by Every teacher in what is demonstrably the worst-performing school district in the state of Rhode Island – which is to a Texan little more than a glorified county, in truth – has been fired.
The state’s tiniest, poorest city has become the center of a national battle over dramatic school reform. On the one side, federal and state education officials say they must take painful and dramatic steps to transform the nation’s lowest-performing schools.
…
the Central Falls school Board of Trustees, in a brief but intense meeting, voted 5-2 to fire every teacher at the school. In all, 93 names were read aloud in the high school auditorium — 74 classroom teachers, plus reading specialists, guidance counselors, physical education teachers, the school psychologist, the principal and three assistant principals.
Did all of these educators deserve to get the axe? I doubt it. But their collective, unionized decision not to comply with the recommended steps to remediate the school district made the outcome a just one.
Listen, there’s a recession on and you’re saying to your boss that you’re not going to do what’s necessary to get your job done? That’s a foolish, foolish thing to do – in any profession. It’s also the inevitable result of unearned Entitlement Syndrome.
Hopefully the best of the Central Falls teachers will be back at work soon, for the kids’ sake, and hopefully they’ll be bolstered by new, qualified teachers who are willing to work to bring the district up to par.
And hopefully smug Arne Duncan, who wields his power from Washington like a blunt-edged hammer, will learn that, if he really wants the best and brightest working in the field of education, that salary talks and his B.S. will only make good teachers walk.
(Unfortunately I don’t have much time to write about this now; I hope to delve into it a little deeper at a later time.)
