There are some very important facts about Central Falls everyone needs to note

[proud2BlibKansan]

Central Falls has had 7 principals in 6 years.

22% of the kids at Central Falls are not native English speakers. The rate for the state of RI is 3%.

23% of the kids at Central Falls are special education students. The rate for the state is 17%.

85% of the kids at Central Falls are classified as economically disadvantaged. The state average is 35%.

The number of college applications by Central Falls High School seniors has tripled during the past 5 years.

Reading proficiency at Central Falls has gone up 22% in 2 years.

Writing proficiency at Central Falls has gone up 14% in 2 years.

A state audit last year praised the school for its improvements and noted “Take the time to celebrate as a learning community the accomplishments, successes and positive changes that have taken place over the past few years.”

The dropout rate for Central Falls includes students whose parents were deported after an immigration raid in New Bedford, Mass. It also includes students who transferred when the honors program at Central Falls was eliminated.

Time for a mini lesson on how dropout rates are commonly figured: The number of graduating seniors is compared to the number of freshman who started in this class 3 years earlier. So if you have 100 freshman and 80 graduate 3 years later, your dropout rate is 20%. But what happened to those 20 who didn't graduate is not taken into consideration. If they transferred to a different high school and graduated, they are still counted as dropouts at the school where they were 9th graders. And in low income areas where schools have a high transient population rate, there is almost always a high dropout rate. Surprise!

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/education-secretary-duncan/teachers-discuss-marching-over.html

http://www.aft.org/newspubs/press/2010/030110.cfm

[Starry Messenger]

1. recommend.

^^must read^^

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Yesterday our supt asked the board to reconstitute 5 schools

He is asking to close 27 of our 60 schools. It is such a radical plan that it is getting attention nationwide.

We think he was inspired by the Central Falls supt because he snuck in this reconstitution idea at the last minute. :grr:

[Starry Messenger]

8. Oh great.

:sarcasm: It's like all those guys who take Tony Robbins seminars and suddenly think they are sexy captains of industry. All the other dogs are going to try to emulate this "bold" dick move endorsed by the big dogs.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. He's a Broad Institute graduate

I wonder if the Central Falls supt is also a Broad grad.

I wonder if they know each other.

[Starry Messenger]

16. No, Gallo's not a Broad grad

Her background is with Catholic schools, I think, not public education. Gist seems to have been the Broad grad who was egging her on. What a pair. :(

[Hannah Bell]

34. No, she spent her teaching career in private suburban catholic schools, her

husband is a catholic deacon, & they donate to catholic schools.

The state ed commissioner, Gist, is a 2008 Broad Grad. She hired on with RI in 2009.

[Starry Messenger]

57. That's just so wrong.

I went to catholic schools for 6 years, public for the other 6 and the atmosphere and conditions of private is just such a different workplace culture. Do we know why she made the jump to administration in a public school system? (Other than *cough* better pay?)

[Hannah Bell]

58. i have my speculations, but nothing i can prove as yet.

[Catshrink]

10. You know how it is.

Everyone that has been to school knows how to teach. It's easy.

[Starry Messenger]

13. I've been to the doctor's.

Surgery looks like a snap. Fun too!

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. To continue this comparison to doctors,

this mass firing is like firing doctors because they haven't cured cancer.

[Starry Messenger]

24. Mass firings should motivate all the other doctors for sure.

I bet they'll hop right on that cancer thing now. That will really turn things around. Something had to be done.

[proud2BlibKansan]

29. I'm also thinking all the mechanics at Toyota dealers need to be fired

[Starry Messenger]

56. That's Cabinet level thinking right there.

:thumbsup:

[earcandle]

82. And the bankers on wall street, and the congress in DC... uh... who else has not delivered good

results?  

[inna]

100. Meanwhile, banksters got huge bonuses for their colossal f*ck ups. Amazing, isn't it?

x(

[earcandle]

135. criminally amazing, yes.... what to do?

[emmadoggy]

110. !

:thumbsup:

[LiberalFighter]

105. I wouldn't mind giving it a try. Provided it is the right patient. (wink wink)

[roguevalley]

55. Most superintendents only have to take three years in a classroom

before moving up and so they don't know dick. they also are mostly money managers or builders, not educators. but they almost always are 100% asshole.

[LiberalFighter]

104. +666 on Duncan image

[Starry Messenger]

111. Thank you!

:hug:

[Xipe Totec]

2. The teachers should be praised, not condemned nt

[havocmom]

91. Evidently, if teachers make great gains with ESL and disadvantaged students

sever punishments are in order!

Can't have poor kids, foreign kids, troubled kids getting any sort of a foothold on the ladder out of the economic dungeon.

:sarcasm: and a shit load of :grr:

[Warpy]

3. Good education for us here

I had no idea they counted transfer students as dropouts. That is clearly insane.

The recent improvements in reading and writing should have shielded those teachers, at the very least, from the hissy fit thrown by the school board. Clearly something was wrong with the math department there and that's what should have been addressed.

The school board is simply grandstanding at this point, "See? We're tough and we did something!" never mind it was the wrong thing to do.

The high school will probably be closed permanently. That's really what these no tolerance NCLB types are after, anyway.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. I didn't know that about the dropout rate until a year or so ago

Our local paper did a couple articles on it. The state then refigured the dropout rate at our 'worst' high schools and in a couple, it went down 20-30%. They have since developed a tracking system that follows kids from school to school in the state. But this is a bi-state area and if a kid moves across the state line and graduates, he is still considered a dropout in this state.

Yes it is clearly insane. As is counting kids as dropouts when they leave the country because their parents are deported.

[intheflow]

20. Yeah, ya gotta love deportation as forced dropout to demonize a low-income school.

I'd never heard this before this post. Nor that people moving count as drop outs. What a truly fucked up country we live in. :(

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. It's the quick and dirty way to get a dropout rate

You know I despise NCLB. But one good thing is we have to keep all kinds of data. And crap like this dropout rate nonsense are finally being exposed.

They do a lot of stupid shit in education when it comes to collecting data. And some of that is being cleaned up thanks to NCLB.

And that is officially the last time you will ever hear me praising this law. :)

[Catshrink]

6. Don't forget that Obama and Duncan praised this action.

They are either ignorant of the information in the OP or deliberately obfuscating and ignoring it. Obama is no friend to public education.

[jwirr]

77. The OP article should be sent to President Obama. My guess is

they do not know all this.

[proud2BlibKansan]

80. I don't think they care

I'm sure Arne Duncan doesn't give a shit about these teachers or how hard they have worked. And I think the president wants us to believe he cares. But I have my doubts.

[jwirr]

95. You may be right but I lobby idiots like Pawlenty so why not let Duncan

and the prez know that we care even if they do not. They are beginning to see that ignoring the left is not a good thing for them we need to keep the pressure on.

[LiberalFighter]

106. If anyone needs to be fired it is Duncan. He is a worthless piece of shit.

[Fruittree]

123. A very helpful, well thought out comment...

[Fruittree]

121. Actually..

I read Obama's comments and listened to him and I wouldn't say he praised what was done..His comments seemed more intended to make a point that the poor quality of education in inner city schools and poor neighborhoods is a serious matter and needs to be addressed by sometimes major changes. I won't claim to know all the specifics of what happened but I do know enough to suspect it isn't a black-white/clear cut issue. I'm sure the whole issue is actually complicated and immediately demonizing Duncan or Obama or the teachers for that matter deflects attention from the real issue which is that a lot of the poorer schools are not working to do what they are meant to do which is to teach children to a level where they can graduate and have a chance to move up economically and not perpetuate a cycle of poverty. This, in my opinion, goes beyond unions or anything else.

[Brickbat]

7. My heart aches for those teachers.

It looks to me like they were busting their asses and all they get is the president of the United States saying it was right to fire them all. It's like Reagan and PATCO all over again.

[aungsungsuchi2]

11. it seems that test scores

are typically related to class. the rich generally do better on test scores in other words. however, jews and asians appear to the best on test scores, i hear. i guess whites are third and blacks and latinos are on the bottom. this still might be partially related to class since blacks and latinos have higher rates of unemployment and poverty.

[LWolf]

28. We've known since well before

the high-stakes test movement that the most consistent predictor of student test scores is not the teacher or the school, but parent SES: socio-economic status.

We've known it for many decades.

Which is why test scores are an easy tool to scapegoat teachers when there is a political agenda to accomplish.

[glitch]

12. Someone should have done his homework before he applauded the firing of these teachers.

Pandering rarely benefits the informed.

[EFerrari]

39. I expect the President will invite these teachers to the White House for a beer

as soon as he realizes his mistake.

[proud2BlibKansan]

42. LOL!

[activa8tr]

88. That will be one HECK of a beer tab... so I doubt it! For sure

He blew it!

This President is NOT living up to the "Yes we can" slogan, (unless he means "Yes HE can...say anything he wants and get away with it)

[Starry Messenger]

92. lol

[glitch]

128. I would love to see that -- but I am not going to hold my breath.

I just keeps getting sadder and sadder.

[EFerrari]

129. I know, me too.

Did you ever read "Shikasta"? It's a novel by Doris Lessing that describes the degradation of a beautiful planet by multiple powerful actors. SciFi or, maybe just prophetic.

[glitch]

130. No I never did.

But I will now, thanks! :hi:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Gosh, I wonder how those horrible teachers would have done at Beverly Hills High? K&R

[aungsungsuchi2]

15. everyone is a critic...

...blah blah blah...

[Catshrink]

17. Kick for truth

[branders seine]

18. teachers are unionized. they must be punished.

[baldguy]

61. Truth.

+1

[Starry Messenger]

19. le kick

[ncteechur]

21. THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRED!!!!!!!!!!!! AND IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH UNIONS

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. THANK YOU FOR KICKING THE THREAD!!!!!!!!

[Generic Other]

32. Kicking for solidarity!

Thanks for providing some vital facts about the true demographics at Central Falls.

[proud2BlibKansan]

33. You are most welcome

[Reader Rabbit]

119. I nearly peed myself laughing!

I'm sitting in Homework Club* right now with some of my kid-lets. They're wondering why I'm laughing.

*non-paid, as with most teachers trying to help out their kids. But there will still be ignorant dill-holes who say we have a cushy job and don't work hard enough.

[proud2BlibKansan]

133. LOL

[Starry Messenger]

25. How well-reasoned and non-vitriolic!

You totally don't sound like a Freeper! :thumbsup: It's always so nice to see these level headed visits from practical Democrats.

[The Midway Rebel]

27. Yeah, especially true since you yelled it.

NOT!

[proud2BlibKansan]

31. It's obvious he never learned to use his inside voice in elementary school

FIRE HIS TEACHERS!!!!!!

[EFerrari]

38. KICK!

[PVnRT]

101. LOUD NOISES!!1!!!1!11OMGZLOLOLOL

[asdjrocky]

30. Reagan goes after the air traffic controllers, and Obama goes after the teachers.

Scary.

Thanks for the truth.

[proud2BlibKansan]

35. Well considering Bush's Sec of Ed thought teachers were terrorists

mass firing is an improvement of sorts.

[EFerrari]

40. I thought of that, too.

:wtf:

[asdjrocky]

46. He's making his anti-union statement for the ptb.

What else could it be? His kids well never have to worry about public education.

[EFerrari]

48. He owes those teachers an apology. I'm waiting to find his comments

so I can know what he actually said but, that's what it looks like from here.

[ipaint]

36. Thanks.

As with every conservative slash and burn policy, it's based on lies. I knew that "7% can't do math, OMG !1!" meme that was in every news story and to his shame the president latched on to, wasn't anywhere near the whole story.

[EFerrari]

37. I knew it. So, this school is being punished for SUCCEEDING

not for failing. Is that right?

[proud2BlibKansan]

43. Pretty much

That and the need to make an example of a school so all the rest of the teachers get to work raising test scores.

[valerief]

81. Yep! Good students block the flow of fed money for 'improvements' apparently.

Grubby, greedy hands go empty then.

[Tailormyst]

41. Thank you for this- everyone from this area knows what CF is all about

Blaming the teachers was just so very wrong. Our President really fucked up in praising this. Those teachers are heroes and he shamed them in front of the whole country. Men and women who taught under very difficult circumstanced and what do they get for it? fired and humiliated publicly.

Good luck finding anyone else to take their place.

Obama completely lost me for good with this move. I've been teetering on the edge for a while. I will not vote for him in 2012 I will vote 3rd party or stay home.

[Tailormyst]

44. Oh and I would like to add the one big industry in that one square mile:

Besides the drugs, that is, is a for-profit federal prison that was being used by ICE until ICE removed all the prisoners due to horrible conditions.

[EFerrari]

45. Do you (or does anyone) have a link to his comments?

I remember seeing the Subj line but was working another street at the time. :(

[Tailormyst]

47. Here

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/03/obama_criticized_by_aft_for_co.html

He spoke without any knowledge of the community or its struggles.

[EFerrari]

49. Thanks so much. n/t

[Tailormyst]

51. My pleasure

[EFerrari]

50. Here is the quote from that link:

So if a school is struggling, we have to work with the principal and the teachers to find a solution. We've got to give them a chance to make meaningful improvements. But if a school continues to fail its students year after year after year, if it doesn't show signs of improvement, then there's got to be a sense of accountability.

And that's what happened in Rhode Island last week at a chronically troubled school, when just 7 percent of 11th graders passed state math tests -- 7 percent. When a school board wasn't able to deliver change by other means, they voted to lay off the faculty and the staff. As my Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, says, our kids get only one chance at an education, and we need to get it right.

[EFerrari]

54. Video of his remarks in full @ 26:25

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/292311-1

There is a transcript at the link.

[olegramps]

63. He gives pretty speeches. That's all that matters.

This is kind of like when he says that every American deserves first rate health care like he and his fellow politicians have, but he fails to provide any program to accomplish this. I can readily see why so many Democrats are very disappointed and feel betrayed. Some of my Democratic friends say they don't want to listen to any more of his bull shit. I really think unless there is significant change, millions of Democrats will not show up at the polls. According to a poll I read he has lost much of the support of the younger voters. I fully realize that he inherited a God awful damn mess, but now he owns it. He has to stop the bipartisanship bull crap and realize that the Republicans have used it to discredit him. The more that he reaches out to the Party Of No, the more that he justifies their opposition. He is playing chess alright and its Check Mate.

[EFerrari]

86. His speech incorrectly slammed that school.

This school was praised for its improvement by the state, for one thing.

He needs to apologize to those teachers.

[proud2BlibKansan]

70. "lay off"????????

Nice twist there, Barack.

[Tailormyst]

131. Yeah- he makes it sound like they could collect unemployment

Instead they will be stuck trying to find a job after even the President said they sucked. I wonder how many of those middle aged, some getting close to retirement age, teachers will be able to find job paying even half of what they were making.

[GinaMaria]

52. public education and democracy

go together. They support one another. Without one the other crumbles. :-(

[tango-tee]

53. K&R. Thank you for your hard work.

I say this on behalf of my granddaughter who attends public school.

BTW you are one of my favorite posters. Always well-informed, and you are passionate about your profession. Again, thanks.

[proud2BlibKansan]

71. OMG what a nice thing to say!

I am home sick today. Caught a terrible cold. Wasn't even going to read DU cause I was thinking something here would upset me and I need to feel better, not worse. Then I saw your post.

Thank you :hug:

[tango-tee]

96. Get well soon, my friend.

And remember :yourock:

Hugs from across the Atlantic!

[proud2BlibKansan]

116. Thank you

Heading out to a school board meeting now. Cold and all :)

[Solly Mack]

59. K&R

[rpannier]

60. K&R

Thanks to you Hannah Bell, KansasLib and others for getting the facts out

Unfortunately the DU has a lot of teacher haters, anti-union dings, supposed first teacher supporters and Llewellyn Lovejoy's

[laughingliberal]

83. Kick for Hannah Bell, KansasLib for getting the facts for us! nt

[democrank]

62. K & R

Thanks for posting this.

Speaking of firing, how about we fire all members of Congress who voted for the Iraq war since we were promised WMD and none were found? Might as well fire the Army Corps of Engineers for the levees after Hurricane Katrina. Or all DEA agents since we haven`t won the war on drugs. Can`t we fire a bunch of people for the falling down ceilings at Walter Reed? I could go on all day.......

[RBInMaine]

64. It sounds like they ARE doing things and there is much more to the story. TOUGH demographics here.

[boppers]

65. A failed school has improved, yay!

Time to reward those who made improvement happen, and discard the chaff.

That's why 50% of the staff can be hired back.

[ipaint]

66. Minus the union.

Funny how that works. Teachers with 20 and 30 years experience, who earn their pay and more. And what about the possibility that many more than 50% of those teachers where doing their jobs. Shit out of luck I guess. Right?

What shitty charter school do they have planned for the area. Follow the money starting with the supers ridiculous salary moving UP not down and you'll find exactly who is behind the destruction.

[boppers]

67. FALSE. Nothing to do with a Union.

A Union is no protection for not doing your job. Those re-hired will be Union, unless they would rather have a union than a job.

I'm not sure quite what what I was thinking when I typed that, but it seems to fit the situation.

[ipaint]

69. Nothing to do with the union. That's rich.

And particularly right wing.

Again who is replacing these teachers. Especially the vast majority of experienced teachers that were doing their jobs. Who? Teach for America newbies, untrained low paid, pad my resume teacher wannabes are going into this population and turn things around? Is this what conservative folks call "putting students first".

The parents, students and community are against this move, but that doesn't matter to the authoritarian, conservative movers and shakers and their white upper middle class supporters.

Follow the money, it will lead to a conservative right wing slash and burn solution every time because that is where the private profits are.

[spoony]

124. boppers isn't a big fan of unions

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=115133&mesg_id=115173

I've had this dance before and, trust me, you'd have more luck milking a rock.

[Dinger]

126. Hmmm. DUly Noted (nt)

[proud2BlibKansan]

74. Apparently there are no charters interested

which is why they were forced to fire the teachers.

It's in the Wash Post article I linked in my OP.

[proud2BlibKansan]

72. How has the school improved? I'm not clear on that.

It's not been long enough to hire new teachers, test the kids using magic pencils* and score those tests. Can't do all that in 10 days.

So unless you have a crystal ball, what improvement are you speaking of?

Is it a hopey changey improvement?

*Fellow teachers: mark this date, 3/3/10 that I am predicting the use of magic pencils at Central Falls this time next year. Then voila! all hail the glorious improvements in this 'failing school'! I'm calling it first!! LOL

[PVnRT]

102. Then figure out which teachers aren't doing their job and fire them

The union does not "protect bad teachers." They protect the process used to evaluate and fire them to prevent this kind of nonsense from happening. Same way everywhere else there's a union.

Amazing how many people around here buy the right-wing talking points about how unions work.

[rucky]

68. The obvious solution is to bring in a bunch of first-year teachers.

They'll turn this boat around!

[proud2BlibKansan]

73. And save money too!

[activa8tr]

89. Let's hire a few dozen of the unemployed drop-out parents to teach

these kids...good salary for the parents, and for sure the students will learn more with them.

:sarcasm:

This is about the administration and the unions, and how biased a manager Duncan is.
Obama should shut up and let Duncan blow this and then fire HIM.

[nyc 4 Biden]

75. kayandare

thank you for posting this

[rox63]

76. Sounds like this school was starting to come back

after struggling with some harsh conditions. Until they fired the teachers who were turning things around. :grr:

[EFerrari]

87. Yep.

[surrealAmerican]

78. Important points.

Thanks.

[Canuckistanian]

79. K&R

Sounds like some legal action is necessary to get these facts out.

[Jokerman]

84. Facts? We don't need no stinking facts!

When there are teachers, public schools and unions to bash those pesky facts just get in the way.
:sarcasm:

Seriously, thanks for bring some rational discourse to the subject.

K & R

[activa8tr]

90. Yeah, let's just act like Republicans do... no stinkin facts should

get in the way of our agenda!!


:sarcasm:

[TheDebbieDee]

85. K & R!

Thanks for explaining how the dfrop-out rate is computed.

[northofdenali]

93. If they're firing these teachers for a crap reason like this -

maybe the feds should look at the Alaska dropout rates/literacy rates (under a solidly Repuke stranglehold for 30 years):

http://www.adn.com/2008/11/16/590870/alaskas-dropout-rate-double-us.html

Alaska's dropout rate double US average

Some educators say they can see which kids aren't going to make it on the first day of kindergarten. Some children show up knowing how to read, while others come not even knowing what the colors are.

Battling one of the worst dropout rates in the country, Alaska educators gathered for a third day on Saturday to brainstorm how to stop the epidemic of kids quitting school before earning their diplomas. They called dropping out a result of an accumulative failure, which can start before kids even enter school.

What a ridiculous scenario RI has set up here.

[Number9Dream]

94. Room for blame on both sides

In the interest of an open mind, if the following statistics are inaccurate, please feel free to provide alternate numbers with links.

From the American Federation of Teachers Salary Survey, page 22 of 37, it shows in 2006-2007 Rhode Island teachers averaged $58.4K, 5th highest in the U.S. Three years later, it's not unreasonable to assume that figure has topped $60K.

http://archive.aft.org/salary/2007/download/AFT2007SalarySurvey.pdf

snip> "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, Gallo said."

http://www.projomobile.com/projo/db_31723/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=iDYSLETa&detailindex=2&pn=0&ps=4&full=true

The median income for a Central Falls household is $22K.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Falls,_Rhode_Island

The average teacher's salary was roughly $50K per year higher than that of the low income tax base. (Difference between median and average noted).

From the Providence Journal:

snip> "Gallo said she offered to pay teachers $30 an hour for two additional weeks of training in the summer."

snip> "Union officials have been pushing for $90 per hour and want the district to pay for more of the additional responsibilities."

http://www.projomobile.com/projo/db_31723/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=iDYSLETa&detailindex=2&pn=0&ps=4&full=true

For any group to try to squeeze $90 per hour out of a poverty stricken tax base is shameful.

I doubt many DUers could afford to thumb their noses at $30 per hour.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

97. Oh Boy

Rhode Island teachers ranked fifth highest in salaries? Rhode Island is in the top ten for Cost of Living, with the COL Index 20% higher than most states in the midwest.

Comparing the teacher's salaries to the salaries of people who live in the neighborhood is a little...well...stupid. Does this mean that I'm not allowed to earn any more than my neighbors regardless of the skills and experience I bring to the job? Given the poverty in this district, it's a fair bet that the majority of the school's funds from from property taxes, state assistance, and federal funding and not from incomes taxes.

$30 per hour? Not quite. Read the next paragraph in the article you linked to. Between extending the school day by 25 minutes and requiring teachers to work an extra hour per day (before or after school) as unpaid tutors, the District was asking the teachers to pony up 255 hours of free labor.
Now if you add the 80 hours of paid labor the district wanted at $30 per hour the district offered, the teachers were being asked for 335 hours of labor and would be paid $2,400 -- that comes to just over $7.00 per hour.

McDonald's is hiring. And the pay is better.

[YvonneCa]

107. "Comparing the teacher's salaries to the salaries of people who live in the neighborhood ...

... is a little...well...stupid." :7 Your words are perfect. I'm glad someone finally said that. (Still love you, Jeff... ;) )

[Fruittree]

118. Wondering...

Why is it stupid? Isn't the point that people in that district have to pay property tax in order to support the schools with part of that being teacher salaries and benefits. You may or may not agree with the firings (and frankly I've read so many conflicting facts that I'm not sure what to think) but the point of high property and school taxes is a major issue for a lot of us.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

127. OK

If the average income in the neighborhood is $20K, that means these people don't own their own homes - you can't afford much of a mortgage on that income.

In most states, the principle source of funding for local education is the property tax, which is paid by landlords and real estate developers. And homeowners, of course, but chances are there are very few of them in this neighborhood. In short, the income of the neighborhood is not terrribly relevant to teachers' salaries.

And for a second helping of stupid, do you really want to suggest that we should pay teachers poverty-level wages if they choose to teach in inner-city neighborhoods and lavish high salaries on teachers out in affluent enclaves in the suburbs? Seriously? That doesn't sound like a really (really) bad idea to you?

[Tailormyst]

132. The city is 1 square mile

1 square mile of low income run down apartment buildings. Not alot of industry or businesses to support the school. I'm surprised that they have not been absorbed into a surrounding city yet.

[YvonneCa]

108. "Comparing the teachers' salaries to the salaries of people who live in the neighborhood ...

... is a little...well...stupid." :7 Your words are perfect. I'm glad someone finally said that. (Still love you, Jeff... ;) )

[MissDeeds]

98. Excellent post

Thanks for taking the time to post the facts. In this case, the devil really is in the details.

K&R

[inna]

99. Belated K&R, thanks for the info!

[PVnRT]

103. Interesting that few of the Fire The Teachers Hooray! crowd bothered to read this

Not surprising, but still interesting.

[Bluebear]

109. Agree with every word you say.

[BigD_95]

112. can they speak and understand English though?

***22% of the kids at Central Falls are not native English speakers*****

Would the kids have to attend class learning to speak and understand English before they were put in public schools?
There should be some sort of test before they can attend.

Wouldnt be fair to the teachers or other kids trying to teach and learn if they have to slow everything down if these kids dont speak or understand English

[proud2BlibKansan]

115. No, public schools have to take everyone who walks in the door

including the ones who speak no English.

[emmadoggy]

113. Thank you.

K & R for the WHOLE picture.

Thanks for posting this very important information, proud2Blib.

[Uncle Joe]

114. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, proud2BlibKansan.:thumbsup:

[Bluebear]

117. k/r

[Chemical Bill]

120. Thank you for this. n/t

[Little Star]

122. Thanks for that info. k&r

[Dinger]

125. Kick And Rec # 187 From Me

Excellent post my friend.:yourock: :headbang:

[proud2BlibKansan]

134. Merci beaucoups

:hug: