On Sunday (5/16) evening, an announcement was made that all 88 Central Falls High School teachers were reappointed to their current positions for the 2010-2011 school year.  A tentative agreement had been reached between the Central Falls Teachers Union (CFTU) and the Superintendent of the CF schools, Frances Gallo.

In late February the teachers had been dramatically fired as a part of a school reform initiative due to CFHS’s chronically low graduation rate (48%….however it should be pointed out that if a student leaves CF and goes next door to Pawtucket, or back to Guatemala, it still shows as a dropout in CF….even if the kid goes on to get his PhD) and low, but improving, test scores.  The national spotlight shone on the (one square mile in area) Central Falls in particular and Rhode Island in general.  Commentary across the country acclaimed the firings; those lazy, incompetent, drinking at the public trough teachers were getting theirs.

In a previous post, I attempted to show that this was nothing more than a labor relations strategy on the part of CF, and I believe that this continues to be the case.  CFTU has a contract with the school district, and the district sought to change that contract.  When a road construction contractor receives changes in specifications on a previously agreed upon construction contract, how is this resolved?  The government generally has to pay more money.  Perhaps a better example would be a defense contractor, but let’s not carry this to the extreme.  My suspicion is the money was all that was necessary to make this controversy go away.

In the meantime, Rhode Island was an unsuccessful finalist in the national “Race to the Top” competition that would reward states with the most promising school reform initiatives.  The reason why RI didn’t win?  Not enough of the teacher unions had signed on to the initiative.  Why?  Central Falls.  RI Education Commissioner Deborah Gist has been pressuring all 37 school districts (yes, tiny RI has 37 districts!) to reform their education delivery systems (consolidation would a huge first step, but that’s not happening any time soon).  Another suspicion that I have is that Commissioner Gist pressured CF to get a deal done in hopes of improving RI’s chances in an upcoming second round of “Race to the Top,” which would bring tens of millions of dollars to RI schools.

So now will we hear the pundits acclaiming this labor relations resolution?  I doubt it. What’s dramatic about a successful conclusion?

Here’s hoping that sometime we will hear of more success in CF.