In other words the arbitrator blocked the "turnaround" of these schools. Turnaround is one of the models that allow districts to receive Race to the Top money. Race to the Top is the policy of the Obama administration. So correct me if I am wrong. Sounds to me like an arbitrator just blocked part of the policy of the Department of Education. The state was following the turnaround model to get money from the federal Race to the Top fund. Will it matter? Will anyone in authority pay attention? Or is the policy already set in concrete whether right or wrong.
From the WSJ blogs:
School Closings Blocked by ArbitratorAn arbitrator has blocked New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan to close 24 low-performing public schools and reopen them with half of their original staff.
The ruling issued Friday was a big blow to the mayor, who announced the school closings in his State of the City speech in January after a dispute with the teachers union over new teacher evaluations. He had been trying take advantage of a federal program that pays for efforts to improve schools.
..The city claimed it had the authority in its contract with the teachers and principals unions to close the schools and only re-hire half the staff, sending the remaining teachers into a pool of substitutes that rotates throughout the school system.
The city will appeal to the Supreme Court. The program Bloomberg was trying to take advantage of was Arne Duncan's Race to the Top.
Trouble is the firing and rehiring is already well underway, so the ruling may be small comfort to teachers there after all.
The city is well into the process of restaffing the 24 schools. Earlier this month, it gave notice to more than 3,600 people – teachers and administrators – that they had to re-apply for their jobs if they want a permanent position on staff.
Here is more on the process of receiving Race to the Top funds, from the NY state education website.
Attachment B USDOE Description of Four Turnaround ModelsDistricts that have schools that have been identified as persistently lowest achieving will be required to select one of the four models and submit an intervention plan to the Commissioner for approval. These same models must also be used by districts in the event that New York receives Race to the Top funding. These models all include elements of intervention strategies that have already been implemented in New York State. Below are the models as described in the Race to the Top application:
(a) Turnaround model. (1) A turnaround model is one in which an LEA must--
(i) Replace the principal and grant the principal sufficient operational flexibility (including in staffing, calendars/time, and budgeting) to implement fully a comprehensive approach in order to substantially improve student achievement outcomes and increase high school graduation rates;
(ii) Use locally adopted competencies to measure the effectiveness of staff who can work within the turnaround environment to meet the needs of students,
(A) Screen all existing staff and rehire no more than 50 percent; and
(B) Select new staff;
Sounds like an arbitrary cut off number, 50%. It certainly has nothing to do with good or bad teachers. It only has to do with power.
Has it gone so far now down the reform road that it doesn't matter what courts or arbitrators say about any of it?
Pay no attention to my rant, just another of my "one-note" postings. One would think it would raise alarm that one of the main tenets of this administration's education "reform" was called so much into question. I wonder if it does raise any alarms at all.
