Fwd: [wa-ed-deform] Edison fires high salary teachers, everybody else quits.

[Juanita Doyon <Jedoyon@AOL.COM>]

--- Begin Message ---

• To: "Wa-Ed-Deform@Yahoogroups.Com" <wa-ed-deform@yahoogroups.com>, <edposting@home.com>
• Subject: [wa-ed-deform] Edison fires high salary teachers, everybody else quits.
• From: "Arthur Hu" <arthurhu@home.com>
• Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2001 08:34:51 -0700
• Delivered-to: mailing list wa-ed-deform@yahoogroups.com
• Importance: Normal
• List-unsubscribe: <mailto:wa-ed-deform-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com>
• Mailing-list: list wa-ed-deform@yahoogroups.com; contact wa-ed-deform-owner@yahoogroups.com
• Reply-to: wa-ed-deform@yahoogroups.com

EDISON HAS 21/26 TURNOVER, STILL FIRES 5 EXPERIENCED
http://www.sfbg.com/News/35/46/46ogedi.html San Francisco
Bay Guardian
z50\clip\2001\08\edfire.txt August 15, 2001 Teacher trouble Edison
fires five at its beleaguered S.F. school By Tali Woodward
The first year Edison ran the school, 21 of the 26 teachers
recruited to work there resigned. The next year, 18 out of 25
teachers decided to leave....
it was the more experienced teachers ? who command higher salaries ?
who were released. Critics have long said that Edison relies on
younger, less-experienced teachers as a cost-saving measure.


Long
plagued by extremely high teacher turnover at its San Francisco
school, Edison Schools Inc. has pledged to do better. So it's hard to
figure out why five of the school's more experienced teachers were
fired this summer.

"I was willing to work with them as long as I had district status, so
I truly believe that the termination is unfair," said Molly Last, a
teacher with 22 years of experience who was the union representative
at the school.

In early July, Last and four other Edison teachers received certified
letters from principal Vincent Matthews saying that they needed "to
find a position elsewhere in the district for next year." Sources say
that administrators also fired the school's four on-site tutors, but
neither Matthews nor Edison spokesperson Gaynor McCown would answer
Bay Guardian questions about the situation.

For months the San Francisco Unified School District had been
investigating complaints about the school, and many expected the
school board to revoke the for-profit company's charter.

Amid this uncertainty Edison CEO Chris Whittle offered the San
Francisco teachers an unusual deal: if they agreed to return this
fall, they would be paid a full salary, even if Edison were forced
out of the city.

Last, who was the staff point person in efforts to keep Edison in San
Francisco, says she was concerned about retaining her status as a
district employee ? and she let administrators know that. In May,
Edison offered Last a contract for the 2001-02 year that specified
she would remain a district teacher. She signed.

The school district then reached a settlement with Edison, enabling
the company to get a new charter from the state. The agreement
specified that teachers who decided to stay at Edison Charter Academy
would have to take a leave of absence from the district. But they
would retain their status as district employees for one or two years
(depending on their credentials).

Last thought her job ? and her district status ? was safe until she
received the termination letter. Several of the fired teachers,
including Last, have found employment with SFUSD, but it's been a
scramble. "There was a time [earlier this spring] when there were
jobs available," Last said. "If they truly weren't interested in us,
they should have let us go then."

Kent Mitchell, president of United Educators of San Francisco, said
it was the more experienced teachers ? who command higher salaries ?
who were released. Critics have long said that Edison relies on
younger, less-experienced teachers as a cost-saving measure.

But even young teachers have left Edison's San Francisco school in
droves. The first year Edison ran the school, 21 of the 26 teachers
recruited to work there resigned. The next year, 18 out of 25
teachers decided to leave.

In fact, high turnover was one of the reasons the school board took
steps to revoke the company's charter. And Edison Inc., which is not
exactly in the habit of admitting problems, has been frank about its
need to improve retention.

School board president Jill Wynns said, "It's stunning that they
would do so blatantly what everyone has accused them of: running
experienced teachers out."

E-mail Tali Woodward at tali@sfbg.com.




Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/




--- End Message ---