Teachers to appeal mass firings at chronically troubled Central Falls, RI, high school

[Hannah Bell]

Jane Sessums, president of the Central Falls Teachers' Union, says union members will be appealing their dismissals to the city's board of trustees. She plans to meet with union representatives and attorneys in the coming days to consider taking other legal steps.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-ri-entire-school-fired,0,3509463.story

[Starry Messenger]

1. This is good news.

So naturally my rec has been canceled out.

[Hannah Bell]

3. Thanks for trying. There are a lot of walbots here. A lot.

[ananda]

2. Good for them!

I'm starting to hate the way teachers are being targeted
these days.

It's all about money... figuring out ways to make teachers
work more for less.

[An_Opened_Hand]

4. Just think how many teachers you could pay with with one BOA/AIG bonus.

[elleng]

5. THIS is about teachers refusing to accept slightly additional duties

to improve a horribly ill-performing school.

[Hannah Bell]

6. like walmart is a great place to shop.

[elleng]

9. You like it?

Never been in one.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. No, it's about teachers being asked to work extra hours for no additional pay

And it's about the effectiveness of firing an entire staff.

Meanwhile no one is replying to my thread where I ask if I would be half fired since I am in a 'failing' school only a half a day.

Obviously this is a very complex issue that can't be solved by merely firing teachers.

[ashling]

8. Reagan set the standard with PATCO

:crap:

[Catshrink]

10. I think that's in the back of all of our minds.

[ashling]

15. Not the back actually

I am starting to seethe about it all over :hurts:

[FBaggins]

11. Can they "appeal" to a higher authority?

Does it help to appeal back to the group that just fired you?

Surely this is a placeholder while they get a legal chalenge together?

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. And just who is the higher authority?

I wonder if this will crawl through the judicial system and land in the SC.

[FBaggins]

14. If I knew, I wouldn't have asked the question.

It just doesn't seem to make much sense to ask for a "do over" from the same group that voted just a couple days earlier. "Appeal" makes it sound like there is a formal process... maybe something written into the law? Each of the non-judicial avenues of appeal (state ed, governor, federal Dept of Ed, etc) has already weighed in (and don't seem open to changing their mind).

I wonder if this will crawl through the judicial system and land in the SC.

I'm still trying to figure out what the legal claim would be. They can't say that their contract was violated, because it was really superseded. It's clear that the argument they (and many of us here) WANT to make is that the basis of the law (the assumption that poor metrics implies poor teaching in all cases) is not valid. That may help change the law in the future (though in this political environment I doubt it), but how can it help this group of teachers? Congress is allowed to pass laws that don't make sense... it's almost their raison d'etre. :)

Maybe abuse of discretion? Then you aren't saying that the person didn't have the authority to make the decision... but that she made the wrong one. It at least gets you to a trial with discovery... maybe to press coverage could help.

[tonysam]

16. The union doesn't have a prayer with the board. They're all corrupt

and will support administrators.

It will have to be fought in the courts, unfortunately.

Remember, the superintendent Frances Gallo was once part of D.C. schools, where she messed it up enough there for Michelle Rhee to take over and screw it up worse.