CEDAR FALLS, RI – A superintendent at a Rhode Island high school has brought down the hammer on her failing school and fired every teacher and administrator!
Frances Gallo, superintendent at Cedar Falls High School, has the reputation as one of the worst-performing high schools in the state. Gallo proposed a plan to remedy the problem and hopefully pick the school up. The plan called for adding 25 minutes to the school day, providing tutoring on a rotating schedule before and after school, submitting to more rigorous evaluations, attending weekly after-school planning sessions, and participating in two weeks of training in the summer.
The teacher’s union did not hesitate in rejecting the apparently “onerous” demands. Gallo did not hesitate in terminating every staff member of the school. Gallo blasted the union’s “callous disregard” for the situation. The school’s 100 teachers and administrators will be fired effective next school year.
Cedar Falls is a town of very high unemployment in a state that has been extremely hard in the face of the current economic crisis. It should also be noted that the teachers at school make an average salary ranging from $72-78,00. The average wage for everyone else in the town is about $22,000.
The kids in that school need all the help they can get. The graduation rate at the high school is barely over 50 percent. It goes to show that Teachers unions will fight to the end against any reforms they deem a threat to their members or even an inconvenience. A sad truth facing today’s school systems.
where is ceader falls ,RI
The picture is Cedar Falls HS in CF Iowa, not RI.
Please advise what the class size would be for most of the classes in this school. Maybe 30+++???
I wish I made $75,000 for 9.5 months of work (summers off, holiday weeks during the year, etc.)
Everyone has the option to be a teacher. Stop wishing and make it happen. I teach in Wisconsin and barely make $30,000. And I pay loans to this day. Most teachers work a second job during the summer break. And we take our work home because it's expected. Go ahead a judge but walk in my shoes first, JEFF.
According to 'Great Schools' website the student teacher ratio at CF HS is 13 to 1.
Per student spending there is just over $15,000 a year.while the state average per student spending is $13,226.
There is a 52% drop out rate and a 48% graduation rate. Meaning show up breathing and you'll graduate.
50% of all students there are FAILING 100% of their classes. This apparently includes phys ed meaning truancy is or may be the biggest issue.
The community itself lays near zero percent of the school spending with the state picking up the tab.
The teen pregnancy rate in central falls is the highest in Rhode Island. Almost sixty out of every thousand girls age 15-17 get pregnant each year. That's three times the state average of nineteen girls out of every thousand. WRNI's health care reporter Megan Hall profiles some of the people behind the numbers.
In this profession, workers are not given a box of parts, that when assembled correctly will result in a perfect product that will perform correctly. Teachers are dealing with many variables everyday, more than the typical outsider could ever understand.
Is that a little extreme?