School In Rhode Island Fires All Staff

[jtwhite]

More information: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/ed...24teacher.html

Do you agree with the decision? I think that every teacher who is not willing to spend more time with students should be fired. A teacher's job is much more than a contract. Teachers help define our future and enlighten many students. Teachers also act as mentors and trusted adults.

I feel as if a teacher cannot meet those extra requirements, they should not be in the field.

Overall, I agree with the decision to fire the staff. I'm sure that there were 1 or 2 people willing to work longer with the students, but overall, that was not the result according to the news.

[xav0989]

I meant to press yes, but I slipped and pressed on no instead. I entirely agree with you jtwhite. When you are the worst preforming school of the county and you are not willing to try things, such as staying later to help students, then there is a problem.

[bradym]

The article only said that the union rejected a plan that called for teachers to work longer hours without being paid for it. In what other profession would that be tolerable? If there is more crime on the streets than can be effectively controlled by the current police force, do we force officers to work longer hours without pay? No, we pay them overtime. Do we ask emergency room doctors to work longer hours without pay? No, we pay them overtime. Does your employer hold your job over your head and say, work longer hours or you're fired? I'd like to see follow up on this story. Will all those teachers be replaced? Will they have to reapply? Will they completely close the school and send those 800 students to other schools?

On a different note, I take issue with this quote: "I think that every teacher who is not willing to spend more time with students should be fired. " Can you qualify that? How much more time? How sacrificial does a teacher need to be in order to keep his/her job? Should they make house calls, work weekends? How sacrificial are you in your chosen profession? What if your boss came to you and said, "you're not going above and beyond your job description, you're fired." If you are a teacher, then you must have some idea of just how much "more" time a teacher should "spend with" his/her students. Please expound on this. If you're not a teacher, than please tell us why you think teachers should be more sacrificial.

[fractalfeline]

I think the most relevant point to this discussion is the idea that this was occurring in the most under-performing area. The end result of inadequate teaching is poor performance, yes? If ya ain't doin yer job, then out ya go! And good riddance.

Though, I do generally disagree with the whole-sale firing of every teacher. Certainly, at least one of them was doing ok, and didn't deserve to be lumped with the rest? But I don't know, maybe they were all lazy fools.

I think the union negotiations were irrelevant. If anything, it comes down to priorities. Is it more important for the children to receive an adequate education, or the teachers to be compensated for their time? I mean, the teachers weren't doing their jobs in the time alloted to begin with, and they expect to be paid more?

I mean, if I was a teacher, and I wasn't doing my job, I'd fully expect to be fired. If my employer was nice enough to give me more time to do what was necessary to get the job done, I'd be thrilled to still be employed. I certainly wouldn't have the balls to demand higher pay for doing a sub-standard job slower than the national average.

[descalzo]

Central Falls High School has long been one of the worst-performing in Rhode Island. Just 7 percent of 11th graders tested in the fall were proficient in math. Only 33 percent were proficient in writing, and just 55 percent were proficient in reading. In 2008, just 52 percent of students graduated within four years and 30 percent dropped out.

More children live in poverty in Central Falls, a city of just 1 square mile, than anywhere else in Rhode Island. Until recently, one of the city's few growth industries was a quasi-public jail.

-- from a Washington Post article

But let's blame the teachers.
Not the students. Or their parents. Too bad they can't fire them.

[CWeb Creative]

Yes descalzo it isnt totally the teacher's faults. Yes, the school is poorly performing but it isnt only the teacher's responsability to fix that. The parents need to get involved. If you look at the job of a teacher and then look at the pay you know that unless your a college professor you have to want to teach to stay in the field. So no the teachers shouldnt have been fired they should have been fairly treated and the parents should have gotten more involved with the students. So yes fire the parents, not the teachers.

[jtwhite]

It's not practical to remove parental rights from all the parents of these children. Children misbehave and most parents don't care any more. That is happening all around the country. I think it's worse in this school because the prinicpals, teachers, and other staff aren't as interested or involved as in other schools.

[bradym]

In our quick fix society we expect results from canned solutions. But the education of developing minds does not lend itself to canned solutions. There are entirely too many variables. Our schools are merely a mirror of the community and culture as a whole, and no group of teachers on earth can change the community if the community is not on board with that program.

[fractalfeline]

In our quick fix society we expect results from canned solutions. But the education of developing minds does not lend itself to canned solutions. There are entirely too many variables. Our schools are merely a mirror of the community and culture as a whole, and no group of teachers on earth can change the community if the community is not on board with that program.

That much is true.

But then again, a person accepts a job or rejects it before they receive their first pay-check. You agree to the pay before you are hired. If you think you aren't being paid enough, quit or don't take the job in the first place.

It's like wiivsps3 said: you have to love teaching to do it. You know you're going into a field that doesn't pay anywhere near the same as other professions with the same amount of years spent getting a degree. You know you're applying for a job in a district that's poor when you apply. You have to care about the students primarily if you choose that path for yourself. So no, I think if a teacher is complaining about not getting paid enough to do their job, then they shouldn't be teaching. A teacher can't go around whining about "I'm not paid enough to care."

Meanwhile, I'm assuming the district is poor, in a socio-economic sense. Often a poor district has other things they have to assume priority with, like taking double-shifts just to pay the rent. It's unfortunate, but poor people can't always pay for babysitters and don't always have a sprawling successful family that they can rely on to raise their children. A lot of children in poor districts become "latch-key" children, and have to take care of themselves and any younger siblings they may have. Usually there's a lot of crime too, and just trying to keep yourself safe is enough of a concern.

If anything, these communities need MORE support, rather than less, because without it, it just cycles. Poor families -> poor neighborhoods -> can't afford good teachers -> bad education -> less job opportunities and less pay -> poor families.

Just in case you didn't think economics is a problem here:
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogsp...res-every.html
http://www.city-data.com/business/ec...de-Island.html

So yeah, if I was the superintendent, I'd be saying "Either you want to help or you don't. If you don't, there's the door. Take your union and shove it."

[Livewire]

I'm in a split on this, although I'm leaning quite drastically towards the school on this one.

I mean, seriously, 48% graduation rate? If I got paid to answer phones and only actually solved the problems on 48% of those calls, I'd be fired. If this is what it took to get the teachers to wake up and kick some *** and start TEACHING, then so be it.



Quick edit: I do get paid to answer phones. Since I'm still working I must be doing something right.