Remember the mass firings at Central Falls HS, Rhode Island? You know, the school where every single teacher was fired, supposedly because their greedy union couldn't come to any agreement with management on needed reforms?
When the story came out in the media, it went something like this:
"A Rhode Island high school is set to fire every single teacher after the teachers' union refused to go along with the superintendent's proposed plan for increased workload without much extra pay. The school, Central Falls High School, was one of the worst-performing high schools in the state."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/16/central-falls-high-school_n_464451.htmlSuperintendant Gallo tried to get the teachers to sign on to her reform plan, see? There were these "talks," these "negotiations" with the union:
"Gallo and the teachers initially agreed they wanted the transformation model, which would protect the teachers’ jobs. But talks broke down when the two sides could not agree on what transformation entailed.
Gallo wanted teachers to agree to a set of six conditions she said were crucial to improving the school...But Gallo said she could pay teachers for only some of the extra duties. Union leaders said they wanted... $90 per hour rather than the $30 per hour offered by Gallo.
After negotiations broke down, Gallo said she no longer had confidence the high school could be transformed and instead recommended the turnaround model."
http://www.projo.com/news/content/central_falls_trustees_vote_02-24-10_EOHI83C_v59.3c21342.html. The greedy teachers! Gallo negotiated so hard to get them to do the right thing! But they wanted NINETY DOLLARS AN HOUR!
That's pretty much how it played in the media..and at DU: the greedy, overpaid teachers! Poor Gallo tried to negotiate, but they just wanted TOO MUCH!
http://www.democraticunderground.org/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7720030I & others questioned that storyline at the time on the basis of the timeline, which didn't seem to leave much room for negotiations:
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Hannah%20Bell/119However, it couldn't be confirmed, because the union wasn't releasing much information, or making a strong counter to the media story.
In April, the union filed suit to block the firings:
"(Gallo's) action violates constitutionally guaranteed rights to due process and freedom of speech, as well as federal education law that prohibits states or local school districts from altering collective-bargaining agreements, according to the complaint filed by Marc Gursky, lawyer for the Central Falls Teachers Union.
The lawsuit alleges that Gallo conspired with Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist to violate the teachers’ rights. Gist, who approved the action, was named as a defendant with Gallo and the Central Falls School District...the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, in allowing states to allocate federal funds to local schools for improvement, bars any action that would compromise the existing protections of teachers, according to the lawsuit.
The suit also asserts that the defendants “maliciously and in bad faith terminated the employment” of the teachers in retaliation for their exercise of First Amendment rights to protest Gallo’s attempt to unilaterally impose six conditions for continued employment..."
http://www.projo.com/news/content/CENTRAL_FALLS_TEACHERS_SUE_04-29-10_2CI9L62_v14.3bb5523.html.That was April 29.
19 days later, there's suddenly an agreement to reinstate the teachers & drop the suit.
http://www.projo.com/news/content/central_falls_agreement_05-18-10_E6IH8TJ_v65.13618042.htmlGee, what was in that lawsuit?
Well, for one thing, there were no "talks" or "negotiations". On January 11, Central Falls was identified as a "low performing school." The same month, Gallo announced she'd selected the "Transformation Model" to "reform" it.
In February, Gallo announced her six conditions, and:
"35. By letter dated February 9, 2010, Gallo informed the Union that unless it
agreed to her demands, as aforesaid, she would either terminate all of the teachers or
inform Commissioner Gist that 'we have collectively failed to select an intervention
model for the high school.'
36. By letter dated February 11, 2010, Jane Sessums informed Gallo that she
could not and would not agree to change the collective bargaining agreement without
reviewing certain relevant information and meeting with the Dr. Gallo regarding
"changes in time, compensation, or other issues related to the transformation model."
37. After receiving Sessums' letter, on or about February 11, 2010, Gallo
announced that she would fire every teacher at CFHS.
38. On February 18, 2010, Gallo wrote a letter to each Central Falls High
School teacher in which she informed them that she will recommend their termination at
a Central Falls Schools Board of Trustees meeting on February 23, 2010."
http://www.projo.com/news/2010/pdf/central_falls_teachers_complaint_0428.pdfIn other words, Gallo made unilateral demands & moved to fire when the union ASKED HER TO NEGOTIATE, as it had every right to, by contract.
THERE WERE NO "NEGOTIATIONS".
The entire story was spun by the media to favor the administration, & continues to be spun. Check out the reportage on the rehiring:
"As she originally offered in February, Gallo will pay the teachers extra for some of these duties — $30 per hour for 10 days of training in the summer, for a total of $1,800 and a $3,000 stipend for the 90-minutes of weekly professional development. The stipend also recognizes the longer school days the teachers will work, Gallo said Monday."
http://www.projo.com/news/content/central_falls_agreement_05-18-10_E6IH8TJ_v65.13618042.htmlReally? "As she originally offered?" Baloney. They're now getting a GUARANTEED total of $4800 extra: that's contracted stipend pay ($30/hr) for 160 extra hours/school year.
This is what Gallo originally offered, per earlier reports from the same paper:
"Gallo said she offered to pay teachers $30 an hour for two additional weeks of training in the summer...Gallo also said she would TRY TO FIND GRANT MONEY to pay for 90 minutes of common planning time a week after school hours at the $30 an hour rate.
But she says she has no extra money to pay for other changes she is pushing for, including lengthening the instructional day by 30 minutes... a tutoring schedule, so a teacher is available to help students for an hour before and after school...have lunch with students one day a week."
http://newsblog.projo.com/2010/02/money-a-sticking-point-in-tran.htmlAdd it up:
60 hours (10 6-hour days) of additional summer training = $1800
100 additional hours within the school year = $3000
Assuming a 44-week school year, 90 extra minutes/week = 66 additional hours, or $1980.
Ergo, Gallo is now paying GUARANTEED MONEY for that 90 extra hours/week v. her original, non-guaranteed offer of "trying to find grant money".
That still leaves $1020 unaccounted for.
Ergo, Gallo is also paying a GUARANTEED stipend for the additional duties she formerly had "no extra money for".
Ergo, the teachers are getting paid for every one of the 160 extra hours (20 days at 8 hrs/d) they're being asked to put in.
And that's because the district would have lost that lawsuit in an honest court.
Gallo & Gist's actions were an egregious violation of contract protections and labor rights, & it's highly likely the demands were made in bad faith, knowing they'd be rejected, IN ORDER TO have an excuse to get rid of the entire staff.
Such a court fight would have been extremely bad PR for Arne Duncan's Education Department, & for President Obama, who'd already made statements in the media supportive of Gallo & Gist.
But you won't hear about that in the media, because they're still spinning.
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