Based on this 2009 report from the RI Commissioner's office re Central Falls High school

[EFerrari]

http://www.aft.org/pdfs/press/CFHScommissreport2009.pdf

documenting achievement improvements being made at that school, President Obama was incorrect in his remarks about the educators who worked there. He should correct his statements and apologize to those teachers.

It turns out that Obama's comments about this school were wrong:

"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."

This is what the ATF said in their response to Obama's comments:

"President Obama’s comments today condoning the mass firing of the Central Falls High School teachers do not reflect the reality on the ground and completely ignore the teachers’ significant commitment to working with others to transform this school. We know it is tempting for people in Washington to score political points by scapegoating teachers, but it does nothing to give our students and teachers the tools they need to succeed.

What’s even sadder is that the firings and the President’s comments come in spite of a state report written last April that focused on the high school’s reading and writing proficiency, which have gone up 22 percent and 14 percent respectively over the past two years. Nowhere in the report is there any criticism of teachers’ efforts, skills or dedication to their job or their students. The report does, however, point to problems with constantly changing programs and the instability of school leadership. The report reinforces the fact that, today, teachers are being blamed unfairly for the schools’ problems."

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

(Emphasis mine.)

I think we should be calling the White House switchboard in support of these teachers -- whose efforts to turn their school around were rewarded by mass firings and disrespectful, ill-informed, public comments made by the president. Obama was wrong. He should own that and apologize to those teachers.

White House comment line:
202-466-1111

Email contact form:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

[saracat]

1. The President must be called to account for these remarks.

and someone's head should be on the chopping block.I volunteer Arne Duncan.

[LisaM]

2. I second

if this gets rid of Arne Duncan, I will dance a jig.

[Nite Owl]

4. I'll volunteer for the

chopping! He's more dangerous than Rahm. (maybe, ok they're equal)

[Dinger]

74. Yes Indeed

I'll volunteer arne too.:evilgrin:

[atreides1]

3. Sent an e-mail

Sir,

You owe an apology to the teachers of Central Falls HS in Rhode Island.
It would seen that the reading and writing proficiency went up by 22 and 14 percent respectively over the past two years. This report was issued by the Rhode Island Commissioner's office.Nowhere in the report is there any criticism of teachers’ efforts, skills or dedication to their job or their students. The report does, however, point to problems with constantly changing programs and the instability of school leadership.
School leadership would translate to the School Board and the District Superintendent, not the teachers, counselors, or the administrative staff of Central Falls HS.
Maybe instead of trusting your staff and cabinet, you should get all of the facts before making comments. As my 1st Sergeant used to tell us, engage your brain before putting your mouth in gear.

Sincerely

[EFerrari]

5. Thanks, atreidies1. Right on the nose. n/t

[DFab420]

6. A few remarks..

First off..I just finished reading the report. I found nowhere in there the "22 and 14 percent increases" So if you could tell me which page and section it was under I would appreciate that. Or whatever other report the article was talking about..

I did find this though.

"Some teachers throughout all grade levels rely too heavily on teacher-directed instruction
which often does not meet the varied interest and ability levels of their students. In these
classes, many students were observed to be off task and disengaged from the learning
process, doing work unrelated to the task at hand, texting on cell phones or sitting with their
heads down for prolonged periods of time."

Oh..and this

"Some parents report that they are concerned with the level of support provided for struggling
readers. They also believe that communication between home and school could be improved.
Many of the parents who met with visit team members did not have information on academic
and remediation programs in place to support students."

And then there's this whole thing

"Many students and teachers express the concern that student discipline is inconsistently
handled or not addressed at all in some instances. There is concern that this is causing an
erosion of the learning and teaching process."

So yea, not the best school in the district I suppose.. Not the worst either, but this one 9 page report hardly debunks or proves the President wrong.

[EFerrari]

7. Report ends: "I wish you CONTINUED success in the future. "

Read the findings again.

[Doremus]

64. Congrats. That was some careful reading digging up those criticisms by "some parents"

Question for you: If "many students ... express the concern that student discipline is inconsistently handled or not addressed at all in some instances," does that mean that it's only "some" or "a few" students who are exhibiting said behavior? Doesn't really make any sense that "many" students would be complaining about their own behavior, does it? And if it's only "some" or "a few" students, why the big uproar?

Answer if you can. Thanks.

[EFerrari]

8. ACK. That phone number is wrong. It's 202 456-1111.

Sorry guys.

[izzybeans]

9. Thanks for this. I emailed to the white house

asking for clarification and stating that this type of punishment was irrationally bowing to political sentiments about the teaching profession and counterproductive for the students who have now been abandoned by their school board.

In response to the poster above the a larger quote from the reports ending spells out the irony of this whole thing:

"It is just as evident that you still need
more time, as a learning community, to have honest discussions as you process these
changes. As you work to do this, stakeholders should view these changes, particularly the
introduction of new teaching practices, as more powerful tools that can be used to help all
students become proficient readers and writers. 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."

[EFerrari]

10. Thanks, izzy. I'm sending the action out to my network

It's not personal. People make mistakes. But this particular one can result in good teachers losing their jobs and another blow to our unions. And that would be unfortunate.

Send it out if you can.

[DFab420]

12. Hmmm...

I dunno...wishing someone continued success right after telling them they need to keep working seems like one of those management techniques of Critique then Complement.. It doesn't really mean they are only successful, it just means they have been in some places. Which is what I said in my previous post. It doesn't suddenly nullify the rest of the report..its just a nice way of wording "You need to keep working". I agree the students really got the raw end of this deal, but on the other hand, who knows, maybe they will get teachers now who won't refuse to stay late and tutor them? since that was one of the disagreements between the board and the union....

[EFerrari]

14. The rest of the report is not damning in any way. But thanks for stopping by to cherrypick.

[DFab420]

30. Cherry-pick?

Because I used large paragraphs without pulling one or two words out of context?

You put the report up, I read through it twice now, some of the stuff they said about the school wasn't nice, some of it was. All I was trying to point out is that it's not like this school was a shining beacon of our education system.

[EFerrari]

32. This school got a good report from the state.

But keep digging.

[DFab420]

35. I know this sounds lazy

but do you have that report or a link to it please? I am on restricted work internet and am having a hard time finding online

[EFerrari]

41. The link is in the OP. n/t

[izzybeans]

18. It certainly critiques the school but it also acknowledges that

it was undergoing a big reform and was dealing with severe turnover in the administration.

It looks like the board shut this school down in midstream as it was working on the type of curriculum and instructional reforms advocated by most education reformers.

The bit about the students sitting with their heads down was troubling for sure, but this report doesn't justify the nuclear option for the school.

Looking at the turnaround schools here in Chicago, there appears to be little justification for the policy. They disrupt student achievement and force the school to start from scratch. if a charter company comes into this school to manage it they are just going to make the same reforms that were already in place in this school (e.g. differentiated instruction, literacy infused specials courses, etc.). Hell they'll probably hire back many of the old teachers (without union contracts of course). That's how it works here.

I do not advocate locking charters out of public schools like many people do. If they allow students to go beyond attendance boundaries and attend schools whose children are more committed to education than the one in their neighborhood (which is the case in many low income neighborhoods-urban and rural) so be it. To me its not about competition but choice. If you are a family living near a poorly performing school with a lot of violence, drugs, etc. would you want to be stuck with that as your only option? No.

But there are times when over-zealous reforms harm the children they were intended to help. I'd place big bets on that happening here.

[The Straight Story]

11. A little more:

http://www.cfschools.net/Schools/High%20School%20Website/Pages/About%20CFHS.htm

Central Falls is the smallest city in Rhode Island encompassing 1.5 square miles. However, within its borders are over 18,000 residents, making it one of the most densely populated cities in the nation. Central Falls High School (CFHS) is an urban Senior High School that serves students from grades nine through twelve. It is centrally located within the city so that most of the students are able to walk to and from school. The school has a capacity rating of 960 students with a current enrollment at just over 1,000.

The 2005-2006 SALT survey reports the following information:

* 96% of students are eligible or free or reduced lunch
* 65% of the student body is of Hispanic origin, 13% White, 14% African American, 8% other
* 25% of students receive ESL services
* 21% receive SPED services
* 12% of parents have a post-secondary degree
* The total per student school expenditure was $11,798 (State 9,371)
* 71.4% of students graduate

In January of 2005, three committees were formed to further address RIDE’s high school regulations. One committee was charged with providing recommendations to improve students’ literacy levels; a second committee studied and made recommendations pertaining to personalization; and a final committee, the graduation by proficiency committee, was responsible for recommendations pertaining to portfolios and Comprehensive Course Assessments (CCA).

[EFerrari]

15. Thank you for that information.

You know, the last thing these kids need in their lives is to have the little consistency they have in their lives disrupted and to be dumped like so much garbage at other schools.

[Tailormyst]

13. I wonder if the teachers warrant a beer at the picnic table.

Oh wait....they just teach poor immigrant kids.

He sure does have a fucked up way to pick who he sticks up for.

[EFerrari]

16. Jim Crowley is called "Jim Crow" in his neighborhood and lied on his police report.

If he got a bear, these teachers should get beer AND pizza, too. :)

[Tailormyst]

22. Beer, Pizza and an apology !!!

CF is light years different from Cambridge :(

[DFab420]

17. This is what the teachers said no to..

"The conditions are adding 25 minutes to the school day, providing tutoring on a rotating schedule before and after school, eating lunch with students once a week, submitting to more rigorous evaluations, attending weekly after-school planning sessions with other teachers and participating in two weeks of training in the summer."

http://www.projo.com/education/content/central_falls_teachers.1_02-13-10_A8HEI7Q_v61.3a65218.html

They sure do have a fucked up way of picking who they stick up for don't they?

Also I haven't found exact numbers but this is a nice point about the the gripeing for more money thing:
"The average teacher salary at that high school was not only well above the national and regional averages;

http://www.examiner.com/x-22126-Worcester-County-Progressive-Examiner~y2010m2d25-School-District-fires-93-people-from-Central-Falls-RI-High-School-Part-3

Deleted remark about 400% above average of Central Falls area due to the fact that sometimes I make mistakes and am trying to correct them.

[Tailormyst]

19. Take your RW talking points and kindly shove them.

Fuck you and the rest of the anti-union, anti-labor douchebags.

[DFab420]

28. Why are my point RW talking points?

I am just trying to wade through a tough decision that was made and make sense of it.

Does it suck they all got fired because of 5 teachers out of 93? YES

Does it suck the students will have new teachers next semester? I suppose.

Are we making a mountain out of a foothill(since i is a bit bigger then a mole hill)? Yes

Just because you don't agree with the points I'm making doesn't mean I'm anti-union or anti-labor OR a douche-bag
thank you very much.

Next time you have a thought, why don't you sit on it for a few to make sure it's not just a pissy reaction. It takes away the value of whatever good points you have to make.

[EFerrari]

31. This wasn't a tough decision. It was mendacity to mass fire these teachers

and to blame them for the firing when the state said they were doing a good job.

What part of that is tough for you?

[DFab420]

48. The firing people part.

and the deciding the fate of the school, students, and teachers, I would find that a very tough decision.

Especially when faced with a report that supports some areas of the school while calling for improvements in others.

p.s. good word use on mendacity btw

[EFerrari]

20. Excuse me? So you think that your boss should be able to demand

you work extra hours, in fact in this scenario, weeks, for free?

Are you lost?

[Tailormyst]

23. You are kinder to him then I was !

I think it's time for me to had home before I get myself kicked off for losing my temper :)

[EFerrari]

26. We need this thread to stay civil because this is important.

The president needs some feedback. Let's make sure as many civil DUers as possible get to weigh in. :hi:

[DFab420]

33. Absolutely

I agree this is important and thank you for remaining civil

No I am not the boss nor am I lost. I just find it frustrating to instantly side with people, who when asked to do a some extra work to make the lives of the students better, like attending classes to make them better teachers, instantly cried foul they weren't paid more to care. It sucks to not get paid what you think you should, I agree to that, but it also sucks to place money in front of your students don't you think?

[EFerrari]

40. I don't instantly do anything. I read up on the situation. You?

[DFab420]

45. As much as I possibly can

But many people are out to villify this as some great example of how all hell is going to break loose, but honestly it isn't.

I didn't mean to discount your knowledge of the subject.

[Tailormyst]

55. It is all hell breaking out for those teachers and those students.

No good teachers will want to work for that city. Getting people to teach there in the first place was hard enough.

Those teachers invested many years, physically and emotionally to that school. Now they have to pick up and attempt to find another job somewhere else after even the president said they deserved to be fired.

[DFab420]

61. Are you sure?

Were you there for those "many years"? If you want to make general statements like that then I could just say:

"""Those teachers gave only what they had to to their students, They invested little time other then just grading papers and teaching to the tests. While some student were sad to see some teachers go on a whole it wasn't that big of an impact...""

but I won't because that's just hyperbole and conjecture, which is what your post is too.

Also the President didn't say the teachers "deserved" to be fired, all he said is he stood behind the superintendent for her decision, therefore not undermining her authority over the schools. If anything he should have just kept his yapper shut on this one.

[Tailormyst]

66. I live in the area and I come from a family of public school teachers.

Like EF said I have NEVER met a teacher who was paid for all the hours they work.

[Raineyb]

69. So you're saying that the teachers should work for free?

What the hell kind of logic is that? If one loves one's job one should be willing to do it for no pay?

What an asinine argument to make.

[dem mba]

77. um, yes

I think anyone who works on salary has had to do unpaid overtime before.

in my experience you can either

1) not work the overtime, miss your deadlines (or goals or whatever), and the whole department gets sacked.

2) come in on the weekends (or whatever), do what needs to be done, and hope your boss appreciates the extra effort. if not, oh well. guess it's time to find a new job.

[proud2BlibKansan]

They said no to working extra hours for no pay

The ridiculous thing being many of them ALREADY do that.

I also don't understand why it is suddenly a crime to earn more money than the families in the community. But go ahead and offer the new teachers $22,000 a year and watch those applications fly in! LOL

[EFerrari]

43. I've never met a teacher who was paid for the actual hours they work.

When I taught, I was only paid for about 3/4 of my hours and then, I lost track. lol

[Tailormyst]

54. I come from a family of teachers

The work never stopped when they pulled out of the school parking lot. They worked more unpaid hours and volunteered more time to their community then most of us ever, ever think of doing.

There was never a holiday that my aunt was not sitting with her big bag correcting papers. My father missed TONS of my stuff because he was tied up doing things at HIS school in another town. Often groups of students were at our house studying and getting extra help. He coached, taught summer school, stayed after every day, he loved his job and his students.

You are right, teachers never get paid for actual hours worked.

[Quezacoatl]

36. Meaningless stat

"close to 400% of the average salary in Central Falls"

If Central Falls is a very poor area then it only makes sense that teachers would make much more. What is the average salary in Central Falls?

Are you suggesting that teachers who teach in poorer areas should receive a lower salary than those in affluent areas?

I would think it's much more challenging to teach in poorer regions.

[DFab420]

39. No no no

I apologize if my wording or quotes were misleading but what that stat points to isn't about the salary of the people of Central Falls, but of the salary of teachers on a national level.

Central Falls high school teachers made 400% above the national average of other teachers. Nothing to do with the people or their affluence

again I am sorry if that stat wasn't quoted properly

[proud2BlibKansan]

44. Well that's not true

Average teacher salary is somewhere around $40K. Unless the CF teachers are earning $160K they aren't making 400% above the national average.

[DFab420]

46. Ah yes

Ok I have gone back and reread the article and I am completely at fault for this one, I will take the 400% part out of my discussion and post, since having re read the context I now see it did mean the area in which the school was located which has no bearing on my point. Thanks for the diligence DUers, I'm still new as you can see from the post count haha.

[Tailormyst]

56. No they don't- Your numbers are wrong.

[DFab420]

59. I know..and

Yes, I already corrected the errors. Thank you

[Tailormyst]

65. You're welcome

And I'm sorry for the D bag comment- We've just had a week or more of people coming in here and tearing down some really good teachers and alot of us are REALLY fed up. Many of these teachers are older and will have a very hard time finding a new job and when they do it will most likely be at a considerable finacial loss. Teachers are not rich. They are not laid off, they are fired. As of June, they and their families are shit out of luck. All because some politicians were looking to score points.

The kids lose and the teachers lose. Obama, the secretary of education and the school superintendant all still have their nice cushy job.

THAT is why so many of us are so angry. There has been a big effort to break the unions. This was one pretty effective way. Why join the teachers union when they are just going to fire you for not agreeing to work for free anyway? What teacher will want to work there? It's poor, dirty, underfunded and the higher ups have NO regard for the staff. Would you work there? I sure wouldn't.

[frylock]

49. i'm sure you'd have no objections to doing more work for free, right?

didn't think so.

[DFab420]

50. I'm sure I don't either.

As a matter of fact I know I don't. If I feel it is necessary or beneficial or helpful then I don't seek monetary reimbursement for doing something above and beyond my call. It's a point of pride to be able to say Yes, and not care about the money. Do you just function at your pay-grade?

[EFerrari]

53. By the same logic, slavery is the height of virtue.

[DFab420]

58. really?

HAhahahaha wow, that is in incredible leap. Yes because staying later to tutor students and attending seminars = slavery

because doing a better job then expected of you = slavery??

come on really?

[EFerrari]

67. You're awfullly free with the time and effort of other people.

[Kalun D]

75. Really?

So it's ok to fire someone because they won't volunteer to work for free?

what's right about firing all the teachers because of the math scores? Are they all math teachers?

[frylock]

60. do you just function at your pay-grade?

nope. i've been known give a little more. but let me ask you, do you actually know ANY teachers? if so, you'd already understand that they work outside of the 9-5 routine, often putting in 12+ hr days as well as weekends. this district was attepting to squeeze even more out of them. you reach a point where you just say fuck it. and as has been pointed out; good luck getting ANYBODY worth a damn to work for that district under those conditions.

[DFab420]

62. Well I'm glad to hear you do give more

it's important as a country that we stand and deliver above what is expected of us.

I know I seem like the bad guy in this discussion today. However I do recognize the hardships of being a teacher. And yes, I know ALOT of teachers and academics, and yes it is ALOT of work. But they have a passion for it, which I feel carries some of that weight.

And hopefully some teachers will realize that while this group got a raw deal, these kids deserve better then "improving scores" and "it was going to get better", they deserve for it to be better already. After a while, no matter the programs you place or the time you give it, some situations are just untenable. This was the case in R.I.

These students deserve rapid and swift action to help them now, not 4 years down the line.

Does it make me a bad guy to feel that way? I hope you see I'm not trying to defend the breaking up of unions or some other ridiculous charge. I am trying to defend a decision made that was thought to better help students immediately

[Hannah Bell]

21. Put in the OP: he also praised a Gates-funded school with *worse* scores

& 2 years of failure to bring them up to standard.

[EFerrari]

24. KBR, whose most notable success was electrocuting our troops,

just got a new $2.8 BILLION dollar contact.

But these teachers who were working in a really difficult school AND making progress, are fired en masse?

:wtf: is THAT?

[Hannah Bell]

42. union-busting & hypocrisy. and an increase in unemployment = recessionary spiral.

[BeFree]

25. New headline suggestion..

Obama fires teachers at small school!!

I mean, c'mon, you'd think he was responsible according to some of these posts.

One thing about politics.... if a local decision is made, deep politics demands that you kinda support that local decision. The higher up you are, the more you should support local decisions.

Whatever, the facts of the case are blurry, but I won't blame that on the education system. Or should I? Hmmmmm

[EFerrari]

29. No, the facts are not blurry. This school got a good report from the state.

That is not blurry.

Maybe the president was just ill-informed. If that is the case, I'm sure he'd appreciate the opportunity to amend his comments.

Imagine that you are one of these teachers that has survived 5 principals and their different programs in six years. You help your students improve in one of the most challenging schools in the state. Then, you get fired AND the president criticizes you on national television. :shrug:

[BeFree]

34. Well

sometimes you are the bug and sometimes you are the windshield.

I've fired and been fired a few times. Its not that big of a deal. And, to me, it looks like they needed to just clean house.

Now if they'd just do some house cleaning in the second biggest field of expenses - the pentagon - maybe we'd get somewhere.

[EFerrari]

38. They didn't need to clean house. Did you see the state audit?

This school was improving. The link is in the OP.

ETA: But, in other news, KBR gets a new $2.8 BILLION dollar contract.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100302/ap_on_bi_ge/us_iraq_contractors_2

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

27. He was teaching science. Proving the scientific theory that "shit flows downhill". K&R

As does bullshit rationalizations for firing teachers doing their job in harsh conditions.

[proud2BlibKansan]

37. This is all so unjust

Thanks for this thread. It's been great to see the overwhelming support for teachers here on DU since this crap in RI. :hi:

[EFerrari]

47. This is a good opportunity for us to show the president

that we value our teachers, our unions and that we actually listen to what he says.

Let's not waste it! :hi:

[Bluebear]

51. I called. thank you!

[EFerrari]

52. Thank you, Bluebear.

[Solly Mack]

57. k/r

[Bluebear]

63. again

[fishwax]

68. k/r

[Starry Messenger]

70. kick n/t

[hayu_lol]

71. Schools like this one are in economically deprived areas...

classified as such, salaries are very often higher--sometimes much more--than teaching in the more upscale schools. Without this extra, this school might be lucky to even get enough qualified teachers for staffing. Chances are that these teachers are superior to most in other more privileged communities.

I still see a lot of union bashing on these school threads. Wonder why?

Remember that Obama went to privileged schools all of his life. We know who his advisors are and many of us want them gone.

Anyone interested in failing schools should do a google job on the schools of East Saint Louis.

[Starry Messenger]

72. You probably meant this for Beth

but I will answer anyway. The union bashing is from non-union corporate serfs who evidently fasten their own shackles in the morning and decorate them with glitter pens. That's my working theory anyway.

[EFerrari]

73. Could you point me a little better to what you mean about E St. Louis?

I'd appreciate it. :hi:

[freddie mertz]

76. I love Principal Snyder!

He'd make a much better secretary than Arne Duncan.

[Starry Messenger]

78. Bwahhaha!

You're the first person to catch that. :D I'm catching up on the series on Netflix and I love his character. He'd be MUCH better than Duncan!

[freddie mertz]

79. Right! At times he seems "morally ambiguous" but in the end, he stands up to the monster.

The Mayor-Monster.

[bonnieS]

80. the phone number is wrong

should be 202-456-1111.

[EFerrari]

81. Yep. I corrected it after the editing period in #8.

Sorry!

[amborin]

82. thanks for posting