A Rhode Island high school asked all teachers to work an additional 25 minutes a day, but because the teachers are union members, the union said no way.  ResultThe high school fired everyone of the lazy it’s all about the children teachers – over 100 teachers, administrators and assistants.  Nevermind that the average salary of a teacher at the high school is $70,000-$78,000 and the median income of the town in which the school is located is $22,000.  When asked to give a little more the the kids, the union told the school the equivalent of “you cannot be serious.”  In return for paying the teachers such high salaries, the school graduation rate is under fifty percent and fifty percent of the high schoolers are flunking.  How dare these callous school administrators think that school is all about educating the children!

Here’s the terrible conditions the school asked the union teachers to accept:

  1. adding 25 minutes to the school day
  2. providing tutoring on a rotating schedule before and after school
  3. eating lunch with students once a week
  4. submitting to more rigorous evaluations
  5. attending weekly after-school planning sessions with other teachers
  6. participating in two weeks of training in the summer

The horror of it!  Can you imagine the psychological damage and post traumatic stress a teacher might suffer if forced to eat with the students?