Executive Council: Central Falls Students Deserve Better than Mass Teacher Firing
The AFL-CIO Executive Council today condemned the firings of the entire education staff at Central Falls (R.I.) High School and called on the Obama administration and the local school superintendent to work together with the teachers to create an environment that allows students and teachers to succeed.
(You can tell the Central Falls school administration that the students deserve better and to work with teachers to build on improvements at the high school by signing an AFT petition here.)
In the midst of the worst jobs crisis since the Great Depression, more than 90 dedicated professional educators are out of a job. On Feb. 23, the Central Falls school trustees fired the entire teaching staff of the high school, which is located in Rhode Island’s smallest and poorest city.
In all, 93 got pink slips—74 classroom teachers, plus reading specialists, guidance counselors, physical education teachers, the school psychologist, the principal and three assistant principals. Negotiations over strategies to improve the school between teachers and the school superintendent broke down when the superintendent walked away from the table and fired the teachers.
