Gist Says Providence Teacher Firings Were Legal

Stephen Beale:

Education Commissioner Deborah Gist has ruled that the mass firings of all Providence teachers was legal, in a letter to a state senator obtained by GoLocalProv.

Gist says that budget issues--such as the financial crisis facing Providence--can be a cause for terminating teachers, in a March 8 letter she sent in response to a letter from state Senator James Sheehan, D-Narragansett, North Kingstown.

"As to your first question, there is a clear precedent for the use of 'financial exigency' as just cause for termination," Gist says in the letter.

Gist cited a 1982 case, Russell Arnold & Michael Clifford v. Burrillville School Committee. "In this case, the Commissioner held that 'fiscal exigency' could provide 'good and just case' for the termination of tenured teachers," Gist writes. "In short, provided that there exists adequate evidence of exigent fiscal circumstances, financial exigency has been found to satisfy the 'good and just cause' element of statutory protection for teachers."

Posted by Jim Zellmer at March 12, 2011 1:32 AM
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