Central Falls superintendent acts to fire city’s high school teachers

Program Note: Don't miss Anderson's discussion with CNN Education Contributor Steve Perry and Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) tonight on AC360° at 10 p.m. ET.

[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/HEALTH/08/07/swine.flu.h1n1.schools/art.school.daj.gi.jpg caption="School Supt. Frances Gallo plans to fire all the teachers in the city’s only high school as part of a major overhaul ordered by the state education commissioner." width=300 height=169]

Linda Borg and Paul Davis
The Providence Journal

School Supt. Frances Gallo plans to fire all the teachers in the city’s only high school as part of a major overhaul ordered by the state education commissioner.

“We need to be able to move this school,” Gallo said Tuesday afternoon. “We are persistently in the low-performing category and therefore we have options we must look to.”

State Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist last month ordered Central Falls High School and five schools in Providence — each plagued by abysmally low achievement scores and low graduation rates for several years — to follow one of four specific models for reform.

Gallo said that the 74 teachers can re-apply, but their job descriptions would be different. Under the termination-of-teachers reform model, no more than 50 percent can be re-hired.

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