{"id":380474,"date":"2010-03-02T08:07:00","date_gmt":"2010-03-02T13:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16711557.post-2016876988650027694"},"modified":"2010-03-02T08:07:32","modified_gmt":"2010-03-02T13:07:32","slug":"obama-backs-privatization-of-schools-mass-firing-of-teachers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/380474","title":{"rendered":"Obama Backs Privatization of Schools; Mass Firing of Teachers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Detroit Teachers Defy Court Order to End Strike, September 10, 2006 at Cobo Center<\/a>
Originally uploaded by panafnewswire<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

March 1, 2010<\/p>\n

Obama Backs Rewarding Districts That Police Failing Schools<\/p>\n

By JEFF ZELENY
New York Times<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 President Obama said Monday that he favored federal rewards for local school districts that fire underperforming teachers and close failing schools, saying educators needed to be held accountable when they failed to fix chronically troubled classrooms and curb the student dropout rate.<\/p>\n

The president outlined his proposal to offer $900 million in federal grants, which would be made available to states and school districts willing to take aggressive steps to turn around struggling institutions or close them.<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s proposal, which was included in his 2011 budget request to Congress, is his latest criticism of America\u2019s failing public schools. In a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Obama said federal aid would be available for the districts that are home to the 2,000 schools that produce more than half of the nation\u2019s dropouts.<\/p>\n

He spoke alongside former Secretary of State Colin Powell and his wife, Alma, who lead America\u2019s Promise Alliance, an advocacy group dedicated to combating the school dropout rate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that the success of every American will be tied more closely than ever before to the level of education that they achieve,\u201d Mr. Obama said. \u201cThe jobs will go to the people with the knowledge and the skills to do them. It\u2019s that simple.\u201d<\/p>\n

He singled out Central Falls High School in Rhode Island, where last week the school board voted to dismiss the entire faculty as part of a turnaround plan for the school, which has a 48 percent graduation rate.<\/p>\n

At Central Falls High, he said, just 7 percent of 11th graders passed state math tests. Mr. Obama said he supported the school board\u2019s decision to dismiss the faculty and staff members. \u201cOur kids get only one chance at an education and we need to get it right,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s comments incensed the leadership of the American Federation of Teachers, which criticized Mr. Obama for \u201ccondoning the mass firing\u201d of teachers at the Rhode Island school.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know it is tempting for people in Washington to score political points by scapegoating teachers, but it does nothing to give our students and teachers the tools they need to succeed,\u201d the president of the union, Randi Weingarten, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

In their efforts to overhaul failing public schools, Mr. Obama and his education secretary, Arne Duncan, have frequently drawn the ire of teachers\u2019 unions.<\/p>\n

In his speech on Monday, Mr. Obama said states would be asked to identify schools that perform at persistently low levels, with graduation rates of 60 percent or less.<\/p>\n

To qualify for the federal money, known as School Turnaround Grants, he said, the school districts must agree to take at least one of the steps: firing the principal and at least half the staff of a troubled school; reopening it as a charter school; or closing the school altogether and transferring students to better schools in the district.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a school continues to fail its students year after year after year,\u201d Mr. Obama said, \u201cif it doesn\u2019t show signs of improvement, then there\u2019s got to be a sense of accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

The $900 million grant program, which would be subject to Congressional approval, follows $3.5 billion included in last year\u2019s economic stimulus plan that also was aimed at improving school performance and lowering the dropout rate. The program would support interventions at 5,000 of the nation\u2019s lowest-performing schools over the next five years.<\/p>\n

Mr. Obama is seeking to use federal money as an incentive for local schools to improve their standards. The initiatives his administration is pursuing are similar to those of the Bush administration. At the event on Monday, Mr. Obama recognized Margaret Spellings, a secretary of education under President George W. Bush, who was seated in the front row.<\/p>\n

Mr. Obama said he was particularly troubled by the dropout rate. He said 1.2 million students left school each year before graduating from high school, at a cost to the nation of $319 billion annually in potential earning losses.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow it\u2019s true that not long ago you could drop out of high school and reasonably expect to find a blue-collar job that would pay the bills and help support your family,\u201d Mr. Obama said. \u201cThat\u2019s just not the case anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Powells, who founded America\u2019s Promise Alliance in 1997, announced on Monday a 10-year campaign called<\/p>\n

\u201cGrad Nation\u201d directed at the lowest performing high schools in the country and focusing on improving graduation rates and preparations for college.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to catch our kids long before they drop out,\u201d Mr. Powell said.
<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Detroit Teachers Defy Court Order to End Strike, September 10, 2006 at Cobo CenterOriginally uploaded by panafnewswire March 1, 2010 Obama Backs Rewarding Districts That Police Failing Schools By JEFF ZELENYNew York Times WASHINGTON \u2014 President Obama said Monday that he favored federal rewards for local school districts that fire underperforming teachers and close failing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4243,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-380474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}