by Stuart Singer

There is an old saying in baseball when the manager of an underachieving team is fired—“It wasn’t necessarily his fault, but we couldn’t fire the whole team”.  Apparently that is not the case in Central Falls, Rhode Island.  As related in a recent news article, http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/local/central-falls-supt.-wants-all-74-high-school-teachers-fired, the Superintendent of Central Falls Frances Gallo has decided to fire every teacher in the school as a result of poor graduation rates and some contentious labor negotiations. 

When I first read about this case I must admit I was temporarily at a loss for words.  My first thoughts were laced with disbelief.   If someone with a sore toe went to a surgeon with a philosophy similar to Gallo, they could lose their entire leg.  Also, as a former math teacher I have to share the following mathematical fact—the likelihood that 74 out of 74 teachers are bad is more than remote.  It is numerically astounding.

On a More Realistic Note

After reading Mel Riddile’s response to the mass firings, http://nasspblogs.org/principaldifference/2010/02/fire_them_all.html, I think I have regained my verbal balance.  I concur with him on the need to treat all people with respect and dignity if you want to attain any level of success.  Likewise, every staff contains people of great talent.  But let me share a few thoughts from the teacher perspective.

One critical point needs to be made from the outset.  The path taken by Ms. Gallo, whether she realizes it or not, was the easy way out of a bad situation but not the solution to a real and important problem. While the adults are sorting out who to fire, who to picket and who to blame, more than half of the adolescents in the building will still not graduate from high school. The belief that the next seventy-four teachers will automatically be significantly better than the current staff is naïve at best.  What is far more likely is that the replacement troops will have no more success than their predecessors.  And while Ms. Gallo’s ego may be assuaged the ultimate losers, again, will be the students.

The tough choice would have been to take the time and energy necessary to discover the root causes of the problems at the school.  Were the difficulties grounded in demographics, philosophy, hiring practices, staff development plans, counseling, etc.?  At what points in the system was leadership breaking down?  The answers to such questions would require research and hard work but they would ultimately lead to a path toward improvement.

In my forty years as a math teacher including twenty-six as department chair, I worked with a significant number of colleagues who struggled in the classroom.  But the vast majority of these individuals wanted to be good teachers.  Their problem was that they did not possess all of the tools to ensure success.  The job of school leaders at all levels is to provide those instruments.  System leaders must give principals the independence to recognize the unique qualities of their individual schools and then craft a working plan to best reach the needs of their community.  School leaders must determine which staff members have the vision, teaching skills and management qualities to assist others to improve.  Teacher leaders must examine the strengths and weaknesses of the department members and find ways to maximize each teacher’s best talents while minimizing their deficits.  The task of educating is no different from any other endeavor.

No one is born with the specific skill set to instantly become successful.  Good role models, cohesive improvement plans, hard work and dedication will in the vast majority of cases result in better teaching.

The damage caused by the series of events in Central Falls will not be easily repaired.  As Riddle said one of the key ingredients in a successful school is mutual respect and commitment.  How can a school expect to attract teachers with those attributes after a mass firing such as the one in Rhode Island? How could anyone possibly convince them that their best choice would be   to work at a school that fired everyone in the building?   The word “fire” is dangerous in both a crowded movie theater and in education.