Obama Backs Firing of All Teachers at Rhode Island High School

President Obama's callous support for the mass firing of the entire teaching staff of Central Falls High School in Rhode Island is drawing heavy fire from organized labor and others, with some commentators referring to it as Obama's "PATCO moment"—referring to President Reagan's firing of striking air traffic controllers in 1981.

On Feb. 23, the school board in Central Falls—Rhode Island's poorest city—voted to fire every teacher in the high school, under a Federal Department of Education mandate which requires state officials to identify the lowest 5% of its schools by performance standards, and to take one of a number of specified measures, including privatization, closure, or firing all the teachers. This mandate, issued by Obama's Education Secretary Arne Duncan, goes way beyond what the Bush Administration required under the "No Child Left Behind" law.

"This is immoral, illegal, unjust, irresponsible, disgraceful, and disrespectful," said the president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO at the time of the firings.

On March 1, Obama personally weighed in and backed the mass firings of 93 teachers and staff, declaring that, "If a school continues to fail year after year after year and doesn't show sign of improvements then there has got to be a sense of accountability," Obama said. "That happened in Rhode Island last week."

"It was one thing when a rival town said something bad about your school," said JoAnn Boss, a Spanish teacher at Central Falls High and a 1982 graduate. "But to have the President say something, it's really been a crushing blow to the kids. It's a devastating time for them."

Union officials also reacted quickly. "President Obama's comments ... condoning the mass firing of the Central Falls High School teachers do not reflect the reality on the ground, and completely ignore the teachers' significant commitment to working with others to transform this school," Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement Monday. "The president of the United States made a faux pas in commenting on something that he honestly knew nothing about," said Kelly Erinakes of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals.

And despite the AFL-CIO's general support for the Obama Administration, its Executive Council adopted a resolution this week declaring itself "appalled" by Obama's support for the mass firing. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Obama's comment was a "bad call" based on "wrong facts" and that it happened at all, caused him "concern, deep concern."