AP: Teachers to appeal mass firings at RI high school

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jQe6oVWR8RCYpv36bVIUomkB09NgD9E3GT5O0

By RAY HENRY (AP) – 2 days ago

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The entire staff of teachers fired in a radical attempt to improve one of the worst performing high schools in Rhode Island will appeal their dismissals to school authorities, the head of the teachers union said Thursday.

The board of trustees overseeing the school system in Central Falls, one of the poorest communities in the state, voted Tuesday to fire 88 high school teachers and other support staff by the end of the year. Other administrators will also lose their jobs.

Those teachers will appeal their dismissals to the school district's board of trustees, said Jane Sessums, president of the Central Falls Teachers' Union. She plans to meet with union lawyers and other labor representatives in the coming days before deciding whether to take additional legal action.

Sessums said she still hopes negotiations will resume, although her union has not made any requests to school officials to continue talks.

"We need to get together, we need to talk about this, we need reach a resolution," Sessums said.

FULL story at link.