Teachers fired, labor outraged

CENTRAL FALLS — The full force of organized labor showed up in Central Falls Tuesday, with several hundred union members rallying in support of the city’s teachers and bringing plenty of harsh words for the education officials who were about to fire the entire teaching staff at Central Falls High School.

“This is immoral, illegal, unjust, irresponsible, disgraceful and disrespectful,” said George Nee, president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, to shouts and cheers from a crowd of more than 500 at Jenks Park. “What is happening here tonight is the wrong thing … and we’re not going to put up with it.”

Signaling the national significance of the situation in Central Falls, the American Federation of Teachers sent representative Mark Bostic with a message of support from the union’s 1.4 million members.

“We are behind Central Falls teachers, and we will be here as long as it takes to get justice,” said Bostic.

http://www.projo.com/education/content/central_falls_trustees_vote_02-24-10_EOHI83C_v56.3b42117.html

*Sigh*

If so, please elaborate.

I am convinced of that. We would have created the country's largest union. And we would be at the table with admins and politicians working on school improvement rather than victimized by their idiotic plans.

...particularly given how little power some claim the unions have in the first place.

NCLB passed with about 90%-10% support in both houses. A more unified union might have dented that, but overcome it?

We would have at least had a seat at the table when they were crafting this legislation.

:cry:

B.K. Nordan is a graduate of the HS in question and is a social studies teacher in RI. He voted against the firings, but his words were biting.

"I don’t believe this is a worker’s rights issue. I believe it’s a children’s rights issue,” Nordan said. “…By every statistical measure I’ve seen, we are not doing a good enough job for our students … The rhetoric that these are poor students, ESL students, you can imagine the home lives … this is exactly why we need you to step up, regardless of the pay, regardless of the time involved. This city needs it more than anybody. I demand of you that you demand more of yourself and those around you.”

The problem lies with the lack of willingness to compromise. Yes, I know they're already underpaid. But - these times are very hard. Very hard. and I think I'd be doing everything I could to A) KEEP my job; and B) help my students.


Disclaimer: this statement is in no way meant to be construed as a general condemnation of Unions, Teachers, or schools - traditional or otherwise,

...but a month or more ago when it might have saved some jobs.

Then he could end the statement with "and when we get past this we need to talk about appropriate compensation for your efforts".

It's like I delivered a "needs immediate improvement" review to an employee and he insisted I give him a raise. This is one step short of firing him and he wants to talk about salary now?

Note that this is an entirely different conversation from whether or not I assessed his performance properly or proposed remediation that could possibly work.

...and there is nothing at all wrong with that, but the city, or school district, or <substitute your employer here> needs to show appreciation for that sacrifice by sharing it, or by compensating workers for it. Teachers are already terribly undervalued and most deserve much higher pay and better working conditions. Yes, the children they serve have dire needs too, but these teachers are not themselves responsible for that circumstance, and they should not be punished because their city and county does too little to assist poor families to provide opportunities for their children.

Most schools that have failing grades are because the students in general, and their parents don't care.

If the students don't do their homework, show up to school, or pay attention, they are going to fail their proficiency test regardless of how good or bad their teachers are.

Every school has some bad teachers, and those individual teachers should be fired, but I'm sure there are many great teachers at this school and every school.

They're also the only ones (of parents/student/teachers) drawing a paycheck for their role... and have a piece of paper that says "I know how to take a kid who doesn't know 'x' and teach it to him"...

Right or wrong, that's a far easier target than kids or their parents... particularly when the parents do the voting and pay the taxes.

It's a rational (if not necessarily correct) assumption. There are some awful teachers out there that don't belong in the classroom. Doesn't mean it's every teacher, most teachers, or even 15% of them... but they exist. It isn't a massive leap to assume that you are more likely to find such teachers in a school like this. Could be wrong... but it isn't a big leap.

I'm not saying that I entirely agree... but I do "understand" it.

something like half are below the poverty level.

70% are renters.

most are low-income hispanic workers. i've read that transiency in the district is high.

gee, i wonder if any of those things could have something to do with below average test scores in the district?

nah, i'm sure it's all because of the teachers'.

i do think the super should cut her $140K salary in solidarity with the low-income students in her district, though. she only runs seven schools.

I read that last week when this story first came out. That's my school too. :scared:

Most people have no idea . . .

in my humble opinion - are the union officials representing them for failure to negotiate in good faith, reasonableness, and in the best interest of all parties concerned.

They didn't WANT to fire all the teachers, but the inflexibility of those particular union officials left them no choice. When there ain't no mo money, honey, there ain't no mo money! What part of that did the not understand?



Disclaimer: this post in no way condemns Unions in general, all Union officials, nor teachers - traditional or otherwise.

...tonight. I posted at their blog (awaiting moderation) ;)

Thank you to CNN for covering the RI education story. There is much to this story that is misunderstood by the public. The comments here only validate that misunderstanding.

This is NOT an issue of money...unless one takes the perspective that states are in financial trouble and can no longer afford to pay its most experienced teachers. I am in California, and the push to retire teachers high on the salary scale is clearly under way. Most other states are in the same boat.

This story is about public school reform. Secretary Duncan delineated three types of public schools to the NGA yesterday:

1.High performers...to be rewarded.
2.Medium level schools...to be given support.
3.Low performers..tranformation, turnaround, charter, or close.

This RI school is in category 3. Many teachers there...like in my district...have committed years, and their careers and lives, to transformation. The fact that the school is still failing does not mean every teacher should be replaced.

I hope CNN will follow this story. It is MUCH larger than this school...or RI...or the education of these students. It is about HOW to reform failing schools...how to WIN for the students...and be FAIR to the teachers dedicated to teaching them. To learn more, please read at ED. gov.

http://www.ed.gov/blog/topic/listening-tour/page/3/

Scroll to the bottom post...and learn. ;)

...at all. I put that link in because if one scrolls down to the last post (Online Listening Tour) there are 300+ posts by educators about how to REALLY fix public schools. It gives a totally different perspective on 1.what is wrong with public education and 2. how much teachers care.

I hope you will read some of the posts.

...now that the teachers are all gone. Are they going to hire 93 substitutes until they can find "good" teachers?

It's stupefying that anyone can think this is a good idea.

though it's certainly reasonable to ask what kind of education the kids can get in an environment where the teachers are fighting for their careers and know that most of them will be jobless in the next few months. You also have to wonder what the union's next step will be. Do they have a contractual obligation to not strike? Would they feel bound by that contract when the district obviously doesn't?

OTOH, most of the kids aren't getting much of an education now.

Standardized test scores don't tell us anything, especially when the kids are poor and non English speaking.

nor do graduation rates or report card grades...

but they all tell us something.

Regardless... it simply isn't good enough to say "there's no way to identify poor schools or poor teachers... just trust us" - even if it were true.

Also... "these kids just can't learn... they're too stupid and their parents are losers" is a position that no teacher (again, even if true) should ever state. Such things become self-fulfilling prophesies.

How many kids have been saved because "Mrs Jones believed in me when nobody else did... including me!" ???

There really is no easy way to identify poor teachers. Sorry but that's the truth.

...and this is what we get.

In reality... there are ways to identify poor teachers. The problem is that they have a very high "false-positive" rate, which means that we will be throwing out the good teacher "baby" with the bath water far too often.

Unless a teacher has exactly the same students, same parents, same books, same everything, there's little way to know. Some teachers get all the difficult students because they can at least keep them from throwing desks. How are teachers measured if that's the case? Looking at student achievement doesn't do it. Some kids wouldn't learn if Arne himself taught them. Come to think of it, most kids wouldn't learn if Arne taught them. Exactly what experience has he had in a classroom?

based on ONE classroom. Over time, you see a pattern.

I don't care what anyone says, everyone damn well KNOWS who the "good teachers" are and who the "BAD teachers" are in a school. Proving it? Well that may take some doing, but people "just know."

Besides, every other profession on the planet has evaluations with promotions, pay-raises, and retention being based on how well a person does their job. Why is it that teachers believe they should be exempt from the same?

yeah, yeah, "some administrators" are crooked. Well, lots of damn bosses are crooked. Yeah, "little johnny" just doesn't like teacher just 'cause she made him "accountable" - well, some employees or customers don't like a person because of some reason that "isn't fair". Yeah, little johnny's mom is lying through her teeth to protect little johnny - well, customers and co-workers do that in every industry. Yeah "frivolous" lawsuits are filed just for the moola, ditto for the medical industry, the car industry, the every industry you can name.

Why is that some believe teachers and education shouldn't be held accountable and to standards that indicate competence in their jobs?

Seriously, I would like some REASONED response to my question and not a wholesale flame.



Disclaimer: this post in no way denigrates all teachers - either traditional or otherwise, all school systems - traditional or otherwise, all administrators - traditional or otherwise, or all schools - traditional or otherwise. Nor parents, nor students, nor lawyers, nor unions, nor . . .

:hi:

:hi:

I want ALL teachers to remember this in 2010 and 2012. I can get this policy from a Republican. Count teachers among his base which is demoralized and will likely sit out the next few elections.