Failing Schools

I just finished reading an article on fox news about a high school in Rhode Island that fired all of the teachers last year in an effort to “improve student performance”.  Amazingly, this measure failed.  According to the article, only 7% of the juniors were proficient in math.  That was the only statistic mentioned in the article.  They also mention that a majority of the student body speaks another language other than English as their primary language.  I have to assume this means the scores for English and other subjects isn’t good either.  The administration used a President Obama backed rule that allows for poorly performing schools to terminate the staff as a way of correcting the problem.  The White House all but applauded the effort when it occurred stating that it would be a lesson for all and that things would be better.  Well, that didn’t happen.  The school has since rehired the teachers and now most of them are quitting or not showing up for work.  Now the White House has no comment.  I have decided to comment in their absence.  I am not a teacher nor a school administrator but I do have a few solutions that have to be better than those chosen.  It seems to me that when you have a poorly performing school, there is plenty of blame to go around.  The administration, teachers, students, and parents are all part of the problem. They are also part of the solution.  The administration should be actively pursuing high quality teachers.  The school board should be finding incentives to get these high quality teachers to come into this school through better benefits, better pay, and more support.  Same for hiring an administration at the school that is supportive of the teachers.  Parents should demand this and support it by a tax referendum if necessary.  It is their kids future on the line.  Pay a little now or pay a lot in the future.  Adequate, competent, and secure teachers and students creates a learning environment that is the same.  If there are bad apples..weed them out.  I can’t possibly believe that all the teachers are bad.  Maybe the school system should take a lesson from the show Undercover Boss.  For those unfamiliar with the show, it basically takes an executive from a major company and disguises them as a worker within the company and they go to work doing day to day jobs at the labor level.  All these executives have learned at least some ways to help make their companies better.  It is time to start treating our schools like exactly what they are…a business.  If they aren’t, then explain to me how a majority of private schools seem to excel.  Ironically, in most cases, the teachers salaries at these schools is less than in the public school system.  But with a supportive administration and parents, they make it work.  Something to think about.

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