High School fires all teachers

Feb. 24: A Rhode Island high school fired all of its teachers, personnel, principals, and administrators Wednesday in hopes of putting its students on the path to better academic performance. NBC's Mike Taibbi reports.

The blue-and-white banner exclaiming "anticipation" on the front of Central Falls High School seemed like a cruel joke for an institution so troubled that its leaders decided to fire every teacher by year's end.

No more than half of those instructors would be hired back under a federal option that has enraged the state's powerful teachers union, earned criticism from students and drawn praise from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and some parents.

"We all have to go," Hope Evanoff, a French teacher at the high school, told msnbc TV.

The mass firings were approved by the school district's board of trustees Tuesday night after talks failed between Superintendent Frances Gallo and the local teachers union over implementing changes, including offering more after-school tutoring and a longer school day. The teachers say they want more pay for the additional work.

"If it's only an hour or two, I think teachers can afford to do that," said Robert Rivera, 40, who worries about sending his 13-year-old daughter to the troubled high school next year. "The teachers are overpaid."

But not every one in Central Falls was quick to blame the teaching staff for the school's poor academic performance. Only about half its students graduate, and only 7 percent of 11th-graders were proficient in math in 2009.

"It's sad what's happening and I'm a little surprised by all of this," Henry Neves, a 1995 graduate of Central Falls, told msnbc.com. "It's not the teachers fault. Not every teacher is bad. Everyone has a role here."

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• school
• rhode
• island
• fires
• firing
• all
• teachers
• fired
• poor

[relentlesseducator]

It's amazing how ignorant people are to the actual state of education. How can people blame children and call them dumb or blame parents or blame teachers. Everyone wants an easy scape goat but the fact of the matter is that schools needs to change their archaic approach from the ground up. Teachers need to have a voice in their unions. We are failing our children, all of us. To compare sports or any other industry to education is preposterous and shows the sad ignorance of the common people

[eugene680]

If pro sports teams fire the coach for producing a season losing team, the same should happen to teachers. It's just like any other job out there. Do the job right or your ass is fired and they hire someone else.

[schroyerta]

more schools need to be able to do this. there should also be some responsibility with parents to take some interest in their child's education. one good step we should take in improving the education system is to get rid of the teachers unions. the unions only care about the teachers, and they have never asked for any legislation that would benefit the students.

[utubecenseorstruth]

@siti1ca true my wife just got her masters degree and has worked with these kids and the parents just expect the teachers to do everything

[siti1ca]

@V1z1on no its american parents that have given up

[eathenicus]

@siti1ca Yeah, I think that its both the teachers and the children. You don't know the full story, those teachers could have gotten fired because they weren't doing their job, thus the majority of their students failing. It's usually the fun ones who don't know how to balance. Also, it's the students who fail too. We need good ole' fashion values again.

[eathenicus]

@onefarmville What reason of this?

[deadhand23]

balls

[onefarmville]

Can we fire congress and the President, when they violate constitutional law?

[Robert12123]

yes yes yes