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Recently, Central Falls High School took a bold step and terminated a mass of teachers who were under performing. This was welcomed by those who were against the bad teachers and said the move will benefit the students. However, certain obstructionists union protect and defend them.

According to the Central Falls High School superintendent, mass terminations of teachers were ordered to purge the system and revamp the school to benefit students. This Rhode Island school was elaborately praised by President Obama who felt that the decision to fire the poor performing teachers was bold.

Have we ever considered the public school teachers who strive to teach children under challenging circumstances? We only look at them with disdain. A similar charge was led by Arne Duncan, the education secretary. A report in Washington Post said that many failing schools were shut down, turnaround specialists were hired and staff jettisoned by Duncan during his seven year tenure. Though there was significant improvement, other schools with less dramatic measures performed better.

According to the University of Chicago’s nonpartisan group the Consortium on Chicago School Research, students from the low performing schools in Duncan were shuffled and sent to other comparable schools that offered negligible benefits.

It is worth debating on how to provide impetus to learning in public schools located in urban, poor areas. One of the most effective scholars and authors Diane Ravitch is also a historian. We all remember the time when she embraced bold school choice and standardized tests. She was a part of the education department during the first administration of President George Bush.

She was one of those who cheered President Bush during the announcement of the No Child Left Behind law at the White House. Today, she is creating a furore over her reversal of past roles.
In an interview to the New York Times, Ravitch said art and history is being eliminated from classrooms today with the insistence on reading and math under the No Child Left Behind program.

She has voiced her strong criticism over the Central Falls firings. According to her, the fundamental principle behind school reforms must be to punish in a measured manner in her Huffington Post blog. She argued that they will be unable to fill in quality teacher vacancies and find expert principals to lead the closed schools. She went on to say that closing the school is a pointless, punitive and mean act.

James Parisi of the Central Falls Teacher’s Union who is also Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals’ field representative said there was no information on the unsatisfactory evaluation at the Central Falls.

Firing the art teacher does not really help improve science and math test scores says Parisi. Recently there was a proposal in Central Falls to increase after school teacher timings and include summer training. This proposal was refused by the union. Central Falls students are now great losers as the headlines will fade and disappear after a time but the suffering of teachers and students will continue for a long time to come.