I am a staff member at one of these schools and it was without a doubt the hardest year of my career. The stress level that we have been under, the constant media bashing of teachers at these so called failing schools - even the Mayor thinks we should all lose our jobs - it has taken its toll of all aspects of my life. Even now, on summer vacation,I can't let any of it go, and find myself constantly checking on any news about my school and my job.
I think the arbitrator understood what we have been trying to get everyone out there to understand - this was never about improving schools. This was a way to get rid of teachers and he said so when during his January speech he said that it didn't matter if schools got the SIG money or not. He truly believes that teachers are to blame when students don't do well....not parents, not the students themselves...not even him. I'd love to know how he came to that conclusion, because at my school, that is as far from the truth as possible. The teachers I work are amazing,caring individuals who will do whatever they need to get students on track, passing classes and Regents exams. Our stats have improved so much that we are above the City's average in a few areas. Even this failed to get us off the Turnaround list....
I am hopeful that the City will allow the 24 schools to get back whatever SIG money they were currently receiving (in our case the Restart Model) and let us all do what we do best - teach our kids.

Each and everyone of us is affected by the horriblle decision to close all those schools made by a mayor intent on destroying the lives of the less than wealthy citizens of this city........Bloomberg can not do enough to try and make life as miserable as possible for them,,,,and Walcott is his lacky....can not wait for their terms of office to be over,

Shari got it exactly right. If only Bloomberg would show the kind of courage he is showing in the criticism he is leveling so tenaciously at both the President and Romney for their "absent" responses in terms of the gun lobby's control of both parties, a courage I didn't even know he had. Can't he put it together that when you close schools like Dewey and the others you are dismantling a community, and taking away hope- and that is when the guns become attractive to kids who would otherwise be encouraged by what they are accomplishing at their school? I wish he would recognize that satisfying his corporate cronies so they could call the school system their very own "civil rights cause" is as unethical and damaging as bowing down before the NRA!!!

So much for collective bargaining agreements! Even if a school is failing, they have to keep the inept teachers? Gee, that makes sense?

You New Yorkers got exactly what you deserved when you re-elected that idiot past the term limits that were in place BEFORE he was originally elected. You had term limits and allowed him to usurp them so it is well deserved by the majority. Maybe you will realize that it was a mistake and re-impose the term limits but I doubt it. Bloomberg has destroyed the public confidence in NYC government and will continue to erode the freedoms of it's citizens with stop and frisk and a dozen or so more policies that have had no real impact on crime but have reduced the rights of the law abiding citizen. Theres an old saying NY...be carefull what you ask for cause you just might get it.

While I agree 100% with both the Arbitrator, and the Supreme Court Justice's ruling, we as New Yorkers have to insist that any new collective bargaining with the Teachers' Union has to include better ways of assessing performance and returning accountability. The poster above made it clear that everyone involved feels it is not their fault, that they are not to be held responsible or accountable for failing schools. That cannot go on. SOMEONE has to be held responsible when students are forced to go to a school where failure is a strong possibility.

The mayor and chancellor are at fault...they created the entire system that teachers, parents, and students must navigate every day. If a school or a student is failing, Bloomberg and Walcott should be accountable.

What is best about Turnaround at Richmond Hill is that High Schools that (don't) work and the Principal who hired them have been thrown into the ash bin of history. The ineffective former principal is heading out to train other principals how to create a culture of "failure" at their schools and HSTW frequent flyers are now scrambling to find ways to attach to the schools budget and curry favor with their new leadership academy lackey, who is expected to bring the school back after three years teaching.Please "just say yes to our money". Sounds like we are heading towards closure or more years of low performance at RH. My colleagues and other UFT members citywide believe our students deserve a better turnaround plan than this.