Thread: Incompetent teachers, PITA union= Fire them all

Meanwhile, state and local education officials received some high-powered support of their own, when U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan weighed in, saying he “applauded” them for “showing courage and doing the right thing for kids.”

WOW!

The little I've read about Arne I've liked.

Sounds like they probably did do the right thing. Not the way to make friends, that was a decision that took backbone.

Originally Posted by luvtolean

WOW!

The little I've read about Arne I've liked.

Sounds like they probably did do the right thing. Not the way to make friends, that was a decision that took backbone.

I watched an interview with either the Superintendent or Board President, I don't remember which.

She basically said the same thing. The school has been failing for years, the union's promise of "re-training" and "within the ranks oversight" has been complete crap. It was time to start over and reboot the whole school.

A democrat appointee, of a President whose warchest's largest contributors are unions, dissing a union like that....is no small statement.

I'm waiting for Obama to come out and smooth it...

Originally Posted by luvtolean

A democrat appointee, of a President whose warchest's largest contributors are unions, dissing a union like that....is no small statement.

I'm waiting for Obama to come out and smooth it...

I can already hear him: "The Central Falls School Board of Trustees acted ... stupidly."

He's gonna need more beer.

Unions ... oh man.

Glad someone stood up like this!

Should have done this at the Big 3 years ago.

I'm confused on one thing, since they were fired last night are they still finishing out the year?

Local news just reported that they will be finishing the year. I'm sure some of them wish they were in a financial position to just walk right now though.

Dumb move on the schools part by letting them know now. Could you imagine the morale for the rest of the year? They will be a group of people that couldn't possibly give a crap less. This needs to happen where I work.

Originally Posted by 08silvercbr

Dumb move on the schools part by letting them know now. Could you imagine the morale for the rest of the year? They will be a group of people that couldn't possibly give a crap less. This needs to happen where I work.

that's kind of what I was thinking but they also had to put a plan in motion with enough time to do it before next year.

and seeing as they can only hire 50% of them back for next fall I bet the older teachers who were getting close to retirement and the younger new teachers will most likely be the ones not hired back.

Originally Posted by 08silvercbr

Dumb move on the schools part by letting them know now. Could you imagine the morale for the rest of the year? They will be a group of people that couldn't possibly give a crap less. This needs to happen where I work.

It is probably in the state law that they must inform by March 1st. That is common in most states....

Originally Posted by CBR929RE

that's kind of what I was thinking but they also had to put a plan in motion with enough time to do it before next year.

and seeing as they can only hire 50% of them back for next fall I bet the older teachers who were getting close to retirement and the younger new teachers will most likely be the ones not hired back.

.. and hire them back at a lower rate.

Originally Posted by DEPO

It is probably in the state law that they must inform by March 1st. That is common in most states....

Oh yeah.. IC

Originally Posted by 08silvercbr

Dumb move on the schools part by letting them know now. Could you imagine the morale for the rest of the year? They will be a group of people that couldn't possibly give a crap less. This needs to happen where I work.

Not giving a f**k is what got them there in the first place. Let them duke it out for the 50% of the jobs they can earn back.

Originally Posted by G-ForceJunkie

They are already in the bottom 5%...I don't think it can get much worse. Knowing now that there is perhaps a 50-50 chance of getting rehired, that might put some pep in their step.

Are they hard off for teachers? Not sure that area, but I thought I heard NC was. Might force some to move.

Originally Posted by seamus

Not giving a f**k is what got them there in the first place. Let them duke it out for the 50% of the jobs they can earn back.

I did think that too, but Courtney’s school is kind of in the same situation. Not really sure it all comes down to not giving a crap. I'm sure there are definitely some teachers that need to retire, but that’s only part of it.

Maybe they needed firing but the fact that the feds required this or any other solution is 100% wacked.

The state took over Detroit's school district a few years ago.. fired everyone and made it worse. Then turned it back over to Detroit.

Originally Posted by 08silvercbr

Are they hard off for teachers? Not sure that area, but I thought I heard NC was. Might force some to move.

I'm not too far from me and a friend of mine who is a teacher even closer and has a lot of teacher friends. Surplus of teachers around here I believe.

Originally Posted by DEPO

It is probably in the state law that they must inform by March 1st. That is common in most states....

Are you saying that the school has to give the teachers "Notice" that they are gonna be fired for poor performance?

If so that is a crock of shit.

Yeah, it's one thing to not renew a contract and be required to give notice of that by a certain time but in the real world, being fired means just that, you're fired.

Originally Posted by Hammer

Are you saying that the school has to give the teachers "Notice" that they are gonna be fired for poor performance?

If so that is a crock of shit.

If they are ten yeared yes.

Originally Posted by Hammer

Are you saying that the school has to give the teachers "Notice" that they are gonna be fired for poor performance?

If so that is a crock of shit.

its the same in MA. but I bet the wording on this isn't that they are actually being fired. probably being given their pink slips.

Have you seen the statistics of this school?

The mobility rate (students leaving and entering) is huge... almost 40%.

Anytime a student moves out of your school/ drop out of school (which a school system has no control of) it counts as a student who does not graduate. So if almost 40% are mobility that only leaves a possible graduation rate of 60%. They had a 48% graduation rate, which means a true failure rate of 12%.

The ESL numbers are staggering at this school, like none other that I have seen. The problem with ESL is that research shows that if the home (family life) is not willing to make English a regular part of their daily language the opportunity for success is very low. Well if Mom and Dad are Spanish Speaking and can not speak any English what is the chance there will be success?

What one of the news articles does is explain how the teachers and employees wanted to negotiate their contract based upon the new requirements. That is a part of collective bargaining and something that anybody who has a job will do, union or not.
The school in total wanted the teachers to add about 9 hours a week to their work contract. The teachers wanted to sit down and discuss compensation. The superintendent would not sit down at negotiations, which is her right, but why the state moderator wanted to get involved.

Before the moderator was allowed to discuss the issue the board came and voted upon the firing of the teachers.

What is interesting is everyone got fired, including Principals. Principals are not on teacher contract. They negotiate their own contract and are non-union. The Principals never wanted to negotiate compensation or backed the teacher union, but got the boot also.

The superintendent had this already decided well before the teachers wanted to negotiate.

What is bad is that every school system that has conducted a "turn around" which is the firing of all employees and doing a fresh rehire has not improved their schools , Chicago is a great example.... they conduct turn around and it just so happens two turn around schools five years ago are being shut down, because it has decreased in performance.


I am not giving my opinion on which side I support, but I will tell you this much, unless you are an educator or actively and not just "bench racing" pretending to have a working knowledge of education, I think this will not be a positive move for that school district.

Originally Posted by SheepOfBlue

Maybe they needed firing but the fact that the feds required this or any other solution is 100% wacked.

"Just an hour after the rally, 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."

Locally elected school board members did this, NOT "THE FEDS." I'm so sorry the facts didn't support your preconceived grievance.

Originally Posted by 08silvercbr

The state took over Detroit's school district a few years ago.. fired everyone and made it worse. Then turned it back over to Detroit.

The State took over from a corrupt and thieving school board who were wasting the precious few dollars available for the schools for offices with gold doorknobs and limo rides to the meetings.

The teachers and administrators weren't fired. The situation didn't 'worse'. It couldn't get worse. It is still about as bad as it can get, except now those particular assholes aren't running the show.

Government has an oversight responsibility to see the taxpayer's money isn't stolen or wasted. So now that's 100% wacked?

This might be worth discussing if there wasn't so much mythology to wade through...