Another Pro-teacher Principal Bites the Dust
By Jim Vail


I just got disturbing news from a colleague who teaches on the north side that the fight in the local school council to save her current principal's job went down in flames.

She said when the network people from the Board of Education would come to visit her school, they would ask the principal to show them the weakest teacher.  The principal responded that they have no weak teachers, they are all good.

Remember those days, teachers?

Administrators are in the same boat today as teachers.  The name of the game is to fire, Fire, FIRE TEACHERS and ANYONE ELSE RECEIVING A PAYCHECK.

And the Board is also firing principals who don't toe the line.

That is called the corporate model installed into the public education sector.  It is being championed by a board of trustees and a mayor beholden to the corporate Wall Street philosophy to 'cut the fat.'

My teacher friend in a charter school once told me that one of his colleagues kept repeating Rahm Emanuel's mantra that we need to cut the fat.  Yeah, man, 'Cut the fat!'  Then my friend said, 'Dude, you are the fat!'

Sure enough, his friend was gone by the end of the year.

There was the infamous email sent out to principals in a south side region two years ago who asked principals to produce a list of 2 teachers they plan to fire.  When the email hit the media, it created a big enough stir where she was out by the end of the year.

But I wonder where she is today?  Something tells me those at the top did not want to see her go.

Remember what happened to Michelle Rhee, the former head of Washington D.C. public schools accused of massive cheating during her reign.  She was out once the mayor who hired her lost re-election.

But the corporate masters love her enough to give her a lot of money to continue their education reform model as she continues to bash teachers, and call for an end to public pensions via her 'Students First.'

Remember - the way to the top is to fire everyone around you.  But do it quickly, because your turn is just a click away!