Ruben Navarrette: Firing all the teachers was justified

Editor's note: Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a member of the San Diego Union-Tribune editorial board, a nationally syndicated columnist and a regular contributor to CNN.com.

San Diego, California (CNN) -- In most high schools in America, they teach Shakespeare. But at Central Falls High School in Rhode Island, they're acting out a Shakespearean drama.

Only instead of the famous line from Henry VI -- let's kill all the lawyers -- what we have is: "Let's fire all the teachers."

That's exactly what Central Falls School District Superintendent Frances Gallo did in February. In a move that was bold but also justified, Gallo fired 77 teachers at Central Falls High School in Rhode Island, along with the school's principal, three assistant principals and other administrators. In all, the district said, 93 people were let go in the purge. The school board later stood by Gallo and approved the action.

Tiverton Alert: Town Council to consider tax cap policy on Monday

Back in January, the Town Council agreed to adopt a policy clarifying its role as the governing body for purposes of supermajority protections against exceeding the property tax cap provided by state law. While the initial proposal was to change state law to remove this protection altogether, the Town Council ultimately settled upon a course where they would be held accountable with a supermajority vote before attempting to break the tax cap.  TCC applauded the Town Council for agreeing to this course, and we now encourage them to see it through. 

This is an important step forward for taxpayer rights and we encourage concerned citizens to attend the Town Council meeting 7PM, Monday, March 8th .  to voice their continued support for a policy and ordinance which confirms the taxpayer protection provided by state law.  Breaking the tax cap is and should be an extraordinary event, and TCC supports following state law to require a supermajority vote by our town council before trying to do so.

Because the current budget proposals by the town council and school committee would require a tax increase of approximately 12% for the coming year, this issue could have immediate relevance to the upcoming financial town meeting.

A leader opts for painful honesty in the Garden State

In these times of economic distress, massive job losses, shrunken businesses, bloated governments and runaway public spending, we've been waiting for some politician (other than Ron Paul) to stand and tell the truth. Politicians excel at "kicking the can down the road" -- that is, postponing the inevitable reckoning for unsustainable spending until they are either safely out of office or dead.

But behold! The newly elected governor of New Jersey, Republican Chris Christie, stood in front of 200 of his state's mayors last week and told them basically that there is no more road down which to kick that proverbial can. In his speech at the New Jersey League of Municipalities, Mr.. Christie began by calling the legislature's $29 billion budget something out of "Alice in Wonderland." He told the collected hizzoners that the old game of tax and spend was over. He described unhappy meetings in his treasurer's office, where he was presented with 378 possible freezes and lapses to be used to balance the budget. He accepted 375 of them.

Federal pay ahead of private industry

Federal employees earn higher average salaries than private-sector workers in more than eight out of 10 occupations, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data finds.

Accountants, nurses, chemists, surveyors, cooks, clerks and janitors are among the wide range of jobs that get paid more on average in the federal government than in the private sector.

Overall, federal workers earned an average salary of $67,691 in 2008 for occupations that exist both in government and the private sector, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The average pay for the same mix of jobs in the private sector was $60,046 in 2008, the most recent data available.

Hess battered in Bristol; State House is the battleground

Bristol residents, along with other Hess LNG opponents, packed Town Hall Wednesday night to send a clear message to Hess executives: The proposed Mount Hope Bay terminal is Wrong for the Bay. You can get a feel for the meeting -- including some pointed questions for Hess -- in this report by WRNI's Flo Jonic. Other takes on the meeting were posted by EastBay Newspapers's Michael Yoder and on the Preserve Bristol News Blog.

Help keep the presssure on Hess. Tuesday, March 9, Hess executives are scheduled to appear at the RI State House for testimony before the Senate LNG Task Force. Join Save The Bay for a show of force at 2 p.m. on the State House steps. The hearing is scheduled for 2 in the Senate Lounge. We will remind Hess once again that The Bay Is Not For Sale. We want to turn out as many people as possible. More information to follow. We're not letting up in our fight to Stop Hess LNG!

A notable aside at Wednesday's Bristol meeting was the revelation that Weaver's Cove LNG President Ted Gehrig, originally scheduled to testify before the Council, was not present. Save The Bay has confirmed that Gehrig has been reassigned within the company and is now working outside the U.S., reportedly in Ireland. 

Save The Bay's John Torgan restated the case against the Hess project in yesterday's Providence Journal. "The folks at Hess are in this for private gain at the public’s expense. Naturally, they dismiss opponents as hysterical, and say anything to solicit support for their latest scheme to take over the East Bay with their mega-liquefied-natural-gas operations," he writes. Read John's Journal Op/ed. 

Woonsocket Comprehensive Plan meeting Tuesday

Woonsocket's Comprehensive Plan central goal is: 

To promote and enhance the quality of life for present and future residents of the

City, by making Woonsocket an attractive and sustainable place to live, work,

recreate, and do business. 

Come to the meeting on Tuesday night!  See what the updated plan is. 

Daniel Henninger: Bring back the robber barons

Faced with high, painful unemployment as far as the eye can see, the government naturally is here to help.

The Senate passed a $15 billion "jobs bill." Its proudest piece is a tax credit for employers who hire a person out of work at least 60 days. The employer won't have to pay the 6.2% Social Security payroll tax for what remains of this year. If the worker stays on the job at least a year, the government will give the employer $1,000.

As to the earlier $787 billion stimulus bill, Vice President Joe Biden praised it in Orlando this week as an engine of job creation, while he stood before a pile of broken concrete and asphalt. The subject was highways.

Building a Better Teacher

ON A WINTER DAY five years ago, Doug Lemov realized he had a problem. After a successful career as a teacher, a principal and a charter-school founder, he was working as a consultant, hired by troubled schools eager — desperate, in some cases — for Lemov to tell them what to do to get better. There was no shortage of prescriptions at the time for how to cure the poor performance that plagued so many American schools. Proponents of No Child Left Behind saw standardized testing as a solution. President Bush also championed a billion-dollar program to encourage schools to adopt reading curriculums with an emphasis on phonics. Others argued for smaller classes or more parental involvement or more state financing.

Education Finalists Picked

The Obama administration picked 15 states and the District of Columbia as finalists in a heated competition for extra federal education funds to shake up underperforming schools.

The states that made the cut in the $4.35 billion Race to the Top competition were Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Under the program, states stand to garner hundreds of millions of dollars each, depending on their size, at a time when many local education budgets face deep funding shortfalls.

Dramatic shake-up planned at 12 Boston public schools

Williams to serve R.I. Supreme Court as mediator

PROVIDENCE — Frank J. Williams, former chief justice of the state Supreme Court, is going to continue his work with the court as a volunteer retired jurist mediating civil cases that come up on appeal.

The court’s Web site lists Williams as a mediator now, but judiciary spokesman Craig Berke said Williams has not begun that job yet because he remains an associate justice on the court. All of the decisions he authored have now been published but he is still a member of the court, Berke said, because one of his colleagues is still writing a decision that Williams participated in.

Carcieri seeking end to dog racing

PROVIDENCE — Governor Carcieri is asking legislators to free the owners of the Twin River slot parlor from current employment and dog-racing requirements, cover more than $10 million of their marketing and management costs and provide them with an even more solid guarantee that state taxpayers will cover them if they lose money to a new competitor in Rhode Island.

The owners had been shopping for a legislative sponsor for months, but with key lawmakers in the House and Senate at odds over how much they were willing to give the lenders’ group that is about to take control of the bankrupt slot parlor, Carcieri stepped in. The lenders’ group is led by Merrill Lynch Capital Corp, Wells Fargo & Co. and BlackRock Inc.

Bills surface to revamp coastal agency

The state’s powerful Coastal Resources Management Council barely has enough members to vote on important development applications. And when it does vote, the courts have increasingly found its decisions wrong.

Both issues are prompting the General Assembly to consider major changes in the way the controversial agency operates and who actually holds the decision-making power.

EDC steps up bid for return of Cup

NEWPORT — As it works to lure the America’s Cup back to Newport, the state is close to selecting an architect to help design its pitch for the races.

The Economic Development Corporation put out a request for bids last week and is reviewing four proposals from architects interested in helping the agency craft a vision for the Cup.

RI boat builders urged to branch out

BRISTOL — Rhode Island’s boating industry should leverage the world-class skills it already has to take advantage of the growing green economy. The Rhode Island Marine Trades Association, which held a conference at Roger Williams University Friday, calls the idea “green marine.”

For Richard O’Meara, president of Core Composites in Newport, one of the speakers at the gathering, the future is all about composites, already widely used in the boating industry.

Raymond F. Palmieri: A nation of Rhodys

Rhode Island is a microcosm of what is happening to our country: lawmakers under union control, a one-party system, corruption unchecked and a tax-and-spend mentality.

Look at our high unemployment, taxes, population loss and unfriendly employer environment.

Wake up, citizens. It is time to get involved in your government..

Raymond F. Palmieri Warren

Bob Castelli: Wiser voters

A word of wisdom to the Central Falls teachers: It’s unfortunate you didn’t get to vote on the proposed turnaround model. However you should get to vote to fire your union leader!

Even a teacher learns something every day.

Bob Castelli Cranston