At the conclusion of the current winter public school quarter, every one of the 1,926 educators in Providence, R.I., schools can be dismissed, states the Providence Journal. This would go a long way toward addressing the $ 40 million deficit for the district, but creates obvious staffing issues. The budget deadline for Providence schools is March 1.
Providence schools fired several before
Last year, Central Falls High School in the Providence area dismissed 88 teachers because students were not meeting standardized test score requirements. The scale of the Providence School Board's move is unknown currently. Superintendent of Providence Schools Tom Brady said the move is "precautionary action" because of the $40 million shortfall the 2011-2012 spending budgets are showing.
"Since the full extent of the potential cuts to the school budget have yet to be determined, issuing a dismissal letter to all teachers was necessary to give the mayor, the School Board and the district maximum flexibility to consider every cost savings option, including reductions in staff," said Brady.
Teachers unions not all happy
The belief that the Providence School Board’s blanket action might not actually dismiss all Providence educators offered little consolation to teachers’ union leadership.
"This is beyond insane," said Providence Teachers Union President Steve Smith. "Let's create the most chaos and the highest level of anxiety in a district where teachers are already under unbelievable stress. Now I know how the United States State Department felt on Dec. 7 , 1941," the day of the Pearl Harbor bombings.
Mayor Angel Taveras of Providence explained that decision was made that Providence educators would be fired based on the city finances and the March 1 deadline. It was a move that provided the school board and Providence city government with "maximum versatility," however minimum public sentiment.
Much worst student-teacher proportion
If the school district is committed to educating students, no matter what the budget problem is, Smith suggests it does not make any sense to fire Providence public school educators.
"You have so many students," he said. "You need so many teachers. You have a student-teacher ratio of 26 to 1. Do the math."
Citations
CNN
articles.cnn.com/2010-02-24/us/rhode.island.teachers_1_teachers-union-troubled-school-reading-specialists?_s=PM:US
Providence Journal
projo.com/news/content/providence_teacher_layoffs_02-23-11_MCML6R3_v17.1a1cc6d.html
‘Exciting times in Rhode Island public education’
youtube.com/watch?v=wOCJ2Jnu4KY
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