Shut em down

Below is the first paragraph from a New York Times story from earlier this week:

Teachers at W.H. Maxwell Career and Technical Education High School in Brooklyn were among those at 23 high schools citywide awarded a total of $3.5 million in performance bonuses on Thursday, even though the school received a D on its progress report earlier this week.

They got a D for their overall performance. And they get bonuses? What do they get for a "C", a mansion? Talk about rewarding failure. And speaking of failure, only one high school received an F on its report card. Does anyone in their right mind honestly think that only one high school should be deemed a failure in New York City?

Here is the rationale for giving bonuses for getting a D:

“Maybe a school didn’t go from a D to a C, or stayed at a C, but it’s still making progress,” said Ann Forte, a department spokeswoman, defending both the report cards and the awards program.

The monthly statements that Bernie Madoff mailed to his clients were more credible than the New York City High School report cards.

Tenure for life, no real way to fire incompetent teachers, salaries that have gone up 40% over the last four years, and now bonuses that reward failure.

Oh, and don't forget holidays off for days like "Brooklyn-Queens Day."

What a system.

What a failure.