New Bedford Teachers Told They’re Out of a Job

Speaking on WBSM's "Saturday Morning with Tim Weisberg" program, New Bedford Educators Association President Lou St. John said that teachers at New Bedford High School have already begun receiving letters informing them they won't be back next year.

St. John feels these teachers were let go less for their own job performance, and as scapegoats for some of the more troubled students at the high school.

St. John also issued his first public comments regarding Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester's "turnaround plan" for the Level 5 Parker School, which the NBEA has not signed off on and which St. John said he has not yet read in full, having just received it Saturday morning in the moments prior to his call to the station. Mitchell's plan calls for teachers to have to re-apply for their jobs with a salary determined by performance. to which he and the union are opposed.