San Diego, California (CNN) -- In most high schools in America, they teach Shakespeare. But at Central Falls High School in Rhode Island, they're acting out a Shakespearean drama.
Only instead of the famous line from Henry VI -- let's kill all the lawyers -- what we have is: "Let's fire all the teachers."
That's exactly what Central Falls School District Superintendent Frances Gallo did in February. In a move that was bold but also justified, Gallo fired 77 teachers at Central Falls High School in Rhode Island, along with the school's principal, three assistant principals and other administrators. In all, the district said, 93 people were let go in the purge. The school board later stood by Gallo and approved the action
The mass firings, which take effect at the end of this school year, came after the district failed to reach an agreement with the local teachers' union on a plan that would have required teachers to spend more time with students to improve test scores -- with only a small increase in pay.
Consistent with federal guidelines designed to improve theeducational system, Gallo asked teachers to work a longer school day of seven hours and tutor students weekly for one hour outside school time. She proposed teachers have lunch with students often, meet for 90 minutes every week to discuss education and set aside two weeks during summer break for paid professional development.
Think of it as asking teachers to go back and fix what they didn't do right the first time.
Central Falls High School is one of the lowest-performingschools in Rhode Island. It operates in a community where the median income is $22,000, according to census statistics. Of the school's 800 students, 65 percent are Latino and most of them consider English a second language. Half the student body is failing every subject, with 55 percent meeting requirements in reading and only 7 percent in math.
"No thanks," said the teachers. "You're fired," said Gallo.
Upon hearing this story, my first thought was how do we get this woman out of Rhode Island -- and down to Washington to clean house by demanding results from the politicians?
Apologists for the public schools and other defenders of the status quo will hear those statistics, and say: "Well, how do you expect educators to reach and teach a population like that?"
Easy. I expect teachers to do it by putting aside the excuses, setting higher expectations, adhering to better standards, giving into common sense reforms and doing their jobs in a school that serves a vulnerable population that is especially in need of a quality education -- but also, and here's the good news, in many cases, extra motivated to get one.
Forget that poor-kids-can't-learn nonsense. It wasn't true 100 years ago and it's not true now. Besides, there is no ideal student population.
