Here’s more on the wonderful world of free market charters from Ohio.
But some of the laid-off teachers doubted that kids will be getting a quality education next year at FCI.
“It’s just been mass chaos,” said Tina Geygan, who is one of the teachers let go. “We were having kids drop out like flies.”
Annette McFarland, a middle-school science teacher at FCI who also was laid off, said she can’t see how the school could reopen in the fall.
“Just my own personal opinion, but I don’t know how they can,” having lost so many of the staff members, McFarland said.
Blair Miller, who taught at the school under a one-year substitute-teaching license, said he can’t imagine the school hiring anyone for less than the former staff members were making. The father of three made $25,000 a year, putting him close to officially living in poverty.
“You can’t pay very much lower,” said Miller, 25, who took the FCI job right out of college with an education degree. “I’m going to be honest with you, I was hired to be paraprofessional, but I was teaching a full-time class.”
Miller taught middle school language arts and math, he said.
According to its 2012-13 state report card, FCI spent 44.8 percent of its revenue on classroom instruction, compared with a state average of 67.5 percent. The school met 6 out of 24 state performance standards, earning an F. It scored a D on its performance index, which gives credit for how many students scored well on proficiency tests despite the overall standards met.