By B. Jason Brooks

Last month this NY Ed Reform Blog commented (here) on the decision by the Superintendent of Schools in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to fire all teachers, administrators, and counselors at its chronically low-performing high school.  Superintendent Frances Gallo, with the state’s backing, was making good on her threat to fire all 93 staff positions for the teacher union’s refusal to work an extra 25 minutes at the pay rate offered for that extra time.

This story, spotted early by NY Ed Reform, subsequently became a national sensation for the simple reason that it’s so rarely – if ever – occurs in public education.  Abysmal graduation rates and 7 percent of 11th grade students meeting math standards doesn’t normally get anyone fired in public schools.  It’s much easier to finger-point at something else like poverty or bad parenting.

Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers, said the firings at Central Falls High are “a failed approach.”  In fact, every prior approach tried by Supt. Gallo was rebuffed by the recalcitrant teachers union, which called her bluff.  But the superintendent wasn’t bluffing and she’s gotten national praise for her actions, including from President Obama himself (here).

The president stated that while such firings should be a “last resort,” he backed the decision, saying “if a school continues to fail its students year after year after year, if it doesn’t show any sign of improvement, then there’s got to be a sense of accountability.”  Education Secretary Arne Duncan reacted to the firings by praising the Rhode Island Commissioner of Education and Supt. Gallo for “showing courage and doing the right thing for kids.”

There’s the rub.  Putting students first, if it means anything, has to include putting adults other than first.  That’s what the Obama administration’s school turnaround strategy is about for dealing with the worst 5 percent of schools in each state.

No one should be surprised by President Obama’s reaction to the Rhode Island firings.  One year ago today, in his speech to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the President make clear his education agenda included real accountability measures to support teachers while also holding teachers accountable in the interest of students:

[J]ust as we have to give our teachers all the support they need to be successful, we need to make sure our students have the teacher they need to be successful. That means states and school districts taking steps to move bad teachers out of the classroom. Let me be clear: if a teacher is given a chance but still does not improve, there is no excuse for that person to continue teaching. I reject a system that rewards failure and protects a person from its consequences. The stakes are too high. We can afford nothing but the best when it comes to our children’s teachers and to the schools where they teach.

Superintendent Frances Gallo got the message.  So, apparently, did the Central Falls High School faculty that was headed for the exits.  The teachers have since relented and accepted the new rules, including spending more instructional time with the students.

Things in a school – even a really bad school – shouldn’t get to the point where the only way to enact a turnaround plan is to fire everyone who works there.  Hopefully, Rhode Island’s Central Falls High School will serve as an instructional model, and it will become commonplace rather than the exception that the adults in school buildings put themselves and their needs after those of the kids.  In that way only will genuine reforms be able to be instituted by administrators and teachers working together – all in the genuine interest of the school children.

B. Jason Brooks is director of research at the Foundation for Education Reform & Accountability and may be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bjbrooksNY.