Whitney Tilson's School Reform Blog: Every Central Falls teacher fired, labor outraged

Here's a longer article from the Providence Journal

The full force of organized labor showed up in Central Falls Tuesday, with several hundred union members rallying in support of the city's teachers and bringing plenty of harsh words for the education officials who were about to fire the entire teaching staff at Central Falls High School.

"This is immoral, illegal, unjust, irresponsible, disgraceful and disrespectful," said George Nee, president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, to shouts and cheers from a crowd of more than 500 at Jenks Park. "What is happening here tonight is the wrong thing … and we're not going to put up with it."

Signaling the national significance of the situation in Central Falls, the American Federation of Teachers sent representative Mark Bostic with a message of support from the union's 1.4 million members.

"We are behind Central Falls teachers, and we will be here as long as it takes to get justice," said Bostic.

Meanwhile, state and local education officials received some high-powered support of their own, when U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan weighed in, saying he "applauded" them for "showing courage and doing the right thing for kids."

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