Providence Plans to Pink Slip All Teachers

What is this...I don't even...

So ... was this a exercise to confirm they could actually send out the slips ???

All else I could think of was: Huh?

I know this is a technicality so IF they decide to actually go through with the firings, the mayor/school board will have met their requirements, but ... WTH?

Same type of thing happened here in Tucson. Two high schools did not do well with test scores the last few years so they have fired all the teachers/principles/etc. and will rehire only 1/2 of them back. There have been all kinds of meetings about this. The teachers have the right to apply at other schools in the area. I have been watching the pro/cons about it and it will be interested to see how this turns out in a few years. It appears the board vote for all this.

I guess something has to be done if no forward movement is being made with the education of the kids. Sure makes a big shake up and hope it ends well.

If they say they're firing everyone, then they can get rid of the teachers with the highest salaries (those with the best credentials and/or longest time teaching) and keep only those with the lowest salaries (mainly new teachers without any special qualifications.)

What this is likely to do to the actual education their students receive is anybody's guess.

But when you don't have the money, you don't have the money. We all want our schools to have the best teachers, updated equipment, and up-to-date textbooks, but we rant and rave about having to pay for the same. Public schools in general, and teachers in specific, have become popular whipping posts, as of late. Politicians who want to look good to the masses are looking for places to cut budgets, and hey, why not start somewhere unpopular like...yanno...schools.

This whole mess pisses me off.

CACTUSWENDY said:

Same type of thing happened here in Tucson. Two high schools did not do well with test scores the last few years so they have fired all the teachers/principles/etc. and will rehire only 1/2 of them back.

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That's based on test scores, not budget, though...and in those cases, the teachers who performed the best are generally kept and new ones hired to replace the under performers.

In cases of firing due to budget cuts, it's usually the highest paid who go, even when they're the highest paid due to being great teachers who take on lots of extra-curricular duties. And the fired teachers aren't always replaced.

More and more, I see why my mom decided to homeschool my baby brother.

I was thinking the other day while I waited for my stepdaughter to be let out of school...teachers are so underappreciated. I know this isn't some new revelation, but still, they truly are.

Everything thinks - oh, they're so lucky. Summer's off, short days, blah blah blah.

But they don't get the whole summer off because there's planning for the following year. And after working not just the hours the teacher's at school, but also who knows how many hours cleaning and decorating the classroom, making lesson plans, grading, conducting parent/teacher conferences, attending teacher meetings, etc...you know what? They deserve that time off!

Not to mention dealing with the kids themselves. The good and the bad. The gifted and the challenged.

Oh and frustration over having an overfilled classroom, and outdated computer, limited funds to do what they'd like to do...

I'm going to have to join the PTA and donate money somehow and attend meetings or something, because the more I think about it, the more I really feel for these teachers that are put under stress that comes from everywhere from the government to the kids to the kids' parents.

I'm working on a graduate degree in education and doing my student teaching right now in a high school English classroom. My mom's a teacher, my dad was a teacher, my grandmother was a teacher, so thanks to you in this thread that understand that our days don't end at 3 o'clock. Grading alone takes hours of time at home. The upside is that I can bring it home and do it after my kids go to bed, so I get more time with them in the afternoons.

Anyway, our district, like all others, is hurting financially. The school board candidates keep coming up with these brilliant ideas like increasing class sizes to 50, or turning the thermostats to 60 degrees. This is Missouri, it's cold here in the winter. 60 degrees isn't gonna cut it. The whole class size thing...if you've ever been in a classroom, especially high school, the bigger the class the more difficult it is to control and teach. Inevitably student grades would start to suffer, and then of course teachers would be blamed for not doing a good job. Education is soooo much more complicated than a lot of people think.

Monkey said:

If they say they're firing everyone, then they can get rid of the teachers with the highest salaries (those with the best credentials and/or longest time teaching) and keep only those with the lowest salaries (mainly new teachers without any special qualifications.)

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I'm not sure this is true. Every year for the last few years, our CA public schools have issued far more pink slips than they actually needed to, but when the budgets were finalized they still had to rehire the most senior teachers first. It was particularly sad with last year's K teachers, where the two who got pink slips were the worst of the lot and the best of the lot. The universally unpopular teacher was the one hired back - pure seniority. I don't know how it works in other states, though.

LOG said:

What is this...I don't even...

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Exactly.

Alpha Echo said:

But they don't get the whole summer off because there's planning for the following year. And after working not just the hours the teacher's at school, but also who knows how many hours cleaning and decorating the classroom, making lesson plans, grading, conducting parent/teacher conferences, attending teacher meetings, etc...you know what? They deserve that time off!

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I'm married to a teacher, and I agree. Also, they don't really get "three months off!" like everyone seems to think. Most get out for the summer the second week in June, and are back in the building prepping and having in-service days by mid August. Also, teachers get no discretionary time off whatsoever. "Vacation" is when the school is closed, and that is it.

Sarah Madara said:

I'm not sure this is true. Every year for the last few years, our CA public schools have issued far more pink slips than they actually needed to, but when the budgets were finalized they still had to rehire the most senior teachers first. It was particularly sad with last year's K teachers, where the two who got pink slips were the worst of the lot and the best of the lot. The universally unpopular teacher was the one hired back - pure seniority. I don't know how it works in other states, though.

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In Michigan, the most senior teachers must be rehired first. It has to be this way, otherwise there would be no job security at all. They'd just fire everyone and then rehire the newer teachers at lower salaries to save money. It wouldn't be about who was a better teacher, just who was cheaper.

As someone said in another edu-thread, if they want to save money they should reduce administrators.

ETA: The absolute worst teacher either of my kids ever had, in the combined 14 years of school they've had between them, was a young, inexperienced second grade teacher who did everything strictly by-the-book and according to a rubric. She was so awful that I ended up yanking my boy out of a prized spot in a gifted program. He was learning less than nothing from her, and actually slipping behind is several areas. It was the classic forcing of a square peg into a round hole.

I had him moved to an experienced teacher's class and he blossomed.

Anecdotal, sure. But it belies that whole "young energetic teachers vs. old, tired burned out teachers" myth.