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This is the true story of a poor town and it's school. The name is Central Falls school in Rhode Island. The average income of Central Falls is $22,000.
At Central Falls school, drop-out rates are staggering and many pupils didn't even log enough classroom time to receive a grade. The school's failure rate is 93%.
So last year the school board, left with no other ideas to correct the situation, fired all 88 teachers. But fear not, the Rhode Island Teachers Federation came to their aid and forced the school board to rehire all the teachers. Not only that, but they even got them a raise! Every teacher got an extra $3000 stipend! So in a town where the average income is $22,000, the average teacher is now being paid $76,000.
To be perfectly fair, the teachers did agree to a few concession like eating lunch with the students and adding a few minutes onto class time. So one would think that things might have improved at Central Falls...right?
But their failure rate hasn't improved one iota and remains at 93%.
The teachers aren't taking all this lying down and staged a sick-out protesting against citizen's demands for improved performance.
CNN's Steve Perry reported on this story and has a video journal where you can watch some of the amazing answers the head of the Rhode Island Teachers Federation had. For example this exchange:
First of all, unless you have a sock on this forum, that's not your post, so you have no business passing it off as if it were.
Secondly, you or your sock were schooled (pun fully intended) on this in the original thread in the very first reply!
Quote:
Originally Posted by skoro
Your attempt to lay the problems at Central Falls on the teachers' union is disingenuous, at best. I have a little familiarity with that situation. The low average income you cited is a result of that community being comprised of newly arrived immigrants, many of whom are English-illiterate. And many of them are itinerant, not remaining in the community once they've secured better jobs and have mastered some level of English proficiency. Probably the vast majority of students in that district don't speak or hear English outside of school. The $76000 pay figure you cite is for the "highest paid" teachers. Most teachers are probably WAY below that figure. The "top paid" teachers in my district are in that salary range, too, according to the published pay scale. In 17 years, I've never met one.
I've worked with immigrant students who come to my class w/o the ability to speak or understand English. In far too many cases, these kids are almost illiterate in their native language, also. Many haven't been beyond sixth grade, yet they're thrust into HS classrooms when they land here in the US. It's tough getting them up to speed. When it's just a few in your classroom, it's manageable, and they usually make remarkable progress. If, like Central Falls, almost your entire roster is Englsih-illiterate and constantly moving in/out of your district, then the results are going to be pretty much what Central Falls has experienced.
Laying that crazy socio-economic dynamic at the feet of the schools is very "intellectually lazy", shall we say...
Central Falls has always been a city of immigrants, and boasts that it crowds “the whole world” into just over a square mile. Densely packed with triple-deckers, Central Falls calls itself “a city with a bright future,” but the poverty rate has consistently been high and the budget low. In 1991, Central Falls transferred operation of its schools to the state. The city maintains the buildings, but state and federal financing pays for the schools. The system is under the direction of Rhode Island’s education board, which deemed it one of the state’s six worst-performing schools, instructing the superintendent, Frances Gallo, to choose one of four federally mandated models for school turnaround. Dr. Gallo said she chose the model called a “turnaround” plan after the teachers union rejected conditions in another state plan.
But many in the school think the culture of the school is one of its biggest assets. “I leave here at 6, 7 at night, working with kids, coaching, getting lesson plans, doing interactive literacy. That’s what people don’t see,” said Frank DelBonis, who teaches history to English as a Second Language students in a school where 70 percent of students are Hispanic. Other teachers said progress was hampered by the high turnover at the school, where one in three students leaves each year.
Hope Evanoff, a French teacher, said she felt the decision was undermining her career. “It makes you feel like all of your expertise, all that you know, any degree you might have, is worthless,” Ms. Evanoff said. “I’ve never been fired from anything, and to be fired, it’s devastating.” The faculty members have been offered counseling by the district, according to one of the fired teachers. The Central Falls Teachers Union plans to fight the plan, saying it comes in the middle of a three-year contract. Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, a Republican and a former math teacher, said he supported the board’s decision, calling it “courageous,” and he criticized the union as being an “obstacle” to change. “We can no longer stand by as our schools underperform,” Mr. Carcieri said in a statement.
I did make a mistake in saying it was in New Hampshire when the school I was talking about actually is Central Falls School in Rhode Island.
Please feel fee to find the posts about it here on C-D.
BTW, the source was CNN so it's not like it was some conservative bias involved.
So are you saying that the average teacher's salary in Central Falls Rhode Island is $76,000?
You are pretty close, but we are talking about one high school in the district and there is a reason they are paid so much.
The average teacher’s salary at the high school ranges between $72,000 and $78,000 a year, because most are at the district’s top step.
By the way that school does have a low graduation rate at 48%....Nowhere near the 93% failure rate you have posted.
"In Wisconsin and around our country, the American Dream is under fierce attack. Instead of creating jobs, Republicans are giving tax breaks to corporations and the very rich—and then cutting funding for education, police, emergency response, and vital human services. On Saturday, February 26, at noon local time, we are organizing rallies in front of every statehouse and in every major city to stand in solidarity with the people of Wisconsin. We demand an end to the attacks on worker's rights and public services across the country. We demand investment, to create decent jobs for the millions of people who desperately want to work. And we demand that the rich and powerful pay their fair share.
We are all Wisconsin. We are all Americans."
You can put in your zip code to see all events in your area and the details. Time to show the tea party radicals what REAL grass roots is all about!
At $43,941 New Hampshire is ranked 25th for average teacher salaries.
Why do you feel the need to be lazy? If you exerted a little effort you would have rallied the poster was talking about Rhode Island, and every link supports his version of events.
Just astounding that folks are falling for this garbage being pushed by George Soros and Van Jones (top down and bottom up respectively).
Really? Let me give YOU a clue: I listen to none of those you listened, in fact I do not go to left leaning websites at all, just as I stay away from right-wing webs sites. I for one, and am sure others did so also, figured out what the Governor of Wis was up to all by myself, his actions made it obvious to anyone paying even the least bit of attention, but yet you seem to have missed it. You should not assume so often, it only makes your posts look foolish, Partisan or Both.
Casper
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good work, jill
You should not assume so often, it only makes your posts look foolish, Partisan or Both.
