A word of caution about Central Falls.
I am surprised at how much coverage the teacher firings in Central Falls, R.I., have gotten, given that schools around the country have gone through these kinds of transformations for years. We should not write about this like it’s brand-new; it is not even close to the first time this has happened. It is usually called “making teachers reapply for their jobs.” Provide some context, keeping in mind that frequently when an entire staff is thrown out, many of them reapply and are rehired.
posted by Linda Perlstein at
3:51 PM
6 Comments:
But this may be the new factor. Instead of reading the news coverage, check out the comments to newspapers and the blogs. I've just started to follow their links but apparently THAT closing was egregious. The more I read about the full facts, and start to read stuff that seems persuasive, the more I think Central Falls is unique. Its looking like they were out to defeat teachers at a time when "reformers" thought they had the political momentum. I don't know the R.I. laws or NLRB laws, but it doesn't sound like there was an effort to bargain in good faith. Maybe Gallo is coming back to the table because her lawyers, and perhaps wiser heads in the Obama administration had a talk with her.
The timing could cut both ways. Sounding tough is great politics but you still have procedures for bargaining in good faith. In politics, words may not mean anything, but in court they do. Secondly, why insult organized labor while pushing for health reform?
I want my union to fight hard against these policies, but remain a team player for Obama. I hope Obama asks how many of his supporters would be just as loyal. And besides, given the publicity and the outrage this has provoked in loyal Democrats, who are the people who vote in off year elections, Duncan is taking great risks. Even if he works a deal with our leaders, he risks alienating the rank-in-file who vote. And when teachers find out what is actually in those RttT proposals, the backlash will be intense.
"Reformers" may welcome an angry reaction by teachers thinking that our angry protests will be beneficial to their agenda. But governing, and getting elected, like actually running schools is different than scorched earth politics. As Obama is urged to recall his "inner LBJ," he should back off of the wonks' theories and remind them of LBJ's words, "Any jackass can kick down a barn ..."
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Actually, the thing I realized today is that this is probably the first closing specifically dictated by ARRA (the rules for those closings were announced Dec. 19 -- RI was fast off the block), so, although it doesn't seem like the reporters covering it were conscious of that, it is a significant trend-setting event in that respect.
Hope you haven't missed the parody:
In a last ditch effort to help their states qualify for “Race to the Top” funding, a growing number of school districts around the country have begun summarily firing all of their teachers. The strong public support by Education Secretary Arne Duncan and President Obama for the recent Central Falls, Rhode Island school board decision to fire every one of the district’s 100 teachers has apparently spurred a nationwide effort to do likewise in order to secure Federal stimulus funds.
At last count, GBN News estimates that over 253,000 teachers have already been fired in 34 states, and the number continues to grow by the hour. This is causing parents to begin to wonder just who will be teaching their children. But Utah State Senator Chris Buttars says not to worry. The Senator, who recently proposed eliminating the senior year of high school, has a simple solution. “Just use high school seniors to teach the younger kids,” he said to reporters in Salt Lake City. “They’re doing nothing but playing around anyhow.”
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2010/03/race-till-they-drop.html
But TN has been fresh starting schools by firing everyone and being able to hire back up to 50% of the prior staff...I don't see why al the uproar over RI...what I don't understand is why the union didn't willingly try the requested changes in the first place...these teachers are making a fortune at 70K for just over 9 months of work or close to 90K a year...
Linda, if ever there was a textbook example of terrible education journalism, the Central Falls case is it. Why have your compatriots at the Providence Journal and other media done such a bad job? All the coverage has been on the teachers and their union, none on the State of Rhode Island's Board of Regents, the RI Dept. of Education, the University of Rhode Island Ed. Dept. and the Rhode Island "Education Establishment" in general. IT'S THEM WHO HAVE BEEN RUNNING THE SHOW AT CENTRAL FALLS FOR 19---COUNT 'EM---19 YEARS!!! For the past SEVEN YEARS, since NCLB has been in effect, the school has been "failing to make progress," and for the past FIVE YEARS the school has been in corrective action, ALL WHILE THE DISTRICT HAS BEEN UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE STATE BOARD OF REGENTS WHO HAVE APPOINTED THE SUPERVISING COMMITTEE FOR THE DISTRICT AND AN "OVERSIGHT" BOARD FOR THE HIGH SCHOOL ITSELF. Why, Linda, haven't your fellow professionals reported that? Why haven't they dug into that? The high school has had 5 principals during the years of corrective action. They have had a "flavor-of-the-year" parade of "reforms" at the school that they have adopted and abandoned, seemingly at random with all the major players in the state establishment leaning in. Reform experiments at the school have been conducted with about as much attention to detail and procedure as you would expect from a dyslexic ten year old with a chemistry set on Christmas morning. The latest was announced with great fanfare in the pages of the Providence Journal last July, the "Academies" model, but not a single word of how that scheme has functioned has been printed.(It's been a farce.) Not a single word has been printed about the dysfunctional, rube-goldberg schedule or what has happened to students denied required credits because of it. Not has been printed about the colossal waste of instructional time---homeroom time, advisory time, and professional development time---occasioned by that schedule that probably violates state regulations for minimum instructional time. AGAIN, ALL UNDER THE WATCH OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS AND OTHER BIG PLAYERS IN THE STATE EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENT. You bet there are problems in educational journalism, Linda; and they are all on display right now in the case of Central Falls High School.
Sam Dillon approached the key political issue - are the mass firings at Central Falls an educational reform issue or a labor issue or both?
Tom Hoffman has done a fantastic job of documenting why State Superintendent Gist’s positions are educationally dubious.
Combine the two and its easy to see why Central Falls could be a turning point.
If political leaders, using flawed data, can select whatever school they want to target, they are not required to do so in a dishonest or destructive way. But when you look at Central Falls, it is clear that those leaders are being empowered to place whoever they want on a hit list for whatever reason they want, and then still be able to use that flawed data to find “a rationale that makes sense” (to use Gist’s description of her decision-making process).
If turnaround efforts are going to be successful, these issues must be seen as both educational and labor issues. Both the spirit and the letter of labor law must be respected. If a leader ignores, or seeks only lawyerly tactics around the National Labor Relations Act, failure is certain. So, after considering whether Gist, Gallo, or other reformers have respected the essential educational principles of collaboration, we need to see whether they also made decisions that would withstand legal scrutiny.
The New York Times characterized the discussions at Central Falls as negotiations, and if that is true we should remember that the superintendent had recently praised Central Falls and it reforms that:“are the result of hundreds of hours of planning by teachers and administrators. ... This came from the bottom up. It’s their work. It’s their dream.”
And in 2009, Central Falls received a positive report on its progress which concluded:
FINAL ADVICE FROM THE TEAM CHAIR
Thank you for the hospitality that was shown to the Commissioner’s Visit Team throughout
the two days of our visit. The school was well prepared and students, staff and parents were
all very accommodating..... Take the time to celebrate your successes and
accomplishments in building a school-wide culture of literacy. Be sure to take the time as
well to have the conversations that need to take place and determine the best ways for your
school to proceed. Recognize that your work is not finished as you continue to move forward
in this charge. I wish you continued success in the future.
But Secretary Gist recently described the decision to fire all teachers saying,“What was happening before the selection was made was not a negotiation.” and “Whether they (the teachers) say they were supporting the transformation model or not, they say they are willing or not, that part does not factor in.”
Focusing for awhile on only on the spirit of the law what are we to make of Gist’s comment that if “there is something that the superintendent feels is a message to her” that indicates that something is wrong with the union’s models, she (Gist) will back the superintendent.
So three weeks before the deadline, management can just reject unions proposals and fire everyone, as if that does not send a chilling message to other workers, as well as teachers?
When I first read the news, I knew nothing of the ways that Central Falls could be an existential threat the turnaround processes, and the Duncan administration, as well as collective bargaining. Local leaders noted that we have closed plenty of schools, and we are working on two more. In the past, however, management did not have the federal government as backup even if it proceeded in a questionable manner. If the federal government does not protest the apparent abuses in this case, (as well as similar extremes in many RttT finalists’ proposals) the growing backlash will get completely out of control.
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