This is mind-boggling. Every teacher in Providence got a  letter from the School Department letting them know they could very well be “terminated” at the end of the school year. This came as a complete shock to them, and one called it a “power grab”.

I know the feeling, by the way. I worked at a high school for well over ten years, and got the same treatment (I am not a union member, nor do I have a teaching credential. I was hired as a “specialist” and worked anywhere from 4-12 hours a day, including weekends, so I can, at the very least, relate.):

PROVIDENCE — After two hours of contentious discussion, the School Board voted 4 to 3 Thursday night to send out termination notices to each of the city’s 1,926 public school teachers.

Some reactions:

–“How do we feel? Disrespected.”

–“I’m feeling disrespected, devalued and marginalized. Termination is a career-ender. You are putting a scarlet letter on every one of us.”

–“This is a back-door Wisconsin. We don’t know why we’re being fired. The mayor says he needs flexibility. Can you buy that? I don’t know of any other district that has done this.”

The superintendent said he expects most of them to be rehired.

What in the heck is going on in this country?

H/t: steelhoof