All teachers fired at troubled school as talks fall apart

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

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

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 tutoring and a longer school day. The teachers say they want more pay for the additional work.

The shake-up comes as Rhode Island's new education commissioner, Deborah Gist, pushes the state to compete for millions of federal dollars by making changes at the worst 5 percent of its schools, including in Central Falls. State law requires schools to warn teachers by March 1 if their jobs are in jeopardy for the next year.

To get the money, schools must choose one of four paths set under federal law, including mass firings. Gallo has said she initially hoped to avoid layoffs by adopting a plan that would have lengthened the school day and required teachers to get additional training and offer more tutoring.

Duncan praised the plan, saying students have only one chance for an education.

The decision won praise from Republican Gov. Don Carcieri, a former math teacher who supports Gist.

"We can no longer stand by as our schools underperform," Carcieri said in a written statement. "While we have some excellent individual teachers, our students continue to be held back by a lack of a quality education and by union leadership that puts their self-interests above the interests of the students."

The board's decision came after a rally Tuesday of more than 500 union members and teacher supporters. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) also sent a representative with a message of support from the union's 1.4 million members, The Providence Journal reported.

Jane Sessums, president of the Central Falls Teachers Union, said teachers already had agreed to several changes, including teacher evaluations and schedule changes, and that they were being scapegoated.

Thursday, AFT President Randi Weingarten said in a statement that improvements made in the past two years have been overlooked "in the rush to make judgments and cast blame." Weingarten said reading scores, for example, have risen by 21 percent.

"We are disappointed that U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan didn't get all the facts — or even speak with teachers — before weighing in on the mass firing at Central Falls High School," Weingarten added.

Central Falls High School has long been one of the worst-performing in Rhode Island. Just 7 percent of 11th-graders tested in the fall were proficient in math, 33 percent were proficient in writing, and 55 percent were proficient in reading. In 2008, 52 percent of students graduated within four years and 30 percent dropped out.

More children live in poverty in Central Falls, a city of just 1 square mile, than anywhere else in Rhode Island. Until recently, one of the city's few growth industries was a quasi-public jail.

Negotiations bogged down when officials for the teachers union asked for more pay if they were going to be doing more work at the school. It remains unclear whether a compromise might emerge, and a phone message left with Gallo was not returned.

Gist, the education commissioner, said Wednesday that it's not a negotiation, and that she's awaiting more detailed plans from the superintendent. She doubts the superintendent will consider another path and said Rhode Island cannot tolerate a school at which fewer than half the students graduate.

"Those are just numbers that are not sustainable for a community," Gist said.