A group of nearly 80 Rhode Island teachers and administrators that were swiftly given pink slips in their mailboxes this past February may be rehired as part of union negotiations with the school district. The firings over poor student performance stirred an immense amount of controversy, with some pointing the blame elsewhere. When we reported on this story a few months back, we discussed the possibility that a lack of administrative oversight may have played a huge role in declining student performance at the school.

Under the new agreement that has been OK’d by the Central Falls school board, the teachers who were fired will be allowed to return to their teaching positions for the remainder of the school year. They will also be permitted to retain their teaching positions into the 2010-2011 school year, although afterwards they will need to reapply to retain their respective positions within the school. An interview and assessment process will be conducted to ensure the teachers are still qualified for the job.

The agreement also requires teachers to put in some extra hours for after school tutoring sessions and calls for a long school day. All this in hopes of seeing an uptick in student performance. With a largely Hispanic demographic, over half which are English language learners, the staff has a tough challenge ahead of them.