Grin and Bear It: Teachers Paddled in Texas
Laredo - Today's New York Times editorial entitled "Carrots and Sticks for Schools" called for rewards for "good teachers while easing chronic low performers out of the system." What they apparently didn't know is that a small charter school in Texas beat them to it - literally."When the principal first told me to bend over and accept the paddling, I thought he had lost his mind," recounts Jeremy Finn of Harmony Science Academy in Laredo. "But now I understand and can even see he was right. When my students do well on tests, I get rewarded with coupons for food." And when they don't? Finn bows his head, "Well then I haven't done my job and deserve to be paddled."
Food coupons entitle teachers and their families to eat for free at local eateries such as Sonic Drive-in, the Corn House and Posh Sushi Express. Fifth grade teacher Mary Robinson, who amazingly