teachers, while system trustees and staff listen.
The Providence Journal / Glenn Osmundson
CENTRAL FALLS –– 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 disregard” for the situation, saying union leaders “knew full well what would happen” if they rejected the six conditions Gallo said were crucial to improving the school. The conditions are adding 25 minutes to the school day, providing tutoring on a rotating schedule before and after school, eating lunch with students once a week, submitting to more rigorous evaluations, attending weekly after-school planning sessions with other teachers and participating in two weeks of training in the summer.
The high school’s 74 teachers will receive letters during school vacation advising them to attend a Feb. 22 meeting where each will be handed a termination notice that takes effect for the 2010-’11 school year, Gallo said.
Gallo said she was devastated and that she had thought the union would agree to her conditions, even though she did not offer to pay the teachers more for most of the additional responsibilities.
A month ago, Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist mandated that the district adopt one of four models to fix the troubled school, which has some of the lowest graduation rates and test scores in the state.
Gallo’s first choice, the “transformation” model, was consistent with her conditions on how to improve the high school. But if the teachers would not agree, the superintendent said she would select her second choice, the “turnaround” model, which requires the removal of the entire staff of the school. The turnaround model allows the district to hire back no more than 50 percent of the old staff.
“I am saddened and shaken at the core by the enormous ramifications of my responsibilities,” Gallo said. “The only solace I have is that I know I provided every opportunity possible, in fully public and transparent ways, the means to avoid this.”
Union officials say they, too, want to improve the high school but are unwilling to sign off on the six conditions, especially without receiving additional pay. In a letter, union officials said they do not think Gallo has the authority to fire the teachers and she must negotiate the terms of the reforms.
In an interview, Jane M. Sessums, union president, said the union intends to fight the terminations, although she was not ready to say how.
Students Friday expressed sadness, frustration and dismay at learning that their teachers would be fired en masse. Most had no idea why their teachers were being let go.
“They are very sweet,” said André Monteiro, 19, a senior. “They help us out and get the job done. They treat us with respect.”
“It’s sad,” said Jessica Lemur, another senior. “They stay when we need help. They love us. I was shocked when I heard the rumors.”
A couple of parents said they were stunned by the announcement and said they blamed students, not teachers, for the high school’s consistently poor performance.
“It’s not fair,” said Angela Perez, who has a daughter at the high school. “They shouldn’t be punished because the students are lazy.”
“The teachers care so much,” said Perez’s daughter, Ivannah Perez, a recent Central Falls graduate. “I’ve seen them stay after school. I’ve seen them struggle. It’s the students. They don’t want to learn.”
Most teachers declined to talk as they left school yesterday. But a couple of teachers paused long enough to share their thoughts.
Sheila Lawless-Burke, an English-as-a-Second Language teacher, said teachers are not opposed to working harder — or longer; they simply want the opportunity to negotiate the details of their contract, not have it imposed from above.
“It’s all about the politics,” she said, “about making Fran Gallo look good. The issue is having the right to negotiate. Once we allow the superintendent to get her foot in the door, where will it stop?”
Gist, who has 10 days to review Gallo’s proposal, said she expects to make a decision early next week.
“We know she is moving forward urgently and we want to support that,” Gist said.
Gallo and Gist say they have the authority to make these changes, based on federal education regulations and on state law that allows the state to intervene in chronically failing schools and districts.
“We’re very confident we are following both state and federal laws very carefully,” Gist said, “and, in fact, it’s the expectation both in state and federal law that we take these steps.”
TIMELINE Showdown over Central Falls HS
March 17, 2007: Frances A. Gallo, veteran educator and former deputy superintendent of Providence schools, is chosen as Central Falls school superintendent.
2008-2009: Test scores remain a problem at Central Falls High School as only 3 percent of 11th graders are proficient in math in 2008 and 7 percent in 2009.
November 2009: Gallo begins talks with teachers on her plans to reform the high school.
Jan. 11, 2010: State Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist names the high school as one of the state’s worst schools and in need of closure or complete overhaul. Gallo says she already has a plan ready to implement in the fall. The plan would include a longer school day, more training, more tutoring.
Feb. 1-5, 2010: Gallo and union leaders are unable to reach an agreement on pay issues for the extra work. She says the failure is forcing her to switch to a reform model that calls for firing all teachers at the high school.
Feb. 9, 2010: During a packed meeting, Gallo gives the teachers’ union more time to agree on her original plan.
Feb. 12, 2010 Talks fail; Gallo proceeds with across-the-board firing plan.
[email protected]
-
Pardon me while I express the general opinion of a majority of the school's students.
BWAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!!! ...pfffft.. BWAHAHAHA... pff-mm-hahahahahaha... ahahahahaha... oh man, hahahahaha, oh that's great, they're fucking firing ALL OF THEM, school's out FOREVER, hahahahaha, serves you right bitches...
-
Link for the article in the OP:
The Huffington Post
Rhode Island Teachers FIRED: Central Falls High School Officially Fires All Teachers (http://http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/24/rhode-island-teachers-fir_n_475234.html)
First Posted: 02-24-10 02:23 PM | Updated: 02-24-10 02:44 PM
Copyright © 2010 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.[/list]
:shamrock: :shamrock:
I reposted and put the link down below.....teacher...lol
:shamrock: :shamrock:
-
Link for Danny's second article (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=29963#p357272):
The Providence Journal
Central Falls to fire every high school teacher (http://http://www.projo.com/education/content/central_falls_teachers.1_02-13-10_A8HEI7Q_v61.3a65218.html)
01:00 AM EST on Saturday, February 13, 2010
By Jennifer D. Jordan and LINDA bORG
Journal Staff Writers
© 2010 , Published by The Providence Journal Co., 75 Fountain St., Providence, RI 02902.[/list]
-
From Jim Horn's excellent Schools Matter blog (http://http://www.schoolsmatter.info/):
-------------- • -------------- • --------------
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
The Central Falls, RI Turnaround: Fire All the Teachers (http://http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2010/02/central-falls-ri-turnaround-fire-all.html)
The most constant and reliable predictor of standardized test scores is the income level of student families. Central Falls, RI has lots of families in poverty (http://http://www.city-data.com/poverty/poverty-Central-Falls-Rhode-Island.html), almost 3 times the state average (30.1% compared to 12%). The percentage of families with income below 50% of poverty is more than twice the state average (12.5 to 5.2 percent). And these numbers were from before the Wall Street banksters ruined us.
Central Falls has only one high school, Central Halls High, and it has been on the NCLB "Needs Improvement" list for several years now. It is one of those schools that Arne Duncan has sworn to turn around, despite the fact that he nor anyone else plans to do anything about the grinding poverty that is the primary reason for the schools' low scores to begin with.
And so it is that the dope in charge, Frances Gallo, picks one of Arne's possible solutions for turnarounds. Photo from Sandor Bodo for the Providence Journal.
(http://http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_DxJK5KDA8YI/S4UqvbGqRKI/AAAAAAAABFI/uHLHuZsx-NY/s200/gallo)
From the NYTimes (http://http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/education/24teacher.html?hpw=&pagewanted=print):
CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. — A plan to dismiss the entire faculty and staff of the only public high school in this small city just west of the Massachusetts border was approved Tuesday night at an emotional public meeting of the school board.
The board voted 5 to 2 to accept a plan proposed by Schools Superintendent Frances Gallo to fire the approximately 100 faculty and staff members at the chronically underperforming Central Falls High School on the last day of this school year in June.
The plan will also create a new school governance structure and requires the high school's new teachers to take part in "professional development" that meets federal standards.
As soon as the meeting ended, the board went into a closed session and members were not available for comment.
Dr. Gallo said during the meeting that she chose what she called a "turnaround" plan, one of four offered by the state, after the teachers' union rejected conditions in another state plan that called for increased hours without the promise of salary increases.
"Union leadership went too far because I would not commit to monetary incentives," Dr. Gallo said.
Teachers and union members said Dr. Gallo and the board had not bargained with them in good faith.
"We have been at the table," Jane Sessums, president of the Central Falls Teachers Union, said at a premeeting rally at a local park attended by hundreds of teachers, students and supporters. "They have not been willing to bargain."
Dr. Gallo said she had been instructed by the state commissioner of education, Deborah A. Gist, to choose one of the four state reform plans, which were modeled on federal recommendations and included the school's closing. Central Falls High is one of six of the state's lowest-achieving — the only one not in Providence — and has a four-year graduation rate of 48 percent. It has 800 students.
Dr. Gallo has 120 days to submit a more detailed plan to the state.
On Tuesday night, several hundred teachers and students, many wearing Central Falls High's colors of red and blue, packed into the meeting, shouting at Dr. Gallo and school board members. As a board member read the names of people slated for termination, many people were crying.
Joe Travers, 44, a longtime physical education teacher, said after the vote: "They sat up there, looked us in the eye, told us we were not good enough. That's an embarrassment."
Posted by Jim Horn at 8:11 AM · 1 comments
Labels: Central Falls, Frances Gallo, school turnarounds
-
UPI.com
AFL-CIO backs R.I. teachers against Obama (http://http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/03/03/AFL-CIO-backs-RI-teachers-against-Obama/UPI-16531267641673/)
Published: March. 3, 2010 at 1:41 PM
CENTRAL FALLS, R.I., March 3 (UPI) -- The national AFL-CIO has condemned the firing of all teachers and support staff at the high school in one of Rhode Island's poorest communities.
The labor organization's executive council, in a unanimous resolution, also said it was "appalled" by support from the Obama administration for the Central Falls school board, the Providence Journal reported. Both President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have backed the firings.
The board voted to terminate the entire staff at Central Falls High School after negotiations on new working conditions, including a longer school day, failed to produce agreement with the union. Teachers received notices last month that they would be fired at the end of the year.
Rhode Island Education Commissioner Deborah Gist identified Central Falls and four Providence schools as the lowest-performing in the state, a requirement for applying for a federal education grant. Gist and the teachers union agreed to "transformation," one of four choices under the Obama administration's rules, but Central Falls Superintendent Frances Gallo and the union were unable to agree on the details.
Removing the entire teaching staff and rehiring no more than half of them is another alternative allowed by federal regulations.
© 2010 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.